Opinions on room divider tank

[brandonmason]

So as some of you know from my wtb post about a large tank, My wife and I have decided to go with a 300 gallon tank that we are wanting to use as a room divider. Does anyone have a room divider reef tank and what are the pros and cons for this? I have already started to collect items that we will need for the build... Also we are planning on tearing down our 110 and pulling most if not all the 200+ lbs of LR out and using it in the 300... We picked up 100lbs of base rock today courtesy of a friend that went with fake coral inserts for $0... that we will use in the 110 to convert into our FOWLR tank. Once we get everything moved I will start a build thread with all updates on build but just wanted your opinion on pros and cons of room divider so I can know what to expect...

 

[rdnelson]

I know a member who has one that I have seen in person. I love it. If I had the right spot (and the cash) I would do the same thing. The only two drawbacks I can see off the top of my head would be that it limits the usable space for rock and when you look at the tank there is no back ground. I think the right background adds to the look. One big plus though is you double the viewable area for corals.

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

I agree with the above statements and I've seen one done that was very nice. If I had a spot for one...I would certainly do it.

 

[jef4y]

The one thing that comes to my mind is that the overflow & return will be either limited to the end cap of the tank, or something through the bottom, up the middle. I don't know if that's a detractor or not, but it is one thing to think about.

Rockwork will obviously need to be WELL thought out & secured since you aren't leaning it agaisnt the back glass.

More viewable space =)
More glass to clean =(

 

[djatl]

Both Pure Reef and Marine Designs have examples of large peninsula tanks. It's pretty cool to walk around 3 sides of the tank. At Marine Designs, the equipment is exposed, but at Pure Reef, they hide everything in the cabinet and canopy. Might be worth a field trip to give you some ideas.

 

[enderg60]

Well there are a few things to consider. First off are you getting a 24" or 36" wide 300g? Remember if you want it to be a actual in wall divider you have to thicken the wall.

I ended up just tearing the wall down, putting in a header and placing the tank where the wall used to be as a free standing peninsula and I love it!

 

[brandonmason]

The tank will be 36" wide as this should give enough width to stack down the middle and still have some good size sand beds for my sand corals (plate, brain, etc) As for overflow we are thinking custom tank with them located on the left or right side of the tank... I put some thought into the center and not really wanting a rock wall to go up the middle to hide it... We also were thinking of the corner overflows but this would then become a tank viewed from front or back and limited viewing from one of the sides as I would build the wall up around those (columns of some sort) to hide them... We went and looked at a tank at Creation and the cost is cheap for the standard 300 wide tank... I am awaiting a quote for the custom tank...

Edit: thanks for the input... cant wait to get this build going...

 

[rdnelson]

If you go with the overflow on the end, I would go with the Bean Animal. A 36" coast-to-coast would do a great job of surface skimming and it would leave that wall of the tank empty except at the top. It would mean building the a shroud to cover the piping but I think it could be nicely done if you are planning on building the stand and canopy instead of a manufactured one.