Future tank size

[trido]

It will be a while before I actually get it, but since I'm asking vendors and dreaming about it. I thought I'd ask for opinions. Since all of my ballasts are less than two years old and my pendants are DE, Im not willing to upgrade to 400s. I have a mixed reef but mostly like SPS.

Im trying to decide whether to get a 24" tall or 29-30" tall tank.
What would you do?

 

[Scooterman]

I voted the 180!
I'd rather go 30" wide 24" deep & 72" long & I think you can get those but the question would be do you have that extra room to go wider, so I say 180, they are nice!

 

[trido]

I would rather go wider too but it would interfere with the general function of our laundry room.

 

[Scooterman]

If I'd do it again & wanted big I'd go with the 180, don't like deep tanks, you have to swim to reach the bottom!

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Ditto on deep tanks being a pain to clean, to maintain and more risk of seam split during some activity. 24" is pretty deep as it is requiring tank diving at it's best.

 

[jamiehill]

I would go with the 180, given the choice. Like others have said above, cleaning is a pain and also if you go much deeper the 250W halides might not be enough.

 

[tamarindthai]

220 ,what i got rght now ,,love it from very beginning,,but getting small very fast for me ,,i need the bigger tank j/k

 

[loohunter]

180 brutha

 

[Snowboarda42]

Go big or go home. Who cares if it messes with your laundry room? I mean its a bigger tank, afterall...

 

[loohunter]

Go big or go home. Who cares if it messes with your laundry room? I mean its a bigger tank, afterall...

i use to think that but if you are not planning on replacing your lights than i think the color in the tank will not "pop" if the tank is 30 deep versus 24 also tank maintinance is a pain in a deep tank

 

[plack]

24" without sand bed for sps
Lps mix and or sand bed could go deeper but gets hard to reach many have said
if you could get anything Longer and maybe wider than 72" X 24" I would do it if I could !

 

[fly guy]

72x30 x24 for sure...although that wasnt a choice

30" wide is great for aquasacapin, any deeper than 24 "that is a serious PITA for lighting, aquascaping and maintenance.

I will offer that if you can choose to afford it, make sure to either DIY or have it custom made with an external overlfow box. you can coast to coast it as an added bonus....but the important thing is that its OUTSIDE the tank. nothing in the tank but reef.

 

[Brenden]

The 250 DE pendants will be fine with the depth. Cleaning will be your only concern. 6" more will not be bad though (also depends on your height and arm length). PS. I have lived it. Not just a opinion

 

[trido]

Thanks everyone. I likely wont get a custom tank because I will not get acrylic and I dont know of any reputable local glass tank builders. An external overflow would be nice but that again, is a custom build. At first I intended to buy a barebones AGA 180 and build my own coast to coast overflow on one end and then drill all of my bulkheads. After having a tank explode on me recently while drilling it, I have thought about the potential $600 mistake as well as the resale value of a customtank. I have decide to get a stock 72"x24" footprint with twin overflows. I dont want an AGA because of the overflow placement. I hate my 120 because IMO it really hinders any nice aquascaping potential and shoves all of the rockwork 6" forward. I cant see the AGA 180 bieng much better. Dang reminded me of the Perfecto tanks with corner overflows. IMO this will make for a much nicer stock tank look but I havent seen a 180 perfecto with overflows on line anywhere.

I have always told myself I would never get a tank deeper than 24" due to the swim factor of a 30" deep tank. If I have to in order to get corner overflows, I will.

 

[Scooterman]

http://www.glasscages.com/?sAction=ViewCat&lCatID=2

Hey, check these out, & I'm sure that they will place your overflow anywhere you want them, so will AGA for an extra fee, I know this because I could of ordered my 59g Oceanic with extra holes about $20 extra.
On a side note, tanks normally don't hold value once used, I wouldn't let that hinder my design but again If it was glass I wouldn't have a million holes in it either. You can have your holes on each end as the come with the twin overflow but skip the overflows, just the holes. You can then go to the glass shop & have them cut & sand the pieces you need to make a coast to coast & you then can silicone it together like all glass tanks already are, not much work on your part & you can get it the way you want. I have seen where people made overflow with no fingers, just smooth across the top., really I don't think that would be as much of a problem as the suction I have on the intake on my CL, I had a few losses that got sucked to the box I made until I tweaked it some. We have a thread here that a guy built his own glass tank, you can skip that part, save money on the overflow part but keep the holes & he also built a overflow out of glass. I'll find it!

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11337&page=3

Ok I thought I had a coast to coast out of glass but can't find that one.
I would get prices from your LFS & ask about prices on just a reef tank no extras & no overflows unless you want them to make one with two, which I think would be fine. You have options If your LFS is willing to call & get prices, which is way cheaper than getting package deals.

 

[trido]

Thanks for the heads up Scooty!! Ill look into that

 

[jezzeaepi]

i vote for 400 gallon.... maybe make the exercise room your new fish room ? =p

 

[burning2nd]

i vote 72x72x16

 

[trido]

i vote for 400 gallon.... maybe make the exercise room your new fish room ? =p

Naw, I dont want to sit in my office to enjoy my tank. There arent any commercials on Reef frontiers.

Ill just be happy to combine two systems into one and have more real estate in the big display.

I found a MOTM thread for a guy on some other forum who has a Perfecto 180 with corner overflows so I know they exist. Ill get one of those and make due.

 

[The Apprentice]

29" deep

Hi Duane I thought i would also give some more feed back. I Have a All-Glass 150 that is 29" deep I run 250 PFO HQI single ended bulbs on this tank with a Custom PFO Fixture I bought from Kevin. When I set it up I orignally bought 125 gallon All-glass but that Tank failed after 38 Days of operation so I upgraded to the 150 Gallon to Get a thicker Glass and a Bigger foot print on sealant. I will agree with you that the 29 " deep is a ear dunker and I don't like that part, But as for the PFO lights preforming good to the bottom...
I have been very lucky since summer of 04 with lots of LPS,Anemone's and Clams. I don't keep SPS in the Tank as I have 75 Gallon for that..
But I would not hesitate to put SPS at the bottom if wanted to....Jeff