[Stan510]

C'mon,use your noodle..with your busy life and bills and family, what would be that one size that can be kept perfect? I myself imagine a 50 gallon cube or semi cube. The room for many varieties of small choice plants,the weekly water change,the filter cleaning. That's just me. Maybe I'm old school and 20 gallons are more than enough? I see some great small tanks here. Or..you can see big as best.
That one tank that isnt denied the best..lights all of it.

 

[mourip]

I would vote for 40g to 75g. Bigger tanks tend to be more stable and give you more creative space. They also give the fish more room...

 

[Savetheplants]

All out? 120 gallons. Just got to try it. Like my 20 gallon isn't keeping me busy enough. So I'll just add another 100 gallons.

 

[FischAutoTechGarten]

I have all 20gallon longs. 30" long was the best I could do in an 8' closet and still have room to wrok around them and fit equipment. That said... I often wonder if I would have had more satisfaction going with 4 x 29 gallon aquariums with 2 x 20 gallons for the sumps... at 3 levels... instead of doing 6 x 20 gallon longs with 2 x 20 gallons for the sumps at 4 levels. For the style of plants and fish that I am doing, the additional height might have been nice. That said... I would have never had the confidence to remove the rims and bases... as well as drill four holes in 29 gallon aquariums... just too many opposing forces as you start going deeper.

Of course, It's all on a centralized system, so I have the stability of about 130 gallons total in the system. My RO water storage is about 53 gallons useable (I fill to 58, but their is 5 that I can't use at the bottom). So my weekly water changes are about 40%.

There are so many down sides to this system (gravity/headpressure), I run bigger pumps and have more CO2 loss. However, I never worry about oxygenation that's for sure. I remineralize to a GH of about 4-5 and a KH of about 2 and then shoot for a pH of 6.5 during the photo period and then just 6.8 at night.

The good part. Trimming plants is easy (although it must be done with greater frequency). Having 6 different tanks lets me mix up the flora and fauna a bit. So, my vote is a centralized system of 20longs. (wish there was a tank size midway between the 20long and 29 heightwise that shared the roughly 12x30 footprint).

 

[jeffkrol]

C'mon,use your noodle..with your busy life and bills and family, what would be that one size that can be kept perfect? I myself imagine a 50 gallon cube or semi cube. The room for many varieties of small choice plants,the weekly water change,the filter cleaning. That's just me. Maybe I'm old school and 20 gallons are more than enough? I see some great small tanks here. Or..you can see big as best.
That one tank that isnt denied the best..lights all of it.

A guess for fun.. 60 gallon "breeder"
48x 18x18...
Sounds right..

 

[ChrisX]

I would say a 48" long, 90 gal tank. This is the one that has same base as a 75 but is 6" taller.

I have a 75 which is pretty good, but the tank could use some headroom. Always looks better with some open water above.

 

[Oughtsix]

I have setup what I think is an ultimate sized planted tank... a 180g. Low maintenance doesn't come from size though, it comes from setting up the tank to take care of itself. I plumbed my 180g into my household plumbing and it flushes and replaces ~40g every morning before the lights come on. In my opinion the auto water changes are the best thing ever at minimizing maintenance while letting the plants and fish flourish!

 

[MoreliaViridis]

Cubed tanks is actually very challenging to scape well.
But it can be scaped into 4-side presentation tank not 1 front side. So there's that...

I have 32 gallon which is too small for my collectoritis..
To do real proper noice scape that can have good contrast with decent sized bush I think ya'll need 60g.

 

[Econde]

I'd love a 60-80 gallon 48" rimless tank.

 

[jellopuddinpop]

If money is no issue, and you can spend whatever you need to scape, stock, and automate, I would say a 180g 72" x 24" x 24". The depth and height are big enough to scape however you want, and the length is enough for most plant safe fish.

 

[Mark Fisher]

I prefer tanks that have a 2:1 ratio between width and depth (e.g., 40 breeder is 36" x 18", 120 is 48" x 24", etc.) The amount of gallons depends on the space available and your budget, of course.

This ratio is pleasing to my eye, and has numerous aquascaping options. Tanks that have less depth with respect to length (e.g., 55 gallon 48" x 13") are much more limiting.

 

[sm1ke]

with your busy life and bills and family, what would be that one size that can be kept perfect?

Keeping that in mind, I personally think a 40-55 gallon would be best for me. I currently have this 40 gallon 36Lx16Wx15H acrylic tank ready to be used once we move into a place with more room.

Doing basic maintenance would be fairly quick on tank of this size, while still allowing a decent footprint for aquascaping and enough water volume to house small to medium sized fish and inverts. In addition, the equipment necessary for a high tech setup on this size of tank is quite manageable (thinking Fluval 307 or equivalent canister filter, 150w heater, 10-20lb CO2 canister that would rarely need to be refilled (or just dose glut), lighting would be more affordable, stand would be cheap to make (or I could use the metal stand I already have).

 

[ZChalk]

48"x20"x20" will be my next tank size. Large enough for a small group of schooling fish and to allow lot's of creativity. Not too big in terms of cost to set up and maintain.

 

[FischAutoTechGarten]

Keeping that in mind, I personally think a 40-55 gallon would be best for me. I currently have this 40 gallon 36Lx16Wx15H acrylic tank ready to be used once we move into a place with more room.

View attachment 1030134

Doing basic maintenance would be fairly quick on tank of this size, while still allowing a decent footprint for aquascaping and enough water volume to house small to medium sized fish and inverts. In addition, the equipment necessary for a high tech setup on this size of tank is quite manageable (thinking Fluval 307 or equivalent canister filter, 150w heater, 10-20lb CO2 canister that would rarely need to be refilled (or just dose glut), lighting would be more affordable, stand would be cheap to make (or I could use the metal stand I already have).

Wow.... That IS the perfect size... Wouldn't fit on my racks which are 36", but only 34" betweent the supports... and only 14" deep, so you can't skirt it between the supports as there is only 11" between the supports in the depth. But if I were building my fishnook new today and saw this layout.... that's what I'd have...

 

[Griznatch]

If I could pick, and have the funding/space I'd go bigger. Long length, maybe 8 ft. with at least 2 feet front to back. Nothing more than 24 inches top to bottom though, don't like having to climb in the tank for maintenance. That'd give me room for some massive driftwood and rock formations with big free space in middle.

I've had 100 gallon tanks before, but had an oscar in them both times. Fun but messy, and nothing else in the tank that I didn't want destroyed or broken.

 

[Zaj]

40 breeder if you don’t have a collector-itis.

 

[Stan510]

I like the idea of automatic water changes..love it. I would only wish it would be drained into the yard. I imagine everyday,tank(s) water in the same spot might create a cool small bog garden.
I almost was going to talk a friend into doing that kind of thing for my homes showers- divert all the water that runs out cold before reaching warm shower temps. I should have done it.

 

[Phil Edwards]

If you're wanting to focus on aquascaping then a 20 high, 75 gallon, 5' 120 gallon, or 180 gallon are your best choices due to the dimensions. If you're wanting to just keep plants and pretty fish then anything will do, but I prefer a 90 gallon as a general-purpose all-out plant growing tank if you can't fit a 6' one in your place.

 

[Stan510]

A dedicated plant tank would be,in my view of dimensions to allow "layering" of groups of plants,swaths and negative space. To each his own,and reading is interesting. A big cube is interesting because you sort of build up to one corner and can frame I guess with tall plants. Green Aqua's cube was almost museum display looking. After a year or so,they took it down or redid the scape. It's on youtube.