Need tank advice

[scubagirl]

Doing research on 50 to 60 gallon tanks, like
cylinder but afraid of comments on cleaning and
the fish being happy in a cylinder. Like the idea of
the Red Sea builds where everything is included in
one package without having to buy separate equipment.
Would have local fish shop service it until I could learn
how to do it. So what is your opinion on cylinders versus
other options, glass versus acrylic...

 

[redfishbluefish]

First off, welcome to R2R.

My opinion.....I don't like cylinders because the distortion, difficulty lighting, and a round stand when most equipment has corners, or need a flat surface to mount.

With tanks, no acrylic for me because it scratches if you look at it funny! I'm a glass only person.

Note many have had great success with cylindrical acrylic tanks. The above comments are my beliefs.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Cylindrical tanks have their place but they do limit the types of fish you can keep depending on size. Water flow in them can be a bit of a challenge as far as powerhead/ wavemaker placement. As @redfishbluefish stated, the Distortion from them can be difficult as far as viewing and all of them are made of acrylic which can scratch easily.

 

[PatW]

I take underwater photos. I have a dome port that is acrylic. Acrylic has some very nice properties. Its refractive index is just about the same as water’s refractive index. It does not have the color of glass. It is far lightwe than glass and relatively stronger. But it scratches if you look at it hard. You can buff out the scratches but it is not fun.

Low iron glass has some color. I have a 29 gallon qt tank that is obviously strongly green tinted. My 300 gallon low iron glass tank has no obvious color to it.

I would go with a rectangular tank. The conventional shape makes putting powerheads on much easier.