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Taking the Plunge... (1 Viewer)

chemsol

chemsol

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2009
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435
Location
Inver Grove Heights
Yes, I hope to soon increase the size of my tank. I am currently at a 90 gal. bowfront and am looking to upsize. Mind you, this upgrade may take 4-6 months but I am looking to get as much information as I can before making the move. The new tank will be in wall (with new home) and I have quite a bit of liberty in creating the ideal location and hookup since the home is custom.

I would like the tank to be at least 6 ft. long and I am tossing around the idea of making a closed loop. I would like to stay under 220 gal. and am looking for good dimensions of a long tank and 30" or shallower. The bowfront is really deep and is very difficult to work with so I am trying to avoid that repetition. Please feel free to throw in your input as I would love to have this become a group build\effort. I currently have 1/4 chiller, 2 x 250 watt MH, and a skimmer rated easily to 220 gal.

Thanks in advance and I look forward to hearing all of your opinions.
 
I really like the dimensions of the 180's, 6ft length by 2ft front to back. you are goin to need another halide for a six footer though.
 
You know, I really haven't put much thought into acrylic tanks, but after reading through a bunch of things on Midwest Custom Aquariums, I would go all out and get a 180g from them. 6ft x 2ft x 2ft in my honest opinion. If you are going for a tank that is mostly concealed in a wall, you will probably never go back to a traditional tank setup. Just my $0.02 :biggrin:
 
I have a 180 and like that size since you get the same width and depth of the 220, but a little shorter, which I liked so I can get pretty good color to the bottom with t5's. If I were to get a bigger tank, it would be for depth or maybe length, but not height. Also, you will want another light or switch lighting to get better coverage over the wider tank
 
Thanks for all the comments everyone.

jwedll - Yep, planning on getting another 250w for the time being but I may look into LED as it progresses. Too expensive for now.

Capsaicin - I agree, acrylic would be the way to go. I have always been impressed with the clarity. I'll have to check out Midwest custom, I have heard the name mentioned in positive ways only so far.

gamepoint - agreed on the depth. My 90 is 30 inches deep and drives me nuts trying to reach the bottom for placement. I also notice growth is slower.

mrlee - why do you say $5000+? I already have the halides, chiller, skimmer, sump, pumps, and powerheads to properly host a 180. I can't imagine a tank alone and no stand is going to be $5000+.
 
if you want to see a 180 a few board members are running them, or I was just at SWE today and they have one on the show floor. it should be ok to touch it now, I think my drool should have dried or been cleaned off by now.

BTW it's on sale..
$899.99 AGA 180Gal AND Pine Stand Black!
 
I went from a 92 bow front corner to the Oceanic Tech series 215 last year. I really like the look of the tank but it can really be a PIA to work in. But I figure it was a good trade off.
If you already have most of the equipment that is great. I pretty much had to upgrade everything. With this tank being my last upgrade I wanted to do everything right. :)
Mine didnt run as high as Mrlee quoted, but it was there.

Ken
 
currently i have a 250 gallon.

what i concluded (experience):
-Definetly will need MH lights for bigger deeper tanks
-will need calc reactor / If you intend on keeping sps.. maybe even kalk reactor to balance PH.
-refugium is very beneficial for bigger tanks
-a controller is a must for big tanks
-water changes are a pain in the A#@.
-you will spend a lot of money...
 
So just out of curiosity, how much do they do as far as it being a custom? Meaning will they frame out the stand and trim the hole for the tank? Run water lines specificly for your ro/di? Possibly run extra power there for lighting and all the accescories involved in a tank of that size? Im guessing if your paying the bill they'll do whatever you want.
 
Like others have mentioned, the best bang for the buck stock tank is the 180g. For an in-wall it would be nice to be a bit wider than the 24" but that would be custom and the cost would be exponential. The 24" width still makes for pretty good aquascaping options.


Like you say, going with anything above 24" in height really isn't very suitable for a reef tank.

