Lexan in a refugium?

[Dustin75]

Can Lexan be used in place of acrylic in my refugium? I got some for free and thought it would be nice(save me the cost of buying acrylic), it is 0.375 inches thick. Just wondered if it would leach or break down in Saltwater, I don't know much about it.

Thanks,
Dustin

[Michaelr5]

Lexan is simply GE's brand name for their polycarbonate acrylic sheet. Basicly the same thing.

Mike

[rickzter]

Lexan is lighter than the average plexi, no? I think they use it for drag racing.

[fletch]

Lexan is also stronger than acrylic and will not crack as easy, I believe that you can use the same cement for it as you do acrylic, But I am not 100% positive

[Dustin75]

Thanks for the replies, I looked around last night on the net but could night find much on the properties of it. I'm hoping to find the epoxy at Home Depot, I checked at Lowe's and nothing there said that it was for binding Lexan or acrylic for that matter. I am hoping to get my 65gallon tank turned into a refugium/sump this weekend. I will post pics when it is complete.

[Michaelr5]

For binding acrylic to acrylic you want Weld-On. I found it at Home Depot. It comes in various 'numbers' the higher the number the thicker the product. E.G. #4 is water thin and is used to bind by capillary action pieces that are perfectly mated. #16 is fairly thick and will fill small gaps and uneven edges like I make. BUT Weld-On will not bind to glass For plastic to glass, use silicone sealant. I will grip clean glass very well and the acrylic. I don't know about Weldon with Lexan, but the silicone will work.

I found this site that sells Polycarbonate (Lexan) adhesive USplastics

I also found this on a site that should help distinguish terms:

"Acrylic, Polycarbonate, Plexiglas, Lexan; they are all interchangeable terms in most peoples vocabulary. Getting the terminology correct could save your project from becoming a disaster.

Of all four materials listed above there are really only two plastics involved, polycarbonate and acrylic. Lexan is General Electric's trade name for Polycarbonate and acrylics trade name is Plexiglas.

Acrylic = Plexiglas
Polycarbonate = Lexan"

Hope this helps

[Dustin75]

Thanks, for the feedback. I hope that I can find weld on around here, but if not I already have the silicon in hand. I hope this prject does not turn into a huge mess

[Dustin75]

Well I finally have the new Filter/Sump/refug up and running. I ended up just using the silicon for binding since Weld-on seemed impossible to find around here. I also went with the ASM G3 for my Protein Skimmer. The lighting is my major hold-up at this time, I will post pictures later tonight. Maybe then I can get some feed back from all of you as to what i should use.

[bigtex52]

Dustin,

Be very careful trying to bond acrylic (lexan, acrilite, plexiglas, etc) with silicone. It might work okay as long as there isn't much stress on the joint but in the long term will probably fail. The properties of the Weld-On actually enable it to melt on piece into the other piece. Do a search on google for Tap Plastics for weld-on and other acrylic fab supplies.

Ted

[Dustin75]

I only had one location in which I had to bond lexan to lexan. All other joint were lexan to glass. Thanks for the advice, I finally have my pics ready to post tell me what you think. Still need better lighting currently only 36 watts.