Oceanic 175G Reef Ready-BowFront Tank?

[Circa]

Well I am really torn on what I should do here. I want to get a good reef going but I want to get a tank that is gonna last me 5-7 years before I choose to upgrade to something bigger. And most people are fine with a tank around the 180 -200g mark.

I am not sure if there are any individuals on this board that have the reef ready oceanic 175 tanks. But if there are I would sure like to here from them in this thread.

Does anyone know if its worth getting this tank package its reef ready and has everyting you need (not sure about sump). Should I go for it?

Oh and lastly is the bow front a good design? I hope things don't look twisted and distored when looking at it front wards and at slight angles, any help here would be most aprechiated.

BTW oceanic is a reputable brand right?

Thanks,
Circa

 

[Circa]

Here is a picture of what it looks like:

 

[myreef]

A friend of mine just set up a 175 Oceanic bowfront. It looks really good. His was reef ready. He got the stand tank and top. He built his own sump out of a 20 long. He just got the tank transferred from his old setup. He used southdown sand and MH lighting. Very nice tank. And yes, Oceanic is a good company.

[ August 12, 2001: Message edited by: myreef ]

 

[percula]

Ditto. For glass tanks, Oceanic is the way to go. Also, I would get the Reef Ready Option, makes your life much easier. Go for it. You will not be dissapointed. - perc

 

[Circa]

Sounds like its the tank to get, hmm any other comments?

Oh btw what kind of lighting does this thing come with stock? I would like to upgrade to mh's if this tank doesn't have it. Growing clams and light intensive corals is important to me.

 

[JohnD]

Circa,

It sounds like you are describing the package deal they offer. The lights are just a couple of strip lights. Okay if you want to keep FO. It sounds like you want to go the whole nine yards. In that case, you will need MH. They do not come as part of the package.

You can always sell the strip lights at the marketplace.

 

[ophiuroid]

You would likely need to upgrade the lighting...most standard Oceanic Reef Ready tanks come with two shorter light strips, each with a double bulb. Low light things, OK...but for others you definitely will need to upgrade.

It is, BTW, a beautiful tank. And I agree, go for the reef ready version.

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Brittlestars!! http://home.att.net/~ophiuroid
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[Reefhead2]

Circa,
I have a 175 bow front, chack out my site I have lots of photos of it.

 

[Circa]

Hey man thanks for the link to your site, that was very helpful. I know I am convinced this is the tank, some people told me it would be distored and stuff. You have pictures of the aquarium at angles and everything and all is good.

I am probably going to buy this tank, if there are any other people that own it or simply would like to comment on it please do. I would love to hear...

Thanks,
Circa

 

[jdeets]

I considered the Oceanic 175 BF when I recently upgraded, and opted instead for the 180 RR Oceanic. The reason I didn't go with the BF is that the stock canopy is plastic and I didn't think it could handle the MHs. The bowfront design makes it much more expensive for a custom canopy. So I opted for the rectangular 180, 6' x 2' x 2' Reef-Ready.

Take a close look at the canopy and make sure that it will handle whatever lighting you think you might want to have. Just my $0.02.

 

[M.E.Milz]

I have an Oceanic 175 bowfront and an Oceanic 200 rectangular, both of which are reef ready tanks. I bought Oceanic stands for both tanks, but I did not buy a hood or canopy.

I use the 200 for my reef tank and the 175 as a FOWLR tank. The 200 is a little better for a reef tank because it is 1' longer (7' total), a little wider (2'), and a little shorter (2'). This makes aquascaping and lighting a little easier.

The 175 is a great fish only tank because it is a little taller (28" vs. 24"), so it makes a more dramatic looking tank. You can use this tank for a reef tank, but you will want slightly brighter bulbs because of the added depth. As far as distortion goes, it is only noticable when you are standing very close (a few inches). I did have some problems with the center post along the front of stand bowing on me, but this was easily corrected (I would add a piece of 1"x4" to the back of the center post just to be safe). I think the problem was because of warping, not because of the weight. The 175 will not give you as much room under the stand for a sump and equipment.

