Starphire vrs good old glass
 

Hey guys I am in the market for a new tank . What are your thoughts on starphier vrs regular glass. Pros and cons and can you see a big difference ?

The Clarity is there for Starphire, but it does scratch easier. I'd say its a 50/50 split. I have had both and like either tank. Best is to see a starphire tank up close and see what you prefer.

I would not have a starphire tank built for me again, but I would purchase one used if it was scratch free. The cost for me does not translate into good tank mojo after the fact.

I don't really think it scratches much easier, the truth is if you can scratched a starphire tank it's more than likely you would have scratched the regular glass as well. I think it's a blame game people play when they've been careless.

I agree with Sphelps. People with scratched up staphire tanks would probably have a scratched up regular tanks.

+1 , yes starphire is slightly softer ,but when it comes to cleaning and general maintanance its no different then float glass.

if you scratch starphire you probably would have scratched float glass as well.

starphire for us is easier to cut thats where we notice the difference , other than that theres no diff, besides clarity and price:mrgreen:


cheers

denny
concept aquatics

I agree as well i've had my tank for 2 years now and have yet to scratch it and i clean with a blade attached to my mag algea scraper.

I have yet to scratch a tank either, but have always heard starphire scratches easier, even from a couple tank makers so I have always given that pause for thought. I think the only real concern is do you think the clarity is worth the extra costs. I don't really anymore but I do not know your budget. There difference is quite noticeable side by side, but I feel with good maintenance and cleaning a regular 'ol float glass tank looks great. Now if you had too identical setups one float and one star...well maybe you would always choose star...but the price is higher. Again depending on your budget. you do have to look at it all the time :)

clarity depends on glass thickness of course. having owned a 19mm glass tank i can tell you it was really green. starphire would have been nice. with my current nano i doubt i'd notice much of a difference as the glass is very thin.

Excellent point, thickness does play a significant part. This is a little example of why people spends months planning builds before actually doing anything :)

I only glass I'd ever pay extra for Is the algae repelling kind

Well I guess I'm one of the careless ones. I never scratched my bowfront and I had to scrape a lot of coralline algae but this new tank is something else, within a few weeks the scratches were appearing :sad:

Yea we are just all stupid I guess. :lol:

Steve I have never really disagreed with you ever but do with some of this. You seem to be on a crusade against regular glass.

Perhaps its certain brands or a cheaper version but it does scratch easier. I dont play the blame game and have 40yrs with a ton of tanks. The "clear" version I had, did scratch easily much more so than any of the regular glass tanks I have had.

If you had read the thread on my 180g cube back then you would have seen the several advanced aquarists agree with my findings. Plus so did the company that supplied it.

Are we all wrong? Certainly we are not making up. If its a blame game thing as you say, why did I not scratch any of my other several dozen tanks of all sizes. I cant say regular would not have scratched or not in the particular case that mine was but I can say I have done far worse to regular glass tanks and not scratched it.

Has to be some merit in that.

What exactly do you base that on Tyler. I,m one of them and you dont know my circumstances or me.

I would add one thing. If I had know the so called "clear" glass was softer I would have been extra careful. And perhaps not scratched it and wrecked a beautiful tank. So I guess you could call that careless.

And FWIW, If I was to do another larger type tank, I would use one of the "clear" version glass, at least in the viewing pane.

Well, one thing I am sure of, is that acrylic tanks scratch much easier. I have both acrylic and glass tanks. And despite just using plastic scrapers for acrylic, still have many scratches on it. And coralline really likes it, and sticks hard. My glass tank is a joy to clean vs my acrylic one.

If I was to buy another tank, it would be straight glass, no doubt in my mind.

Yuppers when I received my RSM 250 it has star fire front and I knew it so I took my tiger shark. I took them out and added a complete new felt and Velcro scrubber. low and behold after the tank was transferred its contents to the new tank .. all I heard was a huge scrap. and then I went I can't speak.

