Pros and Cons of a 36" wide tank?

Etoimos

Etoimos

New member
I'm starting to think through a larger build and was wondering if there were any Pro and Cons to having a tank that is 36" wide (front to back)?

The only Con I can think of is just the size of the foot print it will take up. The plan will be to have a fish room behind the tank, so room underneath is not a huge Pro in what I'm thinking of build wise.
 
Reaching the back bottom if an animal dies and floats back there.

My tank is a 30" cube. I'm 6'1" tall. Standing on a 3 step step ladder I still have to use tongs if I need to get something out of a back corner.

Like you said, the footprint is the other factor. You need room for equipment behind it as well, so your 36" wide tank is now 40-42" away from the wall. That's nearly 4'. That's farther than most couches stick out.
 
Thanks Dave. I'm actually thinking about doing this as an in wall tank. That would allow access to three sides, but still leaves the front hard to reach (unless I put access panels in the top front, which I'd rather not for aesthetic reasons). And if I build the fish room wide enough, the footprint issue should be minimised a little.

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Another con is the added lighting expense, most LED lights are based around a 24" x 24" footprint, you can get away with a single row with a 30" wide tank, but at 36" you need a second row of lights. You can certainly supplement the LEDs with T-5s, but you will still see a color shift in the areas not well covered by the LEDs.
 
What are you thinking for height and depth?

The lighting challenge is a good point to bring up. maybe a 10 bulb T-5 fixture would do it?

The in-wall setup will help you reach the back, but of course make it difficult to reach the front.

The pro would be the tank would look huge and awesome with that depth.
 
Definitely would look awesome. I think you can overcome reach issues if you allow access from both sides. In wall obviously allows for easy reach to the back, but I'd hate to try reaching the bottom in front. Make some removable panels in the wall above the front, that would help with that problem.

For lighting, I personally would try something like this: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=24982733&postcount=3
 
I was thinking about a 5' long, by 30" deep, and 36" wide tank. I'd probably have 4" of sand bed, so the "workable" tank depth would only be 26" (I have a 24" deep tank now and think I could manage working in another 2" of water).

Lighting that wide of a tank is a good point. Right now my lighting of choice would be the Radion Gen4 LEDs... but not if I have to have a bunch of them.
 
Pros and Cons of a 36" wide tank?

Pros and Cons of a 36" wide tank?

I have a 36x30 in wall tank. I go have access from front and back. I built a faux cabinet floor to ceiling with access door. Another thing was lighting. I had to do 3 x kessil a160's, and went ahead and added 2 T5's running front to back (this was more to augment color spectrum with purple hues though, prob not needed)


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philly_rfa said:
I have a 36x30 in wall tank. I go have access from front and back. I built a faux cabinet floor to ceiling with access door. Another thing was lighting. I had to do 3 x kessil a160's, and went ahead and added 2 T5's running front to back (this was more to augment color spectrum with purple hues though, prob not needed)


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Click to expand...

Do you have a pic of the tank/wall to show what your setup looks like?
 
Here's one from 6 months back, when I was just finished cycling.... it actually sticks out 8" so you can see some of it from various directions. It tricks people, cause at first it looks skinny, until you see the depth. It is only 24" deep.

630B8D0A-65BB-46FC-AF7F-689B49B6F5D7.jpg


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I have a 36"x36x36 bow, and the biggest issue is getting LED to light the bottom. Radion Pro will do it.
 
A good friend of mine has a 72"L x 48"W x 30"H in wall. He has access panels above the front of the tank and can get in the front or back using long tong style grabbers. It has an acrylic eurobrace on top so when we work in the tank we climb up and lay on the top and reach straight down. When we recently redone his aquascape it was quite an adventure.
 
48" wide is really wide! I'm sure it looks awesome though. Is your friend on RC by chance? It would be nice to see some full tank shots of that setup.

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Etoimos said:
48" wide is really wide! I'm sure it looks awesome though. Is your friend on RC by chance? It would be nice to see some full tank shots of that setup.

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I believe he is a member but not an active poster. I can snap some next time I am over there.
 
Etoimos said:
48" wide is really wide! I'm sure it looks awesome though. Is your friend on RC by chance? It would be nice to see some full tank shots of that setup.

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He doesn't have any regrets on going 48" wide. He has a fish room behind the tank build with the size in mind and has plenty of room for water mixing station, sink, tables, and all the necessary supplies and equipment.
 
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