Wanna see some shallow sps tanks

[3l3ments]

Look at maybe getting a 80g deep blue tank. Thought maybe seeing some people shallower tanks could help me decide if 16H is enough for me.

 

[Acroporaaddict]

Just set it up a few days ago. Haven't had time to properly aquascape yet. It was a emergency move since my 40 breeder I was using cracked. 36x24x12

 

[aabjones888]

80g rimless, I love it

 

[rovster]

Mine is shallow-ish

 

[3l3ments]

Awesome looking tanks guys. Rovster how tall is that?

 

[Joshky]

Here is my deep blue 80g

If I could go back, I wouldn't purchase this tank again. I feel like 16" is too shallow to get the flow how I want it to be, and no matter how I try I can't get my sand to cover the entire bottom so I'm left with a partially barebottom system. Not what I want at all, I'm hoping as my SPS mature I can spread it back out (and possibly add more) where it's created dunes. As you can see my sand is pretty large too, almost like crushed coral, it's the TBS live sand from Florida.

This has been my experience, yours and other's may vary of course.

 

[rovster]

52x26x19

 

[3l3ments]

Here is my deep blue 80g

If I could go back, I wouldn't purchase this tank again. I feel like 16" is too shallow to get the flow how I want it to be, and no matter how I try I can't get my sand to cover the entire bottom so I'm left with a partially barebottom system. Not what I want at all, I'm hoping as my SPS mature I can spread it back out (and possibly add more) where it's created dunes. As you can see my sand is pretty large too, almost like crushed coral, it's the TBS live sand from Florida.

This has been my experience, yours and other's may vary of course.

I would probably do a bare bottom tank or just a lite dusting of sand so that probably wont be an issue for me but its nice to know thank you.

Honest opinions is 16H tank to short for sps tank? All my tanks have been 2ft in height so only having 16in seems really really short.

 

[kevlow]

4'x2'x8"

 

[kevlow]

 

[echopiece]

Mine is shallow-ish

Nice Reef Savvy, I think mine is around the same dimensions.

 

[spartanman22]

Mines a Deep Blue 80 Rimless (48x24x16"). I'd prefer 18" deep but 16 isn't terrible. It's only recently been setup. Here's a crummy iPhone shot.

And a better shot with the DSLR right after setup

 

[aabjones888]

I agree that 18" would of been better, but the 16" is still ba!

 

[rovster]

I've seen a deep blue 80 that had a good amount of SPS that was really nice in person. I think the trick is keeping the rocks and corals low. With SPS, they tend to grow upward so if the tank is too shallow you can run out of room quick. Some of my stags are approaching 10" tall and look like they want to grow more. If my tank was shorter I wouldn't be able to fully realize the potential of the coral and there is nothing more impressive in an SPS tank that a stag colony or 2. 16" will work, but I would consider that a bare minimum for SPS in terms if height. It would be really hard to make an impressive SPS display out of a 12-14" tall tank, IMHO. 18" would be ideal for a shallow feel but still display worthy, especially if you like upward growing sticks.

Here's a recent crappy pic. Look at the stags on the left. In a short tank, they wouldn't look good grown out. They have room to grow and looks like they need it and will continue to fill it, which is what I LOVE about STICKS!


Imagine if I lopped off 7" off the top of the tank? Don't think about what the tank will look like with a bunch of 1" frags and minicolonies, try imagining at least grapefruit sized colones and big branchy goodness. At that point height becomes more of a factor.....

 

[3l3ments]

Great looking tank spartanman!!

I've seen a deep blue 80 that had a good amount of SPS that was really nice in person. I think the trick is keeping the rocks and corals low. With SPS, they tend to grow upward so if the tank is too shallow you can run out of room quick. Some of my stags are approaching 10" tall and look like they want to grow more. If my tank was shorter I wouldn't be able to fully realize the potential of the coral and there is nothing more impressive in an SPS tank that a stag colony or 2. 16" will work, but I would consider that a bare minimum for SPS in terms if height. It would be really hard to make an impressive SPS display out of a 12-14" tall tank, IMHO. 18" would be ideal for a shallow feel but still display worthy, especially if you like upward growing sticks.

I agree with what you say I do feel like its the bare minimum for sps. I would love to get and 48x36x18/19 but cant find it anywhere and when I looked at custom options the price was more than I wanna pay, also since I work at a store that can get deep blue tanks I can get a pretty dam good deal on one. I will try and keep the rocks real low and only have a light dusting of sand. Though after seeing all these tank I feel a bit better about having only 16H though.

 

[3l3ments]

You think two MP40qd is to much should I go down to 2 mp10qd?

 

[rovster]

Mp40 no question, good luck keeping sand in place lol

 

[spartanman22]

You think two MP40qd is to much should I go down to 2 mp10qd?

Definitely 40's. I've got two and could see myself adding two more down the road.

 

[aabjones888]

I've got to rw-8's on full blast wave mode and a small korolla in my 80 rimless and it dosnt blow my sand around. You just gotta play with placement for a little bit and you'll get it. I used like an inch or more of sand. You can get them placed right with your rocks that you won't get any sand blowing around. With most powerheads these days you could always just power it down too.

 

[rovster]

Not sure how RW8s compare to MP40s but I have 3 MP40s on my tank and I always get a bare spot in the front. If I place them too high they suck air and create lots of bubbles, if too low then sand really gets pushed. That said I run them pretty high. If I run them at say 50% the sand stays put, 80-100 and fuggetaboudit. FWIW, I use Reef Flakes which is a coarser sand, but there are larger grains. I've tried putting some rubble in that area to try and contain it but doesnt work. I've had MPs literally suck sand from the bottom and blow it around if they are too close to the bottom. With a 16" tank would be that much more difficult, and this is just from my own experiences with my own tank. A local club member had an 80 and had it set up peninsula with 2 MP40s on one end and flow was pretty good but the far end didn't get as good a flow as he wanted. Some tunzes would probably work better in that application.