welcome to Canreef, the gentleman who led you here has done you a service by easing the learning curve involved in aquaria.
Great to have you.
welcome.

Welcome :biggrin:

Welcome.

Just remember there's lot's of ways to run a successful tank, part of the fun/your challenge is going to be picking one.

Thank you all for your welcome. You are very encouraging.

That gentleman you refer to is my son-in-law, Jason Miller. He has a number of great looking tropical and salt tanks and we have fallen in love with them. Time to begin the journey.

Looking at how big we can go with the space we have in mind. Would like to see a six foot tank against our divider wall. Probably with an under-tank sump tank using a tower inside the main drilled tank to connect. We want the tank as close to the wall as possible.

Or cut out your divider wall and make viewable from both sides.

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h316/das75/tank1.jpg

Mark- that is a beautiful example you have there. Actually we have today looked againa and found that the tank must be moved to against our railing next to our front stairs. Then we just move the furniture forward two feet or so and viola!

We are thinking 72"x24"x24" on a stand with a sump tank underneath.Thinking of building a tank from scratch. For a six foot tank, do we need 1/2" glass or do we need thicker?

I didn't build them myself but I have two 220's (72x24x30) one of which is 1/2" and the other is 5/8" so I'd say either or will do as long as we're talking glass and not acrylic. Acrylic I don't know.
May I suggest the use of starphire glass? I wish all of mine were starphire but once you buy it, it's too late.
I plan on building my next tank out of starphire as it is not green at the ends and also makes for a better view. More initial cost but I would say its worth it. Just a thought:wink:

Thanks.

Never built an aquarium but do a google search for "aquarium glass thickness" and there a bunch of links (here's one). Mine's a little short of 6' and see the long panes are 3/8" (Starfire if that makes a difference) and the ends are 1/2".

Have you seen KrazyKuch and Michika's build thread?

Sorry never heard of starphire glass.. ... where do you find it? lol. You know someone with it and it looks good?

Welcome
It is a real learning experience ,but "don't rush" look around at the corals and fish you want to get see if they will work together. Ask questions there are alot of different tank setups around from the basic to the adding of all the bells and whistle's there is always someone in the forum selling something that will help you get started and and answer those questions the library also has a few good books too.