How much space behind tank?

[BradB]

I have a 270. My now ex-wife made me put it up against the wall with no space for maintenance, and now I have a slow leak. I have to drain 95% of the water if I am going to move it even a fraction of an inch. So when I finally do, I want to put it a reasonable distance from the wall where it won't move again until I sell the house. Can anyone tell me from experience what the best distance is? I don't want it any further into the room than necessary.

The acrylic is not actually touching the wall, I have a 1 inch pipe that is touching both the wall and the acrylic.

 

[Thumbster]

I’ve got a 40 setting on a cabinet that I made for it. The cabinet is 4” from the wall, the actual tank is about 5” from the wall.
If I was doing it again I would put the cabinet at least 5” from the wall.

That said, I don’t have a sump so all of my power strips are screwed to the back of the cabinet, making it somewhat difficult to plug/unplug things.

If I brought it out another inch or two I don’t think it would look weird.

 

[KrisReef]

I have a 270. My now ex-wife made me put it up against the wall with no space for maintenance, and now I have a slow leak. I have to drain 95% of the water if I am going to move it even a fraction of an inch. So when I finally do, I want to put it a reasonable distance from the wall where it won't move again until I sell the house. Can anyone tell me from experience what the best distance is? I don't want it any further into the room than necessary.

The acrylic is not actually touching the wall, I have a 1 inch pipe that is touching both the wall and the acrylic.

I like to be able to walk behind my tanks if I have any say. The width required depends upon ones girth.

 

[TeamAquaSD Verified Sponsor]

I like to be able to walk behind my tanks if I have any say. The width required depends upon ones girth.

I second the man, the myth, the legend @KrisReef
It makes a world of difference being to walk behind a tank and bonus points if you can fit a little step stool back there as well.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

This was a big mistake for me on my Red Sea Max 500. I don't think I will ever have less than 7-8 inches behind a tank again, ever. There are so many reasons for this. All of which bit me in the butt.

 

[dadnjesse]

If and when you have to work on the Plumbing behind the tank the more room the easier it is.

 

[BradB]

Thanks! Seems everyone is much more generous with space than I am. I thought I'd get answers between a quarter inch and 2 inches. I agree walking behind the tank would be useful, but I don't think it makes sense for a 4' tank in this room. I will probably go around 2 inches.

 

[Kershaw]

My tank is 5’ long and it’s about 5 inches off the wall. Another 2 would be nice. I have an external over flow and was concerned it would look bad, but honestly no one even notices how far off the wall is. I some salt creep at a bulk head where the over flow connect and if I want to fix it would be possible but difficult. Another couple inches would have helped.

 

[exnisstech]

Has to be far enough to get my arm between the tank and wall. I'd love to be able to walk around but that would require a much larger house

 

[tdyrkacz]

M tank is about 6 inches from the wall.

 

[Timfish]

At the very least enough room to get your arm behind it or rearrange everything so it's all easily accessable even if the system is against the wall.

 

[Mickey]

I screwed myself when I built my tank 20 years ago by putting it too close to the wall. To make matters worse it is close to a corner too so I have no access the back or one side. I've worked around most problems, but if I could do it again I'd pull it another two inches away from the wall. Nothing I can do about the corners.

So, long winded way of saying make sure you can get your arm back there with some room to spare. Mine is so close I can't install any Vortech pumps because the dry sides won't fit.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

I think 6” should be the absolute minimum, personally speaking from experience with both salt and fresh. What a headache I created with my Max. I’m doing a multi tank consolidation into 1 96x36 peninsula. I plan to actually cut a doorway behind the tank, like an access door.

 

[JustAnotherNanoTank]

I have about 8 inches. You can always make a panel that fits between the gap to fill the area. Then you have easy access when needed.

 

[GreyJediReefer]

I have a 270. My now ex-wife made me put it up against the wall with no space for maintenance, and now I have a slow leak. I have to drain 95% of the water if I am going to move it even a fraction of an inch. So when I finally do, I want to put it a reasonable distance from the wall where it won't move again until I sell the house. Can anyone tell me from experience what the best distance is? I don't want it any further into the room than necessary.

The acrylic is not actually touching the wall, I have a 1 inch pipe that is touching both the wall and the acrylic.

I have been learning everything by trial and error and lots of storming around upset.

This is another one.

I built my cabinet for a 145gal put everything in and months later, decided to get a sump for under. Wish I knew what space I’d need down the road but hindsight is 20/20.

Plumbing my sump became a nightmare and so many times I found myself wishing I left more room behind the tank. (Currently only about 3 inches)

Asides from doing exactly what you said and emptying pretty much everything, I’m just doing the best I can to work around the nightmare I created.

I’m moving at the end of the year, and when I set this thing back up, I’m definitely going to give myself enough room to work with so that I can access the back side of my tank/cabinet without crawling around underneath it and cursing like a sailor

 

[PharmrJohn]

Mine was 6 inches off the wall, mainy to accommodate CPR overflows. I'm going 8 inches with the next build. Without CPRs.

 

[BlueSkyAT]

Thanks! Seems everyone is much more generous with space than I am. I thought I'd get answers between a quarter inch and 2 inches. I agree walking behind the tank would be useful, but I don't think it makes sense for a 4' tank in this room. I will probably go around 2 inches.

Why go to all that trouble to move it 1 inch?

 

[SomeHappyFish]

Yeah go with at least 6"

 

[Doctorgori]

…and while you are at it, get some grabbers, especially some with a long handle

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have a 270. My now ex-wife made me put it up against the wall with no space for maintenance, and now I have a slow leak. I have to drain 95% of the water if I am going to move it even a fraction of an inch. So when I finally do, I want to put it a reasonable distance from the wall where it won't move again until I sell the house. Can anyone tell me from experience what the best distance is? I don't want it any further into the room than necessary.

The acrylic is not actually touching the wall, I have a 1 inch pipe that is touching both the wall and the acrylic.

I have 4-5" to allow clearance for cords and magnets and lines from UV unit