any tank builders on this site?

[Chaotic Cricket]

Originally Posted by justinl

oh right the finish! I forgot that part. If you go with the acrylic Id suggest going through a plastics dealer. they're around, you just gotta look for them. You can order acrylic sheets cut to size and get the edges finished (as opposed to the rough "saw-cut" edges), just make sure you tell them that you're making an aquarium so the cuts have to be as near perfect as possible. You should be able to buy the weld-on solvent/glue (about 20$) from them as well.

But don' just go gluing randomly! search the net on how to do it properly and practice. The dealer should have a scrap bin where you can get pieces anywhere from cheap to free. the scraps will have rough edges so you'll need to smooth them out. I used the flat back edge of a knife, just run it along the glass edge so the smoothing is uniform.

also note that you can't just get any kind of plexiglass. You need to get cell-cast acrylic fot the tank. If your just making a refugium or something then it doesnt really matter.

I made a 60 gallon acrylic tank out of 3/8 thick acrylic and the five panes alone costed 250$.

Did you use any bracing of any sort with your tank? The 3/8 inch a friend of mine had seemed to bow a bit. Where did you purchase your acyrlic from if you don't mind me asking...pm is fine.