What type of tank do you want?

[Paul B]

When I started with salt tanks there was just one type of tank, fish only.
Now they even have manta rays in tanks, but not mine, I wish. We can have a Fish only, or invertabrates only, crustaceans only, corals only, carnivores only LPS, only, SPS only, leathers or any combination of each. Most of us have a combination of a little of everything from every ocean which may not be normal, but we like it.
I think many people start with things like triggerfish, eels, puffers, lionfish and then progress to smaller more interesting creatures, at least I did.

We can have a tank that is a thing of absolute beauty as many of the people's tanks on here are and I am jealous of some of them, or we can have a few rocks haphazardly thrown in there with some large fish.

I think the thing of absolute beauty is what most people go for and as I said, some people get it right. I don't know what to consider my own tank as it was never supposed to be the best looking tank there is (and it certainly is not) it is more of an experiment and has always evolved depending on my whims, or dreams, and if you look closely at things in my tank some of those dreams were nightmares but it is what I want it to be as I am sure everybody's tank is what they want.
I know most people like angelfish and tangs as they are colorful and active, but I tend to go for smaller more interesting fish. Just today I bought a possum wrasse which is a secretive creature but interestingly colored even though it is a fish that hides most of the time.
If you look quickly into my tank you may not see any fish even though there are about 25 fish in there. There are five threadfish cardinals, 4 of which are spawning. Spawning fish tend to stay out of sight so they can deposit their eggs away from predators and my camera. There is another pair of some type of striped cardinals that have the same problem as they are spawning also.
Bluestriped pipefish are active, but they are active under and behind the rocks so even though they are constantly on the move, (and spawning)I rarely see them.
Of course the pair of gobies living with the shrimp are under ground half the time and the pair of fireclowns spawn in a bottle but at least that bottle is in the front so I can see them. I think the clowngobies will spawn any time now but they stay in the branches of the acropora and stick their eggs underneith it.
Many times people seeing the tank for the first time will say, it is such a big tank but there are no fish in it. So I have to have them bend down and look between the rocks, then they may see the watchman gobies, one of which is about 4" and the numerous hermit crabs or arrow crab.
So what is the point of this thread, like many things I post, I have no idea.

[GSMguy]

Clean, colorful and full of healthy SPS.

[BrandonFlorida]

I would love to have a 180 gallon tank. Two, actually, but one would be great...

[KafudaFish]

Spend time watching > spend time working on

[Paul B]

Clean, colorful and full of healthy SPS.

I think most people want that and a lot of people have it. I don't know how clean my tank is but there is no visable detritus or really algae, my corals are healthy although I don't want them covering everything, even though I am in the minority there.
I like intersting, unusual or rare animals. I would rather have some brown wierd looking interesting fish spawning than a school of tangs, but it is just me.
I used to like my tank a little better when it was just gorgonians and soft corals, before the SPS, but now the SPS are kind of all over the place so I will live with them
This is an old picture before I added SPS

[SaltwaterSensei]

I agree with you on the fish and smaller is more interesting. On my 200 gal that I'm in the equipment acquiring stages I plan on no fish bigger then 4". I think large tanks look much more balanced with a good number of smaller fish rather then a hodge podge of large fish.

[Paul B]

I agree with you and you can have many times more fish and most of them easily spawn.
I mean how many yellow tangs do you want to see?
Smaller fish also have a more interesting pool to choose from. Everyone has seen tangs and angelfish but there are so many interesting gobies and bleenies that even though I have been in this for decades I still sometimes see something I never saw before.
Just today I went to a store and seen the mose unusual, beautiful gobies I have ever seen and I never saw anything like them before. I could not get them because they were tiny, like less than a half an inch and very skinny. I can't even describe them. I still may go back and set up a small tank just so I could grow them to put in my tank, but I am not even sure if they do grow as I don't know what they are.

[brandon429]

what I strive for in my tank and what impresses me in other tanks vs just a cool throw together system is corals plated on rock and not frag plugs. I can live with all kinds of color variants and techniques for algae or nutrient control, imo in the end whoever plates corals across rocks and creates biomass they didnt previously have wins.

[Paul B]

I had it much easier than most people and I didn't have to choose anything because when I started the tank, I added the only thing available. blue devils, then Sgt. Majors and dominoe's came out so I got them, then arrow crabs, so I got them, then angelfish, tangs and oddly enough moorish Idols, so I got them. Years later anemones came out, and I got them, then corals. That is how my tank evolved not including all the rock I carried home on my lap on the planes from all over the place.

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[maddmaxx]

my 2 cents..

would love 84"x36"x24/poss30" mixed reef tank...that is my end goal in this hobby to have a tank that big. I have a 220 now. so not far off..

id like to have a nano coral only tank, but fish are to tempting..

[Paul B]

Your tank is most than twice as big as mine.

