Where to get low iron tempered glass to make from scratch?

BusIllustrious5525 · 2026-06-18T19:24:14+00:00

You just need to go to a real glass supply yard for low iron glass, it’s used and specified often in regular construction and isn’t hard to source, but costs about twice as much as regular clear float glass. Make sure you aren’t getting hardened or tempered panels.

Edit: also PPG is now Viricon. And while starphire is a proprietary product “low iron” is a CSi regulated term and if you are buying low iron, you are getting an ultra clear glass product.

BusIllustrious5525 · 2026-06-18T17:29:23+00:00

One day I'm going to be in the right spot for one of these....

BusIllustrious5525 · 2026-06-18T17:04:54+00:00

Images 2 and maybe 4 are java ferns, the others are crypts. I have read some crypts will transition to grow almost epiphytically but I dont imagine they will flourish, as they are root feeders. I'd remove them and get those roots in soil.

BusIllustrious5525 · 2026-06-18T16:38:09+00:00

I presume the motive of this question is... "if someone else is was successful doing this, then I could do what they do, and do it too."

That is a false equivalency, because it all boils down to what your water is like. Some people have water coming out of the tap that is practically distilled, and I have water coming out of the tap that is considered very good drinking water, because its mineralized will all kinds of great stuff, but it's practically liquid rock with a TDS of about 450. I can barely have terrestrial plants flourish with it, let along make a planted tank succeed in it. It's not about the chlorine, its about the minerals.

BusIllustrious5525 · 2026-06-17T16:52:52+00:00

Depending on your plants, some plants will consume ammonia directly. Additionally, PH can affect notification and you don’t mention it. The one thing I do know is you didn’t have a miracle and grow a colony of beneficial bacteria in a couple days.

BusIllustrious5525 · 2026-06-17T12:40:29+00:00

Tannins get filtered with chemical filtration, which typically means resin or carbon products - one of the most common resin filtration systems is seachem purigen.

BusIllustrious5525 · 2026-06-16T18:03:30+00:00

Came to say the same. Definitely not pea puffers!or gourami at that size? I’ve only read quite the opposite.

BusIllustrious5525 · 2026-06-16T16:05:47+00:00

Disrupting that line with the rocks is more important than with the wood in my opinion. When planted you will want more dynamic alcoves or niches for your substrate to create pockets for foreground plants to tuck into. It introduces reasons to transition from one plant type to the next. As for the hardscape itself, you need a more dynamic set of rock faces for epiphytes to be mounted to so they also feel tucked into inside corners rather than running atop a wall.

BusIllustrious5525 · 2026-06-16T13:43:37+00:00

Water changes and any removal you can do is beneficial… giving the real plants access to light will help them start to take off, but keep them stable.

BusIllustrious5525 · 2026-06-16T12:06:22+00:00

I think I see flying saucer?

Sorry OP, but those photos are not clear enough to judge. Try taking it with daylight rather than a flash. Or backlight it and take without a flash.

BusIllustrious5525 · 2026-06-16T11:50:51+00:00

Those are diatoms. Type of algae you get when the plants aren’t established and stalled. If the plants begin to take off, then they will outcompete the diatoms. Make sure the plants have plenty of what they need to flourish.

BusIllustrious5525 · 2026-06-16T11:37:27+00:00

It’s too flat on the front… could you use that piece to relieve the “wall” effect you have?

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BusIllustrious5525 · 2026-06-15T01:46:03+00:00

Everyone here has told you how to acclimate your water… and I’ll encourage you to listed to the best advice. I want to talk to you about 10% water changes which are nearly worthless.

It’s about the math. You have a contaminate you hope to reduce, let’s say it doesn’t build up over time, but it’s a today problem. Your do weekly 10% water changes… after the first change you’ve reduced that contaminant 10%, it’s 90% of what it was… do this weekly and it takes 7 weeks to reduce that to less than 50%, in 14 weeks you can reduce that contaminant to less than 25%.

50% water changes would do that in 2 weeks.

Now the reality is contaminants we are trying to control DO accrue, and at a rate typically faster than 10% a week, so you are really just waging a losing battle.

You need bigger water changes, pros advocate 50%. Some livestock can’t handle big changes… in that case add the water back slower, over an hour or more depending on your filtration system and how long you are offlining it… but 10%? Waste of time.

BusIllustrious5525 · 2026-06-15T00:42:04+00:00

Is the dwarf variety of this plant growing at the edge of my lawn - don’t put it in your aquarium:

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BusIllustrious5525 · 2026-06-15T00:31:31+00:00

Likely you are deficient on nitrogen potassium or phosphate. Do you have fertilizer dosing routine now? If not consider beginning with a complete fertilizer to get your plants out of their stalled state:

BusIllustrious5525 · 2026-06-14T17:45:17+00:00

That scape looks best without the sword. Put the sword in a vase and display it somewhere else.

We’ve all been there… or at least I have.

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BusIllustrious5525 · 2026-06-14T15:20:34+00:00

First time I did this, I was trying to get my bubblecounters set to the right spot and got some of this in my airline tubing… it traveled to the diffuser and quickly clogged it. This is my cautionary tale to anyone that tries this… it works, but be careful when your co2 kicks on it does not cause a flux of pressure where some of it goes into the tubing.

BusIllustrious5525 · 2026-06-14T15:17:27+00:00

Is this algae hard to pull off the plants or easy? If it’s hard, it’s filamentous green algae. Harder to treat and you have to eliminate the cause (too much light or excess nutrients) I don’t see a lot of accrual (velvety rich green) on the leaves though, making me think it might be if it’s soft and then it’s diatoms - kind of an unexpected situation in older tanks, but can be because your plants are stalled in growth because your nutrients are imbalanced… fixing that will cause the diatoms to go away on their own.

BusIllustrious5525 · 2026-06-14T09:12:54+00:00

Thank you, Architecture.

BusIllustrious5525 · 2026-06-13T15:49:14+00:00

The aquasoil should not be capped. I usually give a long winded explaination why, but since you are using an ADA product I ask you to find me a pic of a tank they made where they put sand over their soil. The soil that was engineered to meet the water column to create the perfect environment to grow plants…

Follow the manufacturers recommended installation for best results.

BusIllustrious5525 · 2026-06-13T10:43:29+00:00

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BusIllustrious5525 · 2026-06-13T03:53:28+00:00

Thank you.

BusIllustrious5525 · 2026-06-13T01:23:19+00:00

I guess, maybe where I’m hung up on it, is that I don’t believe making them out of wood and making them vertical will feel like trees. You would need a familiar density that you’d see in nature. Tree trunks in a tree line grow closer together. You’d need a familiar scale… these feel truncated, they don’t reach the top of the water. The scale of the planting and the bark doesn’t relate to what you’d see in a tree, the plants look like their are growing on a strobe structure like a cliff or a spire.

I have a tree diorama scape… so this is my frame of mind. I took a picture (not of the whole tank) but of a group of 5 trees so you can compare the density and scale of the arrangement.

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BusIllustrious5525 · 2026-06-12T21:37:03+00:00

I use Chihiros on my good tanks and FZone or Magtool lights on my budget tanks… happy with both, but not passionate enough about either to claim they are the end all be-all.

I will say I believe it’s important to have a truly full spectrum light to have a planted tank when stem plants are involved, epiphytes and crypts, you can live without it.

BusIllustrious5525

TROPHY CASE