Large Tank

[ktmhk53]

Greetings,
I'm a new member here, so if this question is misplaced or misdirected please move or delete it.
Having been away from a 200 gal. glass FO tank for a few years, I am planning the construction of a new house with thoughts of a FO tank being a centerpiece of construction. My current plan is to purchase a 20' x 6' x 4' tank (approx.) by http://www.seavisions.com , with one of their complete filter setups.
Does anyone have any suggestions for/against this plan? I am particularly interested in the on-going glass vs. acrylic debate I have read on this forum. I do NOT want to look at a scratch in my aquarium, EVER. Does this mandate that I only have one constructed of glass, as opposed to the acrylic that www.seavisions.com uses in their aquariums?

Thanks for any help you are able to offer.

ktmhk53

[kevinpo]

Yes pretty much IMO. I have several of both.

Regards,
Kevin

[Ninong]

Hi ktmhk53, welcome to Reefland!

You're talking about a 3600 gallon aquarium!!!

In that size range you are pretty much forced to use acrylic. Yes, acrylic is easier to scratch than glass, but all of the other factors would favor acrylic for anything that large.

Acrylic is much clearer than regular soda-lime glass, especially when you get into the really thick panes. Starphire glass is very close to acrylic in clarity and much, much clearer than regular glass, but it would have to be triple laminated for a tank of that size and it would require that the tank be built with two viewing panes as you can't get it 20-ft long. The largest Starphire right now is 12 mm thick and it comes in sheets that are 130"x108". There is a builder in Calgary who has built some rather large tanks with double laminated Starphire (24 mm -- two 12 mm panes laminated) and I know that he has built at least one tank using triple laminated Starphire (36 mm -- 1.4") but I don't know if even triple laminated Starphire would work for a tank 10'x6'x4' -- notice that I'm not using 20' for the length because you would need to have it built in two sections with a frame in the middle. And it would almost certainly have to be built on-site.

I believe the only way you could possibly consider glass for a tank that size would be to have the aquarium built on-site with viewing panes set into concrete or some other material. I wouldn't even consider regular glass because of the greenish tint and I'm not sure how large you can go using triple laminated Starphire. You would have to discuss that with one of the custom tank manufacturers experienced in using it.

Just out of curiosity, how thick will the acrylic be on a tank 20'x6'x4'??? I would guess that it would have to be 2" thick if it is being build as a single tank.

Good luck with your project but for a tank as large as you are planning, I believe you will find that acrylic is your best choice.

[ktmhk53]

Greetings again,
Thanks for the replies. I am in the planning stage for a late 2004 / early 2005 build, so I thought I would start to get up to speed now so as to be able to make informed decisions when it came time to make the necessary purchases (tank, filter, lighting, etc.)
I will continue to lurk in the background and snatch up every bit of large tank info I come across. I will also make a new post when I start the project so eveyone can see the good & bad of it.
This looks like a good place to now call "Home."

ktmhk53