Hey everyone! Before I start, let me say I am in the uk so all these volumes are in UK gallons 
. I currently have a 55gallon tank with a flame angel, 2 clowns, a blue tang and a yellow tang. Both tangs are only about 4 inches so they are ok for now. The tank is about 2 years old and everything has been going absolutely perfectly. However I am constantly thinking of getting a bigger tank, everytime i look at mine i am so happy with the progress of it, but it breaks my heart at the thought of one day having to give up my tangs. My dad is trying to convince me they'll be fine, as he has kept tangs in this size tank before, however never two at a time. I know one day they will both just be too large for it and their longterm happiness is all im really concerned about 
.
On ebay I have found a company that builds tanks for really a very good price, absolutely any dimensions you want. And every three months they deliver to northern ireland. i was so happy when i discovered this!! They are delivering next week, which is far too soon, so i have the next three months to convince my parents that this will be a good idea.
If everything goes well and Im allowed to buy this tank, this is what I plan to do and i'd just like some feedback.
I will go for 6 feet long, as this will give the tangs so much more swimming space. A two foot depth will give me more room for aquascaping, and I was considering making it 3 foot tall, as I have seen taller tanks and really really like them. The only drawback to having it 3' tall is that they have to build it on site, so if that adds a lot more to the price i may go for 2' high. what do u think? This, i think, works out to be around 225gallons, which I know is a whole lot but the tank is working out so cheap. I dont know the final price for this yet though, so i might go for the 2' tall which is 150gallons, absolutely plenty.
One thing I learnt from my current tank is that it is too low down, I hate having to crouch to see it in all its glory. So I will make the stand taller this time. For a stand I was wondering if this would work, we have done it in the past for other tanks but this is on a much larger scale. Use a very large plank of wood, cut to the dimensions of the tank and a good few inches thick, and hold it up by large concrete blocks?? I am a bit concerned also about the floorboards, will they support this weight?
The tank would be lit probably by 6 39W T5 lights.
I would not use live rock as the only method of filtration. I would probably have around 100lbs, and the rest would be ocean rock and dead corals. However I would use atleast 2 large canister filters. Would this be ok do u think?
I would definitely need a skimmer upgrage. Can anyone point me in the direction of one that would be good but also not too expensive??
For nutrient export I will set up my current 55gallon tank right next to it, and have it as a seperate display tank which I will culture various macro algaes in. I think it would make a good fuge. I have seen pictures of tanks done like this and it looks absolutely incredible.
I'd probably have about a 4" sand bed in each tank, would this be enough for a DSB?
I have a spare 55gallon that will sit underneath for a sump. So this system will have a lot of water for stability hopefully.
My current tank has no holes drilled in it whatsoever, and I dont reeeally see the advantage of having it drilled as ours has worked fine. Our 'overflow' works by just a pipe taking water down to the sump through gravity, and then a pump in the sump sends it back up to the tank. These are the only two places water leaves or enters the tank. It can be annoying during water changes as the water level in the display gets too low and you have to start the water flowing in the pipe again, but apart from that its fine. Can anyone convince me it would be a good idea to get this tank drilled in any certain areas? or install a propper overflow box?? It would be good to get that sorted out at the start and see if they'll do it for me if i have to.
I really think thats it! Oh, I will buy some more good powerheads from ebay for circulation.
Im not looking to overstock this tank, some future additions (including everything in my current tank) might be:
shoal of green chromis
shoal of lyretail anthias
possible emperor angel (have always dreamed of one)
powder blue tang
maybe a blue throat trigger
maybe some sort of wrasse or possibly a butterfly
There may be a few other additions but only small ones like gobies I think.
And the 55gallon fuge I would keep sea horses in
!
It will be sort of a semi reef, I would see what types of corals my fish will allow me to keep and go from there, tbh i've always been more interested in fish than corals but it would still be nice to have some softies and LPS in there. Ive heard emperors are usually a safe bet.
Well I think that is all, this is the only alternative I can think of to giving up my two tangs, and if you ask me it seems like a pretty darn good alternative. I hope my parents think so too. Ive put a lot of thought into this and I will buy almost everything myself. If I research everything enough and get all the parts sorted out in the next few months, I think I might just be allowed to do this. So please guys if you can, answer whatever questions you can, give me any advice you have and lets get this monster tank on the run! I'd really appreciate any help (and I do apologise for the length of this thread!)
