Acrylic or Glass

[Diana]

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