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Cultivated Reef

Anyone replace one glass side with acrylic?


hcsceo

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I'm thinking about replacing one long side of glass with acrylic on a 10 gallon so I can drill it and not worry about cracking down the road. Will the silicon adhere the glass and acrylic together at the joints?

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I would consider this project to be "fraught with danger".

 

You can improve the silicone/acrylic adhesion by sanding the acrylic pane where you plan to silicone it but I don't know that I would trust it to hold water long term.

 

Why not replace the pane with 0.25" glass instead?

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I would consider this project to be "fraught with danger".

 

You can improve the silicone/acrylic adhesion by sanding the acrylic pane where you plan to silicone it but I don't know that I would trust it to hold water long term.

 

Why not replace the pane with 0.25" glass instead?

 

Damn Fosi, you rock. :bowdown: See that should have been obvious to me. Yea .25 glass is definately the way to go. I got the tank today and am debating this or doing a sandeep type aio with it. We'll see which way I go. I'm planning a small frag tank for my home office with it.

 

Steve

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I know how to feel. Yardboy's schooled me on a couple issues that I felt should have been obvious to me as well. :blush:

 

Sounds like a neat project.

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Nanoreefwanabe

would personally get all new glass...i have tried three times to take a 10g apart...failed everytime..i was close to sucess by breaking the pane out i didnt want then tried to pull off the broken glass, but that ended in a bunch of nasty little cuts..and i still broke the stupid tank..

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Be very wary of the acrylic/silicone bond. It never yields good results. Yes it may hold a baffle in a sump, but never will you find a bond holding pressure. As Fosi said sand it if your set on trying it. But in all actuality you can drill a 10 gallon and put alot of plumbing on the back of it. A different way of doing what your saying is,... drill the 10 gallon as you want. Then cut square pieces of acrylic that are bigger than the holes you plan to plumb through. Drill the same size holes into the center of the square pieces. Silicone these squares to the the back pane of the glass. The acrylic will add strength to the glass and ease any fears you may have with the glass.

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distantfire

Since the glass on the 10 is only a 1/8" thick you can drill thru it easily with a dremel. And then to keep most of the weight of the bulkhead's off the back of the tank. And to prevent the back of the tank from accidental breakage you can use a piece of 1/4" glass. Or pick up a 18 x 24" sheet of .220 arcylic and cut it down to size. The 18 x 24" sheet's cost 14.47 at the home depot here but they might be cheaper where you live.

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If it is not rimless, then yes, it is possible to do what you want with acrylic....I did the exact thing on my 5 gallon bowfront. The back and the bottom are 1/4 inch acrylic and the front and sides are 1/8 inch glass. I had to replace the back because I broke it while drilling it out and I broke the bottom getting the back out.

 

The rims keep the pressure on the seams so the silicone doesn't release and therefore you don't have to worry about the acrylic/glass bond as much.

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distantfire

And if you decide to use 1/4" glass or arcylic for backing. You can paint it the color that you want the background to be. Your bulkhead nut's will hold the material on the back of the tank for you. Applying a thin bead of silicone around the 4 edges of the material where they meet the back of the tank will make it 100 percent water proof.

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