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Do a search for Adey, Smithsonian, Great Barrier Reef Aquarium, Bio 1 & 2.

 

Ah yes, very similar, only the Smithsonian was much larger and had a seperate tank for the lagoon, much like a fuge. Probably how the idea got in my mind, seeing how I have the book (duh). Would make for a dramatic home display.

 

Perhaps you could create the tank as a single aquarium but divided into 3 sections with independant water/circulation so that each part could receive the best possible environment, yet appear as one unit.

 

I think the tank would be large enough to be a able to create sections of high/med/low flow without dividing it.

I think the most interesting part of this tank would be the lower reef slop portion on the right. It would also be the most difficult to tend to. Special considerations would have to be made. I dont know how this would work out.

 

I have been tossing around the idea of designing a tank of this shape and I think that the hardest part is going to be making sure that both bottoms are equally supported. Otherwise there will be a lot of constant stress on the tank and it will most likely fail eventually. It would also be difficult to keep the deep side from becoming a settling tank and filling with detritus. But I think it would look really cool!!

 

Great idea....... but what could happen if you place corals that have total different requirements from each other ?

From example, in the lagoon area you could want to place some kind of Ectocorals and in some other areas of the tank, some stony corals..... Maybe in nature and in a bigger tank this could work, but could we keep both types of corals thriving in this kind of tank at the same type ?

 

i like the idea, it also sounds like a great challange too=), my only concern would be that the tank is too small to achieve the dramatic effect you want, and it would be really tough to do any type of maintenance to the lower section(looking at you picture it seems that if you had the tank set up exactly as planned including the location of rock you would only have a 12" by 30" opening to get to the bottom of a 5' deep tank "section").


best of luck
rockstar