Do you starfire owners with non scratched glass use a felt to clean the tanks or a normal cleaning pad.

agree 100% with that below. since I started in saltwater in 1999 I have put one noticeable scratch on a tank, I have not scratched any of my 4 starphire tanks

Starphire (low iron) glass is definetly softer but whether that will be a factor in daily use is debatable, as seen in this thread. Float glass does have a green tint as compared to starphire which is nearly colorless, but how noticeable that is depends on the thickness. Last consideration is cost. How much will you pay to NOT have a slight green tint when looking into the tank. For my two cents, neither of the tanks I had custom built have included starphire, I just couldn't justify the extra cost. One had 1/2" glass, the current one has 3/8"

For the record I said careless not stupid :razz:

Perhaps some who have owned standard glass tanks for many years have grown accustom to a more aggressive cleaning technique which perhaps is too much for starphire glass. However with a little care, which you should apply regardless of what type of glass you use, will insure your starphire tank never gets scratched. I've pretty much always had starphire tanks, never had an issue and I use standard cleaning magnets for glass, not acrylic or anything special.

In regards to different types of low iron, I had a theory not long ago regarding generic low iron to be easier to scratch than brand name starphire. This was due to the discovery of a scratch after cleaning my new tank for the first time which has generic low iron. However after talking with people involved in building it and a few tests it's become fairly conclusive the scratch was there before I filled the tank.

At the end of the day, glass can be scratched, how easily really depends. The bottom line is if you're not the type of person to take a little extra time in ensuring you're not doing something that potentially scratch your tank then you shouldn't waste your money on a more expensive version of it.

Mike, remember when I said careless? Tiger shark is magnet for 15-19mm glass thickness, a RSM250 uses 10mm glass. The Piranha is rated for 10mm but the Hammerhead would have also been a better choice as well which is what I used on my 10mm, 12mm and now 15mm starphire tanks. Standard velco pad for glass, never once has it scratched it.

Sorry. That was meant as a joke. Thus the little laughy fella. :mrgreen:


And as I said, despite my views, I would still do another low iron clear type glass front of the tank thingy.

I agree the velcro won't be the culprit, Steve do you keep your float in the tank 24/7? The only time I have ever scratched my glass (regular) was a pesky baby snail that somehow worked its way in between the magnets.

well crap Steve I never thought about that before until now..\\hmmmmmmm:redface:

I wont on this tank

Yeap I do, but I usually check for things like that prior to moving it. It would be smarter to keep it out completely.

Since we are talking about starphire and float glass, does anyone have an opinion on Optiwhite Glass? Optiwhite glass is like float except without the green tint while holds more iron than starphire but less than float, I guess it's in between float and starphire.

I think the ADA tanks are optiwhite glass...or at least can be? They look nice. There is something about the heat transfer qualities of Optiwhite though...I read somewhere...I'll try to dig it out.

plus its cheaper :)

Even the color changes with low iron depending on the thickness...

for example:
http://www.fabglass.com/sub_products...hire_info.html

Glass
 

So it seems that based on all your comments float glass might be the better glass by a slight margin . I call it 5 for float glass 4 for starphire and 3 indecisive . The one thing that is clear is mag floats are cause a lot of scratches on any glass due to sand finding its way under the velcro. I think it's kind of like comparing LCD to plasma or led they all look good when they are 60" :biggrin:

I've got 12 sq ft of scratched up low iron glass right on the front of my tank, the rest is fine.

I dont think ADA tanks uses Optiwhite glass. ADA's glass have a lower lead count than Optiwhite glass.

Oh, i thought it was optiwhite....my mistake :)

has nothing to do with a mag float or other magnetic cleaning device..........has to do with not inspecting the mating surfaces of your cleaning device before ripping it across your beautiful display...

Have a Starphire tank for 6-7 years, no scratches from floats or anything else on the inside of the tank so can't be that soft.

Is soft enough though that a large dogs claws can scratch it but sure it wasn't just a light swipe.

Swimming lessons?