Pet Forum / Aquaria / Marine Reef / April 2005

You should check out www.reefcentral.com and do a search on acrylics.  You
will find tons of information.  As for finding the acrylic you need at HD or
Lowes it isn't likely.  Most of that is extruded, and you want cell cast
acrylic. Usually you can look in the phone book under plastics and find
someone that sells cell cast acrylic.  Extruded will stress and possibly
break over time, although I have heard of people using 1/4" extruded acrylic
for very small tanks/sumps.  Generally though it isn't recommended.  The
weld-on #4 is ok to use to join the acrylic together, I use weld-on #3 as
well with no problems.  To seal thicker gaps I think it is the weld-on #16?

If you want a nice clean look then just use the weld-on products, but to be
safe you can run a bead of silicone around all the joints if your not
worried about the visuals of this (exampe: in a sump)  Silicone will seal to
acrylic, but does not create a tight bond and with any pressure will break.
However the pressure of the water will hold it in the joints.

Mark probably has alot better information than this,
but that is just my limited experience and opinion. -Chris

Hi Joe,

Chris gave you some good tips, such as looking up "Plastics"
in the Yellow Pages.  You can order acrylic online too, if
you have to.  And Weld-On can be purchased from Tap Plastics.

http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/category.php?bid=21&

Needle tip applicators may be available there, or you can
order them from USPlastics.com

Using #4 for your joints will give you time.  Using #3 is
tough because it cures really fast before the material has a
time to settle in during bonding time.  I use #4.

I almost always use extruded acrylic (AcryLite FF), but have
had the opportunity to use cast acrylic (AcryLite GP) and
that stuff is simply wonderful.  It glues better, drills
better, polishes better.  And costs a lot more. :(

James, aka Acrylics on ReefCentral.com, used to frequent
this forum for a long time, and answered questions for
others including myself.  Now he answers them on RC only, as
far as I know.  You can find him in the DIY forum over there.

Silicone will not bond with acrylic at all, and is less
effective than a band-aide.  I don't mean to argue with
Chris, but it has little benefit.  It is perfect for glass
though.

In the past 2.5 years, I've made over 100 sumps for people,
but never tried to make a display tank.  Even with all my
"experience" I don't feel comfortable enough to make a show
tank, nor would I want to have to trust it to not fail in
someone's home, including my own.  I'll let the tank
builders do their thing, and I'll focus on the less critical
stuff like sumps that tend to hide in a stand.

Here is a link that you might find helpful:
http://www.melevsreef.com/tools.html

Hope that helps!

Marc