I Must Be Magic

[Vethian]

A friend of mine has a 155 gallon bow front tank and stand.  He said I can have it for free.  I want a nice looking tank, but cant think about what to stock it with.  Nothing is going to happen soon.  I still need lighting and filtration and that will take time.  But, my mind is racing.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

With a tank that size, there's very few limitations.
 
 
A few things to consider:
 
Cost wise, you may want to stick to fish that are comfortable in your tap water... because while you can mess with the water parameters, cost will be something to consider with such a large volume, and should a crisis take place, the first step is (almost) always massive water changes... having the same water parameters in your tank and tap makes that far easier to do fast.
 
 
Think big... with a tank like that, you will need to have big features in the tank, otherwise they will get lost.  That doesn't necessarily mean that you need big fish, but if you are going with smaller fish (which I am a big proponent of) you'll want to go with very large numbers in the shoals (which actually makes for some GREAT DISPLAYS, more impressive to me actually than simply large fish).  But, you'll want either, big plants, big rocks, big driftwood, etc... whatever you go with... bigger will look better.
 
 
A tank this size allows for multiple fish with territorial tendancies... the key is that you'll need to add features to the tank in the form of plants, rocks, wood, etc.  that break up the sight lines for the fish, so that they can each have their separate territories.  They may get into a scrap or two, but as long as each has their own 'neutral corner' to retreat to... it will work out.
 
 
Let your mind work through all these different scenarios a few times, before you land on one.  A tank like this is a major investment (given the scale of the elements you'll need to purchase) and will become a focal point of the house.  Take your time, and weigh all the options available to you!

 

[RRaquariums]

Something else to think about with a tank this big is filtration and lighting cost they will be pretty steep if you go the traditional rout of filters and such. Soemthing to think about is a DIY filter system. There are tons of ideas out there but this YouTube Chanel has some great DIY filter ideas and maybe will help you come up with soemthing or just get your mind working on it.
https/youtu.be/UVWqq73mW_4

He aslo dose a vid on DIY lighting for big tanks and such so I highly suggest watching his vids for ideas. I've built a lot of his stuff for my tanks and always works great.

 

[Vethian]

With a tank that size, there's very few limitations.
 
 
A few things to consider:
 
Cost wise, you may want to stick to fish that are comfortable in your tap water... because while you can mess with the water parameters, cost will be something to consider with such a large volume, and should a crisis take place, the first step is (almost) always massive water changes... having the same water parameters in your tank and tap makes that far easier to do fast.
 
 
Think big... with a tank like that, you will need to have big features in the tank, otherwise they will get lost.  That doesn't necessarily mean that you need big fish, but if you are going with smaller fish (which I am a big proponent of) you'll want to go with very large numbers in the shoals (which actually makes for some GREAT DISPLAYS, more impressive to me actually than simply large fish).  But, you'll want either, big plants, big rocks, big driftwood, etc... whatever you go with... bigger will look better.
 
 
A tank this size allows for multiple fish with territorial tendancies... the key is that you'll need to add features to the tank in the form of plants, rocks, wood, etc.  that break up the sight lines for the fish, so that they can each have their separate territories.  They may get into a scrap or two, but as long as each has their own 'neutral corner' to retreat to... it will work out.
 
 
Let your mind work through all these different scenarios a few times, before you land on one.  A tank like this is a major investment (given the scale of the elements you'll need to purchase) and will become a focal point of the house.  Take your time, and weigh all the options available to you!

 
Oh I will taking my time on this one.  I have to build the filtration system and lighting.  Then, as you said, plan the tank layout around the fish.  My tap water is a soft water with a pH that settles close to 7.  Pretty neutral.  I do have higher levels of copper which would rule out shrimp and snails.

Something else to think about with a tank this big is filtration and lighting cost they will be pretty steep if you go the traditional rout of filters and such. Soemthing to think about is a DIY filter system. There are tons of ideas out there but this YouTube Chanel has some great DIY filter ideas and maybe will help you come up with soemthing or just get your mind working on it.
https/youtu.be/UVWqq73mW_4

He aslo dose a vid on DIY lighting for big tanks and such so I highly suggest watching his vids for ideas. I've built a lot of his stuff for my tanks and always works great.

 
 
I already follow Joey on youtube.  Great series of videos.  I plan on building the lighting and filtration.  I have a spare 29 gallon tank I may make use of for a sump.  

 

[RRaquariums]

That's awesome. I love DIY projects and I'm of the term opinion that a sump is the best possible filtration method there is for any tank because it not only adds water volume it helps aerate and it houses ugly equipment such as heaters and the like. Something to keep in mind when building a sump is the water level make sure there is enough room left in the tank so if your return pump stops for some reason the sump can hold the water from the main tank without flooding your room.
Here is a picture of my sump obviously it's for a saltwater tank so it's full of stuff you don't need in a freshwater aquarium. But as you can see in the last tank the water level only about half of the tank capacity so if my pump stops the main tank can drain down below the overflows and it won't flood my sump room.

https/www.dropbox.com/s/b5r6uummr6vjkf6/2015-06-12%2012.47.55.jpg?dl=0

https/www.dropbox.com/s/hyux71jopmentqo/2015-06-12%2012.48.34.jpg?dl=0

 

[nic1]

If I had the chance to redo my tank I would go for a large tank and norman lamp eyes aka Poropanchax normani, I just love the way they look, their eyes glow and in the right settings look great, id go for a massive shoal and nothing else... maybe some shrimp.
Id have dark substrate, moderate water flow and loads of green heavily planted sides and back, keeping the middle open for tem to swin about in.

 

[gmc1]

Rr aquariums.that's some filtration going on there.hopefully one day I will have a clue as to what it all does.
Rr aquariums.that's some filtration going on there.hopefully one day I will have a clue as to what it all does.