Looking for acrylic tube source | Reef2Reef

slogan315

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Anyone have recommendations for where to source acrylic tubes? Looking to diy some reactors for myself like what you see commercially available from geo and avast marine.

Can’t seem to find a place to buy a few 3-5” diameter acrylic tubes for less than $100’s a piece. Surely there is a cheaper source for the small time diy’er.

KrisReef

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Anyone have recommendations for where to source acrylic tubes? Looking to diy some reactors for myself like what you see commercially available from geo and avast marine.

Can’t seem to find a place to buy a few 3-5” diameter acrylic tubes for less than $100’s a piece. Surely there is a cheaper source for the small time diy’er.

Acrylic tubing is expensive. Sometimes I see it for cheap at the local plastics stores but it’s hit or miss if they have scraps.

Can you use pvc, it’s not see through but it is more affordable.

The other option would be to find used skimmers or reactors and use the materials in them. OP OP

slogan315

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Acrylic tubing is expensive. Sometimes I see it for cheap at the local plastics stores but it’s hit or miss if they have scraps.

Can you use pvc, it’s not see through but it is more affordable.

The other option would be to find used skimmers or reactors and use the materials in them.

I was hoping I was just looking in the wrong places and that it wasn’t that expensive everywhere. Unfortunately I do need clear, so scrap or used gear might be the move.

Thanks for the input!

theatrus

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I've sometimes seen Polycarbonate (e.g. Lexan) in tubes cheaper than acrylic. But not much cheaper (maybe $70 vs $100/ft for 6in, $40 vs $80 in 4").

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.

Rockit

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they stock up to 5 or 6" diameter. I got some 4"- .250 for about $25 for a 20" length.
Local to me so I just go in, but I know they ship a lot too.

Jamie814

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Tried eBay or amazon?

theatrus

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they stock up to 5 or 6" diameter. I got some 4"- .250 for about $25 for a 20" length.
Local to me so I just go in, but I know they ship a lot too.

Forgot about TAP. If there is a local store near by, they also routinely have cheap offcuts. And they’ll happily do however much of the fabrication you want for you.

My 15 year old acrylic sump cut by a local TAP store is doing great :) OP OP

slogan315

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they stock up to 5 or 6" diameter. I got some 4"- .250 for about $25 for a 20" length.
Local to me so I just go in, but I know they ship a lot too.

I do see 5”-1/8 thick 6ft for around $136. Better than others I’ve found. They aren’t local to me, but I hopefully have something similar local.

Any thoughts on cast vs extruded when it comes to tubes for reactors?

theatrus

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Any thoughts on cast vs extruded when it comes to tubes for reactors?

Whatever is cheaper - which will probably be extruded.

Cajun86

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Anyone have recommendations for where to source acrylic tubes? Looking to diy some reactors for myself like what you see commercially available from geo and avast marine.

Can’t seem to find a place to buy a few 3-5” diameter acrylic tubes for less than $100’s a piece. Surely there is a cheaper source for the small time diy’er.

PM me, i just might have what you are looking for

jerricolaboy

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Geetery Clear PC Pipe Long Polycarbonate Round Rigid Plastic Tubing Unbreakable Plastic Tube Clear Tube for Dust Collection Hose Fittings (6 x 36 Inch) https://a.co/d/9qeW19p

Cajun86

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I have some leftover, like around 10ish feet of 3"x 1/8" wall extruded acrylic.

Rockit

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Any thoughts on cast vs extruded when it comes to tubes for reactors?

I think they're fairly interchangeable. My use was a bit different....

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Hi all
ANY admins or moderators who want to oversee this please contact me
I am looking at a possible bulk buy of the 50 mm acrylic tubes the same as the bulk by done by michael in
as the last year members will remember the tubes new members will not
NOTE I HAVE NOT confirmed pricing MOQ this is purely an INTEREST post the last MOQ was 200 pcs 3m long and the last cost was when the dollar was higher , Michael has gladly agreed to pass on all info from the last bulk buy regarding product details shipping company and any other info we need if there is enough interest i will follow up and talk with michael and the company in China the last cost of the tubes was $20 each but the AUD was also around the 80 or 85c mark I am not doing this to make money and i will not let this cost me money with hidden fees or charges all costs will be calculated as per bulk buy rules and displayed to any member ordering tubes i am doing this as i would like some tubes myself as i am happy with the results from my purchase last year and would like to expand the show this is the thread from last years bulk buy http://auschristmaslighting.com/forums/index.php/topic,.0.html

Christmas @ the Myrtle (Michael) said:

jaxon said: Might be a noob question but is it possible to get HDPE from an international vendor? Would make the arch building process much easier.

That's the big question that has plagued us for years. "Can you"
I think you can get red or blue but not clear.
I went thru so many suppliers just to find this tube.

I work for a pipe manufacturer and the reason all HDPE in Oz is coloured, is due to the raw material in Oz has the carbon black (uv protection) premixed when supplied to the factories, the coloured pipe is just a co-extruded coating of coloured material over the black. So the only possible source would be overseas, they would also use colour and carbon black for normal production runs. All PE production would have a minimum production run to be economical for the manufacture. If someone could let me know the size that would be used by most, I could put out some feelers with my OS contacts. Just a point HDPE with out any colour or carbon black is not clear it is quite opaque. I found 2 suppliers of PEX in Australia. 1 has 100m rolls of a gorgeous white PEX ex-stock that looks brilliant but only has in ID of 14mm which means that strip with the silicon sleeve on it doesn't really fit. Without the sleeve it fits dead easy. It will also fit if it doesn't have silicon or epoxy filling as the silicon sleeve will conform to the shape of the PEX tubing. Both suppliers are coming back to me with pricing on lengths of 4m or 5m but both have said that the shipping on lengths rather than rolls is much higher. I have spent the arvo trying to work out how to flatten the tubing out so that it ends up being in long lengths more conducive to bending into arches and a gnats whisker wider so that it fits the silicon filled strip in it. I even went to the extent of asking benbrown if there is a slightly narrower strip available but he tells me that the normal stuff is all 10mm pcb with the silicon sleeve fitting over that.