[Chicago]

ninong since it seems you have spent many hours discussing IA tanks and speaking with mitch as weel have i,,,,

have you ever idscussed with himn laminated tanks or with anyone else the issue of a laminated front.

i spoke top mithch yesterday and he told me he has not had any compaints about laminate darkening or any other problems...

he compared them to windsheilds which he blelievs to be laminated..

by the way he is more than agreeeeable to send me a new tank..he thinkks he could sell the one he made me and have it sold in chicago. the on ehe make for me is excellent craftsmanship but was a little short on the height..24 usable area instead of 31

let me know if you have any inof on the laminated front issue as the tank is still sitting on the stand and not framed into the wall or set up.


the old tank my 8 year oild 180 reef is still in the basement setup and waiting..

[Ninong]

After I posted the pics of my 120-gal Starphire tank online early last year, I received e-mails from quite a few hobbyists asking about my tank and about Inter-American. Besides yourself and Batman, there were one or two others who were planning on ordering a large Starphire tank with a laminated front glass. Unfortunately I wiped out all of my e-mails that were more than about three months old a few weeks ago.

Some of the people who originally planned on getting a laminated Starphire tank changed their minds and went with regular soda-lime glass (Nathan, for one). I'm afraid I don't remember the names of any of the people who might have ordered laminated Starphire.

There are, however, several people on this board, and the other boards, who have large Starphire glass tanks from Inter-American. I don't know if any of them are laminated or not. I would assume that if they are 6-ft or less in length, then they are just 12mm Starphire. One of the members has a tank that is 72"L x 24"W x 30"H and it is built with a 12mm Starphire front pane, either 15mm or 17mm soda-lime glass for the ends and back. It has heavy perimeter glass bracing around the top.

There is a member on this board who does have a 300-gal Starphire tank from I-A but I forgot his name. That one is probably laminated Starphire. The guy at North Coast Marines has a couple of large Starphire glass tanks. I don't know if they are laminated or not. I can think of at least two dozen people right now on this board and RC that have Starphire tanks from I-A but you would have to start searching the boards to see if you can figure out which ones might be laminated.

I don't know what advice to give you about laminated glass. I have no experience with it and nothing to base an opinion on. I have not heard of anyone posting about a problem with lamination until Batman posted that his was exhibiting a bluish sheen between the panes. You could always e-mail the manufacturer directly (PPG Industries) and ask their technical department if they have any opinions about having two 12mm panes of Starphire laminated together to construct an aquarium. I e-mailed them directly to ask whether Starphire was more prone to scratching than regular soda-lime glass and they told me there was no difference in the surface hardness and no difference between their regular soda-lime glass and their Starphire glass when it comes to scraching.

To answer your question about auto glass, yes, all windshields are laminated.

If you decide to do a search on the various boards, use the words laminated, Starphire and Starfire (in case somebody spells it wrong) and see what you come up with.

Good luck,

Ninong

[Chicago]

anyone else have comments opn laminated glass?