Bowfront or Standard?

[Aquarian]

Hello! It's been a while since I've posted. Glad to see it's still an awesome community.

I am trying to decide whether to purchase a 175g bowfront reef-ready system or have my 135g standard tank drilled. Money isn't the issue - I just would like to see what others prefer. I've only seen stocked big bowfronts a few times so I'm not sure if I'll miss my box view or not.

For those of you with bowfronts... any regrets?

 

[EELectric]

Bowfronts in my opinion blure your view.

 

[Aquarian]

Yes, I could have sworn I've noticed that or heard before. Thanks! I do enjoy photographing my reef and pets so please vote and post your opinions to help me!

Thanks alot!

 

[ntswift]

Personally I like the look of the bowfronts. They just seem to come out at you! I just like that deeper look because it looks like you are acutally in a reef and not a painting.

 

[Aquarian]

Definitely... I just wonder how photography would turn out. I'd also require a stool to do anything frag-wise!

 

[ntswift]

I dont know about the photography, but I'm sure there is a way to do it. You could always make your own stool for frags also. Just get some aquarium glue and some plexi-glass. I'm sure there are some articles that can show you how to do it. Good luck with it either way!

 

[melosu58]

To me the bow front just gives you a distorted view. I dont know what it is but it`s just different. Maybe that`s the problem, I just dont want to be different.

 

[Aquarian]

Ntswift, I meant a stool as a means to reach within a deep tank I personally prefer a natural reef look over shelving.

 

[FishFrik]

I like standard better. The bowfront makes the tank looks wierd. Everything in a bowfront looks distorted as melosu said. That's just my opinion

 

[ryguy]

I'm a bowfront owner and I don't find any distortion whatsoever, provided you are looking at the reef perpedicular to the glass and not from one end of the bow looking down towards the other.

I take pics of my tank with no ill effects in the outcome from having the bow. Cleaned glass is the real make it or break it factor.

I'll post a pic of the last photo I took of my new clown so you can be the judge.

 

[Aquarian]

Beautiful shot! Any regrets at all ryguy?

 

[Guest]

I had a 55 bow front before this tank and there was some slight distortion at certian angles but never really had problems photographing.

As you can see it was fairly diffacult to clean the front but the tank when clean looked real nice. The pic below was scanned in from a pic taken with my old camera. With a nice camera good pics can be had.

 

[ryguy]

Any regrets at all ryguy?

nope....not yet.

When I upgrade, I'll be doing an in-wall tank so it will be a standard for that reason though.

 

[Aquarian]

Hmmm. Thanks so much for the votes and comments so far! I'm leaning toward standard... one reason being the fact that I'm not overly crazy on plastic stands. I'd prefer a nice oak with canopy and bowfronts get pricey with custom stands.

For anyone following this thread, I found an informative discussion precisely focused on my indecisiveness. Hope it's ok to post links? Thread

 

[lando]

I have a 72gal BF tank right now. I think they look very nice but if I had to do it over I would go with a standard. The BF is harder to clean and I had a very hard time finding a MH/CF fixture that would fir the top of my tank. Most fixtures were simply too wide.

 

[ntswift]

Aquarian, Lol sorry about that! I saw a tank a while back with an actual shelf for frags in it. It was an acrylic tank though. Good luck with finding the right tank though!

 

[Serpentman]

I think the bowfronts have a unique look. Whenever anyone visits they comment on mine.

 

[Brenden]

I voted standard. Mainly due to cleaning.

 

[philly]

i have a 90 gallon Surfline aquarium. Easy to clean and is a very unique shape. i would recomend it

 

[melosu58]

Hey philly do you have a pic. I would like to see that.