Acrylic tanks

i hate it. PITA to clean coraline off of, scratches very eazy and the piece of acrylic on top gets so much salt creap on it and blocks the light. sigh..


will never own another acrylic tank again. but for them time being, any tips/tricks to maintinance of your acrylic tank? and what are your thoughts and opions on the plastic boxes?

 

I disagree. I haven't done much matienence on mine yet( just started it) but compared to my glass fw its 100 times clearer

 

I love my acrylic tanks, I have 3 of them, 2-55g's and a 100g. If you are careful with the cleaning, scratches are not much of an issue, and if you do get a scratch it can be removed. When I bought my 100g you could barely see thru it because of the scratches, now its my main display tank. My first acrylic tank is 14 years old and it still looks good due to a few rules I set out from the beginning.
1. NOBODY!, but me touches the tank.
2. Keep your greasy paws off MY tank.
Other than that I am just very careful with the cleaning and coraline algae removal.

 

You just started, just wait. I've NEVER seen an acrylic tank that looks good and to get scratches out, you need to tear the tank down every time. They look good at first, but doesn't take long to look awful.

 

Agreed! It's crap, sure it's stronger then glass, but it looks like junk. I've seen so many acrylic tanks that not only have scratches, but have crack like fishers where acrylic is bonded together. I'll stick with glass.

 

the scratches arent that big of an issues, since i bought the tank used, it have one hairline scratch in the front thats about 16 inches long in the middle, and then theres 3 across teh bottom, But my boss has a small glass 45 gallon, and he can use the razors to remove algea/coraline, and its a breeze compared to teh plastic POS we acrylic users have to use. now i do have to say that ive tried using the crappy 12 inch scraper from Petco that cost like 4 bucks. what are you guys using to remove stuborn coraline? was thinking about gettin this :
Kent Marine Proscraper L, Acrylic Safe

i have an algea free parana float magnet, with the acrylic safe pads, that does good at removing brown stuff, but wont even effect the coraline. and my coraline growth is outrageous, about every 10-15 days im stairing at a purple box.

 

Lol, I hear ya. I used to have a 10 gal reef tank. I had coraline growing constantly! But I had a glass tank and loved the coraline. Every rock in my tank was purple! But like ya said, glass, you can use a razor.

 

A credit card should work to get that coraline off

 

id prefer not to be nipple deep in my tank usung a credit card

 

If being careful with the cleaning is too much than glass would be a better choice. As far as they look awful and look like junk, thats just BS. My acrylic tanks look great still. Again I say it depends on how careful YOU are with the cleaning. I have more faith in my acrylic tanks than ANY glass tank as far as strenght is concerned.

And its fissure, not fishers.