Ideal Tank Dimensions For SPS tank

evo187

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My question, is there ideal dimensions (LxWxH) for a SPS dominated tank??

I feel length is more about what size/type fish you will be keeping, where you can place the tank, and can you afford to light a tank that long. I also find it's easier to balance water flow in a longer tank to a certain extent. I guess the sky is the limit on length. But depth and height are what I am most interested in.

The size I have come up with for myself in my situation and where I could put a tank this size would be 48x30x24.
- 48 length gives me length for larger swimming fish like tangs.
- 30 depth gives me a good width for aquascaping, achieving good flow around the whole tank, and leaves enough room behind the rock work to keep the back glass pristine and clean.
- 24 height gives me good height for coral growth assuming the rock work only comes half way up the water column.

Anyone have their ideal dimensions to have a kind of "fool proof" footprint for a SPS dominated tank?
 
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eraser2001

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The dimension of my sps tank is 72 x 30 x 24. In my opinion if you want to keep tangs too, this kind of fish needs room to swim. Also, bigger is better, you could keep more sps corals.
Check my Instagram so you can have a better idea
@lukas_reef
 

damsels are not mean

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Corals don't care how big the tank is. They will grow until they can't grow anymore.

You could have a 200gal full of a thousand frags or a 600gal with a single wild-sized stand of acropora if you wanted. It really doesn't matter.
 

jhuntstl

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I think you have the right idea with all of your considerations. Length for flow, height for growth, and width for aquascaping. 48x30x24 sounds solid.

I'll be curious to see what some of the old timer SPS enthusiasts have to say. I think we all have our ideal dimensions for one reason or another.
 

X-37B

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I think it really depends on your budget and what you want to grow. It can be 1000g's or 20g's.
They can all look good if you plan accordingly. I ran a 120 for 33 months before taking it down.
They grow in fast.
If I was going to do a large system again it would be 72x36x20. You cant beat the depth.
It would also be accessable without using a stand and I would be able to reach all parts of the system.
My current favorite sps system is my 4 month old 20g nano cube.
Super simple to maintain and service.
20220523_181359.jpg
 

Form or function: Do you consider your rock work to be art or the platform for your coral?

  • Primarily art focused.

    Votes: 20 7.8%
  • Primarily a platform for coral.

    Votes: 44 17.2%
  • A bit of each - both art and a platform.

    Votes: 174 68.0%
  • Neither.

    Votes: 12 4.7%
  • Other.

    Votes: 6 2.3%
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