5 replies to this topic

[Enderz]

Should i use glass or plastic test tubes?

[Kevin]

Many prefer glass but personally I buy plastic for no breaking and its cheaper. Plastic is almost always never as clear though.

[dspdrew]

It all depends on what you want from them. Plastic are more durable, but scratch very easily and will have terrible visibility. Glass can be cleaned and sterilized much easier, simply by boiling them or heating them in an oven. Plastic would melt or catch on fire if you tried that.

[Vendayn]

I think either one is fine, its just personal preference. They both have cons/pros.

 

For example, buy a cheap 10 gallon aquarium from petsmart/petco? It likely will crack very easily and they use the cheapest junkiest glass. I had a 10 gallon tank sitting outside for fish, and randomly it cracked on the bottom (no idea why, maybe the heat?) and I switched them over to a plastic aquarium. It just randomly cracked on the bottom for no reason at all, except it was a piece of junk glass aquarium not even worth using. The much larger tanks don't have that issue though, since the larger tanks use much stronger glass.

 

However, Tarheel's museum quality glass is amazing. I didn't get it in my new formicarium I bought from him, because it adds quite a lot to his price. I bought the pinnacle, and it would have been far more than 200 dollars for it all. Which some people probably not a big deal, but that is a lot to me. And my fiance is one who bought it, and she makes far more money than I do, and that is still quite a big chunk out of her income. However, its strong and its like its not even there for picture taking. Its literally museum glass. I wouldn't use any other type of glass for a formicarium, except that would be expensive as heck to be only glass to use.

 

Plastic on the other hand is generally a lot stronger, and doesn't break nearly as much. Acrylic tends to warp when there is humidity, but polycarbonate is the best plastic you can use (as far as the cost/quality ratio goes). I love using polycarbonate for formicariums, but it can be hard to get a hold of. The con to that though, is plastics aren't very clear. And if I recall, polycarbonate can't be lazer cut. I think that was a con with that type of plastic. But polycarbonate is a much better quality and its actually A LOT more clear than acrylic is. I had a polycarbonate formicarium at one point, and it was like looking through a glass window. It still gets cuts and scrapes, but not nearly as much as acrylic does.

 

So you sacrifice being able to take even better pictures, with the museum glass, for something that isn't as nice for pictures and scratches easily (but more durable and far less likely to break).

Edited by Vendayn, September 24 2016 - 12:43 PM.

[Vendayn]

I just realized this is about test tubes, and not actual formicariums...

 

Well, in that case. I vastly prefer plastic tubes, they don't break. I don't care how clear the test tube is or not, I'd much rather have a stronger test tube for the queen. I always move the ants out as soon as possible anyway, once they pass 20+ workers. Some cheap glass test tubes break if you push a cotton ball into them. And its actually dangerous, because much easier to get cut picking up the glass pieces. I guess a better quality test tube would work better, but plastic test tubes are cheaper, more durable and work a lot better. Its also a lot easier to find plastic test tubes, than good quality glass test tubes.

 

However, some ants (like Camponotus) do NEED glass test tubes. There was a thread I believe over on Antdude's forum some time back, and people found out Camponotus are very sensitive to plastic and die a lot more in plastic test tubes. I'm pretty sure that was the conclusion for Camponotus. Don't really remember the thread too well.

Edited by Vendayn, September 24 2016 - 12:49 PM.

[Enderz]

I just realized this is about test tubes, and not actual formicariums...

 

Well, in that case. I vastly prefer plastic tubes, they don't break. I don't care how clear the test tube is or not, I'd much rather have a stronger test tube for the queen. I always move the ants out as soon as possible anyway, once they pass 20+ workers. Some cheap glass test tubes break if you push a cotton ball into them. And its actually dangerous, because much easier to get cut picking up the glass pieces. I guess a better quality test tube would work better, but plastic test tubes are cheaper, more durable and work a lot better. Its also a lot easier to find plastic test tubes, than good quality glass test tubes.

 

However, some ants (like Camponotus) do NEED glass test tubes. There was a thread I believe over on Antdude's forum some time back, and people found out Camponotus are very sensitive to plastic and die a lot more in plastic test tubes. I'm pretty sure that was the conclusion for Camponotus. Don't really remember the thread too well.

Thanks! And it's fine! Now i know more about formicariums lol