Your Ideal tank

[Paul B]

If time and money was not a concern (but space still is) what would your Ideal tank look like and what would it have in it not counting livestock?
I myself am pretty happy with my set up and would only change a few things.
For instance my tank has had every type of lighting there is and now it has MH but I would like to install LEDs, I just need the time to build the fixture.
I would also like to raise my entire rockwork off the bottom and only have it touching in 3 or 4 places. It is close to that now but not quite.
I am thinking of building a "rock" like the one in the picture but make it like a sort of cage that would cover most of the tank with 3 or 4 pieces going into the gravel. The entire structure will rest on this so that you would be able tio see under the structure all the way to the back, which would be dark.
That is my plan, whats yours?
(this rock like many of my rocks is hollow PVC covered in cement, this is during construction and after a few years in the tank)

 

[phenom5]

My ideal tank (aka next tank )

48x30x18 (realistically maybe 48x24x18) with an external overflow.

Less rock in the display.

Automated dosing, and daily water changes...hopefully with a dedicated fish room so I have space to have plenty of freshwater & mixed saltwater on hand.

Still quite a few years off, so it's hard to say what I'll do with lighting. Depends on where LED's are at by then.

I'd like to split the sump, so I have equipment in half, and a channel with LR in the other half.

The biggest thing for me, ease of maintenance.

 

[Richard Reefer]

144" Long, 48" Wide, 18" High

External CTC overflow on the short side setup peninsula style. Shallow sand bed, minimal rock, well executed aquascape. The ultimate rimless shallow reef.

 

[zma21]

Rimless 40 breeder, with ~90 gallon sump.

 

[Dex]

48x36x20 rimless glass tank
Automated everything minus the feeding

 

[LaOtIn]

boy, you opened the flood gate!

Ideal tank: 96x14x20 (approx. 116 gallons) with a 48x12x20 (50 gallon) sump, BeanAnimal overflow system

Built in the wall with a fish room

6x48" x2 T5 lighting (6 bulbs per 4' side) with 3x48" T5 lighting for sump, LED lunar lights

digital Aquatics Reef Keeper Elite Controller, Deltec External Protein Skimmer TC2060, calc reactor, RODI auto top off system, just to name a few things

I would keep a mixed reef with a pair of clowns, yellow watchman goby, jawfish, blue hippo tang, couple of cardnials and a blood red shrimp

 

[reefgeezer]

Just because I like Tangs, 5' long at minimum. And I like to build some depth in my reef so a minimum of 24" deep. 30" high sounds about right. That's about a 190.

 

[Rascalson]

HEHEHE if time and money are not a concern then space would not be for me. I would be tempted to go immediately to multiple 1000+ gallon complex shapes in their own dedicated temp and moisture controlled area , but would probably settle on something standard first to get my arms wet like a 4x2x2.

 

[Bloodritual]

I want a tank as big as my bedroom (if i had the money I should be able to buy a house big enough for it) that uses natural sunlight for lighting.

 

[jadeguppy]

I'd like a big tank, over 200 gallons, and someone else to take care of it. I get to ohh and ahh and none of the headache. I should mention that the person caring for the tank must actually know how, not a wanna-be.

 

[muttley000]

A 12' by 4' by 26" for me, with a few 100gal rubermaid stock tanks in the basement for sumps, a 6' by 3' by 48" tall fuge with the bottom 16" partitioned off as a cryptic zone. Lets see, I'd need one of those cool 8 foot skimmers to set by it, and an attached frag system...

Ok I better stop

 

[Nebthet]

My ideal tank for the space I live in would be a 100g 60L x 18w x 20H

I would have my current scape on right end, which has about 58lbs of live rock and on the left end I would have another 25 to 30lbs of rock placed in a small island for a purple or blue gig carpet anemone.

I like the lights I have now so I would use those over the right end and on the left end I would spotlight the gig with my par38 bulbs.

This would give me more sand room for my acans, chalice and favia while keeping an open look to the tank.
Having the Gig by its self on the left side will encourage my larger clowns over to that end of the tank while letting my juveniles do there thing on the right where the sebae anemone is.

 

[64Ivy]

After dealing with a 500g for what seems like 500 years, my ideal (or next) tank would be similar to my current LPS tank: A 40-60 gallon reef, primarily LPS, and with perhaps one or two fish. It would have a large sump/fuge located somewhere remote to keep noise to a minimum and the only bells and whistles would be LED lighting, a CA reactor, skimmer, and maybe a chiller since the tank and the house around it would be located in some beautiful tropical location overlooking the very environment that most of the livestock came from in the first place.

Now if you'll excuse me, they say the temps might dip into the teens again tonight and I feel a bit of a crying jag coming on.

 

[rnscross]

48 long 36 deep 36 high with a 36x24x18 sump running a nice big skimmer, zeolite, phos ban and dosing pumps.

 

[Agu]

I've had big tanks, 180 Oceanic. I've had medium sized tanks 37 Oceanic cube and 40 breeders. And now I have nano tanks,three 10 gallons and a 5.5. Having been through the cycle of tanks I really prefer the nanos. Maintenance is low and every tank is species specific. I've also been able to go very low tech in my nanos (other than the LED lighting).

If I were to set up a large tank it would be a FOWLER just to keep a Red Sea Naso tang. Once again it would be a species specific tank and equipment would be kept to a minimum. Less technology and more biology.

 

[Fishfish0001]

A small breading system for fish and corals. I've always dreamed of having on. Just small species specific tanks, and maybe some research tanks.

 

[eric@tampa]

The ultimate LPS tank...150gal 48"x36"x24" with all the goodies to go with it>

 

[username in use]

120" x 120" x 120"

True reef setup, sps up top, lps down low, non photo's in the caves and softies in the nooks and crannies. No viewable equipment. Pair of bristletooth tangs, all other fish will be small i.e. wrasses, centropyge's, anthias, cardinals etc. Pairs and harems only, no singles.

 

[KafudaFish]

Well this is easy.

I would want PaulB's tank.

This is a hard question to answer though because I see so many different things I want to try and do.

My ideal tank has changed so often it is not funny.

For example I would take a 240 and make it an AIO with the back foot my sump.

Next month it maybe an 8 x 3 x 2 FOWLR.

Or how about another nano focused on a very very simple stocking option.

 

[Humu Humu]

Paul B,
To get your rock off of the substrate try using wide diameter pvc pipe. I had several pieces of 2" pvc pipe cut to 1" higher than the gravel and pushed them in to stand on the bottom glass. I placed an eggcrate platform over that with the rock on top, but didn't like the eggcrate as some of it showed and it looked artificial, so I removed it, but left the pvc and placed my rocks directly on the pvc. Works great and is really simple.