Suggestions for New Tank Dimensions

[Travis Wagner]

Hi! I’m moving and using this opportunity to start fresh with a new tank and stand. I’d like to control more of the hardware so I’m having glass cages make a tank and having an 80/20 stand built. For the tank I was thinking about making it 60Lx36Wx21H.

Do you see any problems with these dimensions? How would you recommend powerhead placement for best flow?

 

[adittam]

Hi! I’m moving and using this opportunity to start fresh with a new tank and stand. I’d like to control more of the hardware so I’m having glass cages make a tank and having an 80/20 stand built. For the tank I was thinking about making it 60Lx36Wx21H.

Do you see any problems with these dimensions? How would you recommend powerhead placement for best flow?

Probably depends what livestock you're planning on keeping.

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

the issue i see is that it’s going to be hard to light the 36” width depending on what lights you use. A lot of LED only have an effective spread of “24. So lighting could get very expensive again depending on the light choice and how much of the tank you want well lit.

 

[Smite]

Dimensions sound awesome to me. Is it standard or peninsula?
36 front to back will be nice. If standard you’ll probably be able to keep power heads only on the back wall and still get to crank them up a bit.



what lighting are you going to run?

 

[Travis Wagner]

Sorry, forgot to say I want to run a mixed reef. I’ve been having success with sps and would like to expand into them more.

Standard setup, not a peninsula. My previous setup was 60x24 so instead of having the Radions run parallel I was thinking about turning them perpendicular and adding a third one.

I have two radion gen 5 blues right now I’d like to transfer over but am open to adding or deleting.

 

[Smite]

Sorry, forgot to say I want to run a mixed reef. I’ve been having success with sps and would like to expand into them more.

Standard setup, not a peninsula. My previous setup was 60x24 so instead of having the Radions run parallel I was thinking about turning them perpendicular and adding a third one.

I have two radion gen 5 blues right now I’d like to transfer over but am open to adding or deleting.

With a mixed reef and an appropriate aquascape I think you have a solid plan. You may need to add some more led strips or t5s down the line depending on how full it gets.

I'm having a 50x38x25" tank built right now. I'm going to be acropora dominant. I just sold 3 - xr30 g5 blues because I didn't want to buy a 4th for my application. I'm choosing to run 2 x 250 (possibly 400w) metal halides in their place. I'll be supplementing with LEDS just to extend the viewing period and have blue when i want it.

For in tank flow I plan to run 3 x 6150 tunze pumps and a tunze wavemaker.

 

[NowGlazeIT]

The dimensions are awesome. I would go 24” high for just a little more room to aquascape, coral growth and swimming space. But I’ve never tried 21” I’m sure it makes a big difference when sticking your hand in the tank. I’m trying to avoid that these days tho haha

 

[Travis Wagner]

With a mixed reef and an appropriate aquascape I think you have a solid plan.

Is there a certain style of aquascape that would work best? I want to get away from my current style which I refer to as ‘lump of rock’

 

[Smite]

Is there a certain style of aquascape that would work best? I want to get away from my current style which I refer to as ‘lump of rock’

thats a tough one to suggest.

If you prefer to just stack as you go then the easier way is to make 2 islands or more. Whats great is with the depth front to back you have to work with. You'll be able to create "valleys" front to back if you want. Great for keeping corals separate, giving fish channels to swim through, increases flow and adds depth to the field of view. Larger rocks towards the back, wider openings towards the front can all play into that as well.

Really I always shoot for keeping as much rock off the sand/bottom as possible to increase flow. Keep my rock structure 1/3-1/2 the height of the tank. It may look empty at first but let the corals fill in. I always seem people go to high and have done it myself. I'd stay 6" in from side to side and from the front pane. Try to make caves and overhangs if possible. Great for fish and adds depth/shadows. After that coral placement is key and let it grow!

Oh and avoid having all the rocks too level. We all tend to want things to be level to the eye but a slope can make things look much more natural. I usually choose to slope from one side to another and avoid the high spot being dead center, just doesn't look natural to me.

 

[Jekyl]

Sorry, forgot to say I want to run a mixed reef. I’ve been having success with sps and would like to expand into them more.

Standard setup, not a peninsula. My previous setup was 60x24 so instead of having the Radions run parallel I was thinking about turning them perpendicular and adding a third one.

I have two radion gen 5 blues right now I’d like to transfer over but am open to adding or deleting.

Add T5 hybrid