Large tank - initial thoughts - need help

[jsweir]

I may have the opportunity to upgrade my 180 to a large tank next year. I receive an assignment this fall and if it is a place we would like to go, we will ca$h out on our current house (thanks Florida for home appreciation!). That said, I am starting to think about dimensions for a future tank. What are the optimum dimensions (l,w,h) for a tank using 250 watt lumenarc reflectors? I don't want to go overboard on size, but I would definately like to increase the width to give the tank more room to grow....any help would be appreciated. Also, if you have a large tank, are they usually glass or acrylic?

 

[Black71gp]

270 + 6x3x2tall.. ij ust orderd a 292 72x36x26" tall

 

[jsweir]

I'm toying with 84 x 30 x 24 and using 3 x L3s for lighting. Anyone have anything that size?

Black71gp - what lighting are you planning on using? And if you don't mind me asking - what $$ did it cost you to order that?

 

[ricks]

My tank is 96x36x36 500 gallons. I run (6) 400 watt halides, (4) 160 watt VHO's and (4) 96 watt PC's. James at Envision acrylic constructed the tank using 1" acrylic. Nicest tank I've ever seen. He does wonderful work. But you get what you pay for. Cost me around 4,000.00. Good luck, large tanks are so much fun.....

 

[Black71gp]

might be crazy but two 250 lumnicarcs.. they cover 3x3 and i just arange my coral in the right order and they light fine.. cost.. welli bought all the acyrlic for 900 and having it put together for a few hundred with a fellow reefer helping. so not a whole lot cheapest i found one in 3.4 and euro braced was about 1700.. or so..

 

[jsweir]

Maybe I should just bite the bullet, get the 4th lumenarc and go 96x36x30 - I just need to make sure it fits through the door and doesn't kill me going down stairs to the basement.

 

[jcanute]

here is a 96x36x30 lit buy two 250 mh on a light mover rail. it works great.

 

[jsweir]

That is awesome! Nice tank!

 

[chainsaw5vent]

jcanute. nice tank. where did you find the light mover system?


cool sweatshirt.

 

[Charles99]

why is your tank murky jcanute?

 

[jcanute]

not my tank. its kent E's. its cloudy because pic was taken just after the tank swap from his 120. i'll have him post where he got the light mover.

i'm in the process of designing a 120x30x30. i believe i will have three 250 mh with luminarcs on a light mover.

 

[dgasmd]

I've had a 360g in acrylic (96"x36"x24") and now a 750g in glass (120"x48"x30"). I would never never never do acrylic again!! Although it does have its benefit, the downside were intolerable for me personally. The 360g tank was an awesome size. Great front to back dimensions and plenty of length too.

 

[Kent E]

I've found 500 watts to be plenty on the 450 gallon tank. I keep mainly sps. I run the lights about 11 hours. The colors are fabulous and have no complaints.

Didn't plan on going bare bottom but I had no choice because of flow and now I would do nothing but. I feed very heavy and doesn't affect the tank. The corals are very happy!

I have concentrated more on flow than lighting. There is 15k gph and this has allowed the corals to get the food as its swept everywhere evenly.

 

[skriz]

mine is 10' long and 3' wide. if i had to change anything i would go wider. i use 4 lumenarcs and they are huge! do an awesome job. i only went 250w...

oh yeah, starphire glass all the way. if you're going big, do it right the first time.