Building acrylic tanks any advice?

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

Has anyone ever done an acrylic build? Any tips? Any suggestions? I have no experience  gluing them but think my build plan will probably work well (until it doesnt)

I will practice a bit on thinner material to make a "puffer fry box" on a smaller scale to get the technique down a bit before going for it on the tank material order.   

The current plan is to have cast cell 3/8" acrylic cut to my exact dimensions and  build basically a "43 breeder" tank (or a few) that are 38x23x12 black bottom back and sides clear front panel. Not cheap but a decent upgrade to my rack systems. 

Acrylic is just easier to move and work with weight wise vs glass for me as a bit of a broken vet. A side benefit is it would not bust a seam since there are no seams to burst in a rare worst case event. 

The draft draft idea.

My top would be 1/4" double wall polycarbonate panels cut to need . Not pictured are acrylic bracing somewhere along the top likely 3" strips at center and both ends 

(Height shortened to 12" tall since I powerpoint'd this idea)

Any response most appreciated 

[OnlyGenusCaps]

On 8/17/2022 at 10:52 PM, mountaintoppufferkeeper said:

Any response most appreciated

I have but have never built acrylic tanks.  If you are looking for practical advice on building acrylic tanks, @eatyourpeas is your gal.  She built the tank for her Puget Sound Biotope tank.  Your looks like a cool project and I hope to get to see it successfully come together here.

[gardenman]

From a design standpoint, the center bracing would make adding or removing the dividers complicated. It looks like you're making them removable, but a center brace would complicate that a lot. (You don't need the slots if you're not making the dividers removable.)

You're already ahead of the game by knowing you need to use cast acrylic.  It sounds like you'll be getting the pieces precut by someone else. The accuracy and quality of the cut will matter a lot. You can hand five people boards and tell them how big you want it and when you get all five back, they're apt to be slightly different lengths and not cut exactly how you want them cut.

As you already seem to know, acrylic is chemically welded together rather than glued. The "glue" is a solvent that melts the acrylic and then allows it to reform into a single piece. If the edges you're welding together don't fit perfectly, life gets complicated. You'll need your pieces of acrylic to be perfectly sized with pristine edges. Not always the easiest thing to get when someone else is doing the cutting and edge prep. 

The actual construction is easy once you get the right sized pieces with good edges. You just tape everything in place, use the solvent applicator (typically a syringe with a hair-like needle) along the seams and then sit back and wait for the solvent to cure. It's the getting the right sized pieces with good edges that's the hard part. Once you've got that done, the rest is easy-peasy. 

[billango]

I've only done a small acrylic tank build before. Seems like most stuff has been addressed but note that the acrylic cement fully cures over a week or two even though the product says 70% cure in 24 hours. I found the whole process to be quite easy though if you just make sure the edges are smooth. I personally sealed everything with silicone after the acrylic cement dried just to make sure there weren't any tiny leaks, but this probably wasn't necessary. You probably already know acrylic tanks like to be on a very level surface, and for this I adhered a neoprene foam sheet on the underside of my tank. Best of luck.

[eatyourpeas]

This looks like a great tank, @mountaintoppufferkeeper!

So far the advice you have gotten is good. A couple of comments on the build:

- Sand the edges until really smooth or you’ll get bubbles. I know it feels like too much, but it is well worth it.

- I used WeldOn4 to glue the pieces, and it worked great. Because I am paranoid, I also caulked them with WeldOn40, which worked fine but I would go with a less dense version next time, as it proved hard for me to push through the syringe.  Don’t use silicone as it won’t adhere.

- I have done a little sketch for brace placement. You’ll need those in order to prevent bowing since the tank is so long. This would alleviate the pressure from the water, and allow for panel removal.

- Do not heat polish in order to minimize the risk of crazing.

I was very happy with the cast acrylic vendor. The pieces were beautifully cut and they kept to the advertised tolerance.

Feel free to DM me if you have any questions. 🙂

[Biotope Biologist]

I’d also like to add if you go to an acrylic specialist shop like tap plastics they can machine or laser edge your sides for gluing and they have all the glues you could dream of.