8' or 10' long? 3' or 4' deep?

SoCalVictor · Mar 15, 2021

Hi There,

I'm very excited to be planning out a dream tank build. It will be a SPS dominant mixed reef with fish. I currently have a 180 with tang, wrasses, SPS, LPS, Softies that will be moved into this new tank. The tank will go in the below room. The aquarium will be situated on the south wall with sump/equipment in the walk-in closet.

Currently deciding between an 8' long or a 10' long aquarium. As you can see, the wall it will go on will support a 10' long tank. However, I'm concerned about how hard it would be to get the aquarium into that room if it was a 10' long tank. Weight is also a factor. I'm going acrylic which will help with the weight, but with a 10' long, 3/4" thick acrylic is a minimum, while I believe I can get away with a 1/2" thick acrylic with a 8' long tank. That room is in the part of the house that has a walkout basement so it will be sitting on slab. The best way to transport the aquarium is to go down the side of the house that is sloped down. The side of the house is paved with stairs and access to 'bed 5' is through an external door.

Here's a picture of the side of the house. The access door is on the left and we're looking up towards the street/driveway.

While its tempting to think 'bigger is better'

, I want to stay practical here and not get myself in trouble. Also curious if I should go for a 36" or 48" deep tank. Height of the aquarium in all these scenarios is 24". If you look at the floorplan, a 48" aquarium will significantly block the window but there's still clearance from the side of the aquarium and wall that the window is on, even for a 10' tank. So here are the possible options.

LxWxH
1. 96x36x24
2. 96x48x24
3. 120x36x24
4. 120x48x24

Thoughts on which size to go for and reasons for going with them or against them? Thanks in advance for the advice/comments!

vetteguy53081 · Mar 15, 2021

I HAVE A 660G WITH IS 9'L x 4'd x 30"
Your answer will be the amount of available room with components and amount of weight the room can support.

tyryfin · Mar 15, 2021

I have a 10’X3’X3’ and it is difficult to place coral on the lower levels of the tank with precision. I only have access from the rear of the tank. I went from a 30” to the 36 and love it but it has its challenge.

SoCalVictor · Mar 15, 2021

vetteguy53081 said:
I HAVE A 660G WITH IS 9'L x 4'd x 30"
Your answer will be the amount of available room with components and amount of weight the room can support.

Weight is less a concern filled because it’ll be on concrete slab.
How are you liking the 4x’ depth?

SoCalVictor · Mar 15, 2021

tyryfin said:
I have a 10’X3’X3’ and it is difficult to place coral on the lower levels of the tank with precision. I only have access from the rear of the tank. I went from a 30” to the 36 and love it but it has its challenge.

Is the difficulty because of the depth or the height of the tank?

how are you liking the 10’ length? Any challenges with longer length vs something like a 8’?

vetteguy53081 · Mar 15, 2021

SoCalVictor said:
Weight is less a concern filled because it’ll be on concrete slab.
How are you liking the 4x’ depth?

Im used to it. Somewhat hard to reach from front to rear

BradB · Mar 15, 2021

I really regret my SPS 270 gallon being acrylic. The same conditions that grow SPS grow coraline. But I can't imagine scraping a 36 inch tank, unless I was 7 foot tall, it would be a full time job. Don't go 48 inches tall.

If I were you, I'd go glass and downsize if I had to. Do you plan on moving the tank often? Can you hire help to carry it in? I'd go 10' and about 30 inches tall, glass, and maybe drop the height even more if I could do thinner glass.

BradB · Mar 16, 2021

Sorry, misread depth and height, but the same advice applies.

SoCalVictor · Mar 16, 2021

BradB said:
Sorry, misread depth and height, but the same advice applies.

Yup, which is why I am going with a 24" height.

KrisReef · Mar 16, 2021

@SoCalVictor How tall are you? With the tank against the wall, I would not recommend a 4' deep (front to back) tank to anyone less than 7' tall.

Unless you plan to snorkel if you need to reach in to do any work near the back of the tank once it is filled. I have found that 3' reaching over 24" of water is a long way to go without getting wet, but I'm not that tall either.

This especially applies on the end with the walk-in closet next to the tank. All-access will be over the water in that corner. You might want to put a ledge or a handhold on the wall to help with access there.

