# Aquariums: Glass or Acrylic?



## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

When it comes to buying an aquarium, no matter what size it may be, which do you prefer? I know that some people prefer acrylic yet others glass. Wouldn't glass tanks be more dependable? I've never owned an acrylic tank before so I don't know anything about them.

I would like to get a new tank for my guppies and I don't know which type of tank would be best to get.

Thank you.


----------



## arto (Jun 11, 2008)

personally i like acrylic, i have a 70 gal acrylic tank and a 10 gal glass tank, when i clean both of them really good i think my acryclic looks nicer, but if there are little kids who will be around the tank i would go with glass, glass doesnt really scratch and acryclic scratches fairly easy(you can scratch it with your nails), also i think it is easier to clean than glass. also acryclic tanks are strong so you dont really need to be so cautious about accidentally cracking it or something.. well i hope i helped you out!!! see ya


----------



## Bunbuku (Feb 10, 2008)

I choose glass mainly for scratch resistance and longevity. For extra coin, you could go for the low iron, optically clear starfire glass or "clear" (ADA version).

Here is a reef posting from a fellow loonie http://www.reefland.com/forum/reef-archives/3153-pics-ninong-s-starphire-glass-tank-canada-eh.html


----------



## Nevermore (Mar 26, 2007)

All three of my aquariums (55g, 29g, and 20g) are acrylic. I like acrylic because it's light and is likely to hold up better in an earthquake (I live in San Francisco). I don't like the plastic framing you see on most glass aquariums. If I was to buy glass, it would definitely be ADA.


----------



## Shurik (Mar 22, 2008)

Hello, everyone! 
All three of my aquariums are made of acrylic too.

All the longevity of the glass aquarium ends really soon for me because I am walking earthquake myself. I know I will drop the stone while scaping the tank and some other items tend to fly randomly out of my hands. 
Those scratches on the acrylic are very easy to polish off with something abrasive and soft, but I never had to do it yet (even with my clumsiness). 
I like that they are frameless and seamless and very light weighted.

If I was going with the glass one, it would be ADA tank. 

How big of a tank are you getting, Red Rose?


----------



## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

Those ADA tanks look amazing! They remind me of those glass windows that doesn't look like glass and someone walks into it. lol

The reason I asked about acrylic is because when I had first looked for a 2.5g for my betta back when I first got him, I read reviews on the Mini Bow tanks and many said that they started leaking after six months of use. I know that with glass, you can use aquarium silicone to fix it but I don't think there is anything that can be used to fix acrylic.

Shurik, I would like to get a 10g but I think if I'm going to get anything, it will be from 2.5-5 gallons. When I looked up the aquarium kits like the Eclipse, most of them are acrylic. I remember seeing a tank, I don't know if it was glass or not, that had an open top but the light fixture was attached to the back and hung over the top. I would love something like that for my guppies but I can't remember the name of the company that makes it!


----------



## The old man (Apr 12, 2008)

I would recommend either the Eclipse 12, 6 or 3 depending on the size you want. Filters good enough and enough light for low light plants. I think the one you might be describing might be made by Tetra. Seen them here, but not used them. The only drawback I've found to the Eclipse tanks is the small opening for feeding on top and you must remove the lights to get to anything in the tank.


----------



## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Planted tanks take quite a lot of maintenance, so access to the inside is important. In fact, a light fixture that has to be lifted off the top of the tank to do maintenance is a big enough nuisance that it will stop some people from doing maintenance often enough. And, when you are cleaning the tank or pruning it helps a great deal to have the light on, not just sitting on the floor beside the tank.

That means (to me) an acrylic tank with the small openings at the top isn't acceptable. And, a tank that you can arrange a light fixture so it lifts up, but still lights the tank is by far the best way to go. So, a glass tank, with a pendant or other liftable light fixture (see my DIY thread) is the best way to go.


----------



## The old man (Apr 12, 2008)

Red Rose, this is what you might be looking for. Small and light is above the tank itself which should make working in it much easier.
http://tetra-fish.com/sites/tetrafish/catalog/productdetail.aspx?id=1276&cid=3259


----------



## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

I'll check out your thread, hoppy. I don't do as much maintanence on my tanks because they really don't need them and when they do, it's only pruning and that's something I do first thing in the morning when the sun is coming in on the tanks.  The sunlight really brightens them up.



The old man said:


> Red Rose, this is what you might be looking for. Small and light is above the tank itself which should make working in it much easier.
> http://tetra-fish.com/sites/tetrafish/catalog/productdetail.aspx?id=1276&cid=3259


That's the tank I was talking about! After reading a bit about it in the link, I don't know if it would be a good choice for a planted tank since it uses an LED light and I don't think that can be switched with a fluorescent bulb.


----------



## simpsota (Mar 11, 2006)

I inherited one of those 2.5g acrylic (I think) tanks. It did eventually crack on the base, but that might have been due to the molding method or something like that. I put a big glob of sealant on it and it's holding water just fine.

The larger tanks are manufactured a little differently. I've got a 50g acrylic and the top and bottom are "welded" on as is the back. It's much more sturdy than the 2.5g cheapo tank and I love it.

I got the 50g as acrylic mainly due to weight, but I now much prefer the way it looks to glass tanks.

During all this I've managed to crack a 10g glass tank, but both acrylics are holding up under much more clumsiness...


----------



## Afyounie (Aug 10, 2007)

Red Rose, I have the 1.5gal version of the tetratec water wonders. It came with that 9 led light thing that I am going to use as the moonlight on my 55g. The 9 led light is not good, as the adapter that you plug in eventually melts. It melted on me and thankfully I caught it before it burned something. I am going to get an adapter with a higher current soon. I took the grey rim off of it and put the azoo palm filter on it. The filter that it comes with is an air powered filter that looks pretty bad. I put an architectures lamp from walmart over it with one of those 15W 6500K spiral compacts. It lights the tank perfectly. The indica is extremely compact and isn't growing very tall. I made a little scape with manzanita and a piece of marble. I used Schultz AS. I definitely recommend getting one of those tanks, but you will have to modify things a little bit.


----------



## Bunbuku (Feb 10, 2008)

Red_Rose said:


> After reading a bit about it in the link, I don't know if it would be a good choice for a planted tank since it uses an LED light and I don't think that can be switched with a fluorescent bulb.


I have this 6 gal one http://www.tetra-fish.com/sites/tetrafish/catalog/productdetail.aspx?id=1276&cid=3210 for the kid's betta and it comes with a 9 watt CF bulb. Anubias, java fern and Amazon sword grew nicely. Included filter sucks, I changed it out to an Aquaball. I bought mine at Petco but also saw in the DFS website.


----------



## insomniaclush (Jan 14, 2008)

Definitely glass, especially starphire glass for it's superb clarity.


----------



## Red_Rose (Mar 18, 2007)

Well I narrowed my searches down to these tanks:

Eclipse Hex 5
Eclipse corner 5
Perfecto 5.5g with hood(hood is sold separately)

The first two are acrylic but the last one is glass.

The Perfecto tank w/hood is the cheapest of the three but after my 2.5g Perfecto tank sprung a leak, I'm a bit leery about getting another one of these tanks.

In your opinion, which tank would be best to get?


----------



## bartoli (May 8, 2006)

I have a betta in a Perfecto 5.5g tank with glass top and the light strip extracted from a 10g Perfecto top. As long as a glass tank is placed on a leveled surface and you always empty the tank before lifting it, the tank should not leak.


----------

