What is Your DREAM Tank?

[SoloChromis]

I think it's safe to say that we all as hobbyists (addicts) have a vision of what our ultimate, dream tank will look like. An SPS dominated in wall, with nothing but LEDs, an acrylic peninsula tank with every rare angel you can think of or maybe its just a simple little nano tank that'll sit on your desk and distract you from getting any work done. So tell me, people of Reef Central, what is YOUR dream tank?

For me, it would be an 10' long 800 gallon starphire peninsula tank that would separate two rooms of the house, and everything would be plumbed through the wall into a soundproof fish room, where my fiberglass raceway refugium (lit by a sunroof) would be, my quarantine tanks, my frag tank, my reservoir, my RODI unit etc. The tank itself would house a massive variety of fish, corals and inverts. Id have a large dussumieri tang as the centerpiece fish, with a fowleri, purple, black and white cheek following close behind. There would be a a group of pearly jawfish occupying the sand bed, along with a countless amount of small blennies, gobies and dragonets. For schooling fish I would have 5 pyramid butterflies, 3 stripeys, 20+ longspine cardinals, 10+ shrimpfish and a group of zebra dartfish hovering right below the water's surface. There would be a large zebra moray hidden in the cave and a queen conch plowing through the sand like a tank. For coral there would be acroporas occupying the top of the rock structures, with a fuzzy jungle of gorgonians and soft corals taking up lower space. A variety of urchins would be in charge of keeping the glass clean and a couple of anemones would inhabit the tank as well, with different species of clowns hosting each (percula, black ocellaris, orange skunk). Id have some antique bottles scattered throughout the tank where Id let corals and algae encrust and provide a home for some of the more secretive fish in the tank, like pikeblennies and basslets (took that idea from paulb's tank ). Lit by LEDs and flow provided by a couple waveboxes and wavemakers . Hope I wasn't too vague

[whiteshark]

http://theoriginalwinger.com/wp-cont...-fish-tank.jpg

Obviously. lol

Seriously, probably something like a 10' x 10' x 2' tank with an overflow in the center that sat in the middle of the very large living room (if I could afford a tank like this I could afford a giant house too). The drain would lead downstairs to my giant fish room with frag raceways and all kinds of sweet equipment.

[ca1ore]

Absent mundane constraints like space, budget and family friendliness, my ideal tank would be 10 feet long, 30" tall and 36" deep, front to back. Any bigger than that and, for me at least, I think maintenance would get arduous.

[HumbleFish]

I'm really wanting a "butterfly garden" more & more; a 180 gal should get the job done.

Various butterflyfish with a Moorish Idol as the centerpiece. Perhaps a dwarf angel and/or Singapore angel thrown into the mix. It could be filled in with little guys & bottom dwellers such as dragonets, gobies, blennies, chromis, basslets, and dartfish. Lots of options to choose from! Just nothing aggressive like tangs, wrasses and large angels.

Corals probably wouldn't be much of an option, but I'd love to see if any softies would just grow wild in the tank: GSP, xenia, anthelia, blue cloves, mushrooms, etc.

[terrypercula]

I think a huge outdoor greenhouse style pond would be awesome. Naturally sun lit but some form of actinic supplementation as well. A huge look down style you could scuba in if you wanted.

[thenewguy997]

Right now just a 300g cube butterflyfish tank with elaborate caves and overhangs

[SoloChromis]

Originally Posted by HumbleFish

I'm really wanting a "butterfly garden" more & more; a 180 gal should get the job done.

Various butterflyfish with a Moorish Idol as the centerpiece. Perhaps a dwarf angel and/or Singapore angel thrown into the mix. It could be filled in with little guys & bottom dwellers such as dragonets, gobies, blennies, chromis, basslets, and dartfish. Lots of options to choose from! Just nothing aggressive like tangs, wrasses and large angels.

Corals probably wouldn't be much of an option, but I'd love to see if any softies would just grow wild in the tank: GSP, xenia, anthelia, blue cloves, mushrooms, etc.

Good to see another butterfly fan on RC Unfortunately an often overlooked group of fish, but theres a number of butterflies that can be housed in a full blown reef system, with little to no issue, people just tend to skip them entirely. Also, moorish idols are without a doubt my dream fish (forgot to mention when I started this thread), if I had a suitable tank and managed to find a healthy specimen, he'd go straight into the reef. Some of my favorite butterflies are margined, saddlebacks and longnoses, beautiful fish for sure

[thenewguy997]

Also, with a huge tank.. Big colonies would not have noticeable damage even with non reef safe butterflys

[SoloChromis]

Originally Posted by terrypercula

I think a huge outdoor greenhouse style pond would be awesome. Naturally sun lit but some form of actinic supplementation as well. A huge look down style you could scuba in if you wanted.

