3/4" Starfire Glass Sheet Price?

[kentrob11]

Anyone know how much a full 4 x 8 sheet of 3/4" starfire glass is running these days?

[kcress]

It's a bend-over price I can assure you.

I had three quotes for 3/4" 36"x70".
The average was just about exactly $1,000. The low price was $960.

It was so much I suspended building my own tank even though I already had it 90% done.

The cheapest place to buy it seems to be All Glass Cages. However then you are in for freight of a heavy fragile thing. That will likely cost about ~$500 to ship. Unless... You are very near to one of the standard self shipping routes GC have. Then you can meet their truck somewhere and get just about anything shipped from them for ~$75

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Using the price GC has on their website ($32/sq ft) for 3/4" low iron glass, a sheet is right around $1k. Though that price may be inflated to include labor since they're probably not expecting people to buy full sheets. A call might reveal a lower price.

[kentrob11]

true...I figured GC would be the first place I called since they make stops in St Louis. I'll probably be ordering the glass to have lowered into the basement before they finish the rest of the house...I don't want to have to take a window out to get that thing down there later!

[kcress]

You should seriously review the price/logic of doing your own build. Because of the cost of glass it's very hard to beat a purchased tank price. You can spend months making one and exposing yourself to lots of nasty chemicals, especially if you go the wood fiberglass route.

[kentrob11]

Already have ;-) 1200 gallon, rebar reinforced concrete block with 3x7 viewing pane is MUCH cheaper than a glass or acrylic tank of similar size. The interior dimensions are 8x5x4...

The other element I considered was the fact that I wouldn't 100% trust a glass tank that size even if someone was willing to make it. I'd be looking at 2" thick acrylic for the same build at probably close to 15K...

[kentrob11]

I also wonder if 4x8 is the actual standard size as opposed to maybe 9x4. I would rather have an 8x4 viewing pane if possible, with 6" silicone bond all the way around the viewing pane.

[bananaboat]

I also wonder if 4x8 is the actual standard size as opposed to maybe 9x4. I would rather have an 8x4 viewing pane if possible, with 6" silicone bond all the way around the viewing pane.


standard size is 130"x96" or 204"x130"at least that was the sizes we cut at my old job but we only made .95mm-15mm glass these standard sizes are for thick stock glass customers cut down to there sizes needed like glasscages.com 72"x84 or 72"x96 where also pretty common sizes

[BonsaiNut]

Already have ;-) 1200 gallon, rebar reinforced concrete block with 3x7 viewing pane is MUCH cheaper than a glass or acrylic tank of similar size. The interior dimensions are 8x5x4...

The other element I considered was the fact that I wouldn't 100% trust a glass tank that size even if someone was willing to make it. I'd be looking at 2" thick acrylic for the same build at probably close to 15K...

When building a tank of this size, the tank is a pittance compared to the system necessary to run it. I am curious about your equipment plans / budget, and how much you think it will cost to operate each month.

For electricity alone you are probably looking at 10 x 400watt HQI + 3 HP main pump + addition pumps / skimmers, etc. Depending on where you live I would think you'd be looking at $500 per month if not more.

[kentrob11]

Most of the equipment will be built by me. I've got quite a bit of experience in that area and have some reactor plans I'm excited about building. I'll most likely go with a pair of smaller skimmers though since it's more cost effective to go that route. Right now I'm thinking a pair of Super Reef Octo 7000's...

As far as lighting is concerned, 10 400 watt HQI setups follows traditional logic that would not efficiently apply here. The tank will have a very open aquascape to allow corals to grow out into the water column while still allowing for plenty of room for open water fish species. There will be 3 distinct islands that will be spot lit and there will be no less than a foot of open sand around the perimeter of the tank, reducing the needed lit space to 3 x 6. I'm planning on 6 400's to light thing tank. The most intense lighting will be where the corals are, not over bare sand. The shaded areas of the tank will be lit by spaced LED to keep the overall look uniform.

