Acrylic or Glass
- Thread starter 2quills
- Start date
pegasus
Well-Known Member
Easiest question I've answered in a long, long time... starphire glass. Acrylic has the advantage over normal glass when it comes to clarity, but it scratches very easily. Starphire glass has the same advantage over normal glass, but is much more scratch-resistant compared to acrylic. Just my 2c...
geridoc
Well-Known Member
pegasus
Well-Known Member
Acrylic tanks are lighter... but... I didn't bother to mention it since once they're full of rocks, sand, and water, both kinds of tanks are heavy! LOL!!! How big are you going???
2quills
Well-Known Member
96x30x30 around 370 gallons or so.
pegasus
Well-Known Member
Awesome! That'll be, well, awesome!!! LOL!!! Very nice...
flower
Well-Known Member
It will be worth it to hire the help... You have got to post pictures.
2quills
Well-Known Member
I will. It seems like just getting the tank down here will be one of my biggest challenges. I'm still waiting for a few quotes. So far TruVu, is looking like a really great option as they would ship directly to my house for a pretty reasonable price. Although, that would have to be an acrylic tank but they are willing to custom build to the thickness I'm after.
Glass Cages is fairly reasonable.
Waiting to hear back from my local fish stores so they can get me a quote from Deep Sea Aquatics here in, Texas. They make some nice tanks.
flower
Well-Known Member
I thought glass cages was a bit expensive. When it comes to getting those larger tanks, it's always custom made.
2quills
Well-Known Member
They are turning out to be one of the more affordable ones. But I hear lots of negative comments on their quality. The biggest down side there is the extra $450 to ship the tank down here and then have to pick it up from the freight terminal.
Still waiting for quotes from my local stores for a custom Deep Sea Aquatics tank. At least through them it's free shipping. Probably more expensive but better quality.
flower
Well-Known Member
That would be the route I would take, have the store deal with the headaches. $450.00 for shipping...OUTRAGEOUS! I doubt they charge that kind of price to the store, or they would be out of business.
2quills
Well-Known Member
Got a quote back for a Deep Sea Aquatics tank 96x30x30 with starphire on front and side panels for $5200. Shipped to a lfs.
Glass Cages was $3680 for the same tank. Shipped to a local terminal.
Or I can get a 300g acrylic built out of 3/4" material on the front, back and sides + shipped to my house for $2980.
Glass Cages was $3680 for the same tank. Shipped to a local terminal.
Or I can get a 300g acrylic built out of 3/4" material on the front, back and sides + shipped to my house for $2980.
pegasus
Well-Known Member
Wow... there's quite a difference in prices! Shipped to lfs... shipped to local terminal... either way, you have to go pick it up. That knocks DSA out of the picture. Both the glass and acrylic tanks are what I would consider "big purchase" items. Now, the decision is whether or not you're willing to pay $700 more for a starphire glass tank. I know it's a good bit more, but you have to look at the durability factor. Isn't it possibly that it's the last tank you'll ever buy, or at least on that scale? Think about how the acrylic will look like 10 years from now, and think about how glass will look 10 years from now. I can't decide for you, but I know which option I'd choose... and it doesn't involve plastic. Just saying...
2quills
Well-Known Member
Yeah I'd like to have glass for the scratch resistant factor. Acrylic can always be buffed out down the road but you pretty much need to empty the tank to do it.
The prices for the glass tanks with starphire are for about a 375g tank. Truvu was willing to build me a 300g 96x30x24 acrylic that would ship to my house. I think that's the larges off the shelf size they offer. However their standard reef ready tanks that size are made with .5" acrylic and that wasn't going to work for me. I gave them a budget of $3000 and they said they'd build the front, back and sides with 3/4", laminate the back panel in black and do a custom overflow for the bean animal design.
I'm sure the local fish store is adding some $ onto the bid for themselves which is understandable. They are going to get me a few more quotes. One for regular glass and one with the mid grade low iron glass.
From what the gentleman at Deep Sea Aquatics was telling me you have to watch out for other tank manufacturers because there are different qualities of low iron glass. There are a couple of manufacturers that make the ultra clear glass and starphire is one of them. But there are manufacturers that make stuff in between the ultra clear stuff and the regular glass. And that also, the glass can very in color from one batch to the next.
He sent me a pic of some samples of regular glass, mid grade (low iron) and Starphire (ultra clear).
The prices for the glass tanks with starphire are for about a 375g tank. Truvu was willing to build me a 300g 96x30x24 acrylic that would ship to my house. I think that's the larges off the shelf size they offer. However their standard reef ready tanks that size are made with .5" acrylic and that wasn't going to work for me. I gave them a budget of $3000 and they said they'd build the front, back and sides with 3/4", laminate the back panel in black and do a custom overflow for the bean animal design.
I'm sure the local fish store is adding some $ onto the bid for themselves which is understandable. They are going to get me a few more quotes. One for regular glass and one with the mid grade low iron glass.
From what the gentleman at Deep Sea Aquatics was telling me you have to watch out for other tank manufacturers because there are different qualities of low iron glass. There are a couple of manufacturers that make the ultra clear glass and starphire is one of them. But there are manufacturers that make stuff in between the ultra clear stuff and the regular glass. And that also, the glass can very in color from one batch to the next.
He sent me a pic of some samples of regular glass, mid grade (low iron) and Starphire (ultra clear).
pegasus
Well-Known Member
Yes, there are a few other options other than Starphire. Starphire is the brand name for PPG's ultra-clear glass. If it's labeled "Starphire", you can rest assured that it's the good stuff. Glass that other manufacturers claim are low-iron, or colorless, don't always live up to the hype. Oh well, $3K for a custom built acrylic delivered to your door sounds like an offer you can't refuse. Just use low-heat lighting on it and it should hold together... lol!
2quills
Well-Known Member
Eh, I'll add a couple more A.I. fixtures to the leds I already have. But to be honest if I really wanted acrylic I could get 5 sheets of cast material for $2300 and build whatever size I want myself. I just don't want to spend the extra time building it or risk a bad joint.
I haven't ruled out the DSA tank yet. The lady I deal with at that particular LFS seems to think she could get the truck driver to drop the tank at my house vs the store. But a $1500 dollar difference between that one and the glass cages tank is rather substantial.
That extra dough would pay for the MP60s I was planning on.
GC is looking more and more appealing at this point. If it's just a matter of sloppy silicone work I can fix that pretty easy.
I haven't ruled out the DSA tank yet. The lady I deal with at that particular LFS seems to think she could get the truck driver to drop the tank at my house vs the store. But a $1500 dollar difference between that one and the glass cages tank is rather substantial.
That extra dough would pay for the MP60s I was planning on.
GC is looking more and more appealing at this point. If it's just a matter of sloppy silicone work I can fix that pretty easy.