Advice for a restaraunt tank

[iansfishy]

I have a reef tank in my house now, (with all the goodies) actually a couple tanks. Im planning on putting a tank in my restaraunt but cant decide between another reef tank or a fish only tank. with the latter i was wondering what equipment i could get away with to run a fish only tank. say about a 180 gallon. I cant spend as much time on it as my home tanks so i need to be able to have a sort of simpler system. Also not alot of room for things like a sump or alot of equipment. any advice would be appreciated. would something like a FX5 or a fluval 405 be sufficiant for fitration or should i be looking into something else? thanks

[Zylumn]

In my personal opinion a fowlr with a CL and a FX5 for filtration would work fine. Not too large of bio-load and t5 lighting, with a good auto feeder and your set. Use rubble in the FX5 and since it has a pumped drain in the canister water changes would be relatively painless.
Kevin

[Der_Iron_Chef]

I think the key to having an aquarium in a restaurant is to have it SPOTLESS. No one wants to eat next to a tank that has algae problems, right? If I were you, I would spend money on a good skimmer and would also consider going with ZEOvit. And yeah...I agree that a FOWLR would probably be best!

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

I think the key to having an aquarium in a restaurant is to have it SPOTLESS. No one wants to eat next to a tank that has algae problems, right? If I were you, I would spend money on a good skimmer and would also consider going with ZEOvit. And yeah...I agree that a FOWLR would probably be best!

I totally agree with this. A "dirty" looking tank, ie. algae on the glass, ect. will make the restaurant feel dirty. I would not eat somewhere that had a dirty looking tank because who knows how the kitchen looks if the tank looks terrible. Algae does not always equal really dirty but thats how people see it. Plus who wants to sit anywhere near a dirty tank and eat. I would go with a big skimmer to make the tank less maintenance. Otherwise it will be a lot of work. Ozone would also help a lot.

[iansfishy]

thanks. Anone else got any ideas? Has anyone seen any real nice tanks in any restaraunts? Theres an awesome one in ceasers palace, in Vegas ( I think thats where i seen it). I may have been "out of sorts" while walking around there! It a huge floor to cealing cylinder tank Probobly 5000 gallons +. i think I will just build something like that. Ya right.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

I used to live in Germany and saw some incredible tanks in some restaurants there. The common denominator was crisp, clear, and clean. Those Germans know their stuff :)

[VFX]

We did a tank install in my father's restaurant quite a few years back.

We set up a tank in his house & let it cycle for a coupla weeks. Introduced a handful of fish to the tank over a few more weeks & let the skimmer break in a bit.

Then on a Sunday night after service we installed the new tank in the restaurant, placed in the rock & set up the skimmer.

Waited a coupla days, had a small cycle & then we put the fish in.

This meant that the tank was only without fish (quite a big deal for some customers it seems!) for a coupla days & had fish in it by the busy period towards the end of the week.

Make sure you only use RO/DI water & if you have the space set up a decent sized fuge. As others have said, algae is a mood killer in a restaurant!

Problems? the waiting staff got tired of people asking where the fish were & it took up more time than we thought to keep looking pristine.

Also, check this place out!

http://www.2dayblog.com/images/2007/april/ithaa_restaurant.jpg

Ithaa Undersea Restaurant, Rangali Island, Maldives.

VFX.

.

[kwirky]

there's the whole "bare bottom is cleaner" debate but it's hard to get under the rocks in a bare bottom tank. You could run sand and siphon out 1/4 of the sand each water change and replace it with new stuff.

I agree on the zeovit and high-end skimmer. A fish only tank would be the best for the restaraunt because usually keeping coral is "elitist" and most of your customers will just wants to see really cool looking fish.

As for lighting I don't know if MH glitter lines will be distracting for customers or if they'll like it.

[Kryten]

A few softies in the tank might be a nice touch. I've found that people who are not into this hobby are quite impressed by a big clump of gsp or pulsing xenia, much more so than they would be by any sps.

[banditpowdercoat]

Ian, what restaurant? Going to have to come for dinner when you get the tank installed :D

[iansfishy]

Its the Foxes Den at the golf course in Williams Lake. Im sure things would be going alot smoother if i could keep my butt off the driving range. The official re-opening is tommorow. How about as far as cycling the tank? Ive always used cured rock in my tanks so i have never had that tank smell when first cycling a tank. I was hopeing to basically take down an existing tank and set it up in the restaraunt, so there shouldnt be too much of a cycle. I figured move the tank, replace half the old water, wait a couple days do a water change and it should be good to go right? I think im only gonna have room for a sump in the cabnet with a submerged return pump, a good skimmer and possibly a fx5 for filtration. does that sound alright? thanks

[tang daddy]

Not too common down in your neck of da woods but here in sunny Richmond there are many places with SW tanks I've seen countless in hair salons and chinese restaurants. I think with stocking fish it really depends all trial and error.....

Having a tank look pristine has it's fair share of hardship but hey that's what this hobby is all about!

Just think after work when everyone leaves you can do waterchanges and algae scraping.

What kinda fish are you planning on stocking? reefsafe or ....

Personally if I were to set up a fowler in a restaurant I would make sure that it was fullproof so you couldnt access the tank to screw with it meaning put a lock on it!

As we all know how kids find their sticky fingers into everything and feel sorry for the poor fish so they toss a piece of bread swiped with butter um yum yum.

A getting back on the topic here:

1) foolproof it just incase
2)like others have said RODI to help cut back on algae
3)I always say if you're gonna do something do it right the 1st time around
4)If it's strictly a fowler use bioballs in the sump
5)Get a large skimmer the biggest that you can fit or alternatively do larger wc every week.
6)qt every fish before adding so as to not punish your livestock via ick
7)do as much research on compatibility of fish before you decide on buying, cause no one wants to be having a nice dinner and watching boxing match in your tank.
8)T5 are definately the cheap and efficient route here.
9)I also think it would be some eye candy to have some hardy corals like a few rics, gsp, xenia,zoas and toadstool give it more life than just baren rock. If you do decide to go this route skip the bioballs thing.
10)run charcoal, I use ehiem ecco 2236 3 out of 5 chambers filled with charcoal the other two with bio rings.The water is so clean and pristine I feel like I have a starphire tank.
11)If youre doing the fowler or reef even go with a more is less look maybe two shallow islands more room for the fish to swim and also easier to clean.
12)I could go on with a few more but will stop here, I must say this tho I have 2 tanks cause on one hand I love the fish and the other love my corals truthfully if you go with a fowler you could put seafans and some fake corals but lets be realistic here that would be boring go with a reef you'll be much happier!

^by the way these are only suggestions and I'm in no way trying to tell you what you should or shouldn't do just thought my input may help aid your new venture good luck.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

I have a fowlr, a reef, and a goldfish tank.

95% of the people coming over here go straight to the reef & barely look at the other tanks unless I'm feeding live shore crabs or something to the porcupine puffer, volitan lionfish or snowflake moray in the fowlr.

Just thought I'd throw that out there.

Anthony