Upgrading from 120 gallons

[jharding08]

I'm looking to upgrade from my 120 gallon, 48"x24"x24" when we move in a couple months. Was thinking of just going to 180 a gallon, 72"x24"x24", but saw a 240 gallon, 48"x48"x24" with center overflow that looked interesting.

When going that big, what should I keep an eye on? My current live rock setup is three pillars that I can take out whole and move. With a cube and center overflow, I could use them and build live rock on the overflow.

Most acrylic 180 g tanks have top openings too small for the pillars to fit through, so I would have to go glass. It is also hard to find glass 180s with drilled overflows. For my current 120, I had an internal c2c overflow installed and three holes drilled for bean animal drain.

What else should I be looking at? I guess I could also look at 240g, 96"x24"x24". The room in the new house will have room for any tank. Just don't think I could put a cube in the middle of the room.

And lastly, I'm just plain nervous about doubling my water volume. I know it will just mean bigger water changes, a bigger return pump and more circulation pumps (and more glass/acrylic panels to clean). But in the end, if the tank is secure and is on a concrete slab, it isnt that much different than a 120, just more space for fish/coral/sand, right?

Thank you for your help

[BrettDS]

I recently upgraded from a 75G to a 220G (my build thread is here (https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?url...9&share_type=t)


Overall it went quite well and like you said, for the most part it's mostly bigger pumps and skimmers and more lights and more room for fish and corals, but obviously there are some considerations that go along with it. My glass 220G tank is nearly 400lbs empty. Getting it to the house and lifting it onto the stand was something that had to be planned out in advance.

Even working in the tank is a bit more involved. The stand is 36" high and the tank is 30" high, so the top of the tank is 5 and a half feet off of the ground and above my eye level. I love the the huge front panel and the height of the tank, but it means that doing almost anything in the tank, short of reaching up and dropping in some food requires getting up on a ladder and leaning over it. My arms are barely long enough to reach the bottom of the tank, and trying to reach the bottom of the back of the tank usually results in dipping my nose into the water just as my fingertips touch the sand. It certainly makes mounting corals and such much more interesting.

I wouldn't change anything about it, though... I love the huge tank and the drawbacks aren't nearly enough to discourage me.

The only other advice I would have is that if you have the option to install the tank as a peninsula or in a wall and make both the front and the back visible you should definitely go for it. I absolutely love that so much of the tank is visible and with open rock work I see my fish and inverts much more than I did with the 75. There are still a few small caves and crevices in the rocks where things can hide when they want to, but they can't just stay back behind the rock work and stay out of sight. Additionally being able to view both the front and back of the tank gives you twice as much space to put corals as well.

[jharding08]

Originally Posted by BrettDS

I recently upgraded from a 75G to a 220G (my build thread is here (https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?url...9&share_type=t)


Overall it went quite well and like you said, for the most part it's mostly bigger pumps and skimmers and more lights and more room for fish and corals, but obviously there are some considerations that go along with it. My glass 220G tank is nearly 400lbs empty. Getting it to the house and lifting it onto the stand was something that had to be planned out in advance.

Even working in the tank is a bit more involved. The stand is 36" high and the tank is 30" high, so the top of the tank is 5 and a half feet off of the ground and above my eye level. I love the the huge front panel and the height of the tank, but it means that doing almost anything in the tank, short of reaching up and dropping in some food requires getting up on a ladder and leaning over it. My arms are barely long enough to reach the bottom of the tank, and trying to reach the bottom of the back of the tank usually results in dipping my nose into the water just as my fingertips touch the sand. It certainly makes mounting corals and such much more interesting.

I wouldn't change anything about it, though... I love the huge tank and the drawbacks aren't nearly enough to discourage me.

The only other advice I would have is that if you have the option to install the tank as a peninsula or in a wall and make both the front and the back visible you should definitely go for it. I absolutely love that so much of the tank is visible and with open rock work I see my fish and inverts much more than I did with the 75. There are still a few small caves and crevices in the rocks where things can hide when they want to, but they can't just stay back behind the rock work and stay out of sight. Additionally being able to view both the front and back of the tank gives you twice as much space to put corals as well.

The tank I am looking at is a 48"x48"x24" cube. It would be essentially two of the 48"x24"x24" that I have now. I'm trying to envision the size when looking at my current tank.



It is a center overflow, so I would have to reimagine the aquascaping, unless I can use my current live rock pillars along with creating a rock pillar around the center overflow





Based on the pictures, I dont see any center bracing, is this ok with a tank this big?