# Largest Stock Tank Size



## amanda huggenkiss (Mar 3, 2004)

As far as I can see, the largest standard size is a 180g which is 72x24x24. Close enough?


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## GDominy (Jul 30, 2002)

Its depends on the manufacturer.... The company that makes my tanks has a standard tank size of 8' x 18" x 19"..... But they custom make any size...

Glass or Plexi is up to you..

Glass is heavy, but cheap
Acrylic is lighter but scratches easily, and much more costly


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## putty (Nov 19, 2003)

Gareth - Any idea on price on a beast like that? Are they in Victoria?

Amanda - A six footer will not be long enough...size matters, I want it to run the lenght of a couch and then some.


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## GDominy (Jul 30, 2002)

That tank is about $900, and yes its Victoria. SeaStar Aquarium, you have to buy their tanks through Pet stores out there that carry them, they don't sell direct.

SeaStar can Make them 8 x 2 x 2 but you are probably looking at around $1500-$2000 (canadian)


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## putty (Nov 19, 2003)

Thanks G. I will try to price something out for the near future. Man, can you imagine an 8 footer with 2 feet of depth for planting. It would also be visible from 3 sides in my pipe dream.

Wonder if you could keep discus and altums together in a tank that big?


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## GDominy (Jul 30, 2002)

I wouldn't... Just because the Altums will out compete the discus for food.

I am currently saving up for a 8 foot tank to put in my living room as a river tank for Hillstream Loaches, or a big huge discus tank


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## amanda huggenkiss (Mar 3, 2004)

So. Very. Jealous.


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## putty (Nov 19, 2003)

I was thinking that if you invented a feeding regimen where you fed the tank in two places at once, get the altums first, get them used to feeding in one spot for a while...add large discus...feed the altums in their spot, and while they are eating feed the discuss on the other side of the tank....I think it could work. I could just do one or the other though.

I have seen pics of discus living with angels before somewhere.


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## putty (Nov 19, 2003)

8 foot "river" tank would be awesome, esp with your aquascaping and plumbing prowess.


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## GDominy (Jul 30, 2002)

Putty, anything is possible, but Discus would do much better in that kind of setup if they were the only large fish... Besides.. wouldnt you rather have just more discus? 

I would love to have a big tank full of discus, with a large school of tetra's, and a school of cories for the bottom.


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## putty (Nov 19, 2003)

Yeah, you're right, I am just thinking about the possibilities of a tank that big. Kid in a candy store, you know. The good thing about discus is they will not eat your 3.50 a piece cardinals like altums would. I agree with tetras and corys, but would add schools of hatchet fish, black neons (just got some of these, and man do they color up nice) and some brass tetras (saw some at Big Al's the other day), those are beutyful fish.


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## Rosko_22 (May 19, 2004)

> *GDominy:* I am currently saving up for a 8 foot tank to put in my living room as a river tank for Hillstream Loaches


How do you set a river tank up? Are you just going to set it up with a few powerheads pointing in one direction? Hillstream loaches are very cool little fish, an eight foot river tank full of them would be awesome.
Do you know how much of a current or water circulation they need to be happy?
I'm just curious to know what you think because a guy at my lfs suggested them to me for my 20 gal, but I only have a penguin bio-wheel 125 and didn't think that would create enough of a current for them to survive.
sorry for all the questions.:icon_roll


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## putty (Nov 19, 2003)

They also like cooler water I believe?


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## GDominy (Jul 30, 2002)

Rosko_22 said:


> How do you set a river tank up? Are you just going to set it up with a few powerheads pointing in one direction? Hillstream loaches are very cool little fish, an eight foot river tank full of them would be awesome.
> Do you know how much of a current or water circulation they need to be happy?
> I'm just curious to know what you think because a guy at my lfs suggested them to me for my 20 gal, but I only have a penguin bio-wheel 125 and didn't think that would create enough of a current for them to survive.
> sorry for all the questions.:icon_roll


There is a great article over on www.loaches.com on how to set up a river tank. Basically you want to turn water volume over about 20x an hour, so I will need a couple of MASSIVE powerheads at one end of the tank... Connected to PVC pipes running to the far end where they will be capped with sponge filters. This will allow for water to flow in one direction only, and have large surface area for bacteria (and I can have the tank flush to the wall).

No Heaters needed as they are coolwater fish.


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## FiberCon (May 22, 2004)

If I was Putty I would at least look into the pricing for an acrylic tank that size. After tanks get so big, the price difference between acrylic and glass tanks shrinks. 

I owned a 180g tank once (6'x2'x2') and the thing was a BEAST to get into the house due to the weight of the glass alone. 

There are also a few articles out there on the web of people making their own large tanks out of acrylic sheets. This is a rather inexpensive way to go if you don't mind doing a little work your self. You can get the sheets cut to the size you want, and pieceing them together with solvent is not that hard (I've done a few smaller tanks / projects myself.) If you go this route, make sure you stress to the people who cut your acrylic that the cuts MUST BE EXACT! If they aren't you'll have issues with edges not lining up properly, thus leaks. You can fix this with silicone like glass tanks use, but it doesn't look as nice.  I'm thinking of taking this approach for my next semi-large tank.


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## GDominy (Jul 30, 2002)

I am well aware of the weight issues... heh.... My Largest tank is 72" x 18" x 24" but using extra thick glass for support (I use a lot of rockwork sometimes so this tank was made from 5/8" glass)

The price will still be higher out here simply due to the fact we have a manufacturer right near us. Putty can get Glass tanks much cheaper then most anywhere else in the country.


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## putty (Nov 19, 2003)

loaches.com - Man those things are cool. How is the species availability locally?


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## GDominy (Jul 30, 2002)

Species selecrtion is pretty limited.. but I keep my eyes peeled for rare finds, contaminants, etc...


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## putty (Nov 19, 2003)

I think glass will be the way to go. I am bad with scratches so glass will be safer. I think 8x2x2 will be what I price out.

Thanks for the help everyone.


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## ColinAnderson (Jun 25, 2004)

Droooooooll!


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## putty (Nov 19, 2003)

It will only be droolable at if it happens, right now I am all talk, and all I have is a 90g.


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## GDominy (Jul 30, 2002)

Are you "replacing" your 90... or "adding on"?

I'd buy your 90 off ya if you were selling ;-)


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## putty (Nov 19, 2003)

I am keeping the 90 with my custom built stand for a reef tank (eeek). I just finished building the stand, so I think I will keep everything for a while, as I save up for the rest of my reef gear.


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## Rosko_22 (May 19, 2004)

Thanks for the link Gareth. Very informative. The guy at my lfs I was talking about told me he keeps hillstream loaches in his 20 gal using two eheims for circulation. After looking at the setup on loaches.com though I don't think they're as happy in the 20 gal as they should be.

Just when I think I know what I want to do with my next tank... :icon_lol:


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