Starphire Glass Has a haze (pictures included)

[BZOFIQ]

Correctly built Euro-Braced tank are braced on the inside of the glass. Period.

Yes, there are different ways that a tank could be braced....just dont call it euro-braced.

The brace on the inside of the glass is designed to prevent bowing....I am not sure what a brace on top of the glass is designed to do, prevent water from spilling over.


but thats not what this thread is about anyway.....so whats the verdict lanthanum chloride, carbonate buildup or defective glass?

 

[Ashish Patel]

It says eurobraced on my receipt so that all I know it to be...

 

[Ashish Patel]

 

[Ashish Patel]

I think I found out the problem. After months of asking as many experts and LFS owners I spoke to guys at Planet aquariums at Reefapalozza. Funny thing is they had a Glass expert they flagged that instantly knew exactly what the problem was. He said glass will be labeled and its manufactured job to ensure that the correct side is facing the elements, in this case "saltwater". they accidentally mixed up the side that would contain tin and this is causing the hazing on the front panel. Probably the reason why the manufacture did not respond to my pictures but they just lost a lot of money in future business in frag tanks, larger aquariums, and referrals.

Unfortunately, I can't do anything but deal with it for now until I move and then I can transfer everything to a temporary vatt and try to buff out the hazing. So I told Planet aquariums that you'll be getting an order for my next big build..

 

[Mark Gray]

I think I found out the problem. After months of asking as many experts and LFS owners I spoke to guys at Planet aquariums at Reefapalozza. Funny thing is they had a Glass expert they flagged that instantly knew exactly what the problem was. He said glass will be labeled and its manufactured job to ensure that the correct side is facing the elements, in this case "saltwater". they accidentally mixed up the side that would contain tin and this is causing the hazing on the front panel. Probably the reason why the manufacture did not respond to my pictures but they just lost a lot of money in future business in frag tanks, larger aquariums, and referrals.

Unfortunately, I can't do anything but deal with it for now until I move and then I can transfer everything to a temporary vatt and try to buff out the hazing. So I told Planet aquariums that you'll be getting an order for my next big build..

They won't fix this for you? that's bad business
, I have received my tank now love it if your interested look up Tankmeusa.com

 

[Ashish Patel]

They won't fix this for you? that's bad business
, I have received my tank now love it if your interested look up Tankmeusa.com

I send then few pictures and politely asked what could be causing this and advice on how to get rid of it ...No response - So much for their 10 year fake warranty! It is bad business for sure the tank was an investment for me and cost me $2000. I wanted a solid tank that would never have issues after 10+ years and have good re-sale value. Now I am probably turning it into a QT tank.

 

[Ashish Patel]

 

[Ashish Patel]

If i am not mistaken the Molten Tin side is facing saltwater, which is causing it to haze.

 

[Mark Gray]

I send then few pictures and politely asked what could be causing this and advice on how to get rid of it ...No response - So much for their 10 year fake warranty! It is bad business for sure the tank was an investment for me and cost me $2000. I wanted a solid tank that would never have issues after 10+ years and have good re-sale value. Now I am probably turning it into a QT tank.

Man I wonder if you could maybe get a lawyer to call them and just see what they do.

 

[Reefltx]

If i am not mistaken the Molten Tin side is facing saltwater, which is causing it to haze.

Sorry for your problems, but that’s interesting. I wonder if this correlates to all the positive Tin results some have been getting on their ICP.

 

[SciGuy2]

Sorry for your problems, but that’s interesting. I wonder if this correlates to all the positive Tin results some have been getting on their ICP.

I was wondering the same thing.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Interesting, I was not aware others where finding tin in their ICP test. I am moving in 2 months so plan on moving everything to a temporary stock tank for 2 days while I work on cleaning the haze with a buffing wheel and that cerium oxide (or something), that is used for small scratches, im sure it should work for the hazing. Since its a surface hazing I am confident the polish should help but its going to take some elbow grease. I may even just invest in a nice size frag tank and set that up until I can fix this problem.. Hoping for the best.

 

[Ashish Patel]

I am moving in 1-2 months so finally I can move everything to a temporary holding tank while I do my best to remove the hazing and run new plumbing to the basement.

Any glass expert can chime in on how to tackle this would be great.. I was thinking a wheel of somekind with perhaps cerium oxide?

