Plans for NEW TANK: go wider -or- go deeper?

[ZoWhat]

Looking to replace my 6ft 180g 24in Tall DT due to a very very small drip coming off the bottom seal where sometimes it will drip 8ozs in a day.... but most days no drip whatsoever.

Nonetheless, looking to upgrade to a NEW TANK

I have the room and the equipment to go as much as 8ft wide (max). Also willing for it to be a deeper tank if I see a clear advantage

QUESTION

Better to go W I D E R ?

or

Better to go T A L L E R ?

Looking for advantages / disadvantages of either wider or taller dimension


.

 

[Jekyl]

I wouldn't go over 30 tall. Makes it a pain to clean or get things that fall onto the bed.

 

[cwerner]

Yeah. going deeper once you're to a certain depth seems to just make things harder for yourself.

 

[Jeffcb]

25 inch's deep seems to manageable. More that that would be difficult.

 

[garbled]

So definitely wider. 30" tall is ok, you can generally work with that. Mine is 36. Can you hold your breath? Is it fun? Have any clowns that attack hands, I bet they will love your face.

 

[Jekyl]

So definitely wider. 30" tall is ok, you can generally work with that. Mine is 36. Can you hold your breath? Is it fun? Have any clowns that attack hands, I bet they will love your face.

+1
Mine is only 24 tall and my clowns are trying to kill me.

 

[Cory]

I love wide tanks. Allows a lot of nice aqua scraping possibilities.

 

[Vette67]

I am considering the exact same thing. My top brace on my 180 has cracks in it and in my case, I don’t want to get a new stand. First of all I would go longer if I could. But I can’t fit anything longer than 6 foot in my living room. So my only option is to go taller. I am either going to go 72” x 24” x 32” tall or 30” tall. The 32” will have me about 240 gallons. They make grabber claws to reach into tanks and magnetic scrapers for the glass. I don’t care if I never touch the sand again. I’ll figure out a way. Besides, I’m 6’4” so I have long arms anyway...

So if you can go longer, that’d be my preference. If you don’t want a new stand like me, then taller is the only option. I really wish I could get an 8 foot tank, because that is what I would do, hands down.

 

[Fishy Jacket]

Looking to replace my 6ft 180g 24in Tall DT due to a very very small drip coming off the bottom seal where sometimes it will drip 8ozs in a day.... but most days no drip whatsoever.

Nonetheless, looking to upgrade to a NEW TANK

I have the room and the equipment to go as much as 8ft wide (max). Also willing for it to be a deeper tank if I see a clear advantage

QUESTION

Better to go W I D E R ?

or

Better to go T A L L E R ?

Looking for advantages / disadvantages of either wider or taller dimension


.

I was planning a 60X24X24 and when asked next move (up or wide) everyone was saying to me go wide. This also has the added advantage of giving extra stand space for equipment. Although, I was talking about mixed tank where light to bottom matters. Maybe on a fish dominant tank up is just as good? BTW, my current plan is 60X30X24.

 

[piranhaman00]

I just ordered a 35” wide 21” tall, 21” is max for me, I have trouble with my standard 180

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

I just got a Custom AGE 72x30x22 210g really like the 30” wide. Definitely wider over taller. Go custom with a external overflow and starfire glass. I also recommend vertical seam reinforcement because why spend all this money on a new tank and not reinforce your seams?? I’m also a fan of black starboard bottoms especially for bare bottom tanks.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

I agree. Wider is better imo.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Wider or both

 

[czoolander]

wider always fish divide up their territory horizontally not vertically . Plus deep tanks are a freakin nightmare for maintenance trust me !

 

[i_declare_bankruptcy]

I'm a huge fan of tall tanks however I just received my 96x24x24 tank and it totally changed my perspective.

Forget height -- what you want is depth (front to back). My thoughts:

My tank is acrylic so it's somewhat similar to a eurobraced tank (most big tanks); this makes reaching the bottom front/back/side of a tall tank difficult... honestly if the tank was any taller I'd be furious trying to get my hand down to the bottom to pick up a frag or whatever. And I doubt you'll be cool with using the grabber to pick up a delicate frag, anemone, sick fish, etc... I can think of so many scenarios that necessitate getting your hand at the bottom of the tank.

Then you have to think about the canopy. Big tanks need lots of lights and most people opt for T5, MH, or both for a cost effective solution. I went with powermodules. They're like 40lbs each, suspended with my floating canopy, 11" off the tank. You try squeezing your head / body in there to reach the bottom of the tank, then smack your head on that thing, and tell me you want a tank even taller than 24"! lol. I already need a stepladder so I can wedge my body on top of the tank and reach the bottom and I'm a skinny 6'3" person. With a different canopy design this may be a non-issue but it's something to seriously consider.

To me the major advantage of a tall tank is the PAR diversity from top-to-bottom; something you can't get on standard tanks. Mega light at the top and low light at the bottom. However you can easily recreate this with overhangs and the SPS at the top will naturally take care of this issue.

Rambling aside, go for the depth. You aquascape and body will thank you.

All this said, I will likely own a tall tank at some point. Maybe I'm a masochist.

 

[LA Reef Addict]

I am considering the exact same thing. My top brace on my 180 has cracks in it and in my case, I don’t want to get a new stand. First of all I would go longer if I could. But I can’t fit anything longer than 6 foot in my living room. So my only option is to go taller. I am either going to go 72” x 24” x 32” tall or 30” tall. The 32” will have me about 240 gallons. They make grabber claws to reach into tanks and magnetic scrapers for the glass. I don’t care if I never touch the sand again. I’ll figure out a way. Besides, I’m 6’4” so I have long arms anyway...

So if you can go longer, that’d be my preference. If you don’t want a new stand like me, then taller is the only option. I really wish I could get an 8 foot tank, because that is what I would do, hands down.

So true. After having a 6 foot tank, i upgraded to an 8 foot tank and love it so much that now i have two 8 foot tanks.
But i agree that 30" tall gives a very nice "show tank" feel but 30" front to back is awesome for scaping possibilities. I think my next tank will be 27" tall and 27" front to back ; )

 

[radav88]

I wouls toss another vote in for wider. Taller is a pain to deal with in terms of cleaning and upkeep.

 

[bdare]

My tank is 72 x 24 deep and 30 tall. I love the height. Gives corals room to grow. My freak tank? 72 x 30 x 30. I love the depth too!!

 

[mtfish]

No taller than 28 inches. As wide as you can make it. I went 36 inches wide only because my wife would not give me any more real estate on the house plan. Otherwise I would have gone 48 inches wide. This of course if you can get to the tank from both front and back.

 

[KyOsIBa515]

In my opinion if you have the wall space you cannot go wrong with having it wide. I’d have a 10 foot tank and 20” tall if I had room.

I always love the site of a reef tank when the fish actually have a large length of surface area to cover. It helps with aggression in certain species to and any schooling fish always make it a pleasure.

+1 to running into maintenance issues the taller you go. Sucks standing on your tippie toes with your arm pit on the rim stretching to get to bottom.