Also, how big are the doors or entranceway to the basement. Can you get a huge tank down the stairs or will you have to build one in place?

I personally would love an 8' long x 30" high x 30" or (36" wide).

100g water changes = 2 barrels. If you have room to set up a fish room behind the tank, that will make water changes very easy as long as you have room for barrels.

I'd say it depends on what you like. Big tanks are
More stable and thus creates a more "true" reef. However, small details get lost a bit in huge tank IMO. I love the small critters, reclusive fish and close-ups with coral... And I achieve that with a smaller tank. If you like the look of a full reef rather than specimens, the. Go as big as you can afford.



Ps. Anthony, I beat ya to last post :P

300 dd is a dream tank of mine the dimensions are wicked and its only kinda giant.

300g with 24" or 26" depth, kind of shallow reef style. then it can be longer and/or wider if you want. And coast to Coast overflow :P

Hey guys thanks for all your thoughts, Ill try and add some pics of the basement so you guys can see what im going to be working with, I do have room to make a fish room, i can either make it its on room or i can build it into my mechanical room.

I have a walk out from my basement so i will be getting a made tank and then removing the door to bring it into its new home :)

This is very true. Unless things are closer to the front you can't get nearly as personal with some of the life in the tank. I also have 19mm glass so there is distortion to deal with as well if you aren't either looking straight in and up close... or standing a few feet back.

I'm spending far more time working on the new tank as well. Would I ever go smaller again though? Not if my budget doesn't force me! If I ever move years from now I'd even consider another upgrade if my budget allowed but that's very unlikely.

I'd hate doing anything on this tank without a fishroom!

Beyond 300 gallons, I would go with acrylic. (I did...and I would again). Glass gets too thick and the tank simply becomes too heavy.

I went from 210 to a 300DD. I really love it. But if you have no cost restriction then the bigger the better. IMHO :twised:

Hey guys this is what i will be working with, sorry for the crap pic, I just did it fast been really busy.

So this is the basement and this is what i had in mind as of right now the fish room would be in the mech room that has a drain and i will be installing a sink after. What im not sure of doing right now is doing the tank outside what i have in the pic right now or to do a in wall tank and have the glass flush or to do 1/2 and 1/2 , have the tank in the fish room and half the tank in the other room, If i were to do the 1/2 and 1/2 then i would most likely make the fish room bigger.

http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/1666/fishroom.jpg
http://www.freeimagehosting.net/l3zsh
http://postimage.org/image/5lnsqf7zv/full/

No pictures showing :0(