360 gallonn hex

[Landolakes]

I have been offered a great deal on a 360 gallon hex shaped acrylic aquarium, here start the questions. The aquarium has 37"wide panels so I will have to remove a large window to get it in the house. It has a center overflow so it is viewable from all sides. Great filtration will be offered with it as well but what I need to know are the pros and cons to this shape. My plans if I get it are to construct the rock work surrounding the overflow so that it looks like a big island in the middle, will the fish be happy with something like this, I dont want any really large fish, mostly wrasses and smaller fish but I would like to add some tangs also. Would adding some tunze on controlers so that the flow reverses back and forth be ideal in this setup? I need ideas on what to do with this as I am really just thinking about it and the logistics seem daunting as to what I can and cant do with, what would you do?

 

[spazz]

first things first. if it cant fit in the house through the door, your gong to have to really think about how bad you want that tank and how hard it will be to get in the house.
next thing is the type of tank you want this to be.... will this be a fish only tank of do you want another reef??? this type of tank wouldnt make a very good reef becasue of its size. its tall but does not give you much of a foot print. if its fish only you will be fine. for flow you can do the tunze streams to creat a circular flow pattern and it shold work pretty well. you would need 4 of them to creat the proper flow patterns in that tank.

 

[Landolakes]

Was really thinking fish only, I was wondering more on what to do with it.

 

[spazz]

how tall is the tank? do you have any pictures of it? its hard to picture the tank with out knowing the hight of the tank.

 

[Landolakes]

I will try to get pics up, I think its 24 " tall. Just imagine a very large hex and the stand is built as seating all the way around it. It was in a doctors office before I was offered it.

 

[spazz]

if its only 24" tall it should fit through the door sideways.

 

[mcliffy2]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11380361#post11380361 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Landolakes
I will try to get pics up, I think its 24 " tall. Just imagine a very large hex and the stand is built as seating all the way around it. It was in a doctors office before I was offered it.

If its 24" tall the access will be pretty good, so it also could make a great reef tank... by my calculations its 89" wide in the center, so I wouldnt say thats a small footprint at all. This could be a very cool build. Do you have a room where you could put this in the middle of the room?

 

[Landolakes]

I am looking for a new place just for that, it wont fit through a door because it is attatches to a base that is about a foot tall.

 

[ReefingBuddha]

I just started a small hex tank (only 60 gallons) with a central overflow and two tunze 6201 which move the water in one direction and then reverse it. I started this because I was interested in the flow possibilities for a BB, SPS tank. I am happy with the flow but I have added two more powerheads. One that points straight down to keep more detrius from settling and another that shots horizontal outward to help create some more random flow for the tank. I also should not that the tunzes are not set so that one turns on and the other is off, I have set them so one is at full power and the other is at the lowest setting and then switch, this helps create a more turbulent flow but the one at full power still moves the entire water column in one direction.

In a larger tank conditions would probably significantly different but it gives you an idea for flow options. I must say that a CL with a OM 8-way with 3 nozzles in one direction, 3 in the other, and two point straight out would probably work well also. There are many options and should be a fun project. Good luck!