Acrylic warp behind t-5s?

[steve hwang]

When you place a t-5 behind acrylic, does the acrylic warp?

I'm considering building an acrylic tank where the back chamber might act as a algae scrubber. Has that been done? is it not possible?

[SantaMonica]

[Rumpy Pumpy]

When you place a t-5 behind acrylic, does the acrylic warp?

Depends on how thick the acrylic is, I have a piece of 2mm acting as a splash guard in front of an array of cfl's and that has warped a little bit (not much), but anything used to build a tank should be ok I expect, given that it'll be thicker and braced along each edge by the other sides of the tank.

Floyd R Turbo, on here, I think should be able to tell you better. I recall he has some expertise with acrylic.

I'm considering building an acrylic tank where the back chamber might act as a algae scrubber. Has that been done? is it not possible?

Something along the lines of my sump based one then

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1376

but kind of in reverse.

[SantaMonica]

I've noticed that constant heat over a period of week will cause warping away from the heat.

[Floyd R Turbo]

Acrylic has a relatively high water content when compared to Polycarbonate. Acrylic will absorb a certain amount of water and will tend to expand on the wet side. This is why the lids for acrylic tanks are typically thicker, or made of Poly - because they bow upwards. Of course if you make a tank it bows, it's because of water pressure. In my T5HO setup it must be the heat because the interior box (which does not have a cross-brace along the top edge) bowed significantly outward. Cross-bracing will prevent permanent bowing to a certain extent. There may still be bowing in the center of a large expanse of acrylic when T5HOs are placed close. A center cross-brace would not be unreasonable, if you're using modular fixtures (end caps and individual reflectors). If using a stock fixture, you would just do what you can to prevent the bowing.