With either tank, I would use a commercial fixture (or a DIY canopy/fixture). A 6' fixture will work on the 200 as well, although the ends of the tank will not be as brightly lit (which makes a good area for less light-loving corals).

 

[Circa]

Ok I know this thread was a bit older, but I have been giving this tank alot fo thought. I want to still see if there are any other individuals that would like to post comments. I am probably gonna have universal mh mounted lights so they fit underneath the roof.

So any other suggestions would be very helpful...

 

[esmithiii]

FWIW the Oceanic 180 RR is about $200 more than the AGA and the oceanic has one large brace in the center of the tank that they claim will get hot and may break when under metal halide lighting. The AGA has two smaller braces which work well with three metal halide lamps.

The overflows on the AGA are smaller and are rounded instead of being square. I like my AGA.

Ernie

 

[Circa]

Gee I hope that wouldn't happen, ya you see I am really sold on this tank its almost the perfect tank for me. Ahh the tank if you have seen it in real life is just huge, I would really love to have it. But I am starting to hear some negative feedback...

Hopefully soem people can enlighten me on this mh lighting. I really do hope they won't break off and fall int he tank that could be tragic.

I plan on installing many fans so that the air and canopy stay cool.

 

[REEFRON]

For what its worth, I just finished replacing my third Oceanic 150 in 8 months.
About 4 months after setting it up the center brace fell causing the front and back to bow. I had no idea that glass that thick could bow that far without breaking. When setting up the second tank the center brace cracked and Oceanic was good enough to replace it again at no charge. This time I had the tank about 2/3 full and was arranging my live rock at night so I had my lights on so I could see. Turns out that when the tank is not completely full the center brace can get hot enough to crack from MH's. Oceanic says that when a tank is full the center brace transfers heat to the water keeping it somewhat cool. What a great hobby!!!!!

 

[AlexS!]

Hi. My LFS has an awesome 175 RR Bowfront, just like in the photos. It looks awesome, a definate show aquarium. When I was looking around for anoter tank, i called an lfs in atlanta, and asked him for the price of a 75 gallon RR, he said do you want it cheap, or done right, so i said let me guess, done right is OCEANIC and done cheap is AGA. All he said was yup! I've got an oceanic 150 which is just beautiful. Only thing is had to remove center halide cause it melted a crater in the center brace! Mine's an older tank, and I think the newer ones have glass braces, and if not, get an aquarium that does! Hope this helps
Alex

 

[Hammer]

The 175 Oceanic bowfront I was looking at the other day had two smaller braces. Perfect for three MH lights.
Thing is, it is a TALL tank for it's size, so 400 MH lights would be the ticket. 250 watts would be ok for most things, but I think they would be lacking for light with this tank.
Great looking tanks though! And it is a wonder how large they LOOK!
I can only wonder what a 500 gallon bowfront would look like!

 

[Circa]

Reefhead2 took the pleasure of making a web site, and on his web site there are some good images of this tank. To be honust with you when I saw these photographs I really wanted this exact tank.

Here are some of photos of Reefhead2 tank:

The above image showsthe top of the tank, it looks pretty solid to me the beams. I don't see how they could melt and let the lights drop in. And the lights on top here are mh's.

Comments?

Maby Reefhead2 could tell us a bit about his experience with mh lights on this tank.

 

[Circa]

Hammer just posted an image from Reefhead2 site, and it is clearn that the braces are very strong looking and should hold. I find it hard to believe that those small beams could melt and let the mh lights fall in the water. Oceanic stuff is strong and made to last long...

BTW sorry for all the typos, its late here and I didn't have the patience to go over posts

 

[Hammer]

What wattage are those lights? And how much actinic lighting is there? I see a lot of glow.
Have a friend that is contimplating this same tank, and I know he would be interested in knowing this.