tall or long

[dancefish]

pros vs cons :gcool :wlift does anyone have an opinion as to which is a better environment in regards to tank size narrow but tall say 35 glln vs; long and say med width but less depth let say 16 inches also 35 gllns :blob when looking for the most opportunity for bio diversity lets say even in a nano tank of ? 12-15 gllns or has this even been researched ? om

 

[islandcreation]

I'd go for long and less depth. Why... Cause less depth that your lighting has to pentrate! A popular tank here is a 20 long! Then again it all pends on what kind of corals your going for too. :mrgreen:

 

[dancefish]

DEPTH

IF YOU WANTED TO HAVE A GREATER DIVERSITY OF BOTH FISH & CORALS ( THEN ITS BETTER TO GO SHALLOW? om ) BUT IF IT WHERE DEEPER WOULDNT YOU HAVE MORE DIVERSITY?

 

[Trogdor]

It's really all personal tastes. A 6" taller tank isn't going to out perform a smaller tank. Not having the extra 6" isn't going to limit you on what coral you can have. It just boils down to personal tastes. The taller tank does allow you to arrange rock a bit taller but other than that no great benifits for 1 vs the other.

 

[dancefish]

lets open it up

point taken;..... as far as 6 inches but i'm thinking more of a foot taller or more....with extra depth could you also not have diversity in water movement as well as light penetration ( lets say for kicks an octagon tank 30inches or more tall) vs one that is 16 inches tall& long I understand about hight____ :mrgreen: -----
would you not then be able to have corals & other inverts that require both a high water movement up high ( because that is where the water enters an the jets are so there would be more current above ) then down toward the bottom where there is more moderate or less movement of water & yes less light you could also have plants & inverts that dont need the higher light requirements ? :roll: just a thought for discussion :strip :blob :blob :blob anyways thannx for all input something just curious bout

 

[reefman23]

Okay...

First off... if you are looking to keep fish, they generally prefer a more natural side-to-side swimming pattern. This isn t possible in a narrow, tall tank.

A reef benefits from a large surface area.. better gas exchange, etc.

A tall tank is harder to get adeaquate flow throughout the ENTIRE system.

Tall tanks are much more challenging to aquascape. The easiest and most natural tank to aquascape is a tank that is 16" or larger front to back and longer than it is tall. IME, a tank that has the proportion of 2-1-1 is very pleasing to the eye and easier to aquascape.... for example, my favorite tank that I have ever seen is a 120g that measures 48"x24"x24".

Tall tanks are very hard to adequatly light, usually demanding a MH setup. Lamps like PC's just simply cannot penetrate well enough to do much of anything for corals.

Tanks with multiple seems or bowfronts...ie the hex that you mentioned... distort the view of the rock/corals/fish, etc.

GENERALLY, you do not want to keep multiple species of corals that all require multiple needs... it is best to keep one or two main species that all have similar needs.

I hope that answers your questions...

Jesse

 

[Trogdor]

PowerCompacts (PC's) can adequately reach a depth of about 2 ft. Anything over that then you need to get into Metal Halides (MHs's) or T5's. Everything else I agree with Jesse.

 

[dancefish]

thanxs guys that does a lot to answer my :?: s........that being the case 2-1 being the formula.. then next ? would be why aren't nanos built with this proportion in mind most of the ones i've seen are square in shape rather than a 2-1 ratio
as far as pc's go are they not what is installed in the factory setup for the 24 glln aquapod & if so will I be happy with them if I'am planning on having some soft corals & inverts?or should I be ready to upgrade them even though I've already ordered my tank

 

[reefman23]

Well the 2-1-1 ratio is what I personally find pleasing to my eye. This goes for larger tanks though usually. Also IMO the PCs that are on most 24g cubes arent really enough to give you a large amount of flexibilty with coral selection.

I personally think that be best option as far as flexibilty goes is to build a system from the ground up... plan everything the way YOU like it with the filters, heater, skimmer, and most importantly, the LIGHTING that YOU want. But if you want something "plug-n-play" then obviously the cubes are for you. Just know that you will be rather limited to lower-light corals and when you get bit by that inevitable reef bug and want to do something a little more advanced, you will be somewhat stuck with what you got.

Again, hope that helps,

Jesse

 

[dancefish]

thanks Jesse;
it does answer a lot of ?s but up grading cost is not a prob but does sound like I will now need to plan on a new light system from what I have read their seems to be alot of ways I can go asfar as lighting up grades but dont want to do the mh to much non focal light for area we are going to put tank its going to be in our entree way about 10ft inside our frontdoor so need to have as aesthetically pleasing to the eye as possible so wil probably have to add extra light & fan in hood ( no big deal there can do this while system is cycling w/ rock & sand

 

[Semo]

Yeah...I have a deep one and its tough to get rock stacked..If you are purchasing...go longer and shallow...if the tank is given to ya like me..just find out what lighting needs you would have and take that into count when making the decesion.