What glass Thickness for low iron?

[piranhaman00]

The thicker the glass the more pronounced the difference. I'd say with smaller tanks that use thinner glass probably makes no difference. 1/2 and thicker, oh yeah, big difference.

My tank has 15 & 19 mm glass (Pilkington Optiwhite) and the difference is very clear - pun intended.

Same for the custom shower enclosure I recently put in our bathroom with low iron glass, there is no tint that changes the look of the tiles when looked through the enclosure and above. Would never go any other way.

There is certainly a differeance, but ultimatly comes down to what it's worth to you. Even a few years into the hobby I'd never had considered a low iron tank due to cost. Just seemed silly to me when I could spend the same and get a much bigger tank instead. But now that I've been in it for a long time, I don't think I'd buy another normal glass tank. Every time I go to my LFSs and see the low iron tanks I realize what a differance they can make and wish my display had it, but with all of my coral grown into quite large colonies, swaping out tanks sounds like a nightmare to me, and I've run out of space for more tanks. If my tank ever springs a leak I'll be upgrading for sure though. Once I do you'll never see sand in my tank, or anyone but me cleaning the glass though. haha

Like many hobbies, the longer you're in it, the more you are willing to spend extra $ to have the nice stuff.

These are the posts I’m looking for.

Sounds like 1/2” is the cutoff for most people .

thanks!

 

[Chrisv.]

These are the posts I’m looking for.

Sounds like 1/2” is the cutoff for most people .

thanks!

I’m with reefs and geeks (above). I’ve been in this hobby for decades. I will never buy a tank that isn’t low iron. I can see a difference. Especially with high powered leds, with so much light diffracting around. When I first heard about low iron glass I think i said “you have to be messing kidding me”. I said the same about vortech powerhead and apex controllers. Now I consider them all non negotiable essentials.