John, I am in the same boat you are. I bought my new house about 6 months ago and had to sell my bigger tanks because I couldn’t get them down the basement! My next house will have a walk out basement! They do make a 60x24x24 150g but I rarely see them. Keep an eye on on Craigslist, you might have to drive a bit to get it. Also acrylic is a lot lighter,might help in the fight of getting it down the stairs.
Hate acrylic personally. Worked with it an awful lot a year ago and just highly prefer glass. For fish only geeks that don’t care about doing anything nature and keep the lighting low then they can do as they please. If you are going to have a reef tank and are going to grow coralline algae because of the nature of the system then acrylic is just a pain. The clarity of acrylic is a VERY mute point when you’ve cleaned coralline off for several months. This is the biggest reason why I have never owned a ZeroEdge… yet.
[quote=“Gordonious, post:22, topic:3290”]
Hate acrylic personally. Worked with it an awful lot a year ago and just highly prefer glass. For fish only geeks that don’t care about doing anything nature and keep the lighting low then they can do as they please. If you are going to have a reef tank and are going to grow coralline algae because of the nature of the system then acrylic is just a pain. The clarity of acrylic is a VERY mute point when you’ve cleaned coralline off for several months. This is the biggest reason why I have never owned a ZeroEdge… yet. [/quote]
I have no problems cleaning coraline off my acrylic tank. I actually prefer acryl;ic over glass…No seems to ever worry about leaking if the tank is built right. Its also a great deal lighter then glass. If your careful when cleaning not to get sand stuck between the magnet you should have no problems. I have a few scrathces but not enough to say I don’t like acrylic.
The only advantage glass has is doesn’t scratch as easy and typically cheaper. Acrylic is lighter, clearer, strong, easily fixed and almost every scratch can be removed. To say acrylic is left to the FOWLR betide is a huge understatement. Most of the high end reef tanks are acrylic.
Most high end reef tanks? I really don’t think that is the case. I know some of the very expensive companies out there such as ATM and Living Color work with acrylic exclusively, but we’re not usually talking high end reef tanks there. I suppose part of it falls down on how you define the term “high end reef tanks”. Anyways if I was just trying to be as good as everyone else I might fallow the trends, but I find what suites me best. With an interest in photography and at times an obession with clealyness a couple of scratches would just drive me crazy. Just my opinion.
I’ve seen some used and abused acrylic tanks in my time and made some scratches in them myself. I am just not a fan personally having worked with a lot of tanks at this point I prefer glass. Perhaps my opinion will change, but is what it is for now. Thanks for comments anyways.
[quote=“Gordonious, post:25, topic:3290”]
but I find what suites me best.[/quote]
That’s what it all boils down to. That’s what’s great about this hobby, there’s so many different variations that you can practically do whatever suites your needs, yet all have the same passion/obsession. I like acrylic due to strength, if built properly will never leak, more clarity than glass, lighter than glass, and easier to work with/modified. Glass perks though for me are cheaper and more readily available. To each his own.