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New House = New Tank: Go BIG or Go home. Need advice


Atomic

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My Wife and I have decided to build a new house in 2018. We are in negotiations for purchasing the land this week and Ill be working on the design of the house for the Next year or so. I own a business building custom homes so this has always been a dream of mine. Ive already jumped my first major hurdle and I have gotten the Wife to sign off to plan our basement around a fish tank (or maybe 2 :D ) and of course a large fish room. Im also putting the kids bedrooms in the basement (walkout) so that it forces us to spend time there. The last thing i want is to put my tank in a basement that we never use!

 

I have a few questions that i wana brainstorm with you all about while Im working on the design aspect of the house:

 

1 or 2 tanks?: Im either gonna go with a 8'x4'x28" Mixed Reef or Go with 2 220s 6'x2'x30" side by side. I kinda like the idea of being able to separate fish and corals if needed. I really love Angels, but I also love zoanthids. Thus im considering 2 tanks.

 

Inwall, Corner, or Peninsula? The Wife thinks Inwall or Corner will be easier to hide if i ever get out of the hobby. I love Peninsula because of the 3 sided view. Does anyone with a Inwall regret it? how hard would it be to place coral in a Big Inwall tank? Im guessing im gonna get very wet......

 

Glass or Acrylic? has anyone used the air powered orbital sander in a fish tank before? Ive seen it on youtube but it still scares me. Having kids playing in the same room makes me scared of acrylic.

 

 

 

 

Ill be planning and collecting equipment over the next 2 years for this project so If anyone sees a BIG used tank or skimmer then let me know. Ill be in the market!!!

 

Ross

 

 

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Wow congrats Ross! That is awesome news...you have had quite the year huh!

 

The build idea is obviously cool either way. A nice long 8 foot tank gives tons of options for sure...just look at TYRYFIN and his 10 footer!!! WOW!

 

But dueling 220g tanks, one reef and one fowlr would be quite cool too...if you could plumb them somewhat together or be able to do a water change on both with the dial of a few valves, if necessary that is etc.

 

Could give you a dream reef with also having a sweet angel or butterfly collection in the tank next to it. I know ive always wanted the space to do an aggressive fish tank like eels and triggers. But the idea of a butterfly angel tank is way up there too!! Either way it is pretty sweet to have the room and am sure it will be amazing either way!!

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Thanks Brandon,

Im not sure what direction im gonna go. A 10' tank like TYRYFIN would be amazing and I would really consider it. Ive been looking at my 220 lately and I really hate that its so tall (30") and I wish it was wider, maybe 36". 2 tanks @ 72"x36"x28" is 315g each. I might get some quotes on tanks soon and see how much one might be.

 

Ironically there is a local guy who builds tanks. I saw his card at the local hardware store and emailed him the other day. He does glass tanks and plywood tanks. Im not sure if I trust a local guy. Ill definitely need to see references for this guys but i might be willing to give it a shot depending on the cost. He tried to get me to do a plywood tank. If im going to do a inwall tank then a plywood tank wouldnt be bad. Im curious on the life span on a plywood tank compared to a glass or acrylic. anyone know? Anyone ever built one?

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Nasty weather today and ive taken the day off. Im looking on reef central about the plywood tanks and its VERY tempting to me. Especially since i work with wood daily. If I do a plywood tank then the only limitation is the length of the plywood.......

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If i got Peninsula, then it will be 4ft wide. I really doubt I will go Peninsula at this point. The wife seems to think a Peninsula would take away from the house too much. So instead of a 8'x4'x28" Peninsula, Ill just do 2 8'x4'x28" inwall........

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I have had many setups over the years. But I would say that the one large tank setup is my favorite. I had two identical 250 gallon tanks and the maintenance on them was too much for me at that particular time in my life. I also tend to go with bigger fish and my tank now let's me do that. If I had to do it again I would have made my area behind the tank double what I have now and I would have gone with a wider tank like Dustins.

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