Tube tank: Have you ever had a cylinder tank?

[Peace River]

Tube tank: Have you ever had a cylinder tank?

Many of reef keepers have only kept flat-sided tanks, from rectangles, squares, and maybe even hexagon or octagons. To some people cylinder shaped tanks are an oddity and seem to attract a unique group of reef keepers. Have you ever kept a rounded tank whether it is a cylinder or bowfront shaped tank? If so, tell us about the difference that you found between these tanks and the more traditional tanks with square corners. How did the rounded tank affect the flow plan, the stand setup, the equipment selection, and the livestock? Please tell us if you have ever had a cylinder-shaped tank and your experience with rounded tanks.

Photo by @uniquecorals

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Never personally had one, but I do like the way those tanks look

 

[davidcalgary29]

I really, really want a tall cylinder one day for my dream kelp biome tank. I still haven't figured out where all the equipment would go; perhaps a semi-tube attached to some type of cabinet could work.

 

[brandon429]

my aqua tower

you could fit filter equipment up under the canopy as a custom arrangement and light it with an ai prime

comes from midwest tropical in florida

 

[vetteguy53081]

Ive always liked these but never had the opportunity to set one up as I went with other concepts such as drop off tanks

 

[homer1475]

One of the LFS's I go to has one of those zero edge tanks. It's a cylinder. Pretty cool, but don't think I would own one.

Never owned one myself, but I did have a 40G octagon FW when I was a kid. Hated that tank. LOL

Wasn't that huge one that blew out this past winter(forget the name of it) a cylinder tank?

 

[AstroCoral]

I think cylinder tanks are pretty awesome. The cylinder reef tanks at Epcot in Disney World always amaze me. Someone knows exactly what they are doing with these tanks in Epcot, I could easily look at these cylinder tanks all day. Pictures from my most recent trip attached.

 

[SeaweedLife]

I have a tall cylinder tube - this is a 70 gallon with 8 gallon sump. I rely on snails to clean and move the sand around.

 

[Icedog]

I have a 54 gal corner bow-front and love the way it looks, but did come across an unexpected difficulty with it when compared with squared-corner tanks.

The issue was cleaning alga off of the front bowed glass. A long-handled scraper worked well on the two flat back panels, going from top to bottom. But of course that up-and-down motion wouldn't work on the front curved glass - I had to move the scraper side-to-side. And then I discovered that my arm wasn't quite long enough to reach the bottom of that curved glass! So it's always been a bit of a struggle to get at the alga there.

And equipment such as mounting arms for lights and wavemakers are made more for traditional tanks, so I've had to get creative when installing those items.

 

[exnisstech]

The ones I have seen look like they have a distorted view of the contents.

 

[Seancj]

One of the LFS's I go to has one of those zero edge tanks. It's a cylinder. Pretty cool, but don't think I would own one.

Never owned one myself, but I did have a 40G octagon FW when I was a kid. Hated that tank. LOL

Wasn't that huge one that blew out this past winter(forget the name of it) a cylinder tank?

Can you post a photo of the zero edge cylinder at your LFS? I'd love to see it please! I'm very strongly considering a cylinder aquarium but hesitant due to the reports of distortion.

 

[5fathoms]

How about a half cylinder? This 120 was in my Dental office reception room for 18 years before moving it home two years ago when I retired. The distortions are immense and bother some people, really should not be viewed by them from higher up. Deep tank, tough to maintain.

But it was in an office with lots of curves in the designs. A very fun thing we did. Tank is still going after 20 years, a lot of the rock has been “in captivity” that long.

 

[cshplumber]

I have a 100gal cylinder. It's 4' tall and about 24" in diameter. I'm a plumber and it's about the size of a standard water heater. I light it with 1 kessil 360 which is plenty since it's primarily a FOWLER. I have 6 eels, an assortment of damsels, a large green serpent star, a tuxedo urchin and an assortment of snails & hermits to keep the sand clean. The sump is only about 7gal as it fits in the stand which was a problem since eels are so messy but I started getting parameters under control now that I got a Clarisea roller filter. Still a work it progress. When I got it it was pretty scratched and I had to get inside to buff it which was not easy.

 

[5fathoms]

Yeah, curved pretty much means acrylic which means layers of scratches. After 20 years mine has a haze. Still a great tank, but I do consider just replacing it outright at some point with a 120 rectangle, ten times easier to maintain. I’m 67.

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

Back in the late 90’s I put a bid in for one in a closed business. It had a Center Overflow and Return. That Brand had the Fake Fiberglass Coral, but that could be removed. Guess it’s a good thing I didn’t win the bid, wife would have killed me. I had a hard time getting my bid deposit back, though.

 

[AIRDADDY]

my aqua tower

you could fit filter equipment up under the canopy as a custom arrangement and light it with an ai prime

comes from midwest tropical in florida

I tried and failed at a planted tank for my very last freshwater adventure before I switched to Reefing. This is a beautiful example.

 

[AIRDADDY]

I've owned a 90-gallon 1/4 round cylinder, a 24-gallon half cylinder, and a 90-gallon half cylinder currently. I Love the look and the different uninterrupted viewing angles. I think it gives a more immersive viewing experience.

 

[NkSde]

Does a bowfront count? I really want a 30+ bowfront

 

[MrDirka]

Absolutely love that look. My all time favorite tank was a 130gal look down half circle tank. Rim was 48" high so you could look down or through the front.
Maybe its just nostalgia, I worked at an lfs (mostly for employee discount) and we had that tank custom made....10 years later I saw it on Craigslist. Snatched it up for a crazy 200 bucks for everything. Tank, stand w/integrated sump, halides etc etc.
Just 2 years later the military decided I needed to move across the country so I sold the tank.
If I had the room, 100% would get the same thing built again!
Ill try and find pics

 

[Seancj]

How about a half cylinder? This 120 was in my Dental office reception room for 18 years before moving it home two years ago when I retired. The distortions are immense and bother some people, really should not be viewed by them from higher up. Deep tank, tough to maintain.

But it was in an office with lots of curves in the designs. A very fun thing we did. Tank is still going after 20 years, a lot of the rock has been “in captivity” that long.


View attachment 3128605

That is a beautiful tank and aquascape! Can you give some input on the 'distortion' of the curvature? Can you elaborate on the "really should not be viewed by them from higher up"? I'm very seriously considering a full cylinder tank but the reports of distortion being too distracting has me pausing. Thank you!