Acrylic Tank Build

Well, I finished my last little aquarium project over the weekend. Two of them actually: 1.) reding the hardscape layout of my Nano Tank and 2.) removing the top rim of my 20 gallon long, which was quite the endeavor.



I've really enjoyed this last tank. I'm especially fond of the way a long tank can be laid out when it comes to hardscaping (though I didn't have nearly enough stone to do what I wanted) which brought a more complete idea of what I want to do in my next project - making a tank customized for my wants, my needs:

Tank Information:
Material - Cast Acrylic
Height - 12"
Width - 12"
Length - 48"
Acrylic Thickness - 1/4"
Approx Gallons - 30

A few months ago I toyed with this exact tank idea, but most websites selling acrylic (either cut-to-size or other) I found my tank estimated to cost three-hundred dollars all the way up to four-hundred and more. Ouch! I still liked the idea of this long, but shallow tank, which would fit perfectly on the top of a solid oak bookshelf I have. But then this morning I did a quick search again on acrylic, tossing around the idea of making a few more nano tanks when I came across this seller on Amazon -

https://www.amazon.com/Cast-Acrylic...910693&sr=8-5&keywords=Cast+acrylic+sheet+1/4

And I decided to price it out once again being as the dimension listed and sold would be almost perfect so I used this calculator   and figured out what exactly I would need to make this tank. At 1 sheet (24x48x1/4) costing $30.64 I'd need 4 sheets, which included a 2" euro rim I'm still not entirely sure I want, but the alternative then becomes 1/2" acrylic that effectively doubles and nearly triples the price per sheet.

1/4" Euro Build = $156.06 (shipping included)
1/2" Rimless = $374.40 (shipping included)

So yeah... I can handle a clear 2" Euro-brace for less than half the price, and being as I have just about everything I need in the garage to cut the sheets to size it's looking like material cost is all I need, so $156.06 plus acrylic adhesive, which looked like $10 or so.

So anyone have any ideas, places to purchase acrylic (places they maybe use), tips and tricks you discovered making your own tank, how it's held up or hasn't, maybe you wished you had gone glass later on? Anything might be useful before I finalize any build ideas and draw my tank idea on paper. I plan on using my finnex 24/7 + as lighting at first (30" light over 48" tank? Haha we'll see...) with my cascade 700 filter, inline heater and Co2. Probably stock it with red cherry shrimp and black neon tetra when it's done and use the plants and Stone from my 20 long, effectively transforming that into an immersed growth tank later on.

 

Beautiful tank. Nicely carpeted and grown in, perfect for shrimp!

Ouch is right. I think you can get rimless glass tanks by crystalview for that much. Try aquaforestaquarium. They are my lfs in san francisco. amazing shop. I saw a 30 gallon crystalview tank there yesterday within your budget. Super nice!

I would call them by phone or email them and tell them what you are looking for.

Note I do not work for or with them in any fashion.

 

Hey! Thanks! I appreciate the lead, and will definitely have to do that. I pulled up aquaforestaquarium website, but like you said, call them by phone or email. But even visiting that, I saw some LIG glass tanks, which when looking at those you helped remind me that there's at least one glass shop within a ten mile radius of my home that I'm also going to give a call to and see if they can do customize cut to size pieces and what their prices look like.

I initially looked into acrylic for various reasons, but am wary of it because of how prone it can be to scratches vs glass. LIG glass is far more expensive but I think one would only really need the front and sides LIG. F + B +2S depending one setup. Probably gonna need to look into this more.

Thanks again!

 

No problem.. I think you're right about scratches.

Their site is nice. But ya call I bet they will work with you and source you whatever you want.

There are a few manufacturers of LIG now that price them lower on purpose to compete with ADA. After searching google I found a couple options. You may have to sacrifice exact specs, maybe not. In the end I think it will make you a happier owner over acrylic. Good luck! Update when you pull the trigger!