But don't let me discourage you. GO Big! Just don't asked me to help haul the monster up all those stairs. I've retired from lifting after disc failures or else I'd volunteer. GL!

SoCalVictor · Mar 16, 2021

KrisReef said:
@SoCalVictor How tall are you? With the tank against the wall, I would not recommend a 4' deep (front to back) tank to anyone less than 7' tall. Unless you plan to snorkel if you need to reach in to do any work near the back of the tank once it is filled. I have found that 3' reaching over 24" of water is a long way to go without getting wet, but I'm not that tall either.

This especially applies on the end with the walk-in closet next to the tank. All-access will be over the water in that corner. You might want to put a ledge or a handhold on the wall to help with access there.

But don't let me discourage you. GO Big! Just don't asked me to help haul the monster up all those stairs. I've retired from lifting after disc failures or else I'd volunteer. GL!

Good points @KrisReef ! I was actually thinking of leaving walking room behind the tank to work on the from the back. Obviously eats into the square footage of the room, but might be worth it?

KrisReef · Mar 16, 2021

Yes, for access! If you leave room to work the backside then the depth of the tank can be bigger and you don't have to have a gigantic reach to access stuff. Win-win.
Are you going to start a build thread?

Oh, you also asked for the bad: It can take a lot longer to mix water and scrape algae in a larger tank. Those are the only drawbacks that I am aware of that you had not mentioned. I might try and find a large box to model a tank to see how much room you actually have to work with getting into the house. An empty box is a lot lighter but could help you visualize how much room you actually have to move around in.

SoCalVictor · Mar 16, 2021

Yup, I'll start a build thread! Just want to iron out some rough details first. Great idea on the empty box...those will be some big boxes! Or maybe I'll get some 2x4's and frame it out.

tyryfin · Mar 16, 2021

It is because of the depth and I am not as young as I used to be. The length is great, allows some larger fish to have more room. The tank is actually shorter than my last one that was just short of 11' long. I had to change due to the seal on the front pane developing a leak after 9+ years

Seneca · Mar 16, 2021

BradB said:
I really regret my SPS 270 gallon being acrylic. The same conditions that grow SPS grow coraline. But I can't imagine scraping a 36 inch tank, unless I was 7 foot tall, it would be a full time job. Don't go 48 inches tall.

If I were you, I'd go glass and downsize if I had to. Do you plan on moving the tank often? Can you hire help to carry it in? I'd go 10' and about 30 inches tall, glass, and maybe drop the height even more if I could do thinner glass.

I have a 48 inch tall tank. My mighty magnet with corraline scraper pad works great. I use a grabber to place things deep in the tank or pick them up. It's not that big of a deal. I don't think I would ever get a shallower tank.

ca1ore · Mar 16, 2021

I tend to say get the biggest tank you can fit/afford. The ability to reach simply requires a bit of ingenuity. Even in acrylic, tank is going to be heavy (600-700 lbs). Hard to imagine 1/2" would suffice; I went up to 1" with my 96x36x30. I could have fit a 9' tank, but the cost increase was prohibitive.

Lowell Lemon · Mar 16, 2021

It is getting hard to source quality cell cast acrylic in 10' and your thickness of 1/2" or even 3/4" is too thin in my opinion. 8'×4'×2' gives you the best consumption of materials available in stock in most distribution areas today.

SoCalVictor · Mar 16, 2021

I had a typo and meant to say the 3/4" was for a 10' tank and the 1/2" was for a 8' tank. Those are FishTankDirect specs.
Weight is a big factor in trying to get the tank down the stairs.

djf91 · Mar 16, 2021

SoCalVictor said:
I had a typo and meant to say the 3/4" was for a 10' tank and the 1/2" was for a 8' tank. Those are FishTankDirect specs.
Weight is a big factor in trying to get the tank down the stairs.

Heard that. I'm going with a 72"x48"x30" acrylic for my basement. Glass was my first choice but getting that amount of weight down my basement stairwell and then back up again some day was sounding impossible. Tank will be mounted in wall with only one front viewing panel/ rest of the tank in a fish room. I am nervous about scratching the acrylic but will do my best to be careful and will also mount the lights 8" back from the front viewing panel to cut down on coralline. Complete access from all 4 sides too.