Moving to a cube?

[alten78]

Good morning all!

I am looking at the notion of moving from a standard 75gal to a 93 cube (not rimless) that a local reefer is selling.

I've never had a cube before so I was curious as to how those that have them like them? Anything different or specific that you would do because of the dimensions? Challenges?

My current tank is SPS dominated, most of which are still smaller frags but are beginning to take off. For lights I have two 250W MH pendants and 2X54 retro T5s. I would image that 1 MH pendant would cover a 30"x30" cube? I would probably retrofit 24" T5's as well.

Fairly recent photo, I would think that I wouldn't be able to keep that much rock or need to come up with a different type of aquascape.



Any thoughts or suggestions would be great! Just need to convince the wife before someone else picks it up :)

 

[TheEngineer]

I have a 50g cube. I really like the general footprint of cubes. I prefer wider and shallower looks. Only challenge, once you get to a big enough cube, is lighting coverage.

 

[Kai]

I almost fell as if you'd be losing space in the cube. I have a 30g and know another reefer who has a 30g cube and has a little more then half the corals I do and has already ran out of space.

As it goes for lighting I believe one MH fixture could pretty much cover a 30 x 30 space, however you may have some shadowing towards the outside edges. IMO I'd get a ATI Sunpower 8 x 24.

Id say if you like the cube go for it, if you'd want a little more room I'd say stick with what you have. Hope this helps!

 

[TheEngineer]

I almost fell as if you'd be losing space in the cube. I have a 30g and know another reefer who has a 30g cube and has a little more then half the corals I do and has already ran out of space.

Id say if you like the cube go for it, if you'd want a little more room I'd say stick with what you have. Hope this helps!

That depends on the largely on the scape IMO. The extra depth in a cube means you can't do the traditional horizontal rock pile most people have.

 

[Kai]

That depends on the largely on the scape IMO. The extra depth in a cube means you can't do the traditional horizontal rock pile most people have.

I totally agree with you on this, one awesome benefit of a cube is the way you can scape it. I've seen some pretty awesome scapes for cubes :D

 

[alten78]

Thanks for the input guys! Definitely things to thing about...quickly. I'll take a look at how some others have done their aquascaping and kinda go from there. As for the lighting, yes I would think that there would be shadowing on the edges, but I would try to still supplement with T5's, I just can't get rid of halides...well, both :) Everything will be considered, though!