Options for grow tanks

[blane perun]

After raising corals through propagation over the last few years in glass tanks I decided to take a different approach when beginning my new set up. I had weighed several options; custom building glass tanks, fiberglass tanks, building wood tanks, and shipping containers. I wanted to fit 6-8 systems in my place and was aiming for systems ranging from 100 to 200 gallons. A great cost effective option around the boards is the Rubbermaid container, the company actually markets these as stock tanks. Looking into the industry I actually found a few different manufacturers. The first shown below by Toter

 

 

The toter looked good and was built rugged, also has a few options as far as gallonage. I never really considered it though I was not crazy about the design.

 

 

Rubbermaids, the stock tank family shown here. I actually purchased 8 of these tanks and ended up returning them. The rounded design not bother me as much as the ratio the tank stepped down inside. The ridges are convenient, but the total surface area of grow space in relation to the amount of floor space there were occupying was bit less than I bargained for. The tanks are built great, and each have a built in drain plug. A bit cost prohibitive for 8 systems, locally a 100 gallon tank cost about $90 bucks with tax.

 

 

After returning the Rubbermaids I purchased 6 Tuff Stuff stock tanks and will most likely buy two more. I liked the Tuff Stuff the most because of the surface area. The drain plugs are only included on tanks at 140 gallons and above, but since I eliminated sumps in my plan it won’t be a detriment. The Tuff Stuff tanks, are stock tanks and despite the thin walls they can sustain their shape completely full of water. One last attractive feature of the Tuff Stuff tanks was pricing. A 140 gallon tank cost me about $65 bucks