3HP pumps would also be overkill here. The tank volume will be about 1000 gallons so I'll be shooting for approximately 4X turn over which is sufficient for a tank this size. Smaller tanks definitely need more since they tend to be more saturated with nutrient producers but with 1500 gallons of total water volume, I'd be fine.

Flow will be provided by 6 strategically placed prop pumps made from laguna 1500s. 2 will be in the back and then 2 in each front corner mounted at different depths to a rotating rod moving the current around.

I am definitely aware of the electricity costs involved in a system like this. Every effort will be made to minimize power consumption where possible.

[100%hydrophylic]

good god!!! why is starfire glass so expensive??? from the pics ive seen of it it doesnt look that much better than the normal aquarium glass. am i missing something here??

[kentrob11]

Something else worth mentioning is that the real water depth of the tank ill be closer to 44" and since the aquascape will be designed to provide good flow beneath the rock structures, no corals will be less than 10" or so above the sand bed. A good read from Sanjay's website concerning coverage with modern reflectors:

Reflector design for reef aquariums has improved considerably allowing for more efficient use of light. With these reflectors we can now light reef aquarium with fewer lamps, get deeper light penetration over larger areas. As an example, I am currently lighting my 500G reef aquarium (84"LX48"WX30"D) with just 3 400W metal halide lamps in Lumenarc reflectors with no supplemental lighting. All of these reflectors help shatter the age old paradigm of having one metal halide lamp for every 2 sq feet of surface area. At the time my aquarium was set up, there was no other choice for reflectors. The new reflectors Lumenmax, Lumenmax Elite, and Lumenbrite have added to the choices available. They are all excellent choices, given that these reflectors are fairly close in performance to each other within their designed scope the selection would have to come down to other factors as well - such as construction quality, size constraints, space available for mounting, aesthetics, cost and availability. It is my hope, that the readers would use the data to choose the reflector that best suits their needs, rather than to promote reflector A as being better than reflector B.

[NanoReefWanabe]

good god!!! why is starfire glass so expensive??? from the pics ive seen of it it doesnt look that much better than the normal aquarium glass. am i missing something here??

to be honest anything over 1/2" is hard to tell the difference, the corals will look a little clearer and show true colours a little better still nothing like acrylic though and definitely nothing like a top down..unless the two panes of glass are side by side it is very difficult to tell with 3/4" glass...

[kcress]

NanoReefWanabe; Sorry but I couldn't agree less. Just look at the two in the sun. The low iron is transparent. The standard is like looking thru crummy dark glasses. I've mistaken low iron for "no glass yet".

kentrob11; Have you looked at any of the DIY LED threads? Your build's need for varied lighting would be well provided with that methodology. You can do things with them that is impossible to do with bent-up-shiny-metal & HID. It seems to be shaking out that you need a little less than half the wattage of HID lighting and that the payback for a DIY setup is only two years. Furthermore you could light the bottom as bright as you want as cheap optics allow deep projection, while no optics provide for shallow.

[NanoReefWanabe]

NanoReefWanabe; Sorry but I couldn't agree less. Just look at the two in the sun. The low iron is transparent. The standard is like looking thru crummy dark glasses. I've mistaken low iron for "no glass yet".



@ 3/4" thick? i know with 1/2" and less the difference in the two types of glass are very apparent...i just didnt think so much for 3/4"....perhaps the 3/4 low iron i was looking at was not top notch quality...but it was definitely fairly blue looking on edge....

anyone know the cost difference between 1" acrylic and the 3/4 starfire...perhaps acrylic is a better option?

[createyourown]

482.80 per sheet + shipping for 1" Acrylic

http://freckleface.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/product80.html

[username in use]

@ 3/4" thick? i know with 1/2" and less the difference in the two types of glass are very apparent...i just didnt think so much for 3/4"....perhaps the 3/4 low iron i was looking at was not top notch quality...but it was definitely fairly blue looking on edge....

anyone know the cost difference between 1" acrylic and the 3/4 starfire...perhaps acrylic is a better option?

