I never wanted an acrylic tank but the price and convenience of getting one I cant pass up. I know the differences between acrylic and glass. So what I am wondering is , are they really that easy to scratch? I mean if I set a rock next to the acrylic is it gonna leave a mark? How easy is it to buff out a scratch? Can you buff a scratch with water in it. What tools and cleaning method do you use to keep the acrylic clean?
Is acrylic really that bad ?
- Thread starter jetchris
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Its very easy to scratch..I have heard that some of the buffers work great, even underwater..I havent had to use any yet...I just use a Mag-Float (Acrylic one ovb.) on mine.. and be very careful when I get around the bottom of the tank as to keep the sand calm as I can..
i'd have to disagree,, acrylic sucks.. this is gona be a never ending war... like its stated you have to be super careful not to stratch it... if your like me and run a magnet cleaner all over madly then glass is your choice. plus you can use a razor on it without even thinking twice. if your willing to slow down and carefully clean the acrylic then its an option.. wasnt there a poll about this somewhere.??
It was a joke just to mess with EnderG60.
I have seen several acrylic tanks that have been run for several years that still look new. It just depends on how much patience you have. If I was planning on dosing calcium in my tank there would be no way I would go with Acrylic.
my 140 is acrylic. Clearer than glass...except starfire. yes you can scratch it easy, but with caution its all good. A lot of people have acrylic tanks and would never go back to glass, I'm prolly one of them. Ups sides are its lighter than glass, cheaper and clearer. Downsides....scratches...but it can be fixed 
It just takes a lil more tender loving care, and if you're like me and dont mind that, then its a good way to go. Alss you need to clean with worrying of scratching is an acrylic mag float and that long arm bush sold at pets mart that has the white foam stuff on it. Works like a charm on my tank to get any kind of algea off.
It just takes a lil more tender loving care, and if you're like me and dont mind that, then its a good way to go. Alss you need to clean with worrying of scratching is an acrylic mag float and that long arm bush sold at pets mart that has the white foam stuff on it. Works like a charm on my tank to get any kind of algea off.i know,,, i was messing with you... i never thought about the calcium thing...thats prob why i gave up on acylic,,to much elbow grease to remove the coraline,,, yeah i thought about the weight thing too, but once its in place its never gonna be an issue until you move it again..
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If you get a custom acrylic there is one thing you can do to prevent a lot of scratches and save a lot of cleaning time. Build it a coulple inches taller and use the extra height to build up the lower trim to have the sand at least several inches below the trim. This allow you to clean almost all visible algae with no fear of getting sand in your mag float. Even if you have to go in there with a scraper, you can still avoid the sand bed like the plague and hit all the visible algae.
The majority of the time I spend cleaning is making sure I don't get sand on my scraper.
The majority of the time I spend cleaning is making sure I don't get sand on my scraper.
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