Been working on a list for our website... not quite finished yet:
Benefits of Acrylic
- Lightweight
- Several times stronger than glass
- Less distortion
- Easily refined
- Custom forms
- Clearer than glass
- Insulates better than glass
- Stronger seams
- Scratches can be removed
- Capeable of holding large water volumes
Benefits of Glass
- Less easily scratched
- Does not cloud over time
- More resistant to reef related
organisms such as Coralline Algae
- Lower cost
Negatives of Acrylic
- Scratches easily
- Higher cost
Negatives of Glass
- Heavy
- Weaker than acrylic
- Green hue (not Starphire)
For our business we recommend acrylic for people that are doing large (300 gal +) tanks, or tanks in apartment buildings and highrises, or odd shaped tanks. We hesitate to do liverock and reef aquariums in acrylic tanks, but even large fish only tanks will get scratched.
I suggest for the regular sized and shaped tanks just do starphire glass, especially if you are doing a reef or tank with scratchy fish like puffers.
HTH
-Diana