- Joined
- Oct 27, 2019
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Hey all,
As I've said in another thread recently, I'm in the "negotiation" process with my wife regarding setting up a new major reef tank. For various reasons, the only place it can go is in one corner of the dining room. It's not really worth getting into why here, but it's not 100% due to her being finicky - there's also heating vents placed in awkward locations along some of the usable walls, lots of windows and fireplaces, and other things which really restrict usable wall space near an external wall on our first floor.
Originally, she indicated to me that even though the space has a width of about 34 inches before hitting the opening of the bay window, she'd let me get a 36 inch wide tank there, which was great, because I could get the Waterbox I wanted. Now she's gone back on that again after I put down the rough size in tape, saying she's concerned about when we have guests over and expand the dining room table the extra few inches will make it hard to get past. I find it odd to design something around a twice a year issue when we have company, but whatever.
The only off-the-shelf aquarium I could find which fit the space pretty well is this 80 gallon aquarium by SCA. At 32 inches it's almost the perfect width for the space. It seems like going with a Waterbox is straight out, unless I went down to a 24, which is actually smaller than my old build at our old house. So I'm tempted to do the SCA tank. I know people will jump in with a custom tank idea, to which I'll say I'm not mechanically inclined or handy, I don't like that side of the hobby at all, and I'm trying to save my mental space for the ecosystem management stuff I love instead.
I've read...mixed reviews of SCA tanks. Mostly good stuff, but it seems a distinct minority have issues with the tanks, up to and including leaks. This could be a dealbreaker for my wife, because she really, really disliked how my old custom-built setup was prone to leaks, and wants as close to a near-foolproof setup as possible (while also being cheap as hell of course).
Anyway, I'm all ears when it comes to suggestions.
As I've said in another thread recently, I'm in the "negotiation" process with my wife regarding setting up a new major reef tank. For various reasons, the only place it can go is in one corner of the dining room. It's not really worth getting into why here, but it's not 100% due to her being finicky - there's also heating vents placed in awkward locations along some of the usable walls, lots of windows and fireplaces, and other things which really restrict usable wall space near an external wall on our first floor.
Originally, she indicated to me that even though the space has a width of about 34 inches before hitting the opening of the bay window, she'd let me get a 36 inch wide tank there, which was great, because I could get the Waterbox I wanted. Now she's gone back on that again after I put down the rough size in tape, saying she's concerned about when we have guests over and expand the dining room table the extra few inches will make it hard to get past. I find it odd to design something around a twice a year issue when we have company, but whatever.
The only off-the-shelf aquarium I could find which fit the space pretty well is this 80 gallon aquarium by SCA. At 32 inches it's almost the perfect width for the space. It seems like going with a Waterbox is straight out, unless I went down to a 24, which is actually smaller than my old build at our old house. So I'm tempted to do the SCA tank. I know people will jump in with a custom tank idea, to which I'll say I'm not mechanically inclined or handy, I don't like that side of the hobby at all, and I'm trying to save my mental space for the ecosystem management stuff I love instead.
I've read...mixed reviews of SCA tanks. Mostly good stuff, but it seems a distinct minority have issues with the tanks, up to and including leaks. This could be a dealbreaker for my wife, because she really, really disliked how my old custom-built setup was prone to leaks, and wants as close to a near-foolproof setup as possible (while also being cheap as hell of course).
Anyway, I'm all ears when it comes to suggestions.