cpu933k

Yeah, well, let's just say that my DIY craftmanship is not the greatest.

DIY for the stand is not an option for me. It will sit in the dining room, so needs to be furniture grade. I liked the look of the Marineland Monterey stand and it seems to be sufficiently high ~34 in. I'm hoping I can get a Trigger Systems Crystal 36 sump in through the front doors. Yeah, DIY sump is also out for me. I may go to petco to pick up a QT tank, though. Would a 20 gallon be sufficient? Here are the other pieces of equipment I leaning towards. Let me know your thoughts: RLSS R6-I sump RLSS Waveline DC6000 return pump AVAST ATO Deluxe Digital I/O Neptune Apex Gold Controller (not sure if I REALLY need it but it so appeals to the techgeek in me) BRS 4 Stage Value Water Saver RO/DI Still don't know about powerheads and lighting.

Sump under the tank in the stand.

48x18x21

So I'm probably going with a Marineland 75 gallon reef ready tank with Monterey stand and canopy. I'm thinking about a Trigger Systems Crystal 30 or 36 sump. I don't know the exact dimenions of the interior of the stand, but it will be less than 48". How much room would I need for an ATO and ATO reservoir? How big of a reservoir do I need? Any recommendations for a good, bang-for-the-buck protein skimmer and return pump? Do I need powerheads in the display tank? I don't want to cheap out, but I also don't want to get anything that would be overkill.

Ok, here's a question on tank placement. I've read about placing the tank perpendicular to floor joists to spread the weight out. I'm thinking of putting my tank against an exterior wall, in my dining room. The dining room is raised about 6 inches off the main level. The joists of the raised dining room run perpendicular to the joists of the main level. I would like to place the tank on the back wall where the framed pictures are hanging, which runs parallel to the joists of the dining room and perpendicular to the joists of the main level. Does that seem ok? Does it even matter if I only have a 75 gallon tank? Here are some pictures to illustrate what I am talking about:

Yes, not quite ready for corals. Scratching the puffers and trigger off the wish list as those will require a larger tank than I can do. Main decision now is between 6' and 4'. If I decide on 4', I may just go for a 75 as crob suggested. I guess the added 3 inches height for the 90 may not do much for increased fish selection.

Hello everyone. I'm glad I found this local community. It's been a great resource for all my research. I used to have a FW tank as a teenager and am now looking to get into SW. Mainly interested in a FOWLR tank, I'm thinking between 90-125 gallons. I'm still in the early stages of research, so I guess I'll just start with the size of the tank. I'm interested in the following fish in order of preference: Clownfish Blue Tang Yellow Tang Porcupine or Dogface puffer Picasso Triggerfish From what I've seen online, some of these require large tanks (100-180 g), but when I've visited some LFS the tangs I saw seemed really small. Are these really large tanks necessary for these type of fish? Based on the fish I would like, does a 90 g vs 125 g make much of a difference?