Acrylic aquariums are growing ever more popular in today's aquarium
industry. Acrylic aquariums are slowly moving glass out of the spotlight
for a variety of reasons. In this article I will be going through and
detailing the strengths and weaknesses of glass versus acrylic
aquariums. Glass has been around for a while in the industry, and a lot
of the old hands will swear by it, it does have its strengths, but also
its limitations.
Glass is much more dense than acrylic, which means it also weighs a lot
more. Glass aquariums weigh up to 10 times as much as their acrylic
counterparts. When purchasing an aquarium, it would be best to go with
acrylic
Acrylic aquariums are much lighter, and will cause much less stress on
the stands and structures you will place them on. You can also purchase a
larger acrylic aquarium that weighs less than a glass one, so you can
bend the rules a little bit on weight restriction for your stand.
Acrylic aquariums may weigh less than glass, but don't let that fool
you. Acrylic is a very strong material, and it takes significant force
to break an acrylic aquarium, and anyone who has every owned a glass
aquarium can tell you about how even little bumps can cause cracks in
the aquarium and cause it to be structurally unstable.
Even though glass is thicker than acrylic, it is much weaker. Acrylic
aquariums are very resistant when it comes to bumps, however they are
more easily scratched than glass aquariums.
When it comes to customizing the shape of your aquarium, you are pretty
limited when it comes to the glass aquarium. Glass is relatively brittle
and rigid naturally, and because of this, its shapes and styles are
very limited. Acrylic aquariums on the other hand, can be molded to fit
any shape and design that you could wish for.
Acrylic aquariums can be cast and molded into different shapes that were
never though possible when only working with materials such as glass.
Acrylic aquariums are also much easier to cut holes into when attaching
an overflow system, with glass you need specialized tools and then you
run the risk of cracking the whole panel.
