Glass supplier in Bay Area

[mendoza]

Hi All,

I am new down here to the Bay Area and am looking to start putting a together a new tank now that I am settled.

As I am a DIY type of person I would like to make my own glass tank, but need to find a supplier with decent prices on Starphire and regular float glass. Any help in searching one out would be much appreciated.


cheers,

james

 

[dannieboiz]

it's probably going to cost you more to build the tank vs buying one, unless you're building something huge, 180+ then I don't see any savings here. I just bought 2 pcs of regular glass 3/4" thick 24x48 and it cost me well over 300 bucks.

If you get starfire times that # by at least 2, but 3 would be more realistic.

BTW:

[welcome]

 

[mendoza]

Thanks for the reply, I am definitely aware that this is not necessarily a cost-effective solution but it is something that I would prefer to do more for the satisfaction than anything else. It will also be a fairly large tank in a custom size, so there would be no hope of getting something off the shelf.

That said, if anyone knows of any good quality custom glass tank builders in California I would probably give them a call to get a quote. The only ones I know of are Leemar and Oceanic, and given what I have heard of their prices I doubt they would be cost-effective either :| I also don't think they are willing to build braceless tanks, which is what I am after.



james

 

[dannieboiz]

For large size tank, you'd want some kind of brace. Consider Eurobrace as an option. That's what I have on my starfire and access is excelent.

 

[mendoza]

Access is not my prime concern with wanting a braceless tank, it is solely for the look. It is perfectly possible to have reasonably large tanks braceless provided the glass thickness is sufficient.

Anyway, to get back to the topic, where did you get the glass pieces you used to repair your tank?



james

 

[Kinetic]

hey james, you live pretty close to me! from what I know, there are a lot of companies out there that make large braceless glass starphire tanks. I know locally there's LeeMar or Lemar who make custom glass tanks, but they may be able to source you with starphire glass and give you pointers on how thick you'd need.

Also most glass (like custom window makers) would be able to get you starphire / low iron glass as well. There's a place on San Pablo that I remember made and cut glass... but I can't remember the name.

WHen you do find a source, please let us know! I'd definately be interested =)

 

[Kinetic]

btw oceanic doesn't have bracing, but it does have black trim around the edges on some tanks. They also have starphire bracing.

leemar on the other hand does braceless/trimless starphire tanks with diamond edged corners etc.

 

[mendoza]

Thanks for the heads-up on Leemar, I might contact an LFS to get a quote on a tank from them as a point of comparison.

I am currently waiting on some quotes from 3 local glass shops (Avis Glass, Wilson Glass and SF Glass Factory) so I will see how the prices shake out from them to make a decision. If anyone has any other recommendations I would love to hear them.



james

 

[dannieboiz]

Best price I found was Fast Glass 408-924-0611. Pretty friendly guys, takes about a week to order my 2 pcs of glasses.

 

[malate]

Bay Glass in Mt. View. Talk to Paul. Really nice guy and I got a piece of starphire glass for my hood a good price.

150 w. moffett i believe is the address.

 

[mendoza]

Cool, thanks for the tips guys. I will give them a call in addition to the people I have already tried and see what I come up with.


james

 

[Ti]

what are starpire prices like?

 

[mendoza]

I am still waiting on a couple of quotes, but currently 1/2" regular float is coming in at around $24/ft^2 and Starphire is around $33/ft^2. These prices are for clean cut edges and depending on the size of the piece the various edge treatments can go up to $150 each (or more for bigger pieces). When you add in this cost the premium you are paying for Starphire is actually quite small (~20%) which is well worth it in my opinion.

I will let you guys know who gave me the best quote as soon as I have all of them together.



james

 

[Ti]

humm, I guess not too horribly expensive for a small starphire tank.

 

[mendoza]

Nah, it's not too expensive at all for a smaller starphire tank. Especially if you can drop it down to 3/8" or even 1/4" it could be quite economical. Like I mentioned though, getting the nice bevelled edges may cost a little more as that seems to be where all the labor costs for the glass shop comes in.

Of the guys I have contacted San Francisco Glass Factory (http://www.sanfranciscoglassfactory.com/) were the quickest to respond via email with a quote, so you might want to drop them a mail and see what they say.



james

 

[Ti]

awesome thanks, I think I'll look into this.
I'm tired of acrylic.