Apparently IA glass isn't Starphire...

[Quinn]

Another marathon thread for your enjoyment...

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=314728&highlight=interamerican

Apparently IA "Starphire" is actually something different... :rolleyes:

[BCOrchidGuy]

:mrgreen: Makes me glad I deal with King Ed :mrgreen:

Lostmind, you read this post????

One thing that strikes me is that if PPG is the only maker of starfire and folks are having this much trouble with IA and PPG knows this, why haven't they started a law suit against him for using their product name. I mean if you advertise your selling coca cola and it turns out your selling costocola coke would sue you silly.

Doug

[Quinn]

Good point Doug. They are aware, apparently, as some fellow on that thread claims to have told them.

I looked at my IA tank and there is certainly a blue tint to the "Starphire", when you look at it from the side, whereas my nano from Evan, which is also Starphire, is very white. Regardless, you can't beat the IA price.

[wayner]

Wow!, interesting, I've seen a couple of Inter-American Tanks with the front pane being starfire?, and it does appear clearer than regular glass to my eyes. :confused:

[wayner]

Is starfire suppose to be blue tinge or white?, or possibly both?, different types of clearer glass?

[whaase]

Is starfire suppose to be blue tinge or white?, or possibly both?, different types of clearer glass?

From what I saw from the post (in his comparison pictures) starfire is almost perfectly clear, IA glass has a blue tinge to it.

Walter

[StirCrazy]

um, you guys are aware that Starfire is only a brand name. all it it, is a low iron glass. there are several producers of low iron glass and they are all pretty darn close to each other. I have some samples of a couple different ones coming in for me to see at a local glass shop. (I tried to get Starfire and they told me it would be more expensive than a couple other types that were identical because of shipping from the US)

another thing you have to consider is the length of the glass you are looking through from the end.. the longer it is the more of a tint it will have, but some brands will have more than others, maybe Starfire is a little more clear than the next and maybe it isn't, glass clarity can very from batch to batch so who knows. OK now i am going to go read that article.

Steve

[whaase]

Good point Doug. They are aware, apparently, as some fellow on that thread claims to have told them.

I looked at my IA tank and there is certainly a blue tint to the "Starphire", when you look at it from the side, whereas my nano from Evan, which is also Starphire, is very white. Regardless, you can't beat the IA price.

Even though I don't have one, I have to agree. You can't beet the price. And they still look much better than "regular" glass.

Walter

[BCOrchidGuy]

Just don't pay for the tank until you have a shipping number.

Doug

[Namscam]

One thing that strikes me is that if PPG is the only maker of starfire and folks are having this much trouble with IA and PPG knows this, why haven't they started a law suit against him for using their product name. I mean if you advertise your selling coca cola and it turns out your selling costocola coke would sue you silly.

Doug

you know on a side note here but just more useless information that I have heard somewhere. Macdonald beef patty isnt really 100% beef even tho it says 100%beef on the wrapper. this is because thats the actual name brand of the wrapper.. Wonder y no one ever sues macdonald on this issue...maybe thats y they cant sue IA

[Canadian Man]

um, you guys are aware that Starfire is only a brand name. all it it, is a low iron glass. there are several producers of low iron glass and they are all pretty darn close to each other. I have some samples of a couple different ones coming in for me to see at a local glass shop. (I tried to get Starfire and they told me it would be more expensive than a couple other types that were identical because of shipping from the US)

another thing you have to consider is the length of the glass you are looking through from the end.. the longer it is the more of a tint it will have, but some brands will have more than others, maybe Starfire is a little more clear than the next and maybe it isn't, glass clarity can very from batch to batch so who knows. OK now i am going to go read that article.

Steve


Ditto Steve's marvelous comments. Your tank will look less green quinn as it's thinner glass.
Like steve said it's all "Low Iron Glass"

[EmilyB]

Yah, look thru the brace at your white wall, and then thru the glass.

I'm happy with it. :confused:

[LostMind]

Hey Doug. ;P

Yup, reading this and frankly... I dun care!

At this point, I get all the options I want, a tank built to the odd length and width I want (7' long 3' wide and 2' high) with euro bracing and starphire glass for the front with custom overflows. All for much much much cheaper then Ron was willing to sell or order in anything in a regular/standard size for me :P

Now all I hope is that the tank is delivered in less then 4 months... but to be honest, it is probably going to take me that long to get the room ready for it... so... heh.

Oh well, maybe it is starphire I get and maybe it is just some low iron knock off product. At least I can get the custom size I want :)

[Son Of Skyline]

Macdonald beef patty isnt really 100% beef even tho it says 100%beef on the wrapper. this is because thats the actual name brand of the wrapper..


Yup...it's "100% Beef" brand :lol:

I don't like vendors selling things under incorrect name brands, but if the glass from IA is still more clear than regular glass then it wouldn't really matter to me what they called it.

Now time to read that article...

[EmilyB]

I must admit I saw starphire there five years ago and it made me drop to my knees. :eek:

I did wonder why mine didn't have quite that "Petsmart" glow to it...... :rolleyes:

Do Canadians have problems with him, and why does he carry on business with the US hobbiests if he hates it so much. :question:

When we were going over our tank specs with him, he was answering the phone ... :question: :neutral: He did say "damn Americans"... :eek:

[whaase]

I must admit I saw starphire there five years ago and it made me drop to my knees. :eek:

I did wonder why mine didn't have quite that "Petsmart" glow to it...... :rolleyes:

Do Canadians have problems with him, and why does he carry on business with the US hobbiests if he hates it so much. :question:

When we were going over our tank specs with him, he was answering the phone ... :question: :neutral: He did say "damn Americans"... :eek:

Two answers to this. 1st, he deals with them because they keep paying him!. :lol: 2 - funny he says "damn Americans" But calls his company "InterAmerica" :confused: :mrgreen:

Walter

[MitchM]

It constantly amazes how so many people buy with price as their priority and then complain about quality later.
Human nature, I guess.
Must be why Walmart is such a success.

