Thoughts On Custom Dimensions.

[Genomecop]

Afternoon all. So I'm playing around with some dimensions for a 'peninsula' style tank. I'm thinking 48x24x? I'm not really sure of the height. I actually like something on the shorter side say 20 high or shorter. Whats everyones thoughts here?

 

[Jason mack]

Sounds good !! The thing is , its Your tank and what you like .. but with a deeper tank its always hard getting too the bottom too clean or place corals , so going for a shallow tank Will erase that problem ..but i do like them peninsulas ...

 

[Genomecop]

Here's a shot of my apt. The tank would go against the sliver of white wall noticeable on the right of the photo and come out into the room where the orange/grey cat toy bed thing is. Please excuse the messy room the woman who cleans my apt was on the way.

 

[HolisticBear]

There is the practical aspects like reach height + lighting, but consider the aesthetics of looking at the end. There isn't a right answer, but a personal preference. I've learned that I really don't like looking at cubes (so 24x24) and would prefer something more like (24x18) or (24x30). A long wide shallow peninsula is perhaps my favorite tank, but you might want more volume than 18 or 20" height. You may decide you really like cube and would rather do 20x20 than 24x20. See if you can sketch out a few online.

A key moment for me was seeing that Max E-260 at Manhattan Aquariums vs Reefer 250. I realized the lack of a center overflow and the extra height on the 260 (22"h with 18"depth) looked much nicer to me than the 250 with it's square end (20x20).

EDIT: Remember the width x length give you precious cabinet space, the height doesn't help. Having 20" or 24" depth is nice for cabinet + sump compared to 18"

EDIT2: If you're doing custom, I went with Coast to Coast. They were an absolute pleasure to work with, tank should be delivered this week.

EDIT3: Great view

 

[HolisticBear]

Also with a room dividing peninsula you could go shallow so people look over and down into it, or you could go tall so you force people to stare thru it. With a standard size height, you probably can't look down into it, but it's also below your sight line, so you can see look people in the eye on the other side of the tank.

 

[Genomecop]

Thinking of making it a little shorter length wise and a tiny bit wider. Maybe 40x28x20 could be cool.
Going to get a quote from Reef Savvy.

 

[PatW]

With a long dimension of 48 a width of 24 is not bad.

As far as height goes, I have 27” and even though I am 6’ tall, that gets a little dicey reaching to the bottom. A 24” height is easier. Some people even go with 20”.

If you can, a long dimension of 72” will handle quite a few of the tangs. Some tangs require a fair bit more. And tangs are wonderful fish.

For aquascaping, more width is good. Popular dimensions are 30”, 36” or even 48”.

 

[Genomecop]

So since this is all new to me I want to make sure I understand everything correctly.
My ghost overflow, takes the water from the tank to the sump. Now I would need to ask the builder to drill a return hole near the top somewhere correct...for the water to get back to the tank? Or would I just do an 'over the top' style return?