Step 2: Tank

I made my decision. I went with the Marineland 120g with the corner overflow and black silicone. I did this for a few reasons. The first is that the corner overflow is more appealing to me. Once I cutout the overflow, the location of the holes will work very well for the filtration setup I have planned, and if I ever wanted to use a sump the corner overflow is much more appealing than two monstrosities in the middle of the tank.

The hard decision came concerning the black silicone. As I said before, I don't really have anything against, but I just assumed I'd always get clear. Marineland doesn't make a 120g tank with clear silicone, so my option was to either get black silicone that was done well, or get clear silicone that was all globbed on from another manufacturer. Ultimately, the choice was clear.

I purchased the tank, stand/canopy, and glass tops from Creation Reef in Canton, GA. Really great people, and I was happy I was able to do business with them. A while back, I did a tour of the local fish store scene here in Atlanta. I toured nearly every store recommended my members of various forums and clubs. Creation Reef and Aquatics was the cream of the crop. They had the best selection of plants, best equipment, and the most unique selection of livestock.

Before I left for the store, I called ahead to make sure someone would be there to help me load up the tank into my truck. When I got there, they just took over and loaded it up for me....above and beyond as far as I'm concerned considering the size of the tank. As it turned out, a 120g 4' tank was the perfect fit. Any bigger length or width and I couldn't have fit the tank and stand in my truck in one trip. I only had about an inch to spare.

Suprisingly, the stand/canopy and tank were not that heavy. I was able to unload the stand/canopy on my own, but had to wait for backup for the tank. Even then, my wife and I were able to lift the tank on our own.

Moving forward

It's time to roll.

I went by two local fish stores yesterday looking at tanks. My final plan is to purchase a reef-ready tank, cut out the overflow, and use the existing holes to feed a closed-loop filtration system. Between the two stores, I've been offered two different tanks for the exact same price:

Option 1: Aqueon 120g, two standard overflows offset from the ends of the tank with clear silicone

Option 2: Marineland 120g, one corner overflow, black silicone

Same exact price. The Marineland is a higher quality tank but my two concerns are whether one overflow would be adequate(or rather, in the closed loop scenario, one point of intake for the filter loop) and my other concern is that I've never had a tank with black silicone. I don't have anything really against black silicone except that I never really considered.

Relatively, this decision is pretty straightforward.

My second decision isn't quite as easy. I have to pick a stand/canopy combo. I am firm on construction being out of maple.  Essentially, I'm considering 4 different furniture grade stands produced by a local cabinetmaker. It's two styles, but they each come in two different heights. The first style is "standard" and the second style is "deluxe". The two heights are 30" and 36". Price range starts at Standard 30" and ends at Deluxe 36", with about a 35% increase in price.

I have always had 30" stands, but a 36" stand puts the tank at perfect viewing height if standing. 30" is good for standing and sitting. So that you can see what I'm talking about, here is a picture:

The style on the left is a maple 36" Deluxe. The stand on the right is an oak 30" Standard. Again, I'm firm on maple and neither of those is the stain I'm considering, but this picture is a good comparison of styles.

I've put some feelers out there on the various forums to get some outside opinions, so hopefully between that and a good nights sleep the decision(s) will be easy.