Where can I get aquarium safe acrylic sheets?

[NecrochildK]

GUH! I was hit with a stroke of inspiration, or perhaps it was just an early stroke... I'm 28, but my body screams 70 ever since cancer. Anyways!
Does anyone know an online supplier for aquarium safe acrylic and what tools are needed to cut and properly sand it? I just figured a way I want to try to seal the holes around the sump where an octo can't get in, but still let water flow through.

ALSO need to know where I can get some netting that's not too dense to let waiste go through. Is nylon safe for a saltwater tank?

What my plan is, is to make a frame from the acrylic to which I can cement the netting to and then cement it into the inside of the sump where the frame goes around the holes and slots and holds the netting over it.

 

[cthulhu77]

Hey there!
Any clear acrylic is safe for aquarium use, some of the dyed stuff rarely contains trace amounts of metal. Almost all plastics are salt water safe, so yes, nylon screening is just fine (and inexpensive!).
Rather than buy the acrylic on line, just call around to some of your local glass shops...if you are lucky, they might even have some scrap from a large project that you could buy for a song.
Good luck, and send in a pic when you get it built, we always love seeing custom mods.

Greg

 

[NecrochildK]

Hey there!
Any clear acrylic is safe for aquarium use, some of the dyed stuff rarely contains trace amounts of metal. Almost all plastics are salt water safe, so yes, nylon screening is just fine (and inexpensive!).
Rather than buy the acrylic on line, just call around to some of your local glass shops...if you are lucky, they might even have some scrap from a large project that you could buy for a song.
Good luck, and send in a pic when you get it built, we always love seeing custom mods.

Greg

^_^ Thanks! Mm, though now I'm wondering what size netting would work. Would netting with 1/4th of an inch spacing be too big for a young bimac? Should I go smaller? Would 1/8 inch be too small for waist to pass through into the filtration system?

 

[Animal Mother]

I'm thinking you'd be better off just drilling 1/8th inch holes in the acrylic, maybe smaller. Lots of holes. It's easier to remove debris with a brush of sorts from acrylic than getting it off of netting. I tried octo-proofing my overflow drain by using the mesh material from a fishnet, but it got clogged real fast, and it just happened over and over. As long as you don't have a hair algae bloom you might not have the same issues though, as this is what caused my problems. A lot of people seem to use mesh material with success, so maybe it's just me?

If you get a baby bimac, it will probably fit through 1/4 inch holes with ease, maybe even 1/8th inch. Something to consider would be keeping it in a plastic bug cage until it's bigger... but that's down the road.

 

[NecrochildK]

lol MUCH further down the road. ^_^ THanks

 

[SuperSadPanda]

try www.plastics2000.net