Making my dream tank… 200+ gallons?!

[Be102]

Help me design my dream tank setup…



So I am officially going to start a plan to add a tank to my basement. I have been living at the same house for a long time and after and ich outbreak a few years ago.. I’ve gone fallow in my 65 gallon tank ever since with the exception of snails other small creatures and some corals.





I was planning on moving my tank so I never added more fish as I figured a move would be a big ordeal let alone with needing to care for fish during transport.





Fast forward to now where I am going to be taking over my house and will have free access to turn my basement into the fish dream room I’ve wanted… except that’s the thing.. there are so many options I don’t really know where to start!



I know a few things for certain… that I want a drilled tank as well as a tank that allows me to not have many limitations as to what can go inside of it.. I have a huge space to work with and was thinking a tank around 8+ feet long..



I originally planned something for along the wall with enough room to walk around it for maintenance but then even thought about a peninsula… but unsure how difficult those are for maintenance in regards to flow and whatnot.



I am unsure if I want to go with a metal or wooden stand.. I would like to build with wood but unsure how large of a tank a wooden stand can hold..



I currently have a lot of fish tank supplies as well as my tank running with the stuff inside if. So I am not in a crazy rush but I envision purchasing a tank, building a stand then buying stuff for Black Friday or something down the road…





I think a bean animal would be the best overflow type as well as potentially going with a ghost v2 by synergy.







Now for realistic tank questions… how large can I start going where it is realistically a good size for fish as well as maintenance… what size tanks allow for almost any fish? I don’t really know if I want it extremely wide as it will make maintenance inside a pain… but I also want it to be a good environment for the fish long term.



With my 65 gallon I was basically a weird position where I couldn’t have a lot of fish that really swam and it was pretty much in the middle in regards to size.







Any tips and advice is greatly appreciated!

I currently own..

2 x varios v6 pumps.. ( one as return one as skimmer)
A marine depot trigger system 36 inch sump.
Life reef overflow box and life reef protein skimmer
Atlanktik v4 light fixture
profilux
2 mp40 wqd
Tunze ato

Miscellaneous other supplies as well.

There is my current state of the basement.. cleaning stuff out and making room as I go!
Just don’t know if I should try to make a fish room or have everything under the tank….

lots of room to work with!

 

[Not_Eeyore]

Wow, that is a great space!

Some basics you probably know but are worth mentioning...

Water proofing/ie humidity happens. -Marine 2 part epoxy paints for the wood.
I have a clear on my wood sculpture shower wall...10 years on and no problems.
-Dryloc used to be the best for concrete but they changed the formula so not sure now.
-Lids, make sure they fit tight and are on everything. Smaller sections of thin glass have been a blessing for me. Easy to clean and nudge out of the way for feeding.
-Water tight electrical boxes are more $ up front but chasing down corrosion shorts gets expensive fast.

Swim space vs bowing... As soon as you get over 18" front to back the chances of bowing go up exponentially. Euro tops help. Braces are better but can be ugly. -Consider the humble arch.. I needed this tank to be super light as it was going up 4 flights of stairs powered only by me.

The orange around the top is what the lids rest on. In hind sight, I would have gone with thinner acrylic rod.