Bowfront tanks.

[SpaceButler]

There's a good looking 75 gallon bowfront tank on sale at my lfs. I think it looks nice, but I was curious if anyone knows if the shape will affect the view of my tank at all.

 

[flipz]

personally i don't like bow front tanks. i honestly think that looking at them you can tell it's bowed and things just don't look right.

maybe it's just me and my eyes though, because otherwise i don't even understand why they would sell them. but to me it makes things look strange, and gives me a headache if i look too long.

-brent

 

[Drake]

I have a 46 gallon bow front tank and it looks fine to me and there has been no problems with it.

 

[TankGirl]

I think bowfronts are fine - except the ones that are "corner" tanks, where you have an angle at the back and a curved piece across the front creating a three-sided tank. I think those do distort the view of the fish and it is disorienting to me when I go to the LFS and they have display fish in them.

 

[QTOFFER]

I think that the larger bowfronts produce much less distortion than the smaller ones. I have a 7 gal bowfront and I just never liked the way it showcased my fish. The optical distortion was very noticeable aand not very flattering.

Like I said, I don't think think this would necessarily be the case with a 75 gal bowfront, but if I were you, I would check out a couple of lfs in hope of actually seeing one that was stocked with fish.

Two other things to keep in mind is that a 75 gal bowfront probably has the same footprint as a cheaper 90 gal standard tank, and that bowfront tanks look much, much better on more expensive bowfront stands.

 

[SpaceButler]

Hmm, thanks for the advice. I think I can live without a bowfront, I was just curious.

BTW, is that glasscages.com a reputable supplier? Those are some cheap cheap tanks.

 

[Bearfan]

I have a 72 gal bowfront that I love.

 

[FancyGuppyGuy]

Hey if It holds water and I can keep fish in it. I like it!!

 

[poikilotherm]

My 29 bowfront has notably more disortion than a comparable rectangular tank. My other problem with bowfronts is reflections. I find that if there is a light or window facing the front of the tank, you get reflections off the front glass across a wider viewing angle than you would with a regular tank. It depends on the geometry of your room, of course, but it bugs me with my setup right now.

 

[SpaceButler]

I'm into trying to photograph my fish, and I think a bowfront might hurt that.

BTW, once again, it'd be cool if someone could vouce for glasscages.com that'd be cool.

 

[TankGirl]

That is a good point about photos! I have a 12gal Eclipse that has a very slight bowfront and I can't get a decent pic to save my life in that tank. Don't know if that would be an issue in a larger tank or not.

 

[QTOFFER]

I've gotten some decent pics in my 7 gal bowfront, but only when the fish was close to the glass. (see my gallery - cory melanistius, ramshorn snail, and albino ancistrus). One thing I noticed is that the autofocus doesn't work at all with the bowfront - I think it keeps trying to focus on the curved outer glass surface. Nearly all my photos are taken with manual focus.