# Type of glasses for aquarium



## uklau (Oct 9, 2006)

I'll like to start a new thread on this as I don't see it to be discussed here. I personally feel that a good quality glass contributes very much to a pleasant viewing. I only know 2 types of glasses, tampered glass & float glass. Understand that aquarium uses float glass. There are also high clarity/higher grade & normal clarity for float glass. Hope fellow forumers can enlighten me on this matter. Thanks.


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## art (Aug 18, 2006)

i read in reefkeeping hobby that they use starphire glass in their front glass panel


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## bergzy (Jul 19, 2005)

there are several types of glass for the aquarium hobby. there are also numerous, numerous tank builders that use the variety of these glasses to make their tanks...

of course, for any commission of a 'custom' tank (ie dimensions and/or specific glass), prices start to go up.

starphire - laminate over glass that gives incredible true visibility. it eliminates the 'green' tint that is usually associated with regular float glass.

low iron glass- similar if not the same as starphire...since starphire is a brand name. some tank makers wont use 'starphire' cuz there really is no difference between this and starphire except PRICE.

polished glass - 'almost' like starphire. poor man's starphire. really, really good clarity that almost matches that of starphire but a lot cheaper!!!

what to look for in a tank and questions to ask a tank builder?

what color silicone do you use? most high end tank owners like black silicone.

do you do eurobracing? much better than having a center brace that interferes with light and is annoying for aquascaping.

some makers are even making braceless tanks. this is mostly a european thing still and the only tank builder i have seen do this is elos and that is with smaller tanks.

how much do you charge for every hole you drill? some charge minimal, some a lot. holes are for overflows and closed loops which most serious tnak owners have. additionally, most serious tank owners have holes drilled in the top eurobracing for additional circulation pvc to be threaded through for flow and circulation. whether the flow and circulation be fast or slow...this is always an important factor to consider.

do you use tempered glass...and if so...which panes? you CAN NOT drill tempered glass once tempered. it will shatter. thus, you may want to specify where you want holes before they (if they) temper it.

how much is shipping? if you order a custom tank from afar, take the cost of shipping into consideration.

what is your warranty? my 180g broke a seam and created havoc in spilt water. excluding the cost of home repair, the tank builders rebuilt my tank for free.

hope this was a little bit of help!


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## gnatster (Mar 12, 2004)

The info above about glass is somewhat incorrect. 

There is no lamiate over Starphire. It's a mix that has a lower iron content resulting a clearer glass. 

Low Iron can be starphire or other brands. Starphire is PPG. 

Polished glass is not poor mans starphire. Any glass can be polished. Normally in a custom tank by a builder that does more then slap tanks together all the edges will be polished. 

I did a lot of research on this a while and it still holds true. See [Wet Thumb Forum]-Learning about Glass - Aquatic Plant Central- aquascaping...a living art


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## snowy (Jun 4, 2006)

FWIW this company's page shows a comparasion between regular 'clear' glass and the Starphire brand.

Glass Splashbacks - The Glass Guy - Melbourne's Glass Splashback Specialists


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## essabee (Oct 7, 2006)

Never seriously paid attention to glass, this thread got me thinking. The first time I had anything to do with glass was to grind up incadesent lamp glass for application to my kite strings(we have kite fights in India). I was highly interested in the chemistry class at school where we dropped different salt crystals into concentrated silicon acid, producing flowers of silicates of different colour. I used to use laminated glass for the windscreen of my jeep.
I use chunks of glass I picked up from the yard of the Indo-asai Glass Factory as decorative pieces in the rockery of my flower garden. I use float glass for my aquarium fronts. I choose them by looking sideways at the sheet to find which variety has the lowest green colour, then I see through the face of the glass at moving objects to find if there are any aberations on the surface which would change the object viewed.


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## Guest (Oct 14, 2013)

Can regular window glass be doubled up and used as small turtl tank???


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