I've done 2 in-wall tanks, 190g ( 6'L ) and a 375g ( 8'L ) tanks. While it may look sleeker to have just picture frame front, having some cabinet doors above the tank for access are highly recommended. Just a picture window style really can be a pain day to day. Real challenge to aquascape, clean, mount corals when you can't also see from the front as well.
 
Thanks again for all your comments. I understand everyone has a different experiences so it is\has been very beneficial to hear opinions of those who have traveled the path before.

I made some calls today and the standard 6ft by 24" by 24" acrylic would be around $1000. Based on your input here I will see what the cost of adding a couple inches to the depth would be.

I plan on a 40 -55g sump\refugium so I should be okay for nutrient export. I currently have decent growth on my SPS and without the reactor but if I end up having much more of it I will definitely consider an upgrade. The fish room will be part of the utilities room in the basement with adequate space and most importantly a drain! I will plumb in the RODI I have and the booster pump I just got should give me all the water I need. We have really low TDS from our well right now 250 or so, so I don't anticipate a high filter cost.

As far as controllers, I was made a lucky man this Christmas and given an Apex that I will eventually add some Tunze controllables too. As far as access, I figure maybe I will set up a web cam in the viewing room and a monitor in the fish room so I can watch how placement goes. I'm not sure cabinets will go over so well with my fiance.

@ dustybaker - Since we are building the house based on our own design, I think I can get our builder to put in electrical, plumbing, even build the stand for cost in the build of the house. I'll contemplate the nano - in wall. ;) Maybe in the kitchen...
 
Going with a standard 180g demension, glass will get you the better price. Sould be able to get a reef-ready for a little less than $700 on sale.

By depth I hope you mean the front to back width. No need to go any taller 24".

By cabinets, I mean doors where the lights are. It's doable with just a picture frame but pain in the a$$ to maintain when your talking in terms of years of maintenance. I tried to help Greg Sheilds with his 400g in-wall framed and that was enough to know that just isn't for me.

If you can and have the opportunity to design a full blown fish room, I wouldn't restrict the size of the sump to so small. I'm not big fan of refugiums anymore but you will want much bigger to make any significant difference.
 
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Going with a standard 180g demension, glass will get you the better price. Sould be able to get a reef-ready for a little less than $700 on sale.

::Yep, I still may go glass but I do like the idea of strength and visibility in acrylic.

By depth I hope you mean the front to back width. No need to go any taller 24".

::Yep, sorry. To clarify I meant width.

By cabinets, I mean doors where the lights are. It's doable with just a picture frame but pain in the a$$ to maintain when your talking in terms of years of maintenance. I tried to help Greg Sheilds with his 400g in-wall framed and that was enough to know that just isn't for me.

::Gotcha on the cabinets. I'll just to see how it's received. I'm not to sure what type of maintenance you are referring to that would be difficult to to from the back. Vaccum sand during a WC?

If you can and have the opportunity to design a full blown fish room, I wouldn't restrict the size of the sump to so small. I'm not big fan of refugiums anymore but you will want much bigger to make any significant difference.

::Gotcha, I guess I don't need to restrict the sump but I have a 40 and 55 gal. tank available at the moment. I could look for something used that is bigger I guess. I plan on having a remote refugium and DSB separate from the sump as I have had pretty good luck with the one I currently am running.
 
Without front access, not always easy to do everything from the back. Fallen corals, algae cleaning, rearranging, feeding, you name it. Arms will only reach so far into the middle. So front and back access is really really nice. I had doors both top and bottom to make things look a bit more cemetrical but never used the bottom ones. Top ones used daily The access was about 12" height so you can get just about anything in or out. Mine was 32" front to back but even 24" wouldn't be fun. Helped work on others tanks that were picture frame and just such a pain, I'd never run one that way. Picture frame definately has a cleaner look but just not practical IME. They can be painted to match the wall so that don't stand out as much as oak would.
 
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I am sure SWE will give you a good price on a tank only purchase. If your thinking bigger Forest Lake Pets has a Perfecto 300G that they may be willing to deal on. it's been there a while. They are 72 wide x 36 deep x 27 tall.
 
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