This is a bit off-topic, but I think there are a lot of people here with a lot more experience building aquariums and with these materials than I am...

I am working out a design for a small ~6-10 gallon tank that after working out some of the initial design details in Google SketchUp Pro, I think would be best served as a combination of glass and acrylic... if one can combine these.

Can a pane of acrylic be assembled with glass using silicone as if it were just another pane of glass? I would reason so, but would love to hear anyone's experiences.

I personally have no experience in the combination of the two, but would recommend glass over acrylic because of it's resistance to scratching and overall cleaner look. Acrylic can be used with greater strength, but can be scratched quite easily. I don't know why you would combine the two, but it does sound as though it would work. If you were to go with one of the two for the entire tank, I'd say glass. It may depend though on how much you trust yourself, in terms of a DIY glass tank, there's less room for error than an acrylic...

just my 2 cents

Chris

This is for a small, low-light tank. I wanted the background to be drilled for an overflow, and black. Since it's much simpler to drill acrylic, and black acrylic is available, it seemed somewhat reasonable that that rear pane could just be acrylic and the rest glass.

Glass is cheaper ($1/ft^{2} from glasscages.com) than acrylic (~$3/ft^{2} from glasscages.com). I'm willing to compromise price for easier manufacture by not having to use a glass drill, and then not having to paint or "paper" the rear panel.

So, as per my original message, is there anything about a butt joint between glass and acrylic with a silicone caulk seal that anyone might have experience with?

silicone doesnt stick to plastic or acrylic, I was told. Personally I'd use glass (premade tank) and just paint the back black if thats what you want. Later you may find a different background preferable so something more temporary than paint might be advisable.

I'm sceptically wondering, how much design can go into a 6 - 10 gallon tank?

Anyway, best of luck! I'd like to hear more about your goals with this project.

Sorry, I thought I'd mentioned the usage. It's not for a typical planted tank. It's partly for an experiment with a "planted killifish" tank. I want to make 4+ of these tanks for a rack with overflow for easy water changes. I was trying to maximize some size parameters for the given shelf. And while I've drilled many tanks, it is a pain in the ass!

Well, thought I'd ask and see before wasting any time or money. Thanks for all the input! :-)

Go one material or the other, not both.

Regards,
tom Barr

oh cool, sounds like it will be a nicely designed system!