Tall vs Short?

[Jolieve]

Hi folks! Kinda... new to this forum here.. still pipe dreaming about my nano later on down the road.

As I am involved in reefkeeping, more and more I am finding I like the look of tall tanks. My 75g tank is high, rather than low and long and I think it just adds something to the beauty of it. Though... my next large tank will be long and low for the sake of maintanence... that's all there is to it. 24" is too deep for a vertically challenged person such as myself.

I have been considering doing a ten gallon nano reef (or a pair of...) after I have my 75 established.. then I saw an 18 high tank down at petsmart. Same foot print as the ten gallon tank, just taller.

Is there any difference between having a taller tank and a shorter tank other than appearance? My primary reason for liking tall tanks is being able to stack the live rock higher and possibly place more corals. Does that make sense at all?

Jolie

 

[Anonymous]

YES! When you go for a taller tank you are making, in my opinion, a huge sacrifice in your surface area to total water volume ratio. Now, if you are utilizing a sump (or better yet, refugium) along with this setup you won't have to worry about that too much, as you can expect to gain a decent O2-CO2 exchange interface. If you're not, though, I would suggest you go with a 20 long rather than an 18 tall.

<sm waves to Jo>

 

[Anonymous]

As usual I will have to agree with SM. Size does matter...at least length. :lol: More air contact.

 

[Jolieve]

Not so much interested in being able to keep more fish. I thought at most, a pair of ocellaris, or a firefish in this tank.

I know very little about reefkeeping just yet. I dove in headfirst and my 75g tank was poorly planned. Working on correcting the errors I made with the system now before I continue stocking.

So the carbon dioxide exchange is the reason for long and low tanks... Okay I think I get it. The more air contact with the water, the more carbon dioxide leaves the water, the less carbon dioxide to feed certain undesireable types of algaes and other nasties? Overall the healthier the tank?

Jolie

 

[Anonymous]

in todays 'modern age' of pumps and adequate circulation-the extra inches of your tank's height really isn't that critical- you're gonna get plenty of gas exchange from the 'turnover' of the water column, anyway :wink:

methinks the major difference one needs to consider is light, and how a deeper tank needs more light input to get the same light levels at the bottom of the tank(if you're gonna keep corals at/on the bottom of it

the decrease in light intensity is not linearly proportional to the increase in depth of the tank

having said that, in todays 'modern age', that's not even a big deal to overcome-even w/just pc's, or t5 bulbs, or one halide pendant- you'll have plenty of light, too

i wouldn't be too concerned-the extra high ten gallon will do fine as a nano, imho

hth

 

[Anonymous]

Also, you have to remember that a higher tank doesn't allow for more coral placement; a longer tank does. The shadow underneath a coral prevents you from placing another one underneath it. IMO, long, shallow tanks are the ideal choice for reef aquariums.

 

[Bleeding Blue]

I'm sorry SM, but I have to agree with Vitz. (please don't beat me again) I don't think the gas exchange is a big problem. If she uses a good overflow, with a large enough pump, she should get all of the surface area that she needs. Besides, if she decides to skim, she should have plenty of gas exchange. In fact, lighting is probably not a big issue either. Toss a 150 w mh on an 18" tank and I am not sure that there is much you can't keep. I say if you want to do it, just make sure you do it right. She should also talk to skylsdale. I seem to remember him talking about the benifit of aquascaping a tall tank in one of these threads. I just cannot remember which one. He had some pretty neat ideas though.

Mike