180 Gallon Room arrangement Help!

F

flashlink

Premium Member
Alright. I made it through the apartment inspection with my 75 Reef, (limit is 25 gallons). And the landlord said it was 'very pretty'. So I have a green light for a bigger fish tank.

I have decided on 180 mainly because its big, but not to expensive and a standard size. Roughly 6ft long, 2ft wide. And 180 for an apartment is plenty big!

I have narrowed it down to 3 arrangements, but am not sure which one will look best, I drew up a couple things in Google SketchUp and invite you to express opinion.

Things to keep in mind:

1. Most important to me is to view my fish.
2. Most important thing to roommate is not losing ability to entertain

3. It is on the bottom floor and with a concrete foundation so the structural engineers can sleep soundly tonight. :)

4. I plan on making this tank a FOWLR. I will move the 75 Reef (or move the coral, as I don;t have a lot right now, into the 30 cube and use the 75 as a sump not sure yet) which is currently against the wall in the living room into my bedroom. I love fish and I love coral. However my wallet prefers just fish right now. When I get my house (hopefully in a little less than a year) I can get the fancy lights and go reef. But my point of all of that is I want to see my fish, not hide them.

5. The chair is awesome, very comfortable, as is the sofa. The arms are more like pillows and you can actually site sideways with your knees over and it wont damage the chair and is very comfortable (many afternoon naps). So the chair wont be an issue being close to the tank.

Look forward to your feedback!!

Pics of each choice to follow...
 
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Arrangement 1

Arrangement 1

Choice 1: Peninsula
This is probably my favorite option. Roommate will need convincing as it does take up a lot of room and can make the room seem smaller. Even though you can see from both sides. Pics are pretty much to scale.


123315pen1-med.jpg


123315pen4-med.jpg
 
Choice 2

Choice 2

Option 2: Against the wall with chair

This one wouldn't shrink the room to much i don't think and lets us keep the chair.

123315side2-med.jpg


123315side1-med.jpg
 
Selection # 3

Selection # 3

Choice 3: Against the wall no chair

Ok this one leaves the most open space, but the chair is not around :( But it sure wont make the room shrink.

123315nochair1-med.jpg


123315nochair2-med.jpg





And that will do it for the options. I wish I could just put it in the wall! But the landlord might be a little upset about that!

Thanks for your thoughts!!!
 
:lol: have you put any thought into this??? ;)

First one looks good, but I think your sizing is off. Realize that you probably will need at least 4-5" of clearance behind the tank unless you put it right up against the wall.
 
heh, i spend all of my free time thinking about this project

It would go right up against the wall, the stand is going to be a custom build.
 
I really like op#1, but, if you are going to be getting a standard 180RR the overflows are going to be on one of the long sides. If that is the case, I would probably go with #2 or #3.
 
If it's going to be a year or less i would not even set it up
just as it all starts looking good you would be riping it out to move it
just play with your 75 till you get the house it will make life a lot easer
plus you have more time to plan !!!
 
Don't mean to be a nickname for Richard, but judging by the specs you've layed out, I would not do a tank that big in that space.
I love fish and I totally understand your desire to upgrade and provide them with more fin room... but not at the expense of your and your room mate's elbow room. Having lived in various rental units, lugged fish tanks, liverock and livestock across country numerous times in the Army, I would stick with a 75, a 90 or a 120 until you buy your own house, then go as big as your new space will allow.
It just looks a little cramped to me and if your room mate wants to entertain guests, they will not be comfortable in that space.
As great as it is to get a bigger tank, you don't want to be the only one enjoying it.
Whatever you decide, good luck and happy reefing!
 
I don't disagree with the above. The room will be cramped witht hat big a tank. If you must i would go with option 3. You do have to consider other things besides just the fish tank!

A 4ft long 120 would fit better and look better in the room!
 
lol, I definately understand wanting a large tank but, that is just too much tank for that small of a space. The scale of the tank is way too big compared to the room and the other furniture. I've got a 150 and trust me, it's a beast. You don't get the full enjoyment of a large tank sitting right on top of it and, if your roomate's type of entertaining involves drunk people, the tank could also get broken. Not only that, moving a tank that size is a pain when it's empty - much less full.
 
thanks so much for all of the opinions guys!

Drinking should not be a problem, we rarely do (1 drink a month, gotta save the alcohol money for the tank :D )


I have thought a lot about just waiting, but its so hard not to!

Everything I really want to do, wont work in a 75 (tang police anyone? Plus i love fish, and like having more than 4-5 good size ones.) I kinda got screwed a bit with the 75 about what type of coral i could put in with Compact fluorescent(lfs had a decent price, but doesn't matter now). I was told I could put anything I wanted in the tank (coralwise). i really need more space under the tank for proper plumbing and access, as well as a place to hide the chemicals and such. If i am getting a bigger tank soon anyway, why invest money into something I am not going to have for much longer? I am not sure if building a temporary setup into the 75 for lights is worth doing and then rebuilding into the 180.

i am leaning toward acrylic (a bit lighter) and much more flexible. I really want that rich blue color that you see on all of the tank of the months. Don't think i can do that with a peninsula. If someone has please chime in, Or if you know of someone who has!

I do have a smaller chair I can place in the room, (just have to finish recovering it! so many little unfinished projects...), its much narrower, and not quite as deep. That will suffice the roommate req for entertaining, (the dining area is pretty big and has a table with 6 chairs that fits comfortably). So adding that chair allows us 10 seats in view of the TV and aquarium. We usually have just another couple over. Occasionally we have 4-6 people over.

The girlfriend (aka roommate) is keeping an eye on this forum too, and she is evaluating my designs and your feedback into deciding if we can do this. She is leaning more towards going for it, after showing her pics of lots of the bigger prettier tanks.

Anyone who has kept large tanks in apartments, are smaller space, please comment and share your experience!!

Thank you so much!
-Bryan
 
btw, the 75 tank is currently in option 2. So there is another six inches of clearence between the tank and table. And it is positioned midway along the wall. the chair sits next to it and there is wasted space between the tank wall and chair. I have an ugly fake tree there now. (girlfirend hates the tree, she would love to see it moved or thrown out).

there is plenty of space now, so i am not sure if losing 6inches would make a big difference...but i am still curious to know what people think!!
 
Just looking back on my own experiences, I would advise you to hold off. I promise you that if you buy the 180 now, you will still want an upgrade later. That's just the nature of the hobby/obsession. If I had the Great Barrier Reef in my basement, I'd still be dreaming of a bigger tank!

I do not consider myself a "tang policeman" by any stretch of the imagination. I have a Purple, Hippo and Powder Brown in a 210. That being said, when you consider the acrage they cover in a day in the wild, I can assure you they couldn't care less about a 2' difference in tank length. Those who really care about ethical tang treatment forgo the tank and opt for a SCUBA license....
Yeah I know. I'm not that guy either. :)

At the end of the day, you will more than likely get it anyway. And when you do, I wish you the best of luck.
 
I think option one is the only real solution. The other two setups interfer with the view of the television and honestly bring the tank to close to a wildly bouncing light source. You don't want your fish to become couch potatoes after all. :p I suppose they would get used to the rapidly changing images eventually, but do you really want them watching Spongebob?
 
option one!

If there is any way to angle the armchiair though I would do that

I cant imagine it would be easy to watch televison from that chair :)
 
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