need advice on stand height?

[Ram_Puppy]

Hey guys, I have decided to buy a 115 Gallon Ocean View tank. it is 30" x 30" x 30". I will be building the stand and canopy myself. ( Have some experience with this.)

I will probably be framing the stand in 2 x 8's, and was wondering what you all would consider an ideal height for me to position the tank. I want it to be comfortable to view both sitting and standing, but since it is 30" tall i don't want it to be so high it's harder than it has to be to work in. (I am 6'5 and measure 32 inches from my armpit to my fingertips, and I seriously doubt my fish would appreciate a pit full of anti-persperant in their water.)

I will be breaking down the 30 hex to make space for this, so everything from that will go in here, So it will be an indo-pacific reef tank consisting of black occillerius, hopefully a mated pair of mandarins, a little school of pj cardinals, probably a helfrichi fire fish, soft and hard corals, plus a rose anemone, i don't want to stock heavy... (I don't know if that is to much info for a simple question.)

I won't be getting the tank for a while, as I am saving tyhe money to buy it, I think I will have it by mid july. But I am going to start designing and constructing the stand first.

Oh, and it is coming reef ready, I know some peopl ehave been running rubber maid tubs as their refugiums... have you guys been happy with these results? I am debating whether to use a tub, or just buy a 40 gallon tank and use it. After putting down the cash for the lighting and the tank itself, I won't be able to afford a custom sump/refugium for a while.

[::pete::]

Height 36" to 40" and if you have room, wider than the tank. the more room under the better.

[prof]

Do you intend to view it from sitting or standing? Measure the furniture in your room...

Back of the couch, top of the end table, eye height when sitting...

Think about what part of the tank you want to see.

[Ram_Puppy]

thanks for the imput guys... I was thinking in the 35" range... I will measure my furniture like you suggest prof, probably work the stand out in cardboard before comittting to it in wood, just to test.

[GaryP]

If you want to keep a pair of Mandarins in a tank that size then you definitely want to have a very healthy pod population in your refugium. You might to put a lot of serious thought into your fuge.

Gary

[Ram_Puppy]

Already done Gary, The tank I am running now has a healthy pod population, though it is shrinking, I think the PJ cardinals are taking it out, and now that the bristle worms are starting to show up, the pods don't get as much food. As such, I have already set aside a small 10 gallon to act as a tank on it's own until this one comes up, I am going to populate it with pods, worms, mini-stars, macro algae, and so on, and just let all the micro flora and fauna grow.

Just like this tank, I will let the new one grow into itself for a few months before I even think of getting mandarins in there. I have also had good success in the main tank itself, by setting up a 'grunge' bed of rubble that the pods like to breed in, there is no way a fish larger than a clown goby could get into that 'bed' and in this tank, it should be sufficient to keep a pod population going in the main tank in addition to the one running in the fuge.

[GaryP]

That's the whole I idea of the fuge, to act as a safe breeding ground for pods. They'll get enough food from the microfauna on the macroalgae in the fuge to establish a healthy population.

I'm working on plans for a fuge now. As a matter of fact I just sent Dan a msg. about getting together to plan it.

Gary

[Ram_Puppy]

Right, I see no reason not to use the space I won't see in the tank to add that much more 'terriroty' to the pod populations 'safe' breeding grounds... if it works, great, if not, no biggie, the fuge is still there. HOnestly, amphipods and copepods are the very first observable life I ever saw in my tank, I mean it took me 6 months to put fish in.. :) so I have a special place in my heart from them.

I am VERY excited about this... You know, the whole driving force behind getting a larger tank? My wife... says I need a big enough stand to store all my fish crap in! the hex just wasn't going to cut it.