Describe your dream tank

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If you had an unlimited budget and wanted to set up your ideal dream tank what would it be and how would you do it? Would it be glass or acrylic, Reef tank or a large specialized predator tank? What kind of equipment would you want to set up on it, and most importantly what would your stocking be?

 

[cryingrn]

I am day dreaming currently of doing a large saltwater pond in the sunroom with top-down acropora colony views. I dont know if I will ever be able to bring it to fruition but it's nice to think about

 

[mmorrison55]

10 ft x 4 ft glass peninsula with closed loop with a separate fish room for the sump and maintenance, so no need to work on my knees.

Stock heavy towards tangs and Angel fish. And since money were no object, I’d go ahead and stock them all in the same tank along with all the corals I’d want, and not worry about them nipping on the corals for food.

Currently I can’t stock the larger sohal and orange shoulders in my 5ft display etc and I don’t stock the angels I’d like to for fear of them eating my corals.

 

[Biokabe]

I have two dream tanks.

The first:
A free-standing 360 degree acrylic tank with dual center overflows, centered in a room surrounded by smaller tanks (display, QT, hospital and frag). 12' long, 36" wide, 21" tall. Mixed reef tank with multiple zones spaced throughout the tank - high light, high flow zones for an acropora paradise, shielded lagoons with tall rock walls and lower lighting for LPS and euphyllia gardens. Rockwork throughout, filled with multitudes of caves large and small, populated by rock-dwelling smaller fish while larger reef fish circle throughout the tank.

Small, niche fish like pink-streaked wrasses, basslets, chrysiptera damsels, shrimp gobies, tilefish, etc., serving as "peak-a-boo" fishes, little things that you see when you go in close and really watch the rockwork. Wrasses and anthias constantly circling through the tank as dither fishes, with enough volume to support harems of flasher and fairy wrasses and schools of anthias.

On the larger side, schools of tangs for algae control. A quoyi parrotfish, because they're amazing. A pair of crosshatch triggers. Small harems of Genicanthus angels, and a couple of the large showier angels, like an Emperor, Koran, Majestic or Regal. Pyramid butterflies, copperband butterflies, etc.

If it's a true dream tank - probably lit by metal halides over the acro zones, LEDs for the LPS zones, with supplemental T5s throughout. Tunze ORCAs for flow, along with strategically placed gyres and point-source powerheads for flow in specific areas. Also possible some submersible powerheads hidden in the rockwork to keep things stirred up.

The out-of-tank equipment would be housed in a separate dedicated room, with easy standing access to all equipment (no crouching!). Probably a large cryptic zone in the sump, along with a display macro refugium and a large algae turf scrubber. A calcium reactor for major element control, and multiple dosing pumps with short hose runs for each individual trace element. A recirculating skimmer with automated draining, and an automatic water change system set up to change out 2% of the water every day.

The second: Most of the planning and such would be identical, the equipment would be identical. But rather than a freestanding tank, it would be 6' tall pane of acrylic, much deeper as well. Basically this, but as a reef tank:

 

[X-37B]

I considered a 96x60x24, close to 600g's. I really want it but the 3 tanks in the room works better for me at my age now.
The 600 would have eaten the whole room.
Left is 30", right is 36" for reference

 

[BryanM]

My house isn't big enough for a dream tank.... And considering the fact that the humidity that my current 220 gallons provides to the house makes us have to use the AC more often, bigger is not exactly better.

All that nonsense aside, I really have become fond of peninsula tanks, so if I had a dream tank it would be in that area. And I've seen a few where people have hidden wavemakers to not be seen, and that would be a significant goal.

 

[Gundy]

I sometimes think how cool it would be if I had a 15 or 20 thousand gallon tank with a dedicated fish room. Then I think of all the work it would take to build a new addition on to my house and all the time and energy needed to set it up and maintain it. This would only work if you had a nearly full time expert to help me maintain it.

So, with that said, I would say I do have my dream tank. It a 380 gallon 84x36x29 reef tank filled with mostly soft corals and about 40 fish.(Tangs, angles, butterfly fish, wrasses etc) I have my own fish equipment room for my sump, water station, storage and all equipment. The tank is fully automated with apex equipment and yes, I have spent more money on this tank than I care to admit to and it keeps me plenty busy.

 

[Paul B]

My dream tank is the tank I have so I can use my dreaming for other things.

 

[mfinn]

My dream tank would have to be something in the neighborhood of 1000+ gallons and 10' to 12' long.
Something that I wouldn't feel guilty over keeping a larger school of tangs in. Something that would give them serious swimming room.