AquaticEngineer Posted December 10, 2010 Share Posted December 10, 2010 Trying to price out my best options for either building myself a 3/4" or 1" thick acrylic tank. Anyone bought any thick acrylic recently? Possible measurements would be 36x24x24 ish, maybe longer..... I'm just in the planning phase of my next coldwater setup so ideas and recommendations are appreciated. I already shot an email to James. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef165 Posted December 10, 2010 Share Posted December 10, 2010 I know 1/2 inch is $320 a sheet, I could call and check but 3/4 is prob going to be about $500ish a sheet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaticEngineer Posted December 17, 2010 Author Share Posted December 17, 2010 Hmmm, I wonder what price I can find a full sheet of 1" for. I could use the whole thing and make a 48"x24"x24" tank that would work nicely for me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tigerv503 Posted December 17, 2010 Share Posted December 17, 2010 Building it yourself will save you money but time consuming. If you decide to have someone build it for you with professional result send me a PM. I can help you with this matter! Vin B.O.M "Blue Ocean Marines Inc." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef165 Posted December 17, 2010 Share Posted December 17, 2010 One 4x8 sheet would not make a 48x24x24 even with rimless, you would need one and 1/2 sheets. ether way, I'll call my guy and ask. Hmmm' date=' I wonder what price I can find a full sheet of 1" for. I could use the whole thing and make a 48"x24"x24" tank that would work nicely for me [/quote'] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowpunk Posted December 17, 2010 Share Posted December 17, 2010 pm wannareef if your looking for it to be built. He does some nice work and has experience with larger tanks too. He built my 48x36x24 with just two sheets of acrylic. It's eurobraced and has a full external overflow box to boot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R-3 Posted December 17, 2010 Share Posted December 17, 2010 pm wannareef if your looking for it to be built. He does some nice work and has experience with larger tanks too. He built my 48x36x24 with just two sheets of acrylic. It's eurobraced and has a full external overflow box to boot! You mean my tank right?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaticEngineer Posted December 17, 2010 Author Share Posted December 17, 2010 Building it yourself will save you money but time consuming. If you decide to have someone build it for you with professional result send me a PM. I can help you with this matter! Vin B.O.M "Blue Ocean Marines Inc." I'm open to all options, still pricing stuff out so shoot me a PM One 4x8 sheet would not make a 48x24x24 even with rimless' date=' you would need one and 1/2 sheets. ether way, I'll call my guy and ask.[/quote'] I was wondering if I could get it close to that with little to no waste. If the sheets are 96" x 48" I was invisioning being able to get roughly three 48"x24" sheets and two 24"x24" sheets. I know it wouldn't be spot on because the blade takes about an 1/8th of an inch off each time but close. pm wannareef if your looking for it to be built. He does some nice work and has experience with larger tanks too. He built my 48x36x24 with just two sheets of acrylic. It's eurobraced and has a full external overflow box to boot! Do you have any pics of yours you can PM so I can check it out? As of last night the idea behind the whole tank build has changed a bit. I will still need some help I'm sure, but basically it would be a rimless 48x24x24 tank with black back and sides made from 3/8 inch, and the front made with clear 3/8 and a second pane of acrylic put on it with a dry air void in between to creat a dual paned acrylic front viewing panel. For the overflow and cirulation I dont want to have anything visible. So I'm working on a few ways to accomplish that using some black acrylic "false walls". Its all in my head and I'm basing a lot of what I'm doing off of Steve Weasts new tank design. I will try and get a google sketch or at list a paint mock up of what I am wanting to do with tank done soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef165 Posted December 17, 2010 Share Posted December 17, 2010 Oh so you are talking like a 120 gallon ok so ya you could do it with 1 sheet, would be rimles, but with 1 inch I think that would be fine. Most cell cast acrylic comes at a min of 96X48 and up to 100X50, your pieces for a 48x24x24 tank would be 1 piece 48x24, 2 piece 48x23, and 2 piece 22x23, could be enouph cutoff to do a small rim on top(euro) and then could get some 1/4 inch from them to build an external overflow. My guy is at lunch right now, I'll call him in about 1/2 hour and get a price quote for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef165 Posted December 17, 2010 Share Posted December 17, 2010 Ok so I got the rundown on cellcast acrylic sheets and the price I can get. 1/4 inch= $192 a sheet 1/2 inch= $318 a sheet 3/4 inch= $500 a sheet got some coming in in a week or so. 1 inch= $624 a sheet only has a piece 48x70 at the moment thinking about a month to get more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaticEngineer Posted December 17, 2010 Author Share Posted December 17, 2010 Ok so I got the rundown on cellcast acrylic sheets and the price I can get. 1/4 inch= $192 a sheet 1/2 inch= $318 a sheet 3/4 inch= $500 a sheet got some coming in in a week or so. 1 inch= $624 a sheet only has a piece 48x70 at the moment thinking about a month to get more. Ok so what do you think about this........ Since the front of the tank is going to be the only viewable panel, I am going to do that with 1" so I would only need one piece of 1" acrylic about 48"x24" roughly. I can do the rest of the tank in black 1/2" or 3/8" or whatever and add foam to it for isulating. Any ideas on a price for something along those lines? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef165 Posted December 17, 2010 Share Posted December 17, 2010 Honestly, when I had mine I did a test with 1/2 inch, that 1/2 inch part of your sump, I made that and did a test I filled it with ice and water, it was 31deg F and the outside temp was 92 F and left it out all day, bot a drop of condensation, now that was outside and the humidity prob played a role in that aswell. I would suggest going 1/2 inch on the bottom and setting it on about 2 inches of foam, then going 3/4 on the sides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaticEngineer Posted December 18, 2010 Author Share Posted December 18, 2010 I have been thinking about that too, and I guess it would come down to what the price difference on a 48x24 piece of 1" is vs the same size in 3/4. If its not much more, I'll go 1" but if it saves me a $100+ then I'll probably go 3/4 on the front. For the rest of the tank I will definately go 1/2" for added stability. The tank design I have in mind will have some added rigidity by having a false wall in front of the overflow area on one end and another at the opposite end to house the powerheads for circulation of food when the auto feeder comes on. The thickness of the front panel is half about condesation, and half about the best insulation on the viewable portion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef165 Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 All the acrylic is also the same price by the square foot so just take the prices and divide by 32 and ya have a SF price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef165 Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 3/4 is $15.65 a SF and 1 inch is $19.50 a SF so a 3/4 inch piece 48x24= $125.25 and for 1 inch it = $156.00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaticEngineer Posted December 18, 2010 Author Share Posted December 18, 2010 Okay gotcha So a 48x24 1" piece would cost about $156 for the front viewing panel and if I do the rest of the tank in 1/2" would be about 24sq ft @ $9.94 per sqft = $238 So materials for the front, back, bottom and sides of the tank would be about $394 That's getting closer to were I want it(clap) The internals for the overflows and false walls should be fairly straight forward and could be 3/8 since they are inside the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef165 Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 since you are using 1/2 on the back and sides I would do a 3 or 4 inch euro braced top aswell using 1/2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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