Awesome concept for sure. There was a customer at the LFS where I worked that had a similar setup, and it was truly amazing. I always thought it would be cool to have a round, relatively shallow pond, with clams, LPS and a big carpet anemone etc. Have a big ole clown tang as the "alpha fish", a school of monos and schooling bannerfish, and some tall mangroves growing up from the center of the pond. Just the idea of being able to wade around in your tank and have your fish follow you around is enough incentive to consider something like this.

[HumbleFish]

Originally Posted by SoloChromis

Good to see another butterfly fan on RC Unfortunately an often overlooked group of fish, but theres a number of butterflies that can be housed in a full blown reef system, with little to no issue, people just tend to skip them entirely. Also, moorish idols are without a doubt my dream fish (forgot to mention when I started this thread), if I had a suitable tank and managed to find a healthy specimen, he'd go straight into the reef. Some of my favorite butterflies are margined, saddlebacks and longnoses, beautiful fish for sure

I just lost my Moorish Idol to an aggressive Blue Angel. That's what got me thinking about building a tank around another one, but this time with no aggressive tankmates.

[jarvis]

In wall!!!! I get to settle for through the wall plumbing on my current build

[SoloChromis]

Originally Posted by HumbleFish

I just lost my Moorish Idol to an aggressive Blue Angel. That's what got me thinking about building a tank around another one, but this time with no aggressive tankmates.

Thats one of *many* things people need to take into consideration when considering attempting a MI, they have no real defense mechanism. They can be bold, but if that powder blue decides he's not gonna be buddies anymore, that moorish idol doesn't stand much of a chance.

[CountryR33fs88]

House with nothing but tanks as walls

[Fishy 1]

I would have a 10 x 10 x 1.5m tank setup as a shallow lagoon. It would be lit by LED's and the would be on a track system so they simulate the sun going across the sky, and when night falls they would start the cycle again but as the moon. The moon cycle would be the same as the real thing in regards to the brightness. I would have a massive wave box to simulate the swell and tide movement and the tank would fall and rise in water height to simulate the tide rising and falling. The tank would have seasonal changes in temperature. It would have a massive filter system and frag tank.The tank would be stocked as a biotope of the barrier reef, with all the fish and corals that inhabit it. The corals and fish would naturally spawn. Well that would be my dream tank, to bad there's a slim chance of that dream coming true, but I can dream

[igot2gats]

Count me out on the 'go big or go home' wagon. Big tanks are pretty awesome, but if something were to go wrong, it's just that much more worse on a bigger scale. Not only that, but more work, IMO.

My ultimate is a 100g tank, with a fish room next to it for all my QT and Fuge (including a huge Rubbermaid bin for growing Mangroves / fuge) needs.

[Dmorty217]

12ftx6ftx3ft made into a actual room divider visible from 3 sides feeding into a basement fish room housing all the goodies to run the tank

[packman90]

my dream tank is a Marineland 300dd, I would stock it with Gobies and other small fish with a mixed reef as far as coral.

[Sinekal]

It's a moving target, but today, for my display I would step up to a 66x26x20 (maybe 22), lps and wrasse dominant...in my fish room I would double the size of my frag tank, double the size of the refugium, and add an equally sized cryptic zone.

[Big_Boss_77]

+1 on the cryptic zone
I've been curious about those ever since I first read about them. And what better place to explore your curiosities than in dreams lol

[kabe87]

There is no such thing as Dream Tank for me.
What I want is a Dream shop, one with the prices and services of liveaquaria in my country.

[d2mini]

This is still my all time favorite setup and what I would love to replicate if I could.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-12/totm/

[scubadan206]

The really big tank in this video at around the 8 minute mark. It takes up the entire middle of the room in a zig-zag pattern.
I was day-dreaming today of doing a horse shoe shaped tank. About 1200 gal+ with multiple zones for different types of life. Plus the full fish room next door of course.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC0aXnKQY-E

[joshky]

Originally Posted by d2mini

This is still my all time favorite setup and what I would love to replicate if I could.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-12/totm/

Isn't that the one with the morays in it?

[DavidinGA]

Probably a crazy big wall divided tank in a house on a beach in FL with a buried pipe that gets fresh sea water that flows freely in/out of the system (no water changes, no dosing, no heaters, etc).

[Reef noob_]

TBH right now my dream tank would be my current 29 gal filled to the brim with colorful thriving corals and fish.

i do like the idea of a house made out of tanks hmm...