Choices choices......

FransSny

FransSny

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Ok I would like to hear some comments or suggestions as I really cant make up my mind.

I have space for any of the two tanks....but sadly not both !

Option 1

Cube 650 sq x 500 h

Option 2

Shallow type setup 1500 x 700 x 300 high

Stocking options is also something you can comment on
 
Frans, what is the purpose of the tank - display or your own enjoyment etc?
 
I've just done a 1m, 700 high cube and I am loving it. The fish have more space to swim and there are more viewing panes. The only crap thing is that you need more corals to fill the three viewing panes. You also dont need as much light as a long tank. I had a 1.8m tank and used 3 X 250 DE Halides. I now only use 1 X 250W SE halide and 2 X 39W actinics
 
I would go for the cube. Love the idea of a shallow tank, but as stated above the pracrical implementation and viewing angles make the cube the winner for me.

Ciao!
 
my take would be the longer shallower tank. i would say 35 h and water level at 30. u would not need many T5's to really light it as its so shallow 4 giesmanns and u can grow sps like weeds. 1 vortech for flow and u sorted. it would look awesome with softies swaying all over with plating monties at the bottom.
couple chromis and anthias. and 1 or 2 zebrasomas and u wll be sorted
 
WHY is everyone going shallow? I have a 1800x1200x450 tank lying around and you guys must give me a reason why this is better than say 600 high?
 
With a 300 high tank and water level at 280 the fish going to jump out. I like the 700 high tank with water level at 600. Reason why people going shallow because the t5 cannot punch deep like a halide.
 
SIMS said:
WHY is everyone going shallow? I have a 1800x1200x450 tank lying around and you guys must give me a reason why this is better than say 600 high?
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SIMS I am not sure about WHY everyone is going shallow, maybe just a fad (like cubes a while ago)

PERSONALLY I like the top down view, maybe with some exposed rock and crabs climbing across.

So for me personally it's not about better...I just wanted other members opinions.

Now the big Q ....Why is it NOT better :tt2:
 
well, in my opinion, both tanks limits a lot of fish choices. No Tangs for example. Even if it is 1.5 long, I doubt if tangs will be happy in a tank that is only 280mm deep, excluding substrate.

I think both tanks will be able to house the same type of fish. 10 to 20 Chromis would look nice...

That shallow tank will be cheap on the lights, and softies would love you for that. Again, some softies like pincushions might be too tall for that tank. Again limiting some options.

So I would setup the cube. And keep the shallow tank for a frag tank in the garage.... Yeah baby yeah...
 
Suhayl said:
t5 cannot punch deep like a halide.
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The right amount of T5's will definately hit the bottom of a 600-700 deep tank. At least 8 T5's
 
I dont agree. Many tanks you see with t5 have there sps at least 40cm away from the bulbs.
 
Suhayl said:
I dont agree. Many tanks you see with t5 have there sps at least 40cm away from the bulbs.
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So whats your point? The statement "at least 40 cm away" implies that they can be further than 40 cm away...
 
i think the second option would be great, and t5's will do fine over the tank without worries about penertration into the water collum. are you aiming at mixed reef or sps dominated?
 
Suhayl, all sims is saying is if you are presenting something as fact, you need to be able to back it up with sources or something. You cant just make statements and expect people to just accept what you are saying...You said T5s cant go deep... but in your next post say that they can be further away than 40 cm (read what you wrote). This is conflicting.

It also doesnt help that sometimes your sentence structure is hard to read.

I would go for the shallow tank myself. Easy to reach everywhere, and easy to scape. Also would work nicely as a peninsula
 
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Enough now guys. Lets get back to the topic shall we. :)
 
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