[gcline87]

Light bioload extreemly BRIGHT colored LPS dominated tank (acans, chalice, scoly, euphillia, plate coral, wellsophylla). Of course I'm addicted to zoas, and Yuma ricordia. Love watching a tank flow back and forth with the current. Not so much a fish guy, but I love fish that stray from the Nemo Dori cliche.

[reefgoddess808]

I have so many differnt tanks I want! In a dream world where money didnt matter I would have some outrageously huge full wall display with refugiums on each end that housed beautiful delicate creatures like dwarf seahorses and ornamental shrimps. I would also love to have a nano tank, a perfect mini ecosystem. My current tank is 56 gal FOWLR. What I love about it is that I have man made decor mixed with my live rock, giving it an Atlantis look. I plan to eventually have some mushrooms and ideally something growing on the decor to really give it that lost world look. As far as fish go, I have recently added a sailfin blenny whom I think is just magnificent. I love his whole look and how he perches on things. Hes just so neat! My other fish are an ocellaris clown, coral beauty and a toby puffer. Quite the motley crew but they are all very peaceful with one another. I also have a FW tank with some aging tetras and bottom feeders. The bottom feeders are my favs. I bought some ghost shrimp to be food for my puffer but thought I would house them in the FW tank for longevity. Well they are now pets LOL. But they do such a good job of keeping the tank clean whats not to love about them?!! I think often people want the big flashy colorful mid tank swimmers and those are nice fish, but I agree with you Paul B, I enjoy the oddities more.

[borderreef]

I once saw a tank here on RC that was filled with nothing but BTA and RBTA. It was wicked sweet. It was clown heaven. I'd like to do something like that some day. And a tank dedicated to just sea horses and pipefish. Other than that, believe it or not, I have the tank I want.

[Curious George]

ah nevermind

[brandon429]

I once saw a tank here on RC that was filled with nothing but BTA and RBTA
I recall that tank too, they were all red right? it was like in 2005 ish thats a long time ago.
I bet nobody here remembers the 'pinch a puffer' thread battle of 2003-xx

funny stuff there. many many angry peeps heh. back on subject now minor detraction.

[cakemanPA]

A tank big enough to dive in? Reality... I really big cube 5x5' with center overflows. I love cubes

[MARINECRITTERS]

My dream would be a 200 gallon deep water tank, filled with deep water fish and NPS corals. Fish like pinecone fish, or eyelight fish.

[Psirex]

once I decide I will let everyone know....

[aandfsoccr04]

rimless 57g illuminata.

[wireefman]

ive been involved in this hobby for awhile now, ive had big tanks and nanos, sps to softies, fish only, invert only... ive had my new tank up for almost 5 months now... I had originally started it as a lps dominated tank.. over the past 2 months I have slowly been gravitating back to where it all began.. softies and other corals that have movement to them.. and I am enjoying this tank more than any others I have had ..

[Cloudburst2000]

I much prefer mixed reef tanks with a little of everything (sps, lps, softies). I have all mixed reef nano tanks...two with fish and inverts, and then one with inverts only. I also like to have pretty display macroalgaes in my tanks. I might, in the future, be interested in a macroalgae tank. I also would like to set up a FOWLR tank because I want a lemonpeel angel which is notorious for picking at corals. If I were to put any corals in that tank, they'de only be cheaper stuff that I fragged from my other aquariums that I wouldn't care if the angel nipped at.

[GroktheCube]

I also tend to prefer small, interesting fish, and I like having breeding pairs/groups. The first fish into my 120 will be a pair of Helfrichi firefish. I'm planning on a few groups of small wrasses, some small cute blennies and gobies, etc. I also really enjoy watching small active inverts. I have a dozen white hermits that are fantastic, absolute spazzes. As for corals, I'd like a mix of many different things in varying shapes, sizes, and colors. I've always loved Montis, so I'm sure there will be plenty of those.

[TimeConsumer]

I want lots of tanks. But for the sake for this conversation I would really enjoy a 6000 gallon (20x8x5) shark tank. Need a bigger house.

[Paul B]

My dream would be a 200 gallon deep water tank, filled with deep water fish and NPS corals. Fish like pinecone fish, or eyelight fish.

I like this also. The most interesting tank I ever saw was before there were salt water tanks. It was I think a 300 gallon freshwater tank in the largest LFS in New York right near the Trade Center. Besides the fish that were (I think) silver dollars and similar fish, it was decorated like a flooded basement in Manhattan. The main theme was an old broken toilet bowl with all the associated plumbing pipes that looked like they were in a bombed out building. It was not tha nicest tank, but the most unusual.
If I ever started another salt tank (which is not likely to happen) I would like to put a real anchor in there from my boat which is a few feet long. The flukes of the anchor would be cut off so they appear to go deep in the substrait and the chain would rise out of the water. This would be an abandoned anchor like I see all over the sea bottom from my dives. Of course coral would be growing all over it so you would hardly see it.
Kind of like all the semi hidden bottles and chains I have in my tank now as this old picture shows.
I don't like things out of proportion like ship wrecks but I have no problem putting in a real boat propellor or even engine.