Glass vs Acrylic vs reef ready

[john0087]

Hey all,

I am planning my upgrade and I wanted to see what types of tank construction you all have.

Thanks

 

[ryguy]

John, the answer to this question also depends on the amount of money you want to sink into the hobby.

You mentioned in another post about using a HOB fuge. Do you also want a sump system. Having the reef ready tank makes life much easier to incorporate a sump, but it depends if you want to keep your tank simple or not. Myself, I completely recommend a sump and fuge for all its added benefits, but this is when things start getting more expensive. If money isn't and issue, and you want a sump, go with the reef-ready.

As far as glass or acrylic... the question I would ask myself, if it were me, is... Would the extra clarity of acrylic outweigh the potential asthetics of a scratched tank.

Sure there are more differences as mentioned in the other post, but for me, that question would be the actual deciding factor.

HTH
Ryan

 

[john0087]

Ryan,

Yeah, I am planning on using a sump for filtration purposes. I would perfer a HOB fuge that I can hang on the side of the tank, not the back. Sounds strange, but part of my love for this hobby is the whole "creating an ecosystem" expereince. I want to "display" this important part of the system, even if its just for me to look at.

I am leaning towards the reef ready tanks for ease of use with a sump, but I have yet to see a glass tank that is reef ready. Also, I was concerned about using on HOB fuge with glass. Even the smallest ones are 3gal capacity, thats at least 24# of extra weight on the tank.

Weight...With a 75G system we are talking at least 600# weight. I figured that by reducing the weight of the tank, that will ease the stress on the stand. Just some added piece of mind.

Lastly, at 75g, thats a whole lot of water in case of cracking. Acyrlic would really put my mind at ease....until I scratch it...and I am sure I will scratch it.

 

[melosu58]

125 glass reef ready here

 

[ryguy]

All Glass Aquariums make reef ready tanks.

If you are interested in bowfront, they have those with RR plumbing too.

I wouldn't worry about the weight. If you buy a quality tank and specified stand for it, it will be built to hold the total weight.

 

[ColdFish]

Here's a link to give you some info on the All Glass reef ready tanks. I have the 90 gallon model and the set-up is super easy.
http://www.all-glass.com/products/aquariums/index.html

After following the link, select "megaflow" on the left side. Can't link directly to the megaflow info for some reason.

 

[AoiGSR]

I have also caught the Saltwater upgrade. I currently run a 40G 36x15x16 right now and am not sure if that is good enough for a Saltwater setup (tank wise). I also run 96W lighting that I was using for plants.

I am also thinking of acrylic and was contemplating getting the 55G at 36X15X24 which would fit the same stand I currently have. I figure the weight of the tank would save on putting the stress on the stand as well (which is designed for that size foot print I imagine).

Not sure if that size is good to start with salt water or if it's better to stick with the 40G (much more shallow)

-AoiGSR

 

[john0087]

Thanks for the suggestions. I really liked the design of the AGA tank with "Megaflow". I found a couple of AGA dealers in my area and I am going to check them out.

If anyone is in the Greater Los Angeles area and has store recomendations, I would appreciate any suggestions.

Also, any one else want to chime in on the poll?? What kinda tanks do all you peoples have....

Thanks

 

[Brenden]

My tank is a RR acrylic mainly because of weight. Plus I have kids so I like the strength of acrylic. Never know when a baseball or bat may pay you a visit. I also have a 180 gal RR glass tank but it is in storage. No experience with it yet. My wife will not set it up for me.

If anyone is in the Greater Los Angeles area and has store recomendations,

I know a great livestock and supply store but I can not help you with the tank.

 

[john0087]

[/quote]Not sure if that size is good to start with salt water or if it's better to stick with the 40G (much more shallow)

AoiGSR

One thing that I have learned in the past 9 months of keeping saltwater fish is that they like to swim......thats why I want to upgrade. My 37G is 30x15x20 even with only 3 fish, the tanks seems small for my little fish. When considering size of a tank, I would suggest looking at the dimensions more than the capacity. Most of the tanks I am looking at are either 48x16x18 (60gal) or 48x18x20 (75gal) While this will mean a new stand and lights, the extra length afforded by the longer tank will be of better use.

A taller tank but with the same width and length add more water volume, but doesn't really increase the number of fish you can keep cause most of them swim near your rockwork or floor.

maybe some of the more experienced members here can agree or disagree??

 

[ryguy]

taller tanks also suffer from lack of oxygenation/gas exchange because the 2 other dimensions are reduced to give the tank more height which equals less surface area.

 

[ColdFish]

A taller tank but with the same width and length add more water volume, but doesn't really increase the number of fish you can keep cause most of them swim near your rockwork or floor.

Not sure that I fully agree with that. If you're talking just about swimming room then I can see where you're coming from, but there are some other factors to consider. My 90 has the same footprint as a 75 with the only difference being that the 90 is 4" taller. The extra water volume is a positive thing in terms of waste management. More volume to dilute the waste into. Decreased oxygenation with taller tanks could be an issue, but this problem vanishes, or at least is minimized if you have a sump.

