Looking at getting new aquarium. Limited space.

[PostShawn]

Hey gang. So I have a 70g tall corner unit and have had it running for a bit under 2 years. It's TALL. Stand is 36", tank is 36" and the canopy is another 8". So if I want to do maintenance to something at the bottom of the tank I have to start going in at 6 feet tall when I take the canopy off. This is a PITA! Lessoned learned and I won't be getting a tank that tall again. Anyway it's a corner setup and the reason was we have limited space and this one I got at my LFS as a used setup they had for sale. The tank was not setup for a reef and had a closed loop setup with canister filters. I plugged the holes on the bottom (they were middle of the tank) and added a over the top style overflow box. I hate it. I should have put in a internal overflow before setup. So I'm having some problems now and don't want to keep spending the time and money on this beast.

I was looking at maybe a used RSM 250 for the 700-1000 range. I can't really go over 40" long. I have a small house and the one wall for this tank already has other stuff too. The wife said ok to new tank but can't move other stuff. So 40" means 40". So then it got me thinking basically what's the biggest tank I can fit into that spot that I can easily maintain and still get the most volume. Then I found SCAquariums has a nice 90 gallon 36x24x24 system for a good price. I can even get an extra $200 off since I can pick it up. I've tried finding stuff on Craigslist and around town but something like that size doesn't come up often. I found a 36x36x24 used which was tempting but it was gone when I inquired about it. I checked with my LFS and they can have a tank and stand made but it would be about the same price for the tank and stand as it would be through SCA for the whole setup which includes sump, skimmer, pumps and plumbing. So I'm just thinking it would be nice to start with a new tank and I really like the dimensions of this 90g.


What does everyone else think if you only had 40" length and didn't want to go too tall. Any suggestions? Any advice?

 

[Jimbo662]

I just finished setting up my SCA 50g cube and love it. got the bundle on amazon.

 

[RUGDOG]

I took down a 6ft 220 a year or so ago just to get that wall back in our family room. I have not had a display in a common area of the house since then. I am working on a rimless cadlights artisan II 70 right now. Very similar to the sc. I am enjoying getting it together and looking forward to setting it up. I think the sc is about the same. I read somewhere that they split from the same company. They are all built in China anyway. The quality of my cad seems very good so far.
I don't think you will go wrong. I would not get to excited about their plumbing, pump, skimmer etc. though. I am not using any of it.

 

[PostShawn]

I think SCA basically has two series of full systems. The ones that look like the Cadlights setups and then one that's more traditional of a tank with stand. In this traditional one the tanks are euro braced (the lip around the top edge) rather then the regular rimless look. They have an 80g that looks like the Cadlights setups. I thought about that one but figured I'd go as big as I can. But overall I've been seeing good reviews on both types. They are maybe 90 minutes away from me so I don't mind going in person to check it out and pick it up. I'm not set on the skimmer and plumbing yet. I have a skimmer that works for my current tank so if their sucks I can use mine. But I've heard good things about the SCA ones once you manage to get it dialed in. Plumbing I'll take what they give and see what works. I have a Home Depot around the corner so not concerned if something doesn't quite work or if I want to change something. And I really could use a better sump and it looks like a good one.

I just love the 24" depth. I'd rather have 24" depth then height. But this is both so I'm excited about that. My big concern is I need to put it in the same spot as the current tank. I'm going to need some help with that so I have to figure out that part once I do have the tank
.

 

[moulton712]

I run a couple of sca skimmers, they are quite a bang for the buck. My tunze skimmer on my 125 is being sent out so I had to move a sca 302 in. It's pulling some good stuff out. They are very easy to dial in and have a really short break in time. I had to move an unused sca 301 into the frag tank. I don't like it as much coming from the 302, But it's working.