Bonding Acrylic pieces for tank

Discussion in 'General Reef Topics' started by chheng, Feb 16, 2010.

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  1. chheng

    chheng Plankton

    Joined:
    Feb 16, 2010
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    I'm looking into building my own aquarium and I got a few pieces of acrylic cut. I wanted to know what you guys thought was the best way to bond them together. There area three products in particular out there I wanted to get your opinions on them: silicon, IPS16 and acrylic cement.

    I don't like the white residue that silicon produces, it kind of ruins the aesthetics of the tank. I want to try and keep the tank looking as clean as possible.
     
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  3. coylee_17

    coylee_17 Fire Goby

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    IPS weld-on 16, and get lots of scrap pieces to practice on. It's not easy to do correctly. And to really build a tank you will need some fancier tools to finish the edges after bonding. Like a router with a flush cut bit. Also you want to make sure the acrylic is cell cast and not extruded. There are many other things as well. Too many to list out on here.

    How big of tank are you thinking? What thickness acrylic are you using?
     
  4. 2in10

    2in10 Super Moderator

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    Silicone is worthless with acrylic for tank building.
     
  5. chheng

    chheng Plankton

    Joined:
    Feb 16, 2010
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    Right now I'm practicing on a 26"Lx15"Wx15"H with a 3/8" thickness for acrylic. I want to try and get this one right before I build a bigger one, this one is just for practice.
     
  6. doog

    doog Peppermint Shrimp

    Joined:
    Apr 27, 2008
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    Location:
    Salisbury, MD
    i just made my first acrylic waterbox - a 20 gal reservoir split for ro/do and also sw mixing. i used the following pages for resources:

    About.com: http://fins.actwin.com/diy/acrylic.html

    Do It Yourself Aquarium Projects

    http://www.garf.org/Tank/BuildTank.asp

    Weld On Glue Plastic Adhesives- Plexiglass Glue for acrylic sheets.

    the first two are some basic pointers on working with acrylic
    the garf page is GREAT - it'll give you a cut sheet for any size box you want to make, and then gives you step by step assembly instructions with pics that were very helpful
    the eplastics/ridout plastics site is where you'll get weld-on (i used 16 and 4) from, and they have videos demonstrating how to do the bonding.

    this should get you started! have fun
     
  7. ladder man

    ladder man Plankton

    Joined:
    Feb 8, 2010
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    melevsreef .com was very helpful for me check it out. He bracks down how to use the glue and the tools needed.