My room dictates that I go no wider than a 7 foot tank. An 8 does fit... but just barely. It doesn't look right, affects speaker placement, and means I can't open the closet properly. 7 is perfect.
7 is even more perfect when the room splits duty as a fish room and theater and your projector throws a 92" screen (don't worry, the seats are close enough that any more than 106 would be too big. 100" is probably the ideal size for the room). The width of the tank is almost exactly the same as the screen, which makes for some very cool furniture/stand possibilities:
(black are speakers, white boxes up top are sconces)
But as you can imagine, 7 foot tanks are tough to find. Currently I have an odd 86.5x24x24 acrylic. My fish love it, but to me it's flawed... it should be taller.
So I've had kind of an obsession with taller tanks. Let the Aro patrol the top, have the eartheaters down at the bottom, and let some discus occupy all the middle space. Beautiful. Expensive, but beautiful.
Locally someone has a 7 foot 300g acrylic, supposedly it's 35" tall. Beautiful. Except they want about three times what it's worth and it's got a bright ugly blue background with a center overflow. I already have one tank with that handicap, and I hate it. Too bright, but can't be covered with any of the good backgrounds.
Today I found a deal on a tank that is FOUR FEET TALL. A great deal. A bit of a drive, but worth it even with these gas prices.
But is that too tall? I know one monster tank was just sold here because it was too tall for the owner.
Dowsides, as I see them:
- It's only 6 feet long. That throws off the stand/screen design a bit. I'd have to have side panes of wood or something, or scrap the idea of having the screen built in (though that'd allow me to do 106"... but with an exposed screen mechanism, which is kind of bad.)
- Less space for Batman. He doesn't even use the full 7 but 6x2 isn't what I'd want to keep a black aro in, even though he's not that big. This means there could/would come a day when I'd have to get rid of him.
- Maintenance: How do you even get at the bottom of a 4 foot tank?
- Lighting: How do you evenly light something that deep?
- Getting it into the room: I'd have to knock out the wall to make a double door. But I've been looking for an excuse to do that anyway. I like symmetry. And the framing is easy. Only issue is matching the hall tile to fill the 3-4" worth of space inside the door jamb that I'd be exposing.
- Cost: I'd break even on a tank trade. But I'd basically be forcing myself to do discus. And enough Discus for a 4 foot tall tank will bankrupt me.
Upsides:
- It would be really awesome.
Looking for feedback here from anyone who has owned a 36" or taller tank. Egon especially... Is it worth it? Should I try to hold up the 84x24x35" owner and paint the BG? Wait longer til a 265 shows up? Live with the 220?
7 is even more perfect when the room splits duty as a fish room and theater and your projector throws a 92" screen (don't worry, the seats are close enough that any more than 106 would be too big. 100" is probably the ideal size for the room). The width of the tank is almost exactly the same as the screen, which makes for some very cool furniture/stand possibilities:
(black are speakers, white boxes up top are sconces)
But as you can imagine, 7 foot tanks are tough to find. Currently I have an odd 86.5x24x24 acrylic. My fish love it, but to me it's flawed... it should be taller.
So I've had kind of an obsession with taller tanks. Let the Aro patrol the top, have the eartheaters down at the bottom, and let some discus occupy all the middle space. Beautiful. Expensive, but beautiful.
Locally someone has a 7 foot 300g acrylic, supposedly it's 35" tall. Beautiful. Except they want about three times what it's worth and it's got a bright ugly blue background with a center overflow. I already have one tank with that handicap, and I hate it. Too bright, but can't be covered with any of the good backgrounds.
Today I found a deal on a tank that is FOUR FEET TALL. A great deal. A bit of a drive, but worth it even with these gas prices.
But is that too tall? I know one monster tank was just sold here because it was too tall for the owner.
Dowsides, as I see them:
- It's only 6 feet long. That throws off the stand/screen design a bit. I'd have to have side panes of wood or something, or scrap the idea of having the screen built in (though that'd allow me to do 106"... but with an exposed screen mechanism, which is kind of bad.)
- Less space for Batman. He doesn't even use the full 7 but 6x2 isn't what I'd want to keep a black aro in, even though he's not that big. This means there could/would come a day when I'd have to get rid of him.
- Maintenance: How do you even get at the bottom of a 4 foot tank?
- Lighting: How do you evenly light something that deep?
- Getting it into the room: I'd have to knock out the wall to make a double door. But I've been looking for an excuse to do that anyway. I like symmetry. And the framing is easy. Only issue is matching the hall tile to fill the 3-4" worth of space inside the door jamb that I'd be exposing.
- Cost: I'd break even on a tank trade. But I'd basically be forcing myself to do discus. And enough Discus for a 4 foot tall tank will bankrupt me.
Upsides:
- It would be really awesome.
Looking for feedback here from anyone who has owned a 36" or taller tank. Egon especially... Is it worth it? Should I try to hold up the 84x24x35" owner and paint the BG? Wait longer til a 265 shows up? Live with the 220?
I would never want a four foot tall tank. You basically have to go swimming everytime you need to do something in it.
