300 Gallon tank

Question
Jennifer, because of people like you, I am addicted to this hobby.  Thanks for your help.  Copperband did not make it. it died during the night.  I was too late.  The reason I wanted to get into the saltwater thing was Triggerfish and Angelfish that I saw in real live reef diving.  I did not know that these fish are bad for a reef tank.  My question is, I have one place for this tank. is it possible to have a tank divided in 2 right down the middle. and use it as one FOWLR tank and one Reef tank.? should I paint the glass border or i can leave it clear.  thanks. Vu

Answer
Hey Vu. Sorry to hear about the copperband. They are a little difficult to feed and are also very prone to disease. You most certainly can divide a large tank in two! You will need to silicone a piece of glass or acrylic where you want to divide it and you should probably keep this seal leak free. You will need to treat them as two separate tanks. The only reason I say this is because triggers and angelfish get large and have a very high out put of waste. Corals do not tolerate their kind of waste very well. That's why when you normally see a really well set up reef tank the fish are usually small and few. As far as painting the glass.....not sure how you would do that and keep it from leaching paint into the tank on the side you paint?.... You may want to look into finding tinted glass or not use anything at all. I have a 75 gallon tank at work that is divided into two. One smaller tank and one larger. I keep triggers right next to small damsels and there are no problems. Usually it only takes one time that the trigger tries to bolt after a smaller fish and slams into the glass to teach him not to do it again and the smaller damsels just sit there and laugh and realize "ha,ha, you can't get me"! Just make sure you have a good lid that will prevent the triggers from jumping over to the coral side and eating your corals.