Mitch

[BCOrchidGuy]

It's one of the things I was trying to get at with my customer service vs price poll. It was about 50/50

I've heard so much good stuff about his tanks the theme to get it delivered on time though is not to pay up front, just give partial payment and then the rest upon completion. On RC there was a guy complaining that his IA tank started to leak as soon as he had it filled... complained about salt water all over his new hard wood floors etc... Didn't anyone ever tell him to fill the tank slowly and let it run for a few days before he added the salt? There's a lesson learned he didn't comment on.

Doug

[LostMind]

Well, my reasoning for going IA is simple - I want a tank that is not a standard size.

I have read the negative remarks on IA on RC. There seems to be a lot of complaints about timelines not being met. But everything I read says that Mitch did a quality job, so I figured I was ok. Plus, every Canadian who ordered from him said they had no problem.

Now, I havent actually recieved my work order and I havent paid yet. I am awaiting the fax still. I am fairly certain that I will accept it tho, as long as I get a tank in the dimensions I want, with the options I want.

Now, the main thing for me is the size of the aquarium. The fact that it is so cheap is just a big plus. If the quality is not there, I will be ****ed and mitch will hear about it.

[BCOrchidGuy]

Yep it's an odd size and the price is sure good. Just out of curiosity, what's delivery going to be?

Doug

[LostMind]

$200 to the depot.

An extra $80 for delivery to my door, another $80 if I want them to use a power tail gate and actually bring the tank in my house.

So, roughly $400 to get it in my fish room if I want to go that route. Or else $200 and a few beers to convince my friends to help me out.

Not sure if I should go the cheap route here and bring it in myself... imagine someone dropped their corner... ugh.

[Quinn]

Yup...it's "100% Beef" brand :lol:


All the same, it tastes damn good, and people don't drop dead after eating it. :neutral:

[BCOrchidGuy]

Pay the extra to get them to do it, if they drop it, it's insured, if you drop it, Oh well.

PLUS it's going to take just a couple of folks to move that sucker mines about half the size of yours and mine's 300lbs I think.

Doug

[Chin_Lee]

Well my tank arrived 2 months and three weeks after I was billed for it (2 months after the "promised" delivery date) but it came exactly to what I had asked for. The crate it came in was solidly built and the tank was sitting on a long pallet with very strong corrugrated cardboard between. The sides also had the cardboard and it was all boarded up solid. The crate and tank weighed 525 lbs and I'm so happy that its finally here!!!!
http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/500/236107_0729a.JPG?4994

I became worried reading this tread about the starphire glass thing so I went out to my garage to take a look. With my eyes, there doesn't seem to be any blue tint and comparing it to the normal glass eurobrace, there is definitely a difference. Even if that is not the "real" Starphire glass, I don't think I am going to be too concerned. Take a look at it and see for yourself. I placed a white cabinet door behind the tank. The bottom is through the "starphire" glass, the eurobrace in between and the top is no glass at all.

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/500/236107_0735a.JPG?8662

So will I be upset if it is not REALLY the true "Starphire" brand of glass? I probably will not. If this thing starts leaking on me, then I probably will. :mad:

[eposer]

I just spent about 10 minutes poking around looking into the starphire issue.

The starphire I have purchased to build tanks with defenitly has a visivble blueish tinge(when viewed on edge) to it but nothing like the dark green of standard float glass

Here is a quote from PPG themselves "Outdoor Appearance: Ultra Clear glass with aquamarine edge". Sounds blue to me :rolleyes:

http://www.ppg.com/gls_commercial/library/specs/spec1.htm

On the following link, in the closeup picture of the doors you can also see the blue. Also take notice of the note at the bottom right of the page.

http://www.ppg.com/gls_commercial/starphire/app-entrance.htm


I can only conclude that starphire does indeed have a blueish tint. Seeing as it's transmits 91% of visible light the remaining 9% that is blocked must account for some colour :neutral:

blue...blue...blue...blue...blue...
blue...blue...blue...blue...blue...
blue...blue...blue...blue...blue...
:lol:

[Delphinus]

I just noticed that when I blow my nose, I usually look for a "Kleenex" instead of a "Tissue." But if I'm given a "generic" or "other brand" tissue, and my nose is dripping, then I'm probably apt to not really care what I use.

I guess that's all I have to say. I was just thinking I should go Xerox my tank plans before I send them over to Mitch, .........

[Canadian Man]

I just noticed that when I blow my nose, I usually look for a "Kleenex" instead of a "Tissue." But if I'm given a "generic" or "other brand" tissue, and my nose is dripping, then I'm probably apt to not really care what I use.

I guess that's all I have to say. I was just thinking I should go Xerox my tank plans before I send them over to Mitch, ......... :lol: :cool: :lol:

[Quinn]

Evan I borrowed what you found on the PPG website and posted it in the RC thread, and threw in some of my own comments... all of a sudden, the thread came 180. :rolleyes:

[eposer]

Teeve - You s#@! disturber you, way to fan the fire :lol:

I just think it's funny that the people on RC were talking to...a distributor they knew etc... and not just going straight to PPG.

E.