FANTASY REEF BUILD

Not to throw a cog in your gears Mucho, but my vote would be for a 40 or 50 breeder. My first reef was a 40 breeder. It's a nice shape, deep front to back, and a manageable height.
There's a TOTM 40 Breeder. I don't recall the name, but it also runs very nicely without a sump.

Just some thoughts :)
 
Yes, Elos would be more of a turnkey system so there is less "learning the equipment".
Do you all want to think about either;
the Elos 70, which dimensions are 30L x 23x20h...or
the Elos 125g (called the 120xl) which 48L x 30w x 20h.
The couple decide against the 200 gallon Elos tank which is 72x30x20.
The reason they didn't pick the 200 is because they don't believe they're at the level of maintaining a tank of that size. A tank over 180 has special needs. They mostly want to enjoy the tank without alot of hassles equipment wise.

The tank to be against the wall the couple agree on this point.
Initially they were indeed planning a peninsula 96"long or a 72" longx24x20 tank. Their home has the perfect place where they have to do a peninsula tank is exactly 96" and would be three sides. However, they decided not to because it would be near the main entrance of the home in the inner foyer. Too many things going on in that area.

So the next best place they both decided on was another perfect area for a 30x30x20 cube. Also space for a 36x36x20 cube.

But the one the woman is wanting to beg/convince hold out on the 48x30 since it does cost more money. Because the width, which is 30" is a better width for aquascaping designs.
The woman would mostly be taking care of the tank, the aquascaping design is the priority, and the flow designed around that. Not the other way around.

The guy primarily wants fish. The woman states that she is interested in an LPS tank. The woman wants as few fish as is humanly possible.
And she knows lps and zoas need room. But she has to first convince her husband of the wider tank.
In addition to many LPS, she also wants to keep softies such as zoanthids, palythoas, ricordea.
And aside from fish the husband is interested in encroaching montipora danae. He thinks they look cool. So does his partner.

What do you guys think?
 
I had this idea for a thread which everyone could get involved with and actually be apart of creating a system from the ground up. My hope was that someone would take this valuable information at the conclusion of this thread and actually build the system and share its successes. I didn't want it to be my thread, or for it to be what " I " wanted and not what the forum wanted. So I sat back and waited/wanted many of you to throw in your 2 cents. Many of you that I respect and hope would share your insight, haven't shared at all. I tried to lay the ground rules and then clarify them as such when needed, in order to somehow keep this thread moving. It seems that this thread is going everywhere except where it needs to go. The goal was to take it one step at a time in order of importance. I know some aren’t interested in this thread at all, and that’s ok, really. For those of you who are interested, I would love for us to collectively move this thread along and enjoy the ride. The Rock family is young with very limited experience in reefing. She has never owned a tank and his first and only tank was a nano reef which he sold 4 years ago. This is their first large reef tank so to help move this thread along, lets say they want the tank against a wall and they don’t want to be overwhelmed by the system. They want a nice display tank for their zoanthids/palythoas with some inverts and compatible fishes. They don’t want a huge system, yet they want much more than the 20 gallon nano. With that, lets make a choice on a tank size and really get into all that needs to happen after that. How bout gang? Lets refocus on the intro to this thread on page one and go from here and lets choose a tank size most appropriate for The Rocks.

Thanks everyone.
 
I was faced with many of these same questions as I started setting up my tank (still in the process of doing so). I did a fantasy build in my head for everything from 10G to a 120G. I ended up moving forward on the 120G. Since I decided on the 120G, my first inclination was to suggest it to the Rock family, but you mentioned they wanted to keep it down to a more manageable size so I need to dig deeper.

During my fantasy builds, one happened to be a 40G breeder. Two things moved me away from it. One, is the fear of drilling the tank for an overflow. Plus I didn't want to do cyphon overflow. I toyed around with the idea of a sumpless 40G breeder but then lighting became an issue. Many of the 36" lighting solutions I was looking at only cost a few dollars less than it's 48" counterpart.

So I suggest keeping it 4'. I earlier said 90G because I thought it had nicer proportions than a 75G, but the added depth does make it more difficult to get into the tank for maintenance. So I retract my answer and change it to even a more manageable 75G RR tank.
 
Hey thanks for sharing that carb850.


70/75 gallon - 2 vote
90 gallon - 1 vote
120/125 gallon - 2 votes
 
Alright, I'll get back to reality. :rollface:

I guess I would advise a newbie to purchase a aquarium between 55/90 gallons or so. I personally like the wider tanks because you have more possibilities (just what we need :lol: ) with the rock scape. So if we decide to go with a four foot tank, I would say a 90, but I'm not going to sweat it if the tank is a 70g. :D

"Not trying to be rude, just adding my two cents."

Feel free to disagree with me, and state your reasons why; we can all learn by discussing our different opinions. Trust me, I won't get upset. :D
 
I'm with drew....make it a 90.
You do need that bit bigger for the rock scape and if the tank crashes like nearly all of us have had.
They might want to get out of marine and goto fresh and the tank is still a good size.
 
70/75 gallon - 2 votes
90 gallon - 4 votes
120/125 gallon - 2 votes

FYI - A 90 gallon has the same footprint as a 70/75 gallon. Both have the same surface area for oxygen/gas exchange with proper water ripple. If they fully aquascape the tank from top to bottom, the slope will have a wall affect and steeper, the 70/75 will have less of slope from front to back. I think the only difference is 3 or 4 inches in added height between the two, if I'm wrong by an inch or two, I stand corrected. Just throwing that out. The most votes by Saturday morning is what we go with.

We will tackle # 3 on Saturday.


Thanks everyone.


Mucho Reef
 
My vote is for the 120. It is 4'x2'x2' right?
I have a 95 gallon that is 4'x2'x18" and wonder sometimes if the additional height would have worked better.
The reason I voted for the 120 is:
1. Of the 3 sizes the 120 offers the most flexibility with the additonal height (width).
2. What happens IF they decide to go a different path like SPS?
3. Along with #1 they can keep additional fish species including some that would utilize the extra height.
3. Most of the equipment that would work on the first 2 sizes would work on the 120. They might have to add additional PH's but that really is not much. Most skimmers and such are rated for all 3 tanks.
4. Lastly the 120 is a tank that will allow them to use it for a long time vs. doing an upgrade one year from now. Also the 120 is still personal enough for them to look at the tank and take everything in as well as having opportunities to see different creatures from time to time.
I hope the last part made sense.
 
Didn't know there was a rush, but ok. :twitch:


#1 Read, research, purchase some goog books, join a reef club.

#2 Tank size

#3


Lets move on to #3.
 
How about lighting? T-5's offer many color options and can be added or removed to acheive the desired results. The also add less heat and electricity cost.

Ron
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13607607#post13607607 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by carb850
Have you seen enough consensus to decide on the tank size?


Not really, just trying to accommodate the forum. You guys/gals are building this system. We have 5 votes for the 90 unless anyone else wants to weigh in. Everyone has to speak up and not be shy.
 
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