What's a good height and width...

Brat

Brat

Delta Sigma Theta
for a tank? Looking at all the sizes and dimensions I already know what length I want, but what is a good height and width for a tank. Looking around I see that there isn't much price difference between a 300gal and 400gal. tank so I figure why not just get the 400gal. one instead. My question is what should the width and height of the tank be. Would a 96Lx36Wx30H be good?
 
see that's what I'm worried about, but also not too worried about, because I could always place low light corals at the bottom, but I'm thinking it would be harder to clean or something? I mean I want to be able to aquascape so I don't want narrow and I'm not sure if 36in is narrow
 
400 gal huh. If this will be a saltwater tank, you want more length. Linear swimming area is important for big fish. A BIG tang for example, would be better off in a tank 8' long and 20" high, than a tank 4' long and 40" high. As far as width (front to back), if it will be a reef tank, the wide area would make it easier to created different levels to stock corals. A long, wide, shallow tank makes the best reef tank IMO.
 
Well, I've always wanted a 300gal. but from looking at prices there's only a wee bit price difference between 300gal and 400gal so why not do 400gal plus 4 is my favorite number and I'm not much of a fan of odd numbers. I think 96in. is pretty long and of course it will be a reef tank, I wouldn't have asked on a reef forum if it wasn't about a reef tank silly. :)

If it was a FOWLR then I would go for something even bigger because I would want fish like groupers, puffers and lionfish.
 
yeah, well I don't consider reef tanks cheap by any means, so for me I know what I want and I won't settle for less, especially if it's something I've always wanted. That's one reason why I don't have a reef tank now is because I want the big one. I could have had a 90gal. reef tank by now, but I'm stubborn and refused because it wasn't what I wanted. I'm stubborn like that.
 
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yup those are the dimensions I was looking at. I was just making sure they wouldn't be cramped or anything. This will be my BIGGEST hobby investment and I want to make dang sure I know what I'm getting into.
 
with 8 feet of swimming room and 3 feet to turn around in youll be fine with swimming space and youll also have plenty of room to get creative with the aquascaping
 
Just remember, there may not be much difference in the prices on the tanks, but that is only the beginning. There is also the additional live rock, sand (depending on difference in dimensions, and the work it takes to maintain it. Plus, if I recall correctly, your working toward your medical degree so funds tend to be very tight while paying back college bills (many don't realize how in-debt many physicians initially are after school due to the education costs).

Edit: Oh, and don't forget the difference between running MH lights vs. T5s if it is much deeper than 24".
 
I'm like Capt,I'd rather have a longer, wider tank thats shallow then one thats deep.But thats just my personal choice.
 
light - I'm not building the tank while I'm in medical school or straight out. I would not have time as I was already factoring in medical bills. I have already thought about what you have said. I know live rock and sand will be expensive as well and I factored all that in too as well as lighting and everything else.
 
Actually, the maintenance time is, in my opinion, the worst part as it never ends. I find maintenance takes me about 20 minutes a weekend, easy for me to handle even with a family of six. I don't know how much it takes the big tankers to care for their tank, but it would be interesting to find out. Of course, you have to have a large enough tank for what you want to keep, so you will have a minimum size.

By the way, good luck with med school. I give you a lot of credit for having the motivation to do it.
 
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Maintenance is what I never mind, because I'm so used to doing it for all my other tanks and animals. It's the actual setting up and cycling I won't be able to do until after medical school. I don't think with constant studying I would be able to deal with the inital setup, so I'm going to wait until after medical school. A doctor I know has a big saltwater tank and she pays someone to do the maintenance and water changes on it. Her fish are really nice and well taken care of too.

Thanks for the well wishes for medical school.
 
Oh wait, now this leaves me with a question. 250W MH HQI or 400W MH HQI or both? I don't plan on having a lot of SPS but I do want a lot of clams and LPS as well as polyps and since MH cover about 2'x2' that would mean 1' would be kinda shadowed. That could be good if some animals didn't want the bright light or I could add two fixtures side by side. I could go with 2 Photon Plus 4' 2 x 400W HQI-SE+6x 54W T5 and 2 Photon Plus 4' 2 x 250W HQI-DE+6x 54W T5 which would give me about 9 watts per gallon.
 
If you go with the 30" deep tank, the 400 watt lights in the middle and 250's on the sides may be a consideration if you want to have a mixed tank. SPS and LPS can be put in the center area while lower light animals such as mushrooms and zoanthids can be toward the edges. I *think* it was Biffer who mentioned it when discussing lights.

Of course, if you go with a 24" tank, you can do T5s.
 
instead of buying two fixtures you could always buy MH pendents to hang every couple of feet and that would be cheaper then two fixtures and then you can get strips for the T-5 atintics
 

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