Aquarium designs: thinking outside the "box".

[SunnyX]

Why a rectangle? That's the first thing that came to mind when I seen the picture attached. Why are the majority of aquariums essentially a box of water? Water is formless, so why confine our aquariums to a single shape.

While many of us focus on the inside of the aquarium, more care should be given to the outward appearance of the setup. I personally have taken a liking to large cylindrical and drop off reef setups.

I have seen a few examples of varied aquarium designs, but would like to see what you guys have come up with. Anyone have a unique aquarium shape or design?

Please feel free to post your ideas, setups, and commentary.

 

[_Alex_]

That is sweet but my kids would have broke it by now lol

 

[Glenn]

I think the primary reason for rectangular tanks is because the majority of our homes have rectangular rooms, so the tanks naturally fit into corners or along walls. If your room is big enough (none of mine are) then an odd-shaped tank in the center of the room would be nice.

 

[summitwynds]

Its still a rectangle (almost cube), but in an unusual place.

I am planning to do a tank (reef) like yours Sunny. It will go in a closet and be viewable from 2 rooms, our guest room and my office.

Any comments on this size.... 58" wide x 30" or 32" deep x 26" high. The width is not negotiable to fit in the closet opening and be seen from 2 sides, but the depth and height could be changed a little. I plan to do the overflow on 1 end (like Sunny's). I would appreciate some input on the depth and height. Thanks!

 

[SunnyX]

Its still a rectangle (almost cube), but in an unusual place.

I am planning to do a tank (reef) like yours Sunny. It will go in a closet and be viewable from 2 rooms, our guest room and my office.

Any comments on this size.... 58" wide x 30" or 32" deep x 26" high. The width is not negotiable to fit in the closet opening and be seen from 2 sides, but the depth and height could be changed a little. I plan to do the overflow on 1 end (like Sunny's). I would appreciate some input on the depth and height. Thanks!

Hello

If you decide to do a coast to coast overflow similar to the one on my setup, you would need about 6" of space added to your equation. Concerning the size, I would go 32 instead of 30. If you can go 36" even better. There shouldn't be a difference in price by going from 32 to 36", at least that is my experience from world class builders like Miracles. 26" high will be good, but be sure to factor in ease of access. The easier it is to access areas of the tank, the apt you will be to clean and maintain it.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

[revsgirl]

Its still a rectangle (almost cube), but in an unusual place.

Awesome set up!! Love this thread!! Let's see some more!!

 

[summitwynds]

Hello

If you decide to do a coast to coast overflow similar to the one on my setup, you would need about 6" of space added to your equation. Concerning the size, I would go 32 instead of 30. If you can go 36" even better. There shouldn't be a difference in price by going from 32 to 36", at least that is my experience from world class builders like Miracles. 26" high will be good, but be sure to factor in ease of access. The easier it is to access areas of the tank, the apt you will be to clean and maintain it.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

Thanks Sunny!

Yes, I have space in the closet, 9" on the left, and 8 1/2" on the right, the 58" is the present finished opening of the closet door. I could go deeper than 32, it would just jut out of the closet into my office which I think would be fine. (the other side will be flush with the wall after we cut an opening) - The tank will be on a stand with sump/skimmer under it and we could just finish the bottom "cabinet" front and the part that juts out of the closet. The room on the sides inside the closet will be useful space for my Apex controls as well as Vortechs. All that will be "hidden" on the sides within the closet.

I know what you mean about the height and easy access.... the freshwater tank on the chimney/fireplace pictured above is 30" deep and its really hard to reach the very front bottom. I stand on about 4" of rock that the tank is sitting on. So maybe 58 x 36 x 24 with a coast to coast. That would be 217 gallons. Nice upgrade from my 75 gallon reef. I do plan to get a price from Miracles. I've been following your tank and love it.

 

[Chameleon]

the reasons why we dont see odd shaped aquariums is because they are expensive. glass would not be as structurally sound in a lot of other shapes so it is not usuallyamde in other shapes and acrylic is expensive. Boxes are inexpensive and therefore they predominate. its all about the inner beauty

 

[KoleTang]

Plus curved glass distorts everything and makes me nauseous. Can't stand the stuff.

 

[ErikRdz]

Plus curved glass distorts everything and makes me nauseous. Can't stand the stuff.

+1 very true

 

[jaguars4263]

Sunny your tank on youtube is probably the best reef tank on their!!

 

[Timfish]

AquaVim.com has some unique bent glass systems and here's an acrylic eleptical system I installed around a pillar:

 

[icycoral]

very cool pic man! although the curvature of the glass causes distortion it also yields magnification of the tanks inhabitants which I think is awesome!! where can I find a link to your tank on youtube?

 

[Ian]

this tank rules...

Troylee had one like it but he took it down a while back...

 

[Troylee]

Yup here was mine big Ian....

 

[Troylee]

And these are the stand completed... I built the whole thing 100% including pumps and skimmer, lighting etc..

 

[Ian]

Props man, that was one insane lookin' tank! :xd:

 

[sprinklerdudes]

pretty cool , how hard is it to get water circulation to the low end of a tank like that, i didn't see any circulation pumps stuck to the glass

 

[MarvinsReef]

Troy, hope you come up with another awesome design for your next tank. that was awesome! 1smile1

 

[Troylee]

pretty cool , how hard is it to get water circulation to the low end of a tank like that, i didn't see any circulation pumps stuck to the glass

It wasn't hard to get flow down there... What was hard is keeping everything from settling down there... Being 36" deep on that side was a major pain.... If I did it again I would have put a closed loop on the deep side and prolly went bare bottom so I could blast the area with flow to keep it clean...