Upgrade Advice - Which would you do and why? 200 DD or 180

[austin93]

Both of these tanks would be a great upgrade from my 75, but I guess my biggest concern is maintenance on a 3' deep tank or lighting a 6' tank. I would need 3 mh on a 6' but only 2 on a DD tank. Advice would be very welcome. Thanks.

 

[Creetin]

I would go with the 200 DD i have the 300 and i use 3 250watt MH, and a couple t-5's to fill and add color. The elites give a good spread, But I would go with a custom cannopy and get one made taller so it covers better. You could get away with 2 of them. Also GET DOORS on the sides of the cannopy. I wish i would have thought of that prior. That will take care of any maint issues you fear.
If youre going in wall then get the 180. You would waste the viewing area having it in a wall. IMO
The scaping possabilities is much greater with the 200.

 

[austin93]

Thanks for the input, I agree that the scaping would be better w/ a 200. 180 would be better for the fish wouldn't it? I would like numerous tangs and they need more swimming room.

 

[serpentman]

Personally, as a huge fan of deeper tanks, I would go with the 200g. More options for aquascaping and plenty of room for fish to swim, especially when corals are grown out

 

[treszoks]

If you plan on tangs go for the 6 foot.

 

[z34fiend]

I would say 6 foot for the tangs.I have a 220 and my tangs definately like the space.

 

[serpentman]

Assuming tangs swim back in forth in a perfect linear pattern the 6' argument makes sense. However, in a deep dimension tank, they spend just as much time swimming front to back as well. Trust me, 4' x 3' is plenty of room for most tangs.

 

[Sardaukar]

Assuming tangs swim back in forth in a perfect linear pattern the 6' argument makes sense. However, in a deep dimension tank, they spend just as much time swimming front to back as well. Trust me, 4' x 3' is plenty of room for most tangs.

Both the 6'x2' and 4'x3' tanks have a 12 square foot footprint, however the 180 gallon has the longer of the straight line options (i.e. the fish can dash farther in the 180).

The real answer is to get a 300 DD 6 feet long AND the deep aquscaping option

 

[austin93]

300 would be great, but that is more than I can swing right now. The 200 is a good compromise. I just hate to add another halide when I can get maybe a higher quality tank overall with the DD series. I think that if I was a fish, i would be happier getting to explore and go in every direction for a little while. A dd has 3" extra of height and 1' of depth that could be taken advantage of. It is also 5' from corner to corner so I guess I am leaning that way now. I also got a big piece of rock that weighs 20lbs dry and is over 18" across. Might look really nice as a focal point in a dd tank. Might be crowded in a 2'. Thanks for the input and keep the debate going. I think there are a lot of people that are really interested in the dd tanks just concerned about the footprint.