Floor to ceiling cylindrical tank

[mr_X]

I think this idea is going to plague you with problems. An 8' deep reef tank is a bad idea for many reasons:
1. how will you clean the glass?
2. how will you pick up knocked off corals and re-attach them or move them?
3. Lighting will be super expensive and PAR will be crap at the bottom.
4. any lighting you have will have to be serviced from time to time. How will you do so?
5. It's a massive waste of space because most fish swim side to side for the most part, not up and down. You won't have very many fish at the top of the tank
6. How will you manage flow, half way up the cylinder? at the bottom of the cylinder? these units will need to be serviced as well

If you are hell-bent on this dimension, then perhaps a jellyfish tank would be better.

Every reef keeper I know always has their hands/arms in the tank. My arms are in the tank almost every day.
I suggest a 6' round 24-25" tall cylinder. Something with an ornamental catwalk of sorts running across it so you can access the center without having to wear a pair of waders.

 

[dmolavi]

Or, you could do stacked cylinders with small "canopies" between them for lighting/filtration, etc that could be pulled out for servicing.

 

[fishmonkey]

I think this idea is going to plague you with problems. An 8' deep reef tank is a bad idea for many reasons:
1. how will you clean the glass?
2. how will you pick up knocked off corals and re-attach them or move them?
3. Lighting will be super expensive and PAR will be crap at the bottom.
4. any lighting you have will have to be serviced from time to time. How will you do so?
5. It's a massive waste of space because most fish swim side to side for the most part, not up and down. You won't have very many fish at the top of the tank
6. How will you manage flow, half way up the cylinder? at the bottom of the cylinder? these units will need to be serviced as well

If you are hell-bent on this dimension, then perhaps a jellyfish tank would be better.

Every reef keeper I know always has their hands/arms in the tank. My arms are in the tank almost every day.
I suggest a 6' round 24-25" tall cylinder. Something with an ornamental catwalk of sorts running across it so you can access the center without having to wear a pair of waders.

Thank you! These were the kinds of questions that I hoped would be asked. This is, in its entirety, a theoretical tank. I was wondering if it would be plausible, and getting ideas.

Or, you could do stacked cylinders with small "canopies" between them for lighting/filtration, etc that could be pulled out for servicing.

That could be REALLY cool, actually! I like this, and it definitely eliminates some of the problems of the full 8' tank.