brainstorming . . . 600 gallon

[iLLwiLL]

I have a chance to get a 600 gallon tank with dimensions of 8' long x 4' wide x 2.5' tall. What I have kicking around my head is putting the entire contents of my 125 into the middle 6' x 2' footprint of the tank and leaving outer 1' perimeter open for some cat sharks, large tangs and maybe a couple rays.

This is something I have never seen in a tank at a residence before, and am hoping the reasoning is not many people have access to a tank with an 8' x 4' footprint. I read that cat sharks and rays do not like very bright lighting . . . could just the center be lit with my reef lights for the corals, and the rest left dim for the rays and sharks?

Is there an archived thread that anyone knows about here that is similar to what I want to do? Any opinions on how this would look would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

~Will.

 

[jjk_reef00]

I would only recommend 1 ray, or 1 cat shark if it will be a reef. It will be hard to keep your water parameters high.

You may think your tank is big but rays are very active and need lots of room. I have 1 california round ray in my reef (8' x 30" x 24"), and the tank is just barely big enough for the 1 ray. I couldn't imagine trying to fit 2 rays in an 8' tank unless there was very little/ no live rock. At the very least start with one shark or ray, and get a large one (almost fully grown). That way you will be able to see how it behaves in your tank and can go from there. My ray is 11" diameter now, is very active, and can move very fast.

Also most species of rays prefer cooler temps. I try to keep my reef at 76, a month ago it got up to about 81 or 82 and my ray stopped eating for about 1 week. I did a lot of water changes, and got the water cooler and he is eating again, but still not like he use to. I think the sharks are the same way with water temp.

My ray doesn't seem to mind the light, he comes out all the time. If you have a bleeny you will have to get rid of him. Mine will bite the ray from time to time. I'm trying to remove him but it is hard to catch such a small fish.

 

[albano]

sounds like a nice tank...would make a great reef tank with so much floorspace...BUT...I believe that I've read, that a lot of the smaller sharks have poor eyesight and do not do well in rock/reef tanks. Regardless. I would say that you should be able to keep the corals high up on the reef,near your lights... if you wanted lower lighting towards the bottom.






http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/tank-threads/63397-hundreds-corals-fish-free-3.html

 

[Lightsluvr]

Here is a tank with the same dimensions...

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1423726

Paul's tank is remarkably aquascaped...no room for sharks and rays...

As suggested above it seems you would have to decide whether you want a reef or a shark tank. Even with this size tank, I think trying to do both would result in issues for the shark. JMO.

Good luck with the project.

LL

 

[iLLwiLL]

I mostly prefer a mixed reef leaning more towards the LPS / softie side, so would water quality still be an issue? I figured the 1' open perimeter around the 4' x 8' footprint would leave ample room for rays and cat sharks to move around and still be able to have some corals in the middle, but from what I'm hearing this just wont work . . . bummer. I kept freshwater tanks for around 10 years before I switched to salt, and I always wanted a large arowana and ray tank . . . I figured this tank could get me the trifecta as a reef / cat shark / ray tank.

This thing would fit perfectly in our new livingroom, and I was planning on raising the stand to around 42" total and adding a bar ledge around it. That coupled with tall bar stools that would double as spectator chairs for the pool table has me very anxious to make this work. Trust me, if I had the cash I would love to buy another 400 - 500# of live rock and 8 brand new halides / reflectors with my T5's as actinics and make this a full blown reef, but thats just not in the cards right now with the new house. Basically I'm trying to make the most of what I have now and get it into this monster of a tank.

~Will.

 

[albano]

for now set it up as 2 nice 'islands', with a lot of swimming room...you'll be able to add A LOT of stuff,(and purchase add'l equipment) over time, without the hassle of re-aquascaping, that is required of everyone else! Sometimes LESS is MORE.

 

[jjk_reef00]

If the shark won't work because of eyesight, you could still try a ray. You could put 1 ray in your reef tank if you aqua scape it right.
Here is a pic of my tank with my ray: