I often get the question of which is better, glass or acrylic, for my saltwater fish tank? And my answer is, it is dependent. It genuinely does. So listed here I’m about to lay out the various advantages and drawbacks of glass and acrylic for your aquarium.
one. Clarity And Aesthetics
Acrylic is about twenty% greater clarity than usual glass aquariums, which happen to be produced with plate glass. The only exception is for guide-no cost glass, also recognized through the brand identify Starfire glass, that has exactly the same clarity as acrylic. Not to mention this special lead-absolutely free glass is significantly dearer than the traditional plate glass. twenty% Appears like a big difference, and the truth is you can definitely only notify the real difference in the event you experienced a normal glass tank sitting right close to an acrylic tank. So, it is actually only is sensible to pay the extra Value for that direct-free of charge glass (exact same clarity as acrylic) if ideal clarity is usually a large precedence in your case. In any other case most of the people would not observe the difference.
One particular other benefit of acrylic tanks about glass, is the fact acrylic tanks have approximately invisible or see-via seams, whilst glass tanks use Unpleasant silicone seams.
two. Resistance To Scratching
While glass is much more resistant to scratching than acrylic is, You will find there’s trade off to look at. Glass is more unlikely to scratch, but any scratches that arise within a glass tank are permanent. And although acrylic scratches rather effortlessly, it can be polished out. Even though, in case you’ve under no circumstances polished an acrylic tank prior to, even just a little scratch, it’s plenty of do the job (not fun).
Just one caveat is the fact glass tanks have become desired for reef tanks. Due to every one of the algae the grows around the glass in the reef tank (especially coraline algae), reef tanks require their glass to be cleaned far more generally and so you’re superior off with colored acrylic sheet glass which happens to be a lot more proof against scratching. One way I understand this is for quite some time in my aquarium installation corporation, we employed acrylic for most of our customized reef tank installations. And just after quite a few several years, Many of them necessary to be polished to remove scratches because of cleansing glass. No matter how very careful you might be when cleaning glass, Should you have an acrylic reef tank or even a fish only saltwater tank, you might ultimately have scratches with acrylic.
3. Body weight
Acrylic is drastically lighter than glass. This is a vital thing to consider for shipping fees (freight) and cargo bearing ability of your home or Business to assist the burden. And, certainly, when it arrives the perfect time to elevate the tank into placement, the lighter the greater. Plus the thicker the panels, the heavier the tank.
4. Longevity
Glass is much more brittle than acrylic. Acrylic flexes when under strain. This adaptability makes it possible for an acrylic tank to handle non permanent stresses nicely. On the other hand, acrylic tanks are only as strong as the caliber of their seams as well as thickness from the panels. As time passes, acrylic seams are inclined to weaken. So though glass may be extra brittle than acrylic, glass tanks are actually much more strong than acrylic around the long run.