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.
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