Advice on first reef tank

[ocnbrze]

i would also go with glass. even on big tanks. acrylic not only scratches easily, but the also will bow and stretch. you will even get what i call stretch marks (there is a term for this, but i forget). yes they are heavy, but worth it in the long run.

 

[PatW]

Thank you for your suggestions! Yeah I’d go longer and lower in the tank if I had more room. I understand glass is more scratch resistant but getting it in the house alone I might have to go acrylic and baby the tank. Do the specially for acrylic mag scrapers etc still scratch the acrylic? The aggressive softies I will isolate them on their own island. I just love the movement. Coming from freshwater I need some swaying in the tank and I’d like just a few accent easier sps. For the contrast in texture.

Acrylic isn’t that horrible and it can work.

As far as getting it into the house, you can hire people from the LFS to do the move and set up and it usually is not that big of an expense. So you CAN go big glass.

For movement, there are all sorts of photosynthetic Caribbean gorgonians that come in a variety of forms and colors. I have a bunch of dives in the Caribbean. If you get a bunch of pulsating flow, gorgonians will sway back and forth. I have SPS so I have not tried them.

Also, for movement, you can get any number of Euphylla an LPS coral and they are photosynthetic also.