Need opinions on this acrylic cube

[Mrfish55]

I used to swear I would never own another acrylic tank (had a 40 gal one about 20yrs ago, scrached up real easy and looked terrible in about 6 months) and then I just picked up my 750gal monster (used) This tank is 5 years old and has no more scratches than a comparable glass tank the same age, only difference is you can polish a scratch out of acrylic far easier than glass. I think the key to acrylic is to buy a high end tank, there are many grades of acrylic and the saying "You get what you pay for" is certainly true here. Whatever you do make sure it is cell cast and not extruded, extruded is not as strong and is softer making it easier to damage.

[sphelps]

It's not likely extruded because the heat from bending the corners would have caused stress cracks when the solvent was applied. Extruded also isn't much cheaper than continuous cast when it comes to thicknesses of 3/8" or more.

[Mrfish55]

The listing does state it is cell cast but looking at how tight the radius is on the corners I would suspect they are glued up and then machined to give the rounded edge, my old tank was 1/2" bent and the corners were nowhere near as tight as those look. Perhaps an e-mail to the seller could clarify the construction of this cast cube

[Ryan]

14" deep with 3/8 glass and there will be bowing??? I dont think so.

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by Ryan

14" deep with 3/8 glass and there will be bowing??? I dont think so.

It's acrylic, pay attention

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by sphelps

It's acrylic, pay attention

Its 14 inches deep, 16" long and 3/8" thick there might be 13.5" of water in it bust most likely 13" there isnt alot of pressure, that acrylic isnt going to bend.

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by Ryan

Its 14 inches deep, 16" long and 3/8" thick there might be 13.5" of water in it bust most likely 13" there isnt alot of pressure, that acrylic isnt going to bend.

You're right what do I know about a few mm of deflection

[spikehs]

Got a message back from the seller, shipping is an extra $30. So all in all it comes to $190. From what I had investigated previously, it seems like a great deal. I wanted to get a small starphire rimless cube, and I believe the quote I got a while ago was much more (without shipping)

I think i'm going to go for it, I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

[spikehs]

domestic cell cast it is. I'll ask him about the construction and see what he says. A few people over at RC have his tanks and are very impressed with them. The price seems reasonable to me.

[mike31154]

I don't own an acrylic tank, but have always been curious about buffing out or removing scratches on them if you do end up making an error. Sounds like a great argument that this can be done, but for the scratches on the inside, near the bottom, who's willing to empty their tank in order to do this? Especially on a very large one. Not a big deal on a nano, or maybe it is. Still stress on the inhabitants and then trying to figure out how to keep the mess to a minimum.

I've also never been a fan of any bow front or bent corner tank, glass or acrylic. Looks kind of pleasing with the round contours, but there's generally a more distorted view through that part of the tank.