The thicker the glass, the more apparent the difference will be. And the deeper the tank is front to back, the more apparent it will be.

[kentrob11]

Yeah I am definitely going with low iron glass. with 5 ft front to back, clarity will be key for both the water column and the viewing pane. I really not very fond of acrylic and even at 1", there will be bowing and I really don't want that.

[kcress]

As much as I'd prefer low iron in this case, I'd probably still pay the same price for the equivalent acrylic. That might mean 2". It would certainly be tougher and certainly clear. Bowing certainly wouldn't be apparent with a thousand dollar sheet of acrylic. The tank you describe sounds like it would be very easy to avoid accidental scratches, unlike a small tight tank where one is forced to operate close to the view panes.

[Brian Peterson]

I got mine from Coastal Glass on the east coast. Quite true that 3/4"
starphire is not cheap by any means. FYI the glass for my 325 gal tank ran
about 3-4k (if memory serves me correctly) shipped to Oregon. But I had
some custom work done to it also. Like 22.5 degress bevels to various edges.
They have a web site with contact info. "Might" be better priced than glass cages.
Good luck

[kentrob11]

kcress-

Actually I would love to go the LED route and will watch the progress of LED technology closely. I was hoping that plamsa would make some serious advances within the next couple of years but as it stands, it's a toss up between LED and 400 watt halides. I would need enough LED to penetrate and provide good intensity for SPS 30-36" down. I think that a couple of years from now when lighting will be needed there will be some pretty good options in that area. I'm going to let the system age slowly so after the build and cure I will introduce fauna populations with about 100lbs of really fresh and loaded gulf rock, along with a bunch of tiny feeder shrimp and whatnot to start a natural food chain of sorts from the bottom up. After it's well populated, I'll start adding fish slowly and then a year or so later, I'll start adding corals after the system is nice and stable. That said, it'll be a good 2 years before a lot of lighting is needed.

[kentrob11]

Brian- Thanks for the link...I'll check into it.

[widmer]

While we're sort of on the topic, what do the LARGE public aquariums use on their viewing pane? Is that glass or acrylic?

[kentrob11]

Acrylic most of the time. Problem with acrylic is that it's a coraline magnet! Most of the public aquariums don't have setups with elevated calcium and alk levels so scraping coraline isn't an issue...

[liquidfunk]

Starphire brand glass is not made in 3/4".

[kentrob11]

Liquidfunk...See this link:

http://products.construction.com/swts_content_files/510/E788748.pdf

I called glass cages and got a quote for $1280 for a 4x9 sheet. That would include a 22x48" cutoff that I guess I sould sell to someone wanting to DIY a tank or somethin....

I'm shooting for an 8ft x 3ft viewing window...Now I'm trying to decide whether to do the tank in concrete block or just have the developer pour the tank with rebar reinforced 6" concrete walls while they're doing the basement pour. The second option would obviously be a heck of a lot easier on me but I wonder how expensive it would be. I think I'm going to start another thread on this to get some insight on this build.

[username in use]

I would do the poured concrete, but you need the rebar to be the coated kind so it doesnt rust when, not if, moisture gets to it. Then do the truck liner on the inside. As for the extra piece of starphire, seems like the perfect window for that 4ft frag tank that you are going to want to have the concrete poured for next to the main display.

[liquidfunk]

Liquidfunk...See this link:

http://products.construction.com/swts_content_files/510/E788748.pdf

.

Ahh nice! as you see it says "now available in thicknesses" it must be since I was building tanks in the last year or so. That would have made life a lot easier for some of the bigger tanks I built.

[kentrob11]

Yeah I remember when they only had it in 1/2" and if you wanted thicker you had to go with laminated...

[Georb]

Yeah I remember when they only had it in 1/2" and if you wanted thicker you had to go with laminated...

Kent did this tank ever get made? Sorry for bumping old threads but I was curious to see how everything turned out.