What would you do with this tank?

[PJS aquatics]

I've been kicking around the idea of a floating reef aquascape. Use the bottom 18-24 inches for open swimming space with a coral reef above. One maybe two pillars of sorts to suspend the reef itself

 

[Dawn Dababneh]

So long story short, i acquired a rather oddball tank for free. Here it is:

Its a 36"x24"x48" 170 gallon. Yes thats right 4 ft tall. Set up for an in-wall or maybe some kind of enclosed island setup cause the 24" end are painted black. Im not really sure. Coast to coast external overflow with 3 holes for 1" bulkheads on one end and two 1" return holes on the other. 1" acrylic all around. Really a bizarre tank imo.

Ive no doubt it could be an awesome tank. How would you scape? How could i set up effective lighting for such a deep tank? What would you stock?

That tank is definitely set up for sea horses it is ideal for keeping and breeding them. They love the height

 

[RobertN]

For some time now, I've thought it would be neat to connect up a tall, narrow-depth tank to my DT. I could use the tall tank partly as a refugium while having it be aesthetically beautiful. I thought I would put a nice variety of beautiful, swaying macroalgae in it which could be a source for copepods for the DT as well as acting as nutrient exporters to keep down nitrates and phosphates in the DT. I thought I might also put a couple or few anemones in it without worry of them moving around and stinging valuable corals....and again, they would provide more of that beautiful movement along with the macroalgae. And I considered putting in some other cool mobile inverts such as a bunch of Pom-Pom crabs, groups of a couple of species of glass shrimp, a group of sexy shrimp, maybe a decorator snail if I could still find one, etc.......things that wouldn't be so easily noticed/visible in my DT or that might get eaten in my DT. I also thought about possibly adding some fish that wouldn't do well in my DT with my other aggressive-eating fish: mandarins or red ruby scooter blennies or flame prawn gobies. That's what I would do with a tank like that......

 

[Pete Witteried]

Turn it into a Vivarium. You could cut a door into one of the sides with a couple hinges for easy access.

 

[vetteguy53081]

This is no doubt destined to be a seahorse or Jellyfish system. You can take advantage of tall growing macro-algae, gorgonians and sea whips. A few ideas here :

 

[Electricianreefer]

Looks well built.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

I'm going to drop what I consider to be the best solution so far (as well as a back up that is equal). You've got an awesome unique tank, you need an equally awesome interior. You've ruled out freshwater and cephalopods (while amazing, are just ridiculous to keep), so let it be brackish. Get yourself some dwarf indian mudskippers. With the room you have you could do a waterfall trickling down the rocks and logs past plants, then a small shore held up by a covered PVC structure. Past that you have a deep tank with some roots dangling from the shore, maybe some mollies or guppies (both can be brackish) or figure 8 puffers (they can be messy though). Watching them dive down and surface will be awesome for you. I had one for a year before he decided to crawl out into the carpet, easily one of the coolest fish I've had and super easy to take care of. With that type of room you could have a whole school (somehow I think herd is the more appropriate word).

Another solution would be to a reef with tons of PVC poles covered in faux rock going across the tank, you could house some awesome inverts and small fish, maybe have a mass of blennies/gobies, it'd be cool to see how they claimed territory in that type of environment.

 

[thediscobandit]

I'm going to drop what I consider to be the best solution so far (as well as a back up that is equal). You've got an awesome unique tank, you need an equally awesome interior. You've ruled out freshwater and cephalopods (while amazing, are just ridiculous to keep), so let it be brackish. Get yourself some dwarf indian mudskippers. With the room you have you could do a waterfall trickling down the rocks and logs past plants, then a small shore held up by a covered PVC structure. Past that you have a deep tank with some roots dangling from the shore, maybe some mollies or guppies (both can be brackish) or figure 8 puffers (they can be messy though). Watching them dive down and surface will be awesome for you. I had one for a year before he decided to crawl out into the carpet, easily one of the coolest fish I've had and super easy to take care of. With that type of room you could have a whole school (somehow I think herd is the more appropriate word).

Another solution would be to a reef with tons of PVC poles covered in faux rock going across the tank, you could house some awesome inverts and small fish, maybe have a mass of blennies/gobies, it'd be cool to see how they claimed territory in that type of environment.

Great ideas. A paludarium seems very fitting. I would just have to cut a door into it somewhere.

I have never had a brackish tank. For some reason mudskippers have never appealed to me. If i did do a paludarium, i would probably go with a congo biotope.

 

[thediscobandit]

This is no doubt destined to be a seahorse or Jellyfish system. You can take advantage of tall growing macro-algae, gorgonians and sea whips. A few ideas here :

That third tank ok s too cool. I love all the caves.

 

[thediscobandit]

For some time now, I've thought it would be neat to connect up a tall, narrow-depth tank to my DT. I could use the tall tank partly as a refugium while having it be aesthetically beautiful. I thought I would put a nice variety of beautiful, swaying macroalgae in it which could be a source for copepods for the DT as well as acting as nutrient exporters to keep down nitrates and phosphates in the DT. I thought I might also put a couple or few anemones in it without worry of them moving around and stinging valuable corals....and again, they would provide more of that beautiful movement along with the macroalgae. And I considered putting in some other cool mobile inverts such as a bunch of Pom-Pom crabs, groups of a couple of species of glass shrimp, a group of sexy shrimp, maybe a decorator snail if I could still find one, etc.......things that wouldn't be so easily noticed/visible in my DT or that might get eaten in my DT. I also thought about possibly adding some fish that wouldn't do well in my DT with my other aggressive-eating fish: mandarins or red ruby scooter blennies or flame prawn gobies. That's what I would do with a tank like that......

Lol good for you buddy but if i set this up it would be larger than any of my DTs.

 

[thediscobandit]

I've been kicking around the idea of a floating reef aquascape. Use the bottom 18-24 inches for open swimming space with a coral reef above. One maybe two pillars of sorts to suspend the reef itself

Yeah or maybe suspend it from the two sides in an arch if it could be engineered.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

Mudskippers are cool for personality, its kinda cool having a pet fish you can hold who approaches you and will even get in your hand. Any ideas on stocking for congo biotype? I knew a guy who tried that (for a chamleon), his biggest issue was that apparently its really hard to get good plants that come from the congo (he was into doing it 100% natural, only plants from congo). It was so inhibiting that he gave up.

 

[Dancingmad]

Sweet tank and awesome suggestions! Following along to see what happens with this tank.

I have a simple suggestion - Mangroves and an absurd school of cardinal fish.

Bobbit worm and Macros?

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

I really like that idea, a school of fish (cardinal fish especially) would be really cool. I don't see enough of those in reefs. I feel like you are going to really have to work with the depth though. Maybe again with those rock poles going across like branches, each covered with corals and caves, then at the bottom a huge patch of c. prolifera

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

The only problem with lots of mangroves is that they are a tree, they will outgrow almost any aquarium and shatter the glass.

 

[vetteguy53081]

If Freshwater, Angelfish or discus with nice grasses and taller amazon plants