Glass vs Acrylic vs reef ready

[ryguy]

taller tanks also suffer from lack of oxygenation/gas exchange because the 2 other dimensions are reduced to give the tank more height which equals less surface area.

[ColdFish]

A taller tank but with the same width and length add more water volume, but doesn't really increase the number of fish you can keep cause most of them swim near your rockwork or floor.

Not sure that I fully agree with that. If you're talking just about swimming room then I can see where you're coming from, but there are some other factors to consider. My 90 has the same footprint as a 75 with the only difference being that the 90 is 4" taller. The extra water volume is a positive thing in terms of waste management. More volume to dilute the waste into. Decreased oxygenation with taller tanks could be an issue, but this problem vanishes, or at least is minimized if you have a sump.

Lighting is an issue as light won't penetrate as well in a taller tank and that has to be considered. You can overcome some of this one by placing your corals with higher light requirements higher up in the tank.

What you plan to stock in the tank plays into it also. Personally, I like the smaller, peaceful community fish and didn't plan on having anything in my tank that requires a ton of swimming room. I'm still working on setting up the 90 and all of the above went into my thought process when I decided on that size tank. It also fits well in the space I had available, but gave me more flexiibility than a 75 gallon which would have taken up exactly tha same amount of floor space. When you consider my sump and fuge, the 90 gallon is more like 110 gallons when everything is running, and I definetly don't feel limited to the same bioload that I could accomodate in a 75 gallon tank

[john0087]

The extra water volume is a positive thing in terms of waste management. More volume to dilute the waste into. Decreased oxygenation with taller tanks could be an issue, but this problem vanishes, or at least is minimized if you have a sump.


Completely agree foresure. Its just that a lot of people, including myself, only look at the volume of the tank when starting out new. It seems like we all talk about tanks in gal more often than dims, and I thinks dims are just as important, if not more. Like you said, you can increase water volume and waste management by inlcuding a sump of fugue.

For example, a looking at 2 tanks on the market

40gal-36x15x16
50gal-36x15x18

Thats a 10gal difference, so one a newbie like myself would like to think that you could keep an extra 2" of fish (1" per 5gal), but you are not really affording much more actual room for a fish. It will be easier to keep you water params in check in the 50gal, but I am not convinced that you could keep more or larger fish in the 50gal vs the 40gal.

[ColdFish]

Again, I think it really depends on the type of fish that you plan to keep. If all fish are small and you come up with a good mixture of fish that are mainly free swimming combined with bottom dwellers, then you're going to be able to keep more fish in the larger tank. If your plan is to have large fish that need lots of swimming room then the taller tank offers no advantage. The point I was trying to make was that the taller tank was a good choice for me, but may not be for others.

[Brenden]

Coldfish is dead on with the advantages and disadvantages of a tall tank.

I think it really depends on the type of fish that you plan to keep.

Says it perfectly.

[john0087]

ok,

Makes sence to me....

Thanks

[AoiGSR]

I guess I can't get that 55 then... So maybe sell the whole setup and just get a new setup. I guess I m afraid of weight as well. Not sure how well it's going to hold up on the 2nd floor. I'd have to move the tank to a different location because the 40G footprint fits perfectly in the area it's in.

Maybe I can move the piano and place the heavy unit there and move the piano somewhere else

now I got to think more :P

[Brenden]

There is no reason why you can not get the 55? If you are wanting it because of the larger tank volume then it would fine. If you want it so you can add a tang etc. it is not a good idea. The point being you are not gaining any horizontal swim room. If you are going to upgrade why not make a leap? Maybe a 100 gal

[AoiGSR]

Just got back helping to take care of my friend's kids (they are such a handful!) and then walked over to my LFS

They had their 20% off sale almost everything (10% off the tanks/stands) and for ever $10 we spend, we got a raffle ticket to win either Gift Certs at their place or $100 Best Buy card :P

Anyway, I started talking to the guy and he said 40G should be fine but he said he's not going to tell me how I should spend my money.

He talked about 3 systems that are out there for SW systems, one of them was a refugium, another was the sump system, and a "Berlin" system. It's all news to be and he said the Berlin system was the quietest. Some other system sounds like a "toilet"

He also mentioned a 40G with a built in overflow and sump would be better. I wasn't sure what an overflow does yet but i think I'll be doing a lot of research.

In addition, maybe I will go for the 100G. He said he has a 90G on his 2nd floor (and can go even more in gallons) and that's where a lot of the weight can be supported anyway (our house was built in 2001 so I assume it was done to meet building codes....)

40G tank? probably 4-5 fish depending on the fish.
50G tank? the most popular size they sell. Should be fine for SW.

He also has a 55G which has more depth and not as narrow 36x18x20
(for his home).

They have a NICE 180G. I wonder if I can do that on the 2nd floor

[ColdFish]

I have a 50G that was originally FOWLR but is slowly turning into a reef. I love that size. Very easy to work in.

Not sure about putting a 180 on the second floor. My 90 is on the second floor, sort of. My living room is over my garage. I was definetly concerned though hehe.

The guy at the LFS was probably talking about one of those Ecosystem hang-on-back kits when he said refugium. Not familiar with those as far as being noisy. The Berlin system is basically lots of liverock + protein skimmer so definetly quiet. Sumps don't necessarily have to be real noisy if they're set up right. One thing though. The choice here will determine if you need the overflow model or not. You don't need an overflow unless you plan on having a sump.

Very basically what an overflow does is this:

Water is pumped from the sump to the display tank by the return pump. The extra water in the display tank spills (overflows) into the overflow chamber and is returned back to the sump by gravity and the whole process repeats.

The overflow chamber allows the tank to overflow in a controlled manner back to the sump rather than overflowing all over your carpet