So here's a question....

[MCary]

I am building two aquriums into a wall.

Here's the wall so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about. Ignore the blue lines, that was another idea.

The desk and cabinets will be removed and the wall will be brought out flush with the space. The 150 gallon aquarium that you see in the picture is four feet wide and will be put where the desk in now. Facing the photgrapher. The space that now houses the 150 will be expanded and a 240 gallon six foot aquarium will be put in its place.

I have a fixture with 2 250w MH for the 150 and I have 2 400 watt mh for the 240. I also have an orphan 250 w mh pendant that I was going to use for a prop tank but might use for the center of the 240 instead. Yadda yadda, blah blah....

I am doing this because I have the stuff and the tanks, not necessarily because I want two aquariums. So the question is, when I get them set up, what do I do with them?

I think the 240 is obvious. I need a big SPS tank. I already have lotsa SPS and 9 fish. I do want some anthias, but I like a low fish load.

I do have:

A RBTA that grows like crazy and kills SPS it touches.
A hammer and a frogspawn that do not open up in real high flow very well.
A galaxia with it dam sweepers
A bunch of yellow polyps that grow like crazy.
A patch of GSP that also grow fast.

Big question, what to do with the 150? I have great lights for it and its set up with a Sequence dart on a OM 4-way so it has good flow. Hmmm...........

Few options I've came up with.

1. Frag tank, little large and not attractive
2. LPS tank.
3. New home for RBTA, clown breeding tank?
4. Freshwater (lights would be overkill and unnecessarily expensive to run)
5. Mixed reef including more SPS. Could populate with frags.

Mike

 

[plack]

"I am doing this because I have the stuff and the tanks, not necessarily because I want two aquariums.

You've probably already thought of most or all of this but just in case

I would Figure out how much work you are willing to do. Ask yourself if the Reactors and skimmers and sumps/refegiums are going to be easy to access and maintain and be affordable ?

Ask yourself if you would you really prefer one 8 foot tank (great for fish)and selling the 150. I love the frag tank idea but not there .An lps tank sounds much better to me but it's up to you.

Plan it out as much and as complete as you can think before starting. It's great to have it all in an enclosed room or garadge for space. Will it be cool enoughp in the summer or are you getting air conditioning to help? Just sompthing to think about also fresh air intake! My ph went down to 7.5 then I opened up a window for a few minutes and whammo back up to 8.0 .Do you have enoughp dedicated Circuit breakers for your new load's.

Paul

 

[Krish]

I think Paul made some really valid points. I particularily wouldn't setup 2 tanks just because I had them. If anything I'd use one of them as a huge sump if I wasn't prepared to handle the responsibility of maintaining two tanks as well as the cost to run two tanks that size, and just have one killer tank. With two tanks that size, you'll really need to have the time and dedication to deal with them both. One tank sometimes because more than one can handle (not saying any of this pertains to you. Just tossing out some points ). In any event, if you are going to go through with setting up both, I like the idea of making the 240 an SPS tank as for the other...I'd go with whatever setup is easiest for you to maintain or possibly a nice FOWLR tank

Good luck on whatever you decide

 

[Sherman]

What are the dimensions on the two tanks? Your gallons measurement seems a bit off, if they're any sort of standard tank.

 

[MCary]

The 150 is 48"Lx24"Wx30"H
The 240 72"Lx24"Wx31"H

I think I have the gallons close enough.

I have all the equipment already. The tanks will have a shared sump and shared equipment. They will be controlled by an AC3. The 150 has a sequence dart on an OM and an internal closed loop running about 6000 gph all together. I don't feel like drilling the 240 so I'll be using a lifereef overflow and 4 tunze's. Both will be bare bottom. I've had lots of success with barebottom. I don't have pH problems. Basically it will be a divided 400 gallon system.

Mike

 

[morgan]

sounds good to me man if there both on the same sum that will cut down on work u have to do to maintain the 2 tanks an lps tank would be good idea with the bubble tip, glaxea and euphyllia's would be a great start u could put ur glaxea on the bottom away from your sps that would be higher up
good luck on the choice that u make

 

[Sherman]

Wow, those are both tall tanks! I'd sure like to see photos, as I'm gearing up for a custom tank build, and have always been curious about tall tanks....

 

[shallowreef]

Tall tanks are nice but when you have to get in there to work its a bit of a pain. If you don't mind getting your shirt all wet or dosing your tank with a little deoderant than i guess it will be ok for you but i personally don't like to do that.

 

[MCary]

I agree, tall tanks are beautiful to look at but a pain to maintain. In this case I have learned from the current built in that tall tanks need front access. You can see the 150 in the picture has no front access to the top. Hard to clean the front glass, hard to aquascape, hard to place corals. Basically a huge pain.

Here's an old picture of the 150 before I built it into the wall. (the only one I had here at work)

Mike

 

[MCary]

Few more for perspective:

Closed loop modification:

The 240