Starfire glass scratches

[beachsidereefer]

HI Folks,

Brand new starfire glass tank up and running for a couple of months, bare bottom. This is my 10th aquarium over the years and I"m familiar with how scratches can happen but I'm perplexed with this situation. For cleaning, I use magic erasers for the easy stuff and a kent marine metal scraper for the harder stuff (blades changed regularly), always careful to only use enough pressure to remove the Coraline algae. I no longer use a magnet cleaner after I put a big scratch into one of my previous tanks because debris got trapped in the magnet.

What's unique about these scratches is they are tiny, 1-2 millimeters, I can feel them with a fingernail, on the waterside of the glass. I also noticed a small pit the size of the period at the end of this sentence. Past aquariums, when I got scratches they were big and long, not tiny ones like these.

Is it possible the glass is defective? Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

[andrewey]

My money is on your use of the kent scraper (assuming you don't have animals in the tank that could cause the scratches). I would start there before considering the glass is defective, arguements about starfire being slightly softer than regular glass, etc.

 

[ELL23]

My money is on your use of the kent scraper (assuming you don't have animals in the tank that could cause the scratches). I would start there before considering the glass is defective, arguements about starfire being slightly softer than regular glass, etc.

I’m with you. I just purchased waterbox 60.2 and it got scratches to my amazed. I used a flipper. I used the same to my biocube and didn’t get any scratches.

 

[ELL23]

Waterbox response:

“no glass is going to be impossible or hard to scratch. Starphire is actually easier to scratch than standard glass - proper clean procedures make it so will not get scratched but no tank is hard to scratch or does this reflect poor quality.”

 

[beachsidereefer]

Waterbox response:

“no glass is going to be impossible or hard to scratch. Starphire is actually easier to scratch than standard glass - proper clean procedures make it so will not get scratched but no tank is hard to scratch or does this reflect poor quality.”

do you have a link to their recommended cleaning procedures?

 

[ELL23]

do you have a link to their recommended cleaning procedures?

I don’t know if they have

 

[rhastareefer]

In the 4 years I've had my Red Sea (Starfire on the front glass only), I've always used a plastic scraper and avoided the sand by about an inch. The ONLY panel with scratches in it is the front pane. I hate looking at them (even though, like you said, they're extremely narrow and 'invisible' to most looking at the tank, but I see them) so all I can conclude is that if scratches bother you, regular glass > starfire.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

Is this the point where someone says "see, if you had bought an acrylic tank you could buff the scratches out"?

Or are we going to stick to the "I am careful and never scratch my glass tanks, acrylic scratches too easily"

 

[alton]

Starphire Ultra-Clear Glass. Accept No Substitutes

The ultimate canvas for brilliant design. Starphire glass delivers pure clarity with uncompromised visual impact and true-to-life view. Discover more.

www.starphireglass.com

What was PPG is now Vitro. My first tank with Starphire glass was built in 2003 by the original Oceanic out of Dallas and to this day still does not have any scratches. My newest low iron glass tank (2016) has plenty of scratches. I would ask the question if your tank is built with Vitro Starphire glass from the aquarium manufacture? Most aquarium companies use a low iron glass that may or may not scratch easy and probably not the real Starphire glass.

 

[rhastareefer]

Starphire Ultra-Clear Glass. Accept No Substitutes

The ultimate canvas for brilliant design. Starphire glass delivers pure clarity with uncompromised visual impact and true-to-life view. Discover more.

www.starphireglass.com

What was PPG is now Vitro. My first tank with Starphire glass was built in 2003 by the original Oceanic out of Dallas and to this day still does not have any scratches. My newest low iron glass tank (2016) has plenty of scratches. I would ask the question if your tank is built with Vitro Starphire glass from the aquarium manufacture? Most aquarium companies use a low iron glass that may or may not scratch easy and probably not the real Starphire glass.

What guarantee do we have that they're still producing the same quality product that they were almost two decades ago? Especially after a change in ownership?

To respond to pdx's post, I'd still go glass because I'm too lazy to drain and polish so I'll just take what scratches least. But that's just, like, my opinion, man

 

[hart24601]

To respond to pdx's post, I'd still go glass because I'm too lazy to drain and polish so I'll just take what scratches least. But that's just, like, my opinion, man

My opinion too! Unless I had a monster tank I wouldn’t go acrylic. Seems like you see lots of failure posts about them too.
The tunze with plastic is a great option. I got lazy and used the metal on my water box and scratched it. Thankfully side panel away from viewing area.

 

[alton]

What guarantee do we have that they're still producing the same quality product that they were almost two decades ago? Especially after a change in ownership?

To respond to pdx's post, I'd still go glass because I'm too lazy to drain and polish so I'll just take what scratches least. But that's just, like, my opinion, man

I brought it up because everyone calls low iron glass starphire, I don’t think they realize there are different manufacturers of low iron glass. I heard for years how starphire glass scratched easier than regular. It wasn’t till I got my second low iron glass tank that I realized low iron glass scratched so easily. But that tank wasn’t made with the registered starphire glass.

 

[Gablami]

Another overlooked culprit for scratches is magnetic frag racks. Not sure if you had one of those on that panel.

 

[biecacka]

To respond to pdx's post, I'd still go glass because I'm too lazy to drain and polish so I'll just take what scratches least. But that's just, like, my opinion, man
[/QUOTE]

dont have to drain it to polish it. Can do it fully filled, stocked, and running.

corey

 

[beachsidereefer]

Thank you all for the replies and helpful insights!

 

[Crustaceon]

I managed to scratch my 55g with a flipper magnet scraper. Since then i’ve been doing all of my panel cleaning with a room key card from a best western hotel and couldn’t be happier. It’s actually easier than using the flipper aside from having to stick my arm in the tank.

 

[rhastareefer]

I managed to scratch my 55g with a flipper magnet scraper. Since then i’ve been doing all of my panel cleaning with a room key card from a best western hotel and couldn’t be happier. It’s actually easier than using the flipper aside from having to stick my arm in the tank.

They make scraper handles designed to take cards like that I've always used the cheap plastic scrapers with replaceable 'blades' (it's a rounded plastic edge). I just have to dig in on the coraline heh

 

[Crustaceon]

They make scraper handles designed to take cards like that I've always used the cheap plastic scrapers with replaceable 'blades' (it's a rounded plastic edge). I just have to dig in on the coraline heh

I need to look into that.

 

[rhastareefer]

I need to look into that.

Got mine off of amazon lol. I'm sure you can find a sponsor that sells it though.

 

[Kyl]

Whatever the low iron Chinese glass that IM uses is, that stuff is almost impossible to scratch. I abused my fusion 10/20 front glass, it is pristine. My 2017 DT made with PPG starphire scratches like hell compared to those tanks.