Is Low Iron Glass Worth the Money?

[MuddyWaters]

I'm looking at aquariums and dreaming of my next tank. I'd love to get something like Waterbox, but there ain't no way I'll get that past my wife. I think there are low iron tanks that are more reasonable, though, so thinking of that, but not sure it's worth the extra cash.

I want a 45 gallon, planning on planted freshwater tank with angelfish and some schooling fish.

thoughts?

 

[jaylach]

The advantage of low iron glass, to my understanding, is in clarity, not structure strength.

Ever see a tank where the panel joints are a greenish color? This is caused by the glass not being low iron. If high iron causes the green joints it stands to reason that low iron is a clearer glass. The thing is how important more clarity is to you. If you saw identical low and high iron tanks side by side you MAY see a difference but, if not side by side, you likely would not notice.

 

[GaryE]

I like the look of low iron tanks. If you are a photographer, or a billionaire, they're worth it.

I had three, all of which failed after my move. Now, my move was at -27 on a bad winter day, so that isn't normal range. Plus I drove 10 hours, which caused vibration even with careful packing. My cheapest regular glass walmart special type 10 gallon tanks cracked at about 50%. Brand name tanks? Only the very oldest at 10% My beautiful low iron ones (all tanks were completely dry and empty) were 100% broken. I was able to scavenge enough unbroken glass to put together two tanks out of the three. The look is good.

If you keep your house at -27, don't do it. I take the idea they are slightly more fragile from this, but have absolute confidence in the glass on the repaired tanks. Are they worth the extra expense? To me, no. I was given my three so I was happy to have them. I wouldn't have spent that much on them.

 

[Magnum Man]

aren't they similar in clarity to the acrylic tanks ( but much more scratch resistant )??? I have one acrylic & you can defiantly see a clarity difference between the acrylic & the normal tempered glass

 

[Magnum Man]

BTW... I had a non tempered glass 65 gallon go through 2 Minnesota winters stored in in an open, unheated machine shed, & maybe I got lucky... but I just set it up a month ago... no leaks... I was worried, & test filled it in the garage, in case it leaked...

 

[Back in the fold]

Never heard of this before but things get to me way after everybody else has heard of it .

 

[Colin_T]

As Jaylach said, if you have 2 tanks next to each other (1 low iron and 1 normal glass), you will see a slight difference in clarity. But in my opinion it's not worth the extra cost. Get a normal tank and save your money and spend it on fish.