Free Plexiglass, SCORE!!!

rebekwl

Active Member
My husband's job had som eplexiglass that they were going to THROW AWAY, so my hubby scooped it up. He has 7 4'x2' pieces, for FREE might I add!! Of course we are going to try to build a tank from it, what else did you think we were going to do with it? :invisible

SO....

What is the best way to put this thing together? We don't have any type of welding equipment, etc., so that's out of the question.

How many gallons would a 4' long, 2' tall, and 2' wide tank equal out to? We could always make it wider too if we wanted. A 4x4 cube that is 2' tall would be SOOOO COOOOL :invisible But we would have to get alot more lighting because it would be so wide, and a 4x4 piece of plexiglass for the bottom. Hmmmm, I don't know about that. Sorry, I'm rambling...


Any suggestions on an ideal size? It will have to be 4x2x2 if we go with what we have. We need all the suggestions we can get, because we have never done anything remotely close to this before! Thanks!!!
 

DrHank

Well-Known Member
Sounds great. First thing that you need to determine is if it's thick enough to do what you want with it (structural integrity). I'd check into all the DIY forums on all of the major sites and do plenty of research first. There are special adhesives that are used for acrylic construction. TAP Plastics manufacturers a Free-Flowing Acrylic Cement that I've used on several occasions to make small repairs but I'm not sure that it would be best for building a tank.
 

Dentoid

Smile Maker
PREMIUM
How thick are the acrylic sheets? 120 gallons of water exerts a lot of outward pressure, the thickness of the acrylic is going to be important to avoid bowing and cross bracing is a must. Also silicone will not adhear to acrylic. I would caution you in trying to build such a large aquarium from acrylic sheets. The learning curve for working with acrylic is shallow and to attempt such a large project could be disasterous.
 

rebekwl

Active Member
Ok, I will check on the thickness of the acrylic. I didn't think of it that way. Maybe I could have someone experienced build it for me. I will look into cross bracing and deffinitely do some research. Thanks guys for your input...
 

mps9506

Well-Known Member
I think Billy has some experience doing this as well.
My guess is read over the links, makes sure you have the proper tools to make square cuts,the proper Weldon to bond the acrylic and maybe make some small aquariums and sumps and send them to the mods here :D We will test them for you before you make a bigger aquarium...
 

tbittner

Well-Known Member
I'm using IPS Weld-On #4 which is made to "weld" acrylic pieces together to build my refugium from 1/4" thick 4x2x2 sheets. I bought a blade for my hand held circular saw to cut it with but it doesn't sound like you would be cutting it. :)

I had also found several sites that talk about using plastic welding machinces and you can easily spend $750+ for one of these.
 

rebekwl

Active Member
Thanks for all your input guys! What would be an ideal thickness? I'm not really sure how thick it is, but want to make sure it's ok before I use it for anything.

MPS9506-I'll get right on those smaller aquariums and sump for the mods. I'm sure you all will "test" them to the fullest extent :D

tbittner-We will only need to cut the side panels. My husband doesn't have the proper tools to cut it, but I'm sure the guys at HD will do it for him. God knows he spends enough time in there!! I will let him know about the Weld-on #4. I've read about it on here but couldn't remember what it was called, thanks!

Thanks for the advice and links guys. I will do some research and I'm sure I'll be asking plenty more questions.
 

rebekwl

Active Member
So it turns out that the plexiglass is only 1/4". It doesn't look like there is much we can do with it, unless we just want to build a sump or something. Does anyone have any suggestions or is it pretty much a lost cause??

My husband was thinking about cleaning it really good and welding 2 pieces together around the edges. Would this work or would irt look like crap and probably still be useless?
 

mps9506

Well-Known Member
Doesn't sound like a good idea to me.
I'm sure there is a ton of otehr creative stuff you can do with it though. Frag racks, top down camera boxes, nano reef maybe?
 

rebekwl

Active Member
I'm sure I can use it for something. He wants to THROW IT AWAY so I told him I would research and find something to use it for.

Top down boxes? Please elaborate...

Where are you located Kimoy? I would give it away before throwing it away any day!!
 

Cassette87

Well-Known Member
I'm sure I can use it for something. He wants to THROW IT AWAY so I told him I would research and find something to use it for.

Top down boxes? Please elaborate...

Where are you located Kimoy? I would give it away before throwing it away any day!!

top down boxes are basically 5 pieces of acrylic, shaped like a cube, missing one side. You can then float it on the top of the water and hold it just under the surface so that you can see in the tank from the top without the distortion of the surface refaction. kinda hard to make sense of that but... they're really cool! especially for say a frag tank :D
 

Triggerjay

Well-Known Member
1/4" thick would work for a smaller frag tank. I would cut it down to 12", and make a 4 foot long, 1 foot wide, 1 foot deep frag tank... I would use weld on to glue it. and make a support for the top by using a peice big enough to cover the entire top, (1X4) and cut two large ovals out, (tank access holes) and glue it.. 1/4" would be fine for an application like this... but I feel it would be too thin to go 120g.. That would make one nice frag tank... and you can drill it easily to tie it in to your main system.. I have a 40g breeder that I broke an end on, and I replaced it with 1/4" acrylic, and it holds just fine.

Jason
 

rebekwl

Active Member
1/4" thick would work for a smaller frag tank. I would cut it down to 12", and make a 4 foot long, 1 foot wide, 1 foot deep frag tank... I would use weld on to glue it. and make a support for the top by using a peice big enough to cover the entire top, (1X4) and cut two large ovals out, (tank access holes) and glue it.. 1/4" would be fine for an application like this... but I feel it would be too thin to go 120g.. That would make one nice frag tank... and you can drill it easily to tie it in to your main system.. I have a 40g breeder that I broke an end on, and I replaced it with 1/4" acrylic, and it holds just fine.

Jason


GREAT idea thanks! I'll tell my husband and let you know what happens!
 

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
The one thing I didn't see mentioned on the top down boxes ia that they are a great way to take pics.
 

Frankie

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
You can do a lot with that material if you have experience. Shoot, that would be my surge box in a heart beat. top off container, you name it. But when it comes to water you want to know what you are doing. Accidents happen in strange and bad ways, turning a cool hobby into a nightmare. Especially when it comes to a seem bursting and electrical accidents. So please do the research before attempting to building a container to hold water.
 
Top