Hello everyone, well I'm going to be moving into a new luxury apartment complex with my girlfriend in about 6 months and I'm looking to save some money in the meanwhile toward purchasing a new Reef Ready Aquarium that I would like to place in the dinning room. I have a few concerns regarding this that I'm hoping you guys would help me out with some recomendations and advice.

Concern #1
The dinning room measure 8 feet 4 inches x 10 feet 6 inches. My girlfriend does not care what size aquarium I have as long as I can put a dinning room table that seats 4 comfortabely. (She would like on of those round glass tables.) What size aquarium do you think I can get away with having? (I personally was thinking a 155 gallon bowfront.

Concern #2
This will be the first time that I am paying for water and I'm worried about the cost for the initial filling of the aquarium with RO\DI water that I will be making at the new apartment as well as water changes. I was thinking with a larger aquarium I could make less frequent water changes and save some money on the water bill.

Concern #3
I would also like to to know if anyone has every seen a bowfront design with an enclosed wood/oak stand and top so I can hide everything underneath and place a retrofit Metal Halide System in the hood. Would you suggest a Bowfront or Standard Rectangle shape aquarium.

Thanks for the help.

I like my corner tank, it is attractive and IMO has a nice perspective. I think that the curved glass may be a little more difficult to clean because it is harder to get a blade flat on it.

CarmieJo, do you mind me asking what your water bill is like for your aquarium?

Rectangle is king.

It is much easier to get equipment and furnishings for a rectangular tank.

i assimulated our formal dining room with the tanks, the misses kicked my ass on heaps of occasions cause i kept leaving wet towels on the backs of the wooden chairs and leaving spash marks over the table top! even though i kept moving the table, the misses loves her symetry, & i love expanding! not a good combo! finally got my way, now all the furniture is in a stacked formation making the formal dining and lounge room look like a junk yard! i love it, but it reaks havic on the sex life dude, beware the same fate my friend!

is water expensive over there? im all for your idea of setting up a new tank,just keep in mind all the hidden costs with moving into new domains! the tank might need to take the back seat till your settled!
as for opinions on tanks, i dont know your sizes with gal, & id love to say bowfront cause their sexy to look at> ive still got to swing blubs way though, rectangle is far more practicle in its applications

I'm not sure of the water price but I got the go ahead from the misses which is why I'm leaning toward a big tank since I was told I can get one. I'm moving into an apartment and I am not paying rent or utilities for the next 6 months which means I can bank almost 10 grand so I'm hopeful that I will have all the necessary funds I just would like to start my setup and plumbing and get cycling going.

sweet!! !! !! !!

Dont let her know you have that kind of money

i assimulated our formal dining room with the tanks, the misses kicked my ass on heaps of occasions cause i kept leaving wet towels on the backs of the wooden chairs and leaving spash marks over the table top!

God, that sounds familiar. lol

FW said it best. Rectangle is king. ANd with potentially $10k to spend, I think of really big rectangles.

Stevej72, she already knows that type of money I make and for the past 2 years that we have been together has never shown interest in it. She is a very simple woman and I'm always being told that I'm the high maintainence one in the relationship by people that we know. I actually found a place that is want to charge just under $1000.00 for a 150 rectangle with dual overflows and only charges $35.00 to deliver it. Also they provide fish sitting services for about $3.00 a day which will be good for the meantime since I have to setup a tank in her hom in a bit of a rush.

The ultimate idea is to go to a single bed in the bedroom, thus increasing the amount of space for the fish tank. As long as you have determination, she will get tired of sharing the bed with you, thus retiring to the couch.

Once that happens you can then sell the bed to make more room and in turn help fund the hobby. With that complete, you can utilize the extra space for more gear and tanks, and sleep in your car.

We all know deep down we would sleep in our car if it meant we could have more tanks and gear!

haha, good one gene wilder

Can anyone shed some light on the water bill concern with their aquariums?

Jay,

Our whole water bill is about $35 a month. Around here water is less than $7/1000 gallons. I don't think that the aquarium water accounts for more than $5 of that. Salt is about $40 for a 160 gallon bucket. I change about 6 gallons of water a week so that lasts about 6 months. So all together maybe $11 a month.

Thank you CarmieJo, that puts eveything into perspective and I feel much better about getting the apartment now. :)

I don't know what the rates are, but I think I pay $220 a month.

I don't know what the rates are, but I think I pay $220 a month.

How many gallons of water total in your system?

arr, i think you left off the very VERY critical point here jay,
u forgot the 'S', in systemS >cause blubs got a LFS in his domain! lucky B@$tard!

thats still pretty high on the water costing blub!