If you could....what would you do

[Psionicdragon]

If you had a dream size tank of 300 and up gallons, what would you do with your tank?

Disregard any restrictions or limitations in your home or finances.

Would you make it a full blown SPS, LPS, Mix, or Fish only? Why would you?

What kind of corals and fishs specifically you would add and why?

 

[Sk8r]

Actually---if I had infinite money, I'd put it under the floor and up one wall, so you could walk above the tank, and have one wall of reef.

 

[pepe.king.prawn]

haha! why do you ask? . I think everyone would go a different route, but with an infinite budget I would hands down go SPS. I'm setting up a new tank (180, not quite 300) and am planning to go SPS and lots of fish. I'm thinking anthias, sohal tang, uncommon cardinals, possum or mystery wrasse, clowns (big maybe), yasha/pistol pair, crosshatch or bluethroat trigger (maybe), potters or other dwarf angel, and more I can't think of . With a tank that big, there should still be plenty of room for some really nice fish. I think a balance between fish and corals in a big tank is essential. You just can't beat the coloration of SPS and the rewarding feeling seeing growth and change in the tank. Regretably the budget seems to hamper this possibility with power etc. these days.

 

[Psionicdragon]

Sk8er: ya that would be neat lol

Pepe: because I have always read the Large Tank Forum and these people have some nice set ups. I wanted to ask the locals about what they would do and what they are willing to risk especially in an earthquake zone.

 

[sfsuphysics]

It's really hard to say, on one hand I think it'd be super cool to have an extremely long tank, a 12 foot long tank that's 2 feet deep and 2 feet tall is only 360 gallons, or make a long tank that wraps around a room, ie L shaped or if you get ambitious U shaped, I thought of making a plywood tank that's 14 feet total swimming length.

On the other hand there's something to be said for an extremely deep tank, one look at the oregonreef.com tank and you can see how great a deep tank looks. Of course a hybrid of the two ideas can be impressive as well

Either way you go you'll need some sort of additional room/outside area for all the equipment since a large tank typically needs a skimmer that's larger than any stand can hold. Not to mention the daily/weekly work you need to do to keep things looking nice.

What to put in it? Well I dunno a nice mixed reef would be nice as long as you keep things separated, a zoo garden definately would be cool, sps and others in some other places (I'm a fan of caps myself), not a terribly large LPS fan (although I do have some nice pieces ), fish are a must for the dynamic aspects.

 

[pepe.king.prawn]

ahhh. I was thinking perhaps you're looking for suggestions for that monster tank of yours !

 

[pepe.king.prawn]

and wow, that's a heckofa tank at oregonreef.com! Almost forgot about clams, those are cool too.

 

[Psionicdragon]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7411451#post7411451 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pepe.king.prawn
ahhh. I was thinking perhaps you're looking for suggestions for that monster tank of yours !

Lol, kinda of that also.

I am debating if I want to have fish only or try again with SPS. But I am hella scared to lose everything with SPS especially with so many horror stories.

If I was to do a Fish only, I could get a Queen angel . My gf and I really like it, but can't have it if we are going to do corals.

I think its HDTVguy's tank...man its beautiful. Hes been making me second think my tank.

So for my dream tank:

I would like to get a 20 feet long tank filled with different tangs and angels. I would keep it bare bottom and have huge flows to get rid of the crap. I would do LPS since they aren't as demanding as SPS. Basically, my tank would mimic his but bigger.

My tank looks too small at the moment

SFSUphysics: Ya, I would love to have a L shape tank. That would be totally cool! It would extend from the living room all the way to the kitchen.











So another question for those interested in sharing their dreams: Would you make it an in-wall or just a regular set up?

 

[Psionicdragon]

Here is a link of HDTV's project:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=553475

It looks really nice as a divider.
I can't seem to find his thread with the videos =/

Heres a link of Sixxer who made his aquarium like a bar type deal:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=718328

Here is Bill Wann's "fireplace reef" (not officially what he said, but it looks like it):

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=847403

This link also contains other hobbyists who has different ways of displaying their victories.

Here is 1700 gal sting ray tank with a nice set up:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=689929

 

[pepe.king.prawn]

Wow. apparently reef tanks are worse than crack! I like Sixxer's tank, that's a sweet setup.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Well one thing mentioned is the worry about earthquakes, personally I think they're a non-issue affecting mostly the lighter tanks, larger tanks have the weight to be structurally sound (hell most of them require additional support structures!) The only issues then become that of the glass and if you think about it, how many windows broke during the 1989 quake of houses that didn't completely fall down? How many of Steinhart's tanks got destroyed? Non-issue IMHO, anything strong enough to destroy a tank and the tank is the least of your worries.

 

[Sparkss]

I agree with sfsuphysics on the earthquake topic

 

[Psionicdragon]

I can't believe not many more people are willing to talk about their dream tanks.

Actually, how many of the Steinhart's tank did get destroy? I don't remember much of the earthquake since I was a young buck.

Pepe: ya, that is tight. Its starphyre if I remember it correctly.


Did you guys see the owner who had like 98 fishs in his tank? It ranges from large to small and all kinds including tangs to damsels.

 

[xinumaster]

I think when I have my 300g it will house sps at top of the rocks and some lps at the middle with minimal softies at the bottom. I like to have small fish in there too. The tank will be filtered by deltec AP702. CA/Alk will be dosed by Korallin 4002. It will also have 29g refugium. lighting will be 4x 250HM on a lumenarc mini reflectors.

 

[tuberider]

Live "rock" boulders that need to be brought in with a crane, encrusted with all varietys of SPS of course.

 

[PiNaPLeX]

if i had "infinite money" i'd just buy the ocean....

 

[trmiv]

I'd have something along the lines of what Steinhart is doing for their new place. About 200,000 gallons. Yep, that's what I'd do. Oh, and in addition to the reef, it would have an island with a beach that I could lounge on and then go snorkeling on my reef from.

 

[Elite]

I need to buy a house first before thinking about setting up a big tank ...

 

[Vincerama2]

I would put Jessica Alba, in a bikini, in the tank!

Then, with the left over space I'd put symbiotic things in it (pistol shrimp/goby, clowns/anemone's, etc) and things that might breed in a tank.

There would be a full sized statue of me in it, made of aragocrete and completely encrusted with fluourescent GSP. (Jessica would swim around the statue alot).

clams would dominate the front of the tank and entire boulders would be covered with every colour zooanthid you could think of.

I'd use only queen conchs for cleanup crew, maybe some humongous crabs and lobsters too.

V

 

[sfsuphysics]

Would your statue have kelp hiding the "important" parts and you holding a large trident with a crown of corals?