Building an acrylic aquarium...how to?

Good write up here. I don't clamp my pieces until after I draw the Weld-On into the seam, but that's just personal preference. When I saw "draw" it's capillary action that "pulls" the solvent into the seam by itself. I usually apply the solvent from the inside of the joint, it will pull into the seam as you move the needle applicator across the entire seam. It will cover the edge 100% on its own assuming you apply enough. Don't forget to buy a passive respirator if you want to work with acrylics and Weld-On, the fumes will get you dizzy if you don't have good ventilation. It's good practice to have it anyway though. Don't forget the safety goggles either, you don't want that stuff to splash into your eyes.

 

The stand looks good. BUT... :
If it were me, for the top and bottom square frames, lay the 2X4's flat, not standing vertical like in the drawing. It will give you a much stronger and more stable platform.
Use wood screws, not nails. Also, use liquid nails or a similar heavy duty material glue between each joint, along with the screws. On both the top and bottom of the vertical 2X4's, also use angle brackets. Use galvanized, primered hardware for outdoor decks for all hardware.

 

Why not get a glass aquarium and line the inside walls with appropriately sized 3/16" or 1/4" sheets of acrylic to the height needed to keep your mantis from hitting the glass?

 

I'm thinking I might actually go with 3/8" glass on this one. Not acrylic. I don't want an overcomplicated first aquarium build.

And mike, buying a glass tank and lining it with acrylic would defeat the purpose of building a tank I want to build a tank. It'll be fun, and a good learning experience. And hopefully be very rewarding, because I'll have a tank designed and custom built by myself.

And packleader, I was thinking of underneath my house and the floor joists when I arranged the top and bottom 2x4's. I figured it'd be stronger with them vertical...so I wanted to see what you guys would say Would I still want/need that central brace I have on both parts? Right now I think of it more as a comfort thing rather than something that will add a ton of strenght. I know they are needed to be placed every few inches/feet in longer tanks, but I'm not sure on this one since it is so small.

 

Placing the acrylic sheets is a safety precaution though. I have read stories that fully matured mantis and pistols cracking 1/2" tanks. All it takes is a sliver of a chip and it starts from there that ends in a lake across the floor. Putting in a 8" tall sheet of acrylic that can be easily removed if damaged would be worth its weight for a peace of mind, but that is just my personal opinion my friend.

 

Wow, those are tough buggers. Got any links from folks having this actually happen to them?

 

Well, floor joists and stands have completely different type of stress that gets applied.
The disadvantages to the being vertical is that the joint with them, going into the actual vertical 2X4s that run top to bottom, will be much more likely to separate. With them set up the way you have in your model, you would have to run a very long wood screw and/or just brackets. with them laying flat, you can run a screw the the bottom a lot easier, and it will bight into the verticle planes much more securely. Than, you can also install angle brackets. It would make it much stronger when resisting front/back or side movement.
Of course I could be completely over-engineering this thing for you too

 

I've had a fully grown pistol for around six months now...and I find it almost impossible to believe that a pistol shrimp could break any aquarium glass, especially not 1/2" glass. Ours "pops" quite frequently, and he doesn't even damage a rock. Also, I feel that if fully grown Peacock mantis shrimp (no mantis but a peacock would stand a chance breaking glass) broke aquarium glass, we would see it alot more. I have never heard a story of someone personally saying their mantis broke glass. I've also seen peacocks kept in 20 gallon tanks with no problems at all.

For me, a comfort factor would be using glass thicker than what's on our 46 gallon. Half inch would be total overkill for almost any saltwater creature that fits in a tank smaller than 25 gallons.

That's my view on things.

 

I think the concern comes from the common anecdote that a matis goes off with the same power as a 22lr bullet.

I am NOT a fan of arbitrary metrics (a whale weighs as much as 4 buses, $1,000,000,000 would reach around an ant hill 3,000,000 times, etc.)

22lr is NOT a unit of energy.
Buses are NOT units of weight.
Ant hills are not a unit of length.

There's a HUGE difference between a subsonic 22lr load and a 22lr magnum load in terms of energy released.

Either way a 22lr will shatter 1/2 plate glass. It might not penetrate, but it will crack it.

But is it TRUE that a mantis has that much energy released in the same amount of time? I doubt it. Energy is only one part or a complex equation involving time, distance, velocity, mass, etc. heck, you're the engineer...you do the math

Just like a pistol shrimp cavitates water and heats it up to like 9,000 degrees doesn't boil an entire tank, the released energy from a mantis probably isn't enough all at once to shatter a well built tank. side note: No one ever claims a pistol shimp melts the sand around it....

anyways... I think building an acrylic tank would be fun... but I don't think a mantis would break 3/8 or thicker glass unless it hit it dead on multiple times. Still... when I get a mantis, it's going in an acrylic tank... just because I'm not gonna chance it.

-Doug

 

Maybe it's because I've actually seen and heard a mantis smack 1/4" acrylic and x" glass (didn't know the thickness), I feel comfortable with going with whatever material is easiest for me. Mantis shrimp are strong suckers...but 3/8" is pretty stinkin thick for a 20-25 gallon cube tank. Our 46 gallon that's almost 20 inches tall is only 1/4" glass.

Also, any claim that a pistol shrimp can break anything is farely far fetched. My Tiger Pistol is the largest pistol I've ever come across (w00t), and he can't even break a rock. Pistol shrimp, when using their most powerful "attack" don't "break" or smash their prey, they stun them. If their blast can't break a smaller shrimp, it definitely won't break glass. And yes, pistols attack other shrimp. We have had 6 pep shrimp in our tank...none of them have survived exceedingly long

However, a mantis does smash things. My 1.5" mantis can pulverize rock and shell, but she can't break the glass in the 9 gallon aquarium she's in. She's only smacked it once to my knowledge, and that was to see what it was. Mantis shrimp are super smart, and she's been smart enough to not bother the glass anymore. Except I don't have a lab that sticks it's nose in my shrimp's face like some people on this forum

I feel comfortable with 3/8" glass. I even took a stack of computer paper and made it 3/8" and then 1/2", and I still feel plenty comfortable with it.

This is just from my experience. And I'm also drawing from the fact that I've never seen a true story about a mantis shattering glass. Does anyone have a link to such a story?