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Buying a new aquarium can be an exciting experience. But should you choose a glass or an acrylic tank?
Both glass and acrylic fish tanks can be made into attractive fresh water or marine aquariums. They can both be aquascaped, filtered, heated and lit. And both glass and acrylic aquariums can last for many years. However, choosing between glass and acrylic will depend on your personal preference after you’ve weighed up the pros and cons of each.
Like most things in life there are points ‘for and against’ when it comes to making the right purchase.
I’ve put together some of the main pros and cons between glass and acrylic aquariums to help you decide which is the right type for you.
Glass Aquariums
Pros
- A lot cheaper to buy than acrylic aquariums.
- Widely available at Pet Stores, Aquatic Dealers and Online etc, so it’s easier to find the one you want.
- Harder to scratch than acrylic which makes cleaning a glass tank easier than an acrylic one. There’s also less chance of scratching when you’re using rocks, wood and pebbles in the tank.
- Glass is more rigid than acrylic so there’s less chance of shape distortion/bowing over time.
- Tank items that use suction cups stick well to the glass eg. filters, thermometers and feeding cups/tubes.
Cons
- Glass aquariums can shatter on impact.
- A lot heavier than acrylic tanks.
- The silicone seals on glass tanks can leak over time and will need re-sealing.
- Glass can distort the view of your fish and their tankmates. Which makes taking photos or videos more of a challenge when it comes to getting a clear picture.
- Glass has a natural green tint due to its iron content. The tint is not usually visible to the naked eye but it does affect the way that the colour of the fish look. You can however, buy low iron glass fish tanks if you prefer.
- Glass tanks lose heat quicker than acrylic tanks. So if you’re keeping tropical fish that need a tank heater the heater will cost a little more to run. However, if you’re keeping temperate or cold water fish, this will be a plus point to having a glass tank.
Now that we’ve taken at look at the pros and cons of glass aquariums it’s time to take at look at the pros and cons of acrylic ones.
Acrylic Aquariums
Pros
- Acrylic tanks are less prone to leaking than glass ones and often last longer.
- Acrylic has a higher impact resistance which means it’s less prone to breaking/shattering on impact.
- Vision is clearer through acrylic than glass. Which means less distortion and clearer photos/videos.
- Acrylic is lighter than glass for aquariums of the same size. This is useful if you keep your fish tanks below or above ground level and have to bring them up, or down, stairs to install them.
- Acrylic insulates better than glass does. Which means that heat retention in a tropical/heated tank is more efficient and cheaper to run.
Cons
- Acrylic aquariums are usually a lot more expensive than glass ones. And they sometimes have to be custom made which pushes the price up even higher. Tank ‘furniture’ such as stands/cabinets/hoods may also need to be custom made because the dimensions of acrylic aquariums are not as uniform as the average glass version.
- The general availability of acrylic tanks is less than glass ones. So it can be difficult to get the tank size you want in an acrylic version ‘off the shelf’.
- Acrylic tanks are easy to scratch when cleaning, or when you’re scaping with rocks, gravel and wood. And scratches will spoil the look of the aquarium.
- Because acrylic tanks scratch easily you need to buy specialist equipment for cleaning and maintaining the aquarium. This can be more expensive and may be harder to source.
- Yellowing over time is a problem with acrylic tanks. Even if the tank hasn’t been kept in direct sunlight the aquarium lighting and natural daylight will eventually cause the acrylic to yellow.
- Tank items that use suction cups don’t stick well to acrylic. So when it comes to things like filters, thermometers and feeding cups/tubes you could run into a problem.