Tank for the office

[stealyourhouse]

I've been out of the hobby for a few years now, but it looks like I'm about to be thrust back into it.

The background
There's a long story behind this, but the short story is that after months of asking my boss to set up a reef tank in the office, an opportunity arose and he bought a used 75g tank setup from a co-worker's neighbor (possibly one of you guys ).

The tank
It's a 75g reef ready Marineland tank, with a few scratches (inside of the glass) and a missing weir for the overflow (I guess I can find a replacement part?). I haven't seen the stand yet, but it doesn't have a canopy - just a Coralife T5 dual lamp fixture. There is a sump and skimmer (eshopps psk-100), and the skimmer section of the sump will probably not fit anything larger than that.

The team
While we may consider hiring out the maintenance of the tank at some point, there are three of us with reef tank backgrounds who have volunteered to setup and maintain the tank.

The dilemma
This would be a great tank if we were running a pizzeria, since this is going into the office of a multi billion dollar company I'm not sure this tank looks the part. At the very least, we're thinking we would need a higher stand and a canopy (to keep people's meddling hands out of the tank and also hide lighting, an automatic feeder and plumbing). There is a benefit of going with a smaller tank (75g - 120g) to make it a bit easier to maintain and move if we needed to, but I don't think starting with a tank that needs repairs is the smartest way to go. Good news is that my boss is open to buying a new tank, but wants to keep the total cost of the tank down.

The LFS advice
We went to one LFS today and were told that the only manufacturer that sells canopies, stand, tank combos is Deep Sea Aquatics.

The ask
I've been keeping up with the hobby enough to know what equipment would be best, but I don't really know anything about choosing a tank for an office environment. Anyone have any advice on which direction to go from here?

Thanks!

 

[u4ick]

1st, we need more info to help you out.

What do you want to do with the tank? ....most people start this hobby backwards...

What is budget? Should the bulk of that budget be in cosmetics of how well the tank looks "in an office space"? Or hope to spent it more on quality equipment?....No....we want lots of stuff in it!!!!

Tell us the goals ..... plenty of opinions here on how to achieve them...but at least you can have something to sift through.

 

[stealyourhouse]

Overall goal of the tank would be an SPS dominant reef tank with a light bio load of captive bred fish. I've gone through enough crap equipment to know to only buy quality and since we aren't there at night or weekends, an APEX controller is at the top of my list.

 

[mpgrant77]

As much as we like SPS. My suggestion would be to start with a softie lps tank. Lots of motion and color to attract the eye which will still keep it attractive. The big benefits for an office tank going this way is way less testing. Much more forgiving water parameters. Ca, Mg, KH dosing is way easier and much more controllable. Especially if you are going to maintain it yourselves. Help tails away with time. Plus starting this way allows you time to establish the tank. Then once you clear a year or two successfully then you could start moving to an SPS tank. Remember that most people outside the hobby will really be interested in fish and lps because they have movement and color. "Look at the pretty fish." JMO :fun5: Good luck with it!

 

[kegogut]

An apex is a great start. I would get a 120 with corner overflow. Youll appreciate the extra 6 inches of depth since the 120 is 4x2 and the 75 is 4x18".

 

[u4ick]

As much as we like SPS. My suggestion would be to start with a softie lps tank. Lots of motion and color to attract the eye which will still keep it attractive. The big benefits for an office tank going this way is way less testing. Much more forgiving water parameters. Ca, Mg, KH dosing is way easier and much more controllable. Especially if you are going to maintain it yourselves. Help tails away with time. Plus starting this way allows you time to establish the tank. Then once you clear a year or two successfully then you could start moving to an SPS tank. Remember that most people outside the hobby will really be interested in fish and lps because they have movement and color. "Look at the pretty fish." JMO :fun5: Good luck with it!

All Very excellent points and should be seriously considered.

Apex?....ok cool......but just so you know, a full build worthy of spending an apex on, is going to push this budget up into the $5-$7K range for a complete system in the size range you are considering. (average general retail cost)
So if the budget isn't that big, then consider spending $ 1st on a nice tank & stand.... and nice looking rock.....do not go cheap in these areas as they are a considerable portion of the budget and certainly not easily "upgraded"....consider them a permanent part of a given build.(PROPER SUMP too)
All other things can be added on, traded out or upgraded later.

 

[stealyourhouse]

Point taken on the SPS vs LPS. I think I was leaning SPS because I would prefer that in my home, but LPS and maybe a couple of easy SPS would be more universally appealing.

Thanks!

 

[mpcart]

Here's my advice on an office tank . . . Figure out a high budget and just hand the project over to an LFS or commercial tank company. If something goes wrong or your boss or other senior management starts to get annoyed with the quality of the tank, algae problems, a massive tank nuking, etc then you just let the LFS deal with it.

At my last job I was one of the senior guys and we moved into a nice new office and our owner briefly considered an office tank since he knew about my hobby. And since I knew what a pain keeping a tank can be, how expensive it is, and what can go wrong, I ran away from that idea as fast as I could. No way I was going to mix my hobby with work that way. Without my enthusiasm the idea died and I was glad it did. I couldn't think of a faster way to destroy my love if a hobby than bringing it to work with me.

Take that for what it's worth. . . . Oh, and I agree stay away from SPS.

-Mike

 

[ebacon]

I'm selling an entire set up, including a complete accessories apex and vortex and Tunze pumps, lots of rock, AI led lights ROCK SKIMMER CALC REACTOR ETC... Pm me