 

[uglyman]

I am moving in 1-2 months so finally I can move everything to a temporary holding tank while I do my best to remove the hazing and run new plumbing to the basement.

Any glass expert can chime in on how to tackle this would be great.. I was thinking a wheel of somekind with perhaps cerium oxide?

I am no expert but I recently polished a starfire nano tank that had a scratch on the front pane, this is just from my experience so maybe a glass expert has better advice. I found that you need a good felt polishing wheel that uses a circular face rather than an edge wheel and make sure you use a low speed setting as you do not want to heat up the glass too much, so keep a wet cloth on hand to wipe over the glass as you go with a tub of cold water to keep the cloth cool.

Also make sure you purchase the white cerium oxide as the pink is a course grade used in gem tumblers and white is used for fine polishing. So just take it slow and steady and polish all the panel evenly and always keep the panel cool and you should be fine. Oh and keep equipment clean and work area clean as you don't want a small bit of contamination scratching the panel as you will be in bigger trouble than you were in the first place trust me on that.

Hope that helps

 

[Ashish Patel]

Uglyman - Thanks, I appreciate your good advice, good point on the heating the glass thing!!!

 

[Ashish Patel]

I only have to polish the front panel.. Im going to find some glass companies maybe they can do it for reasonable price if I take it to them, for them it would be a easy job id hope.

 

[Ashish Patel]

I am no expert but I recently polished a starfire nano tank that had a scratch on the front pane, this is just from my experience so maybe a glass expert has better advice. I found that you need a good felt polishing wheel that uses a circular face rather than an edge wheel and make sure you use a low speed setting as you do not want to heat up the glass too much, so keep a wet cloth on hand to wipe over the glass as you go with a tub of cold water to keep the cloth cool.

Also make sure you purchase the white cerium oxide as the pink is a course grade used in gem tumblers and white is used for fine polishing. So just take it slow and steady and polish all the panel evenly and always keep the panel cool and you should be fine. Oh and keep equipment clean and work area clean as you don't want a small bit of contamination scratching the panel as you will be in bigger trouble than you were in the first place trust me on that.

Hope that helps

Would it be good to have the tank faced down and running a constant stream of cold water over the panel while I use the wheel? leaving the the tank upright wont' help but laying it flat would ensure water would remain on the panel

 

[uglyman]

Would it be good to have the tank faced down and running a constant stream of cold water over the panel while I use the wheel? leaving the the tank upright wont' help but laying it flat would ensure water would remain on the panel

I laid my tank down on the panel side that I was polishing as it's way easier, you will not need a constant stream of water as it will wash the cerium oxide off the panel. The best method I found was to polish for a few seconds and touch a finger on the spot I was polishing to see if it was heating up too much and if so I would wipe it over with a cold wet cloth until it cooled then repeat polishing until it got to warm again. You kind of want to keep a balance between getting it too hot and washing off all the cerium otherwise you use a lot of cerium.

For you doing and entire panel is way easier than me doing one scratch as I am constantly heating a small area, doing an entire panel you just have to move around the entire panel and not heat any one spot so you should be fine.

 

[Captain Quint]

Same thing happened to me, the builder said the glass had been left outside and moisture somehow got in causing the staining, there’s nothing you can do other than demand a new tank cause the glass is defective .

Mine was replaced , the thing is, you can’t notice the staining unless there’s water in the tank

+1 with advice. I've had at least a dozen low iron glass custom tanks built by G.C.'s for me, I've ordered low iron panels from them as well and have built a few tanks with it and never had an issue.

I will add that several years ago I was at a coral farm and the caretaker of it offered a good price on some low iron panels which had been outside in the elements for some time and they were hazy. I did not buy them.

I know the two owners of G.C.'s and they both told me to never leave low iron glass panels outside for any period of time.

I hate this happened to you OP. Please keep us updated.

 

[Scottcscs]

I know this is kinda old now but curious to know if there was any more development into what may have caused this?
Currently I have an aqua one aqua reef 400 (don't persecute me for it was my first tank and didn't know any better) for around 4 years now and it has done the exact same thing over the last 18 months on the front panel which is also low iron.

I have just started a build on a new 8 foot tank with low iron glass and a little worried that I shouldn't go regular glass incase it is something I am doing to cause this.