Low iron glass...worth the difference on smaller tanks?

[Element]

yes...I'm back with another question haha. Seems the more I read and research to find answers the more questions I come up with...thankfully I like that kind of thing, to an extent lol.

Anyway, I am trying to figure out what size and type tank to go with. To try and keep my costs somewhat reasonable I'm thinking no larger than a 30 gallon which will still run me close to a grand I'm sure by the time I buy the lighting, accessories, live rock, sand, fish, etc. Although, maybe if we get a big hurricane this year I can just trap a bunch of stuff in my living room :O

OK, well...back on topic, I was researching low iron glass because naturally I want my aquarium to look its best when I stumbled across this thread on another forum via google:

http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=56322

basically people there were pretty much saying that with thinner glass (smaller volume) the low iron doesn't play nearly as much of a role as it does with thicker glass such as 3/4-1". What are YOUR opinions of this? I'm not too optimistic about any of my local LFS's carrying low iron tanks (I checked petsmart today on a whim, plus I needed cat litter, no luck of course lol) and I'm really trying to stay away from acrylic because of the scratching issues. I'd prefer to buy a tank locally than mail order because I hate having to return stuff via mail and blah blah blah...smaller stuff such as computer hardware I can handle, but not large stuff.

Thanks...as usual!

 

[Trogdor]

I honestly don't think you will notice the difference between the normal glass and low-iron glass once you get water in the tank and some algae on the glass.

 

[reefman23]

I love myself the starfire glass. While it's true that it is more noticable on the larger tanks, you can still see a bit of a difference on the smaller tanks. That being said, you have to figure out for yourself if that difference in clarity is worth the 3x or so more $$$ that you will be paying for it. Your most likey way of gettnig a starfire tank is to get it custom made. You only really need the front to be starfire.... maybe the two ends. the rest can be normal glass.

My ideal tank is a 120g (48"x24"x24") with starfire sides and front... big $$$ but maybe someday. :roll:

Jesse

 

[johnanddawn]

i agree if i wanted to build my own sweet tank i would def check into a piece of starfire for the front panel just for fun, but otherwise i would say no. do it right and spend your money on high quality lighting components, flow, skimmer, rock, and corals and it will still be awesome looking through plain old glass.