Thanks for reading, Casey!
. I currently have a 55gallon tank with a flame angel, 2 clowns, a blue tang and a yellow tang. Both tangs are only about 4 inches so they are ok for now. The tank is about 2 years old and everything has been going absolutely perfectly. However I am constantly thinking of getting a bigger tank, everytime i look at mine i am so happy with the progress of it, but it breaks my heart at the thought of one day having to give up my tangs. My dad is trying to convince me they'll be fine, as he has kept tangs in this size tank before, however never two at a time. I know one day they will both just be too large for it and their longterm happiness is all im really concerned about .On ebay I have found a company that builds tanks for really a very good price, absolutely any dimensions you want. And every three months they deliver to northern ireland. i was so happy when i discovered this!! They are delivering next week, which is far too soon, so i have the next three months to convince my parents that this will be a good idea.
If everything goes well and Im allowed to buy this tank, this is what I plan to do and i'd just like some feedback.
I will go for 6 feet long, as this will give the tangs so much more swimming space. A two foot depth will give me more room for aquascaping, and I was considering making it 3 foot tall, as I have seen taller tanks and really really like them. The only drawback to having it 3' tall is that they have to build it on site, so if that adds a lot more to the price i may go for 2' high. what do u think? This, i think, works out to be around 225gallons, which I know is a whole lot but the tank is working out so cheap. I dont know the final price for this yet though, so i might go for the 2' tall which is 150gallons, absolutely plenty.
One thing I learnt from my current tank is that it is too low down, I hate having to crouch to see it in all its glory. So I will make the stand taller this time. For a stand I was wondering if this would work, we have done it in the past for other tanks but this is on a much larger scale. Use a very large plank of wood, cut to the dimensions of the tank and a good few inches thick, and hold it up by large concrete blocks?? I am a bit concerned also about the floorboards, will they support this weight?
The tank would be lit probably by 6 39W T5 lights.
I would not use live rock as the only method of filtration. I would probably have around 100lbs, and the rest would be ocean rock and dead corals. However I would use atleast 2 large canister filters. Would this be ok do u think?
I would definitely need a skimmer upgrage. Can anyone point me in the direction of one that would be good but also not too expensive??
For nutrient export I will set up my current 55gallon tank right next to it, and have it as a seperate display tank which I will culture various macro algaes in. I think it would make a good fuge. I have seen pictures of tanks done like this and it looks absolutely incredible.
I'd probably have about a 4" sand bed in each tank, would this be enough for a DSB?
I have a spare 55gallon that will sit underneath for a sump. So this system will have a lot of water for stability hopefully.
My current tank has no holes drilled in it whatsoever, and I dont reeeally see the advantage of having it drilled as ours has worked fine. Our 'overflow' works by just a pipe taking water down to the sump through gravity, and then a pump in the sump sends it back up to the tank. These are the only two places water leaves or enters the tank. It can be annoying during water changes as the water level in the display gets too low and you have to start the water flowing in the pipe again, but apart from that its fine. Can anyone convince me it would be a good idea to get this tank drilled in any certain areas? or install a propper overflow box?? It would be good to get that sorted out at the start and see if they'll do it for me if i have to.
I really think thats it! Oh, I will buy some more good powerheads from ebay for circulation.
Im not looking to overstock this tank, some future additions (including everything in my current tank) might be:
shoal of green chromis
shoal of lyretail anthias
possible emperor angel (have always dreamed of one)
powder blue tang
maybe a blue throat trigger
maybe some sort of wrasse or possibly a butterfly
There may be a few other additions but only small ones like gobies I think.
And the 55gallon fuge I would keep sea horses in
!It will be sort of a semi reef, I would see what types of corals my fish will allow me to keep and go from there, tbh i've always been more interested in fish than corals but it would still be nice to have some softies and LPS in there. Ive heard emperors are usually a safe bet.
Well I think that is all, this is the only alternative I can think of to giving up my two tangs, and if you ask me it seems like a pretty darn good alternative. I hope my parents think so too. Ive put a lot of thought into this and I will buy almost everything myself. If I research everything enough and get all the parts sorted out in the next few months, I think I might just be allowed to do this. So please guys if you can, answer whatever questions you can, give me any advice you have and lets get this monster tank on the run
! I'd really appreciate any help (and I do apologise for the length of this thread!)Thanks for reading, Casey!
