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Help me design my tank!

Vhuang168

Vhuang168

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So I've decided on going big. Dimensions so far will be 72" long, 30" deep, 24" high.

I've always wanted a peninsula tank and I may actually have the room for it but it will have to be 60" long. So I'm thinking if I do a peninsula tank, I'll do it like the tank in Neptune's showroom. 60"long, 36" wide and 26" tall (or was it 30"!?!).

Question I would have on the peninsula tank would be about the overflow. If I do it ghost overflow style ala Reef Savy or Synergy reef. Would there be enough flow? Or would I have to go with a traditional style overflow? I would run 2 Gyre 150s or if they ever release it, the 180s.

On to the standard tank. 3 pane starfire. Eurobraced. I don't know if there needs to be a center brace.

The plan is to do a coast to coast overflow with an external box running Bean Animal drains. 2 returns from the top rear (maybe cut the coast to coast a little short and have them on the back wall) possibly running Sea Swirls.

What features, if you had to redo your tank again, would you have sprung for?
 
I would do the overflow all the way across on the wall end of the peninsula.
Then use that area for returns as well.
Basically partition off 4" of the end of the tank completely.
Plenty of space for extra drains to make it quiet.
Then maybe even put a frame around that bit on the end, matching and tight with the wall, to hide it.
 
You've already got 2 of my big "regrets": the coast to coast overflow with the external overflow box + wide tank. My tank has a partial back wall overflow + an external overflow box with Bean Animal style drain. I wish I would have gone with a coast to coast overflow for better surface drain & with a deeper external box. I underestimated the amount of space needed to put in the elbows and connectors required by Bean Animal style drain plus the space needed to fit my hands around them.

Other big regret is that I have built my stand only 36" tall for 2 reasons. The tank is a bit lower than eye level & the cabinet is a bit crowded because the stand is made out of 2x6 & 2x4 beans which take a good amount of the height themselves.

Talking about the stand in the context of the peninsula tank, I recommend doors on at least the 2 long sides & maybe removable panels on the short sides.

+1 on what @rygh said: build a frame over the external overflow and pipes & make the stand longer on that side to flush on the frame. This way everything is hidden inside. If you go with the 60" long tank, you might be fine with one Gyre 150 so its outside wires & support could be hidden inside the frame as well.
 
I wish I had built mine a bit higher as well.
My original constraint was to be able to barely touch the bottom while standing on the floor,
so tank size was kind of designed around my armpit. :eek:
Handy when cleaning, but not as critical as I had thought.
 
Great ideas!

I'm trying to envision the c2c overflow in a peninsula but hard to picture where to put the returns without sacrificing real estate for the overflow. Part of the reason why I was thinking of running sea swirls and having the returns come over the top.

The stand will be 40" tall which would put the tank midline just below eye level. For me anyway. I'm short! :p

The built up area around the overflow box is a great idea! It would definitely hide all the ugly plumbing! I would have to make it removable or at least a door so I can access the piping.
 
Return could come up through a bulkhead in the bottom of the overflow, up through the overflow area,
then across above the overflow weir, and into the main part of the DT.
In that 30" x 4" overflow area, there is plenty of room for plumbing and bulkheads.
 
Here are a few things I would be concerned with:

  • Tank Height: I would go with 18-20" tall max, otherwise aquascaping and maintenance are a huge pain. My 90g is 26" tall and it sucks to the sandbed.
  • Peninsula Overflow: Why not make a big internal overflow on the wall-side of peninsula? Seems easier than have an external overflow box between tank and the wall and same visual impact.
I don't see the strong appeal of external overflow boxes for large tanks (the only benefit is esthetics and saving display space). In the case of a peninsula tank, if you have 72" of peninsula space having 60" of display + 6" of external overflow that's hidden probably looks the same as a 66" tank with a 6" internal overflow. It's right against the wall and hidden from view either way.
 
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