are SC Aquariums Starfire Glass (Low-Iron Glass)?

[MOREEFIN88]

hey everyone, i'm in the prosses of setting up my new 4x2x2 120 gall tank from sc aquariums. i'm not far yet, but as the rodi water slowly filled the tank about half way i noticed a reflection of a rainbow across the left side panel. made me think should that happen with low iron glass? so i looked up how to tell the difference between normal and starfire glass aquariums. and it looks like the tank i ordered from SC Aquariums that was supposed to have 3 starfire sides has all normal glass. i am just wondering if this was an isolated incident with sc aquarium?

short vid on the visual diff between the two.


some pics of the sides of my tank

 

[TheEngineer]

Hmmm... starphire is a brand name for a type of low iron glass. I have a 50g SCA cube with low iron glass and the edges are green, not blue. Is that really how you tell? My tanks is 2.5years old and that would make me unhappy.

 

[TheEngineer]

My “low iron”tank...?

 

[Dsnakes]

Most SCA tanks are listed as Starfire

 

[MOREEFIN88]

i read on another r2r thread with a a similar topic that starefire or low-iron will have bluish clear edges and raguler plate glass had greenish edges. not just that one youtube vid there is also a thread on reef central that mentions the same blue/green method but i am no expert..


https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-to-differentiate-between-glass-and-starfire.86633/

 

[MOREEFIN88]

Most SCA tanks are listed as Starfire

i noticed that. unfortunately i haven't come across any info disproving that green/blue theory.

 

[MOREEFIN88]

Hmmm... starphire is a brand name for a type of low iron glass. I have a 50g SCA cube with low iron glass and the edges are green, not blue. Is that really how you tell? My tanks is 2.5years old and that would make me unhappy.

this is my first glass tank i have only had 2 acrylic tanks before this, so not much to compare to in terms of glass. i did reach out to steve at sc aquariums and asked him is this blue/green method true? if not how can one tell that a starfire tank is a low-iron glass tank from normal? this is his reply.



If you can see through the glass from edge to edge, it will be low-iron glass.

Starphire glass made by PPG, the best low-iron glass, 95 to 96% through the glass. Usually a 120 gallon made by starphire glass is around $2000 to $2500.

Starfire glass which is what we use, still low-iron glass, and also able to see 92 to 93% through the glass.

Regular glass will be green tin on every angle, and can't see through the glass from edge to edge (just solid green color). 83 to 85% see through glass.

Acrylic, 100% transparence for light.

 

[Zagreus]

Wow that seems shady.....starphire versus starfire.......smells bad

 

[MOREEFIN88]

starphire starfire i didn't know they were two different things untill looking into all this last week and contacting steve, but hey maybe there's a silver lining in all this. i have seen people coment on how starphire with the low iron content is soft and can scratch more easily than normal glass, and everyone knows how easy acrylic scratches maybe starfire is the best in-between.

 

[KJoFan]

this is my first glass tank i have only had 2 acrylic tanks before this, so not much to compare to in terms of glass. i did reach out to steve at sc aquariums and asked him is this blue/green method true? if not how can one tell that a starfire tank is a low-iron glass tank from normal? this is his reply.

I would think...we are splitting hairs on this. If your question to him was how can you tell between starfire/phire and regular glass then..how important IS low iron glass? I don't generally observe my aquarium from the end of the panes of glass.

I understand the principle of the thing in that you want what you thought you were purchasing and as advertised. Absolutely. I myself have wondered how much more beneficial low-iron glass is vs regular because, as you said, it's known to be softer and scratch easily and I've even seen a thread here about fogging of the glass, maybe due to the low-iron feature.

 

[MOREEFIN88]

hi kjofan,

i don't think steve meant looking through edge to edge as an observational viewing point, but rather a test to distinguish a rough idea of the amount of iron in the pain of glass.

it's mostly about the principle i wanted to make sure no one was getting the shaft. after experiencing some shipping glitches with SCA i admit i was probably a little more skeptical about the situation. i can see edge to edge through all 4 sides on my tank witch is odd, because the back pane on my tank wasn't ordered to be starfire. maybe i got lucky and it's all low-iron glass.

 

[KJoFan]

hi kjofan,

i don't think steve meant looking through edge to edge as an observational viewing point, but rather a test to distinguish a rough idea of the amount of iron in the pain of glass.

it's mostly about the principle i wanted to make sure no one was getting the shaft. after experiencing some shipping glitches with SCA i admit i was probably a little more skeptical about the situation. i can see edge to edge through all 4 sides on my tank witch is odd, because the back pane on my tank wasn't ordered to be starfire. maybe i got lucky and it's all low-iron glass.

Yes, I understand what he meant, and I understand it's principle. My point was, it's a bit of irony that...by in large none of us can probably tell the difference between regular and low iron when just looking in our tanks on a regular basis. You see what I mean?

Anyway, I hope you got a satisfactory answer from Steve, I myself have owned a 66g SCA (still own but empty now) and just purchased a 150g around Black Friday. Though, to be honest I haven't inspected the edges of my glass. But, seems you've done the homework already for us SCA owners. So, thanks for that.

 

[coseal]

maybe i got lucky and it's all low-iron glass

it is highly likely! alot of glass manufacturers/distributors require whole sheet purchases. every glass manufacturer has there own line of low iron glass. starphire,optiwhite,ultrawhite,diamant,krystal klear etc.. out of all i have seen the PPG stuff is pretty blue. most of the asian imports have more of a greenish/white edge.

3/8" and thicker annealed plate glass gets pretty green.

 

[MOREEFIN88]

Yes, I understand what he meant, and I understand it's principle. My point was, it's a bit of irony that...by in large none of us can probably tell the difference between regular and low iron when just looking in our tanks on a regular basis. You see what I mean?

Anyway, I hope you got a satisfactory answer from Steve, I myself have owned a 66g SCA (still own but empty now) and just purchased a 150g around Black Friday. Though, to be honest I haven't inspected the edges of my glass. But, seems you've done the homework already for us SCA owners. So, thanks for that.

ya i see what you mean,and it's a little comical how thers such a price influx for something you cant tell wile normal viewing.

congrats on the upgrade. are you going to do a build thread on the new 150

 

[ihavecrabs]

You can certainly tell the difference, if they're side by side. I would be particularly ticked off if I purchased my tanks under false pretenses though.

Otherwise I'm thoroughly happy although I only have water in one tank and the other is still empty at the moment!

 

[KJoFan]

ya i see what you mean,and it's a little comical how thers such a price influx for something you cant tell wile normal viewing.

congrats on the upgrade. are you going to do a build thread on the new 150

I imagine in this case it's a bit of you get what you pay for. SCA tanks aren't premium priced, so you're unlikely to get the best of the best glass either. IMO, the tanks are a good quality for the price though, I've been happy with mine so far.

As for a build thread...IDK. I usually get kind of lazy when I do build threads and stop updating them. But, I have taken some pictures along the way so far...just in case I change my mind.