Lighting is an issue as light won't penetrate as well in a taller tank and that has to be considered. You can overcome some of this one by placing your corals with higher light requirements higher up in the tank.

What you plan to stock in the tank plays into it also. Personally, I like the smaller, peaceful community fish and didn't plan on having anything in my tank that requires a ton of swimming room. I'm still working on setting up the 90 and all of the above went into my thought process when I decided on that size tank. It also fits well in the space I had available, but gave me more flexiibility than a 75 gallon which would have taken up exactly tha same amount of floor space. When you consider my sump and fuge, the 90 gallon is more like 110 gallons when everything is running, and I definetly don't feel limited to the same bioload that I could accomodate in a 75 gallon tank

 

[john0087]

The extra water volume is a positive thing in terms of waste management. More volume to dilute the waste into. Decreased oxygenation with taller tanks could be an issue, but this problem vanishes, or at least is minimized if you have a sump.


Completely agree foresure. Its just that a lot of people, including myself, only look at the volume of the tank when starting out new. It seems like we all talk about tanks in gal more often than dims, and I thinks dims are just as important, if not more. Like you said, you can increase water volume and waste management by inlcuding a sump of fugue.

For example, a looking at 2 tanks on the market

40gal-36x15x16
50gal-36x15x18

Thats a 10gal difference, so one a newbie like myself would like to think that you could keep an extra 2" of fish (1" per 5gal), but you are not really affording much more actual room for a fish. It will be easier to keep you water params in check in the 50gal, but I am not convinced that you could keep more or larger fish in the 50gal vs the 40gal.

 

[ColdFish]

Again, I think it really depends on the type of fish that you plan to keep. If all fish are small and you come up with a good mixture of fish that are mainly free swimming combined with bottom dwellers, then you're going to be able to keep more fish in the larger tank. If your plan is to have large fish that need lots of swimming room then the taller tank offers no advantage. The point I was trying to make was that the taller tank was a good choice for me, but may not be for others.

 

[Brenden]

Coldfish is dead on with the advantages and disadvantages of a tall tank.

I think it really depends on the type of fish that you plan to keep.

Says it perfectly.

 

[john0087]

ok,

Makes sence to me....

Thanks

 

[AoiGSR]

I guess I can't get that 55 then... So maybe sell the whole setup and just get a new setup. I guess I m afraid of weight as well. Not sure how well it's going to hold up on the 2nd floor. I'd have to move the tank to a different location because the 40G footprint fits perfectly in the area it's in.

Maybe I can move the piano and place the heavy unit there and move the piano somewhere else

now I got to think more

 

[Brenden]

There is no reason why you can not get the 55? If you are wanting it because of the larger tank volume then it would fine. If you want it so you can add a tang etc. it is not a good idea. The point being you are not gaining any horizontal swim room. If you are going to upgrade why not make a leap? Maybe a 100 gal

 

[AoiGSR]

Just got back helping to take care of my friend's kids (they are such a handful!) and then walked over to my LFS

They had their 20% off sale almost everything (10% off the tanks/stands) and for ever $10 we spend, we got a raffle ticket to win either Gift Certs at their place or $100 Best Buy card

Anyway, I started talking to the guy and he said 40G should be fine but he said he's not going to tell me how I should spend my money.

He talked about 3 systems that are out there for SW systems, one of them was a refugium, another was the sump system, and a "Berlin" system. It's all news to be and he said the Berlin system was the quietest. Some other system sounds like a "toilet"

He also mentioned a 40G with a built in overflow and sump would be better. I wasn't sure what an overflow does yet but i think I'll be doing a lot of research.

In addition, maybe I will go for the 100G. He said he has a 90G on his 2nd floor (and can go even more in gallons) and that's where a lot of the weight can be supported anyway (our house was built in 2001 so I assume it was done to meet building codes....)

40G tank? probably 4-5 fish depending on the fish.
50G tank? the most popular size they sell. Should be fine for SW.

He also has a 55G which has more depth and not as narrow 36x18x20
(for his home).

They have a NICE 180G. I wonder if I can do that on the 2nd floor

 

[ColdFish]

I have a 50G that was originally FOWLR but is slowly turning into a reef. I love that size. Very easy to work in.

Not sure about putting a 180 on the second floor. My 90 is on the second floor, sort of. My living room is over my garage. I was definetly concerned though hehe.

The guy at the LFS was probably talking about one of those Ecosystem hang-on-back kits when he said refugium. Not familiar with those as far as being noisy. The Berlin system is basically lots of liverock + protein skimmer so definetly quiet. Sumps don't necessarily have to be real noisy if they're set up right. One thing though. The choice here will determine if you need the overflow model or not. You don't need an overflow unless you plan on having a sump.

Very basically what an overflow does is this:

Water is pumped from the sump to the display tank by the return pump. The extra water in the display tank spills (overflows) into the overflow chamber and is returned back to the sump by gravity and the whole process repeats.

The overflow chamber allows the tank to overflow in a controlled manner back to the sump rather than overflowing all over your carpet