I've had an office tank in my office for years now. I just did an upgrade in order to make things better than my 2nd setup. Here are a few lessons I have learned:
1. kids and some adults will not only touch the glass, but bang on it. My new setup is on a 4 foot stand so that little kids can't touch it. My last system had a big jut out so that little kids couldn't touch it. You will need to do something. Also put up a sign so people know not to touch the glass. Make it fun though. I use to put up a picture with Nemo on it.
2. You will need to try to make it as silent as possible. Herbie or beannie animal overflows are the best but need to be "tuned" in. This takes time and patience. The employees there will grow to hate the system if you don't.
3. An overflow and sump are great things as it makes it look much more professional as you can hide most equipment out of sight.
4. You are going to want to have a canopy. This will avoid people putting stuff in, avoid customers putting their hands in and fish jumping out on customers. This will also protect the employees from their eyes getting burned out from light glare. The canopy will limit some of your lighting choices, but it is essential in a work environment.
5. You are going to have to have the sump and electrical completely covered. If this is in a cabinet, make sure it can be locked so that kids can't get in and fiddle around with stuff and potentially hurt themselves. The last thing the company wants is a law suite over the tank being in there.
6. If you can get the system close to plumbing(drain and tap), make that a priority. There is nothing worse than lugging water through the office, which is what I have to do.
7. Automatic fish feeders are your friends. This doesn't give them the best food, but when you aren't there 7 days a week, small bits of okay food throughout the day is decent. This will also avoid the employees having to feed the tank. I find most non-reefers love to over feed, which becomes a nightmare.
8. Consider going with softies(leathers, mushrooms, etc.). Non-reefers love them, they are fairly fool proof, provide great color and usually grow very well. This is the direction I have gone with my tank for simplicity. You don't have to worry as much about dosing or reactors.
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