Opinions on the 72 Gallon AGA Bow Front?

[Fish R.Ph.]

Hi All!

Well, I'm about 5 months into the saltwater side of the fishkeeping hobby...and really enjoying it. Although my wife does sometimes wonder what has become of me.... She's thinking of starting up her own web site: www.saltwaterwidows.com

Anyway, I like my little 20 gallon tall FOWLR tank, but know that I will eventually need to upgrade and go reef.

I saw an ad this week from someone selling their brand new AGA 72 Gallon Bow Front, with matching oak cabinet (they bought, then decided not to set up). He's asking $275.00. I'm sure it doesn't have drilled overflows, so I would need a HOTB unit, but that's okay. Does anyone currently have this or a similar model tank that they can comment on? It will go on a wall in our living room, so it needs to display well. I hope the stand will be large enough to hold a sump and/or refugium.

Does upgrading the lighting on a bow front create a hassel?

Thanks for any input!

-Jason

[Poseidon]

Bow fronts are really hard to take pictures through! The curvature of the glass makes some strange refractions... Leave it to the camera guy to point that out! Otherwise they are nice to look at.

I suppose lighting may be an issue, it depends on how "wide" the tank is at the sides, as long as it is 13" or more you should be okay.

As far as the sump goes, it depends on the cabinet. I would be careful here, a traditional tank may be better suited to this. I did see a nice bowfront lastnight, I suspect it was better then 100 gallons. But was freshwater, it did have a canopy, but it was much to short to house our type of lighting.

[Fish R.Ph.]

Bow fronts are really hard to take pictures through! The curvature of the glass makes some strange refractions... Leave it to the camera guy to point that out! Otherwise they are nice to look at.

My photography skills are so poor, that it is hard to imagine the curved glass could make my photos any worse!

But I will bear that in mind! I saw the exact tank in my LFS last night, and they want nearly $700.00 for the setup, but it had a built in overflow. The cabinet, however, did look like it would easily fit a 10 gallon tank for sump/fuge purposes.

Thanks for the advice!!

-Jason

[charlie]

Sounds like a good deal, but what was in there before??? If like he says it was never set up, I'd probably snatch that up in a heartbeat. That is a good size tank for an upgrade!!! The HOTB overflows are improving, and don't seem to be the problem that they used to be. Let us know what you do, we are here for you!!

[Steven Pro]

You should be able to fit a 29 gallon tank into the stand for a sump/refugium.

Instead of a HOT siphon overflow system, you might be able to get a local fish store or glass shop to drill the back wall of the tank. Three holes for 1" bulkheads should be about right. Then you could build your own overflow box around the bulkheads out of glass.