Thoughts on Aquarium Depth and Custom Tank Builders?

[FireUnderwater]

So, new tank fever is already hitting. And now I'm planning to put a tank in our house's foyer. This one will have to be the last one since the house will be out of room for a bigger one. Current plan is a 78x24x28 or 78x24x26, which puts me at either a 210 or a 227 gallon tank. For a sump, I think I'm ideally looking for a 60x18x18 custom sump. So roughly a 290-310 gallon system total. What are everyone's thoughts on that size for both tank and sump? Ideally, I want plenty of space for reactors, a skimmer, a Reefmat, a refugium, and all the other super fun goodies.

What's been the go-to for custom aquariums? Really been eyeing Glass Cages, but it also seems like Planet Aquariums makes some nice systems too. I've looked at a few other places, but both of those seem to be the most reasonable price-wise. (Wasn't a fan of a 15-18k quote for the tank from a few others)

 

[rtparty]

Glasscages is fantastic! Not gonna be cheap to do a tank that size no matter who it’s from. Too large of a sump that takes up most the space under a stand makes all the electronics super hard to fit. Do you plan to have a separate cabinet for all the cords, controllers, and other things?

 

[FireUnderwater]

Glasscages is fantastic! Not gonna be cheap to do a tank that size no matter who it’s from. Too large of a sump that takes up most the space under a stand makes all the electronics super hard to fit. Do you plan to have a separate cabinet for all the cords, controllers, and other things?

Going for 60” should leave me with about 18” of space for controllers and all that stuff. Was thinking about putting in a wall right at the 60” and setting up two slide out control panels. One for dosing and the other for controllers

 

[exnisstech]

Personally I like to keep hieght no more than 25" I had a 29" tank once and it was a pain to work in. Front to back depth I would go as deep as reasonably possible. Having moved from a 24" deep tank to 30" is a HUGE difference even though it's only 6". For me I was able to go from having all rock against the back wall forcing fish to swim back and forth past each other to being able to swim in front and behind the rock as well as through. Mine was set up for fish, some being pretty large tangs. I suppose if coral is the focus and no large fish are planned the extra depth may not be as important.

 

[FireUnderwater]

Personally I like to keep hieght no more than 25" I had a 29" tank once and it was a pain to work in. Front to back depth I would go as deep as reasonably possible. Having moved from a 24" deep tank to 30" is a HUGE difference even though it's only 6". For me I was able to go from having all rock against the back wall forcing fish to swim back and forth past each other to being able to swim in front and behind the rock as well as through. Mine was set up for fish, some being pretty large tangs. I suppose if coral is the focus and no large fish are planned the extra depth may not be as important.

I’d love to go bigger for depth, but don’t have the space for it

 

[carri10]

Don't go too high. I have 26" (not including a frame /lid) and although I can (just) reach the bottom on the tank sides, I can't get into the tank bottom in the middle. Which is a pain and also where all my vermatids and rogue zoas hang out. Go as wide as you can. Every inch makes a huge difference to the scope for aquascaping.