Advice on Paludarium

[tomemmett]

Hi im brand new to this site,
ive been thinking for a while about getting dart frogs and keeping them in a paludarium. i want to build my paludarium from scratch tho. i want the dimensions to be about 4ft long 2ft deep and around 2ft-3ft high and want to have around 1/2ft of water in the bottom. my main question is could i build this out of perspex instead of glass? the full tank would have a wooden frame so this would help strengthen whatever material i use. i dont even know if i have came to the right forums for this so any help would be greatly accepted.

thanks
tom.

[deranged chipmunk]

I had to look up what Perspex was. Yes, acrylic would work, but it would need to be thick to prevent flexing. Are you just planning on having the front see through, or sides also? If just doing the front, then an old aquarium of similar size (here in the US, a 55g would be close) could be used to "donate" a piece of glass from.

[tomemmett]

I was hoping to make all sides clear. You say thick perspex? How thick you talking of? I was under the impression it wouldn't have to be to thick as I am only planning on putting about 6inches of water in the bottom.

[deranged chipmunk]

Oh, nuts, I forgot you said only 6" of water. You could probably go as thin as 1/4" or about 6mm. Not sure I would go any thinner than that. Are you planning on basically building a tank of acrylic and then framing it in wood?

[tomemmett]

yeah thats basically my plan up to now. but at the minute its all just thoughts in my head. im hoping the wood will help strengthen the full structure. and thinking perspex (acrylic) for ease of use and cutting, plus i think itll keep the cost down instead of using toughened glass. as i said earlier im thinking about 4ft in length (down from my orginal 6ft) so i can imagine glass that size would be alot more that acrylic/perspex that size.

[deranged chipmunk]

Acrylic should keep the cost down, but can be difficult to work with, especially gluing it together. You get basically one shot to get it straight because the chemicals used to glue acrylic together essentially melt it together almost instantly.
The reason I asked about building a tank and then framing it are because sealing acrylic to wood is extremely difficult. Silicone doesn't really like to adhere to acrylic. It tends to pull away and weaken over time. So an acrylic tank framed in wood would be the best way to go.

[tomemmett]

so you think making a tank out of 6mm acrylic/perspex THEN framing it afterwards will be ok (if some what difficult) ? who thought building a glass box would give me such a headache before i even begin i cant thank you enough for your advice tho, itll all come in really helpfull

[deranged chipmunk]

It should be. The other option would be to use a commercially made tank close to the size you want and building a cabinet around it, like I am currently doing with my tardis build.