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I know there are other 20 gallon size tanks such as 20 Hexagon, but the sizes I listed above are standard tanks.

So I've seen 20 High and 20 Long tanks before and I saw a 20 X high for the first time, it is basically 2 10 gallon tanks stacked on top of each other.

based on that info, what tank is better for fish? Or does it not make a difference at all? 20 X High would definitely save a lot of space, but I have a feeling that it wouldn't be that much more beneficial for room for fish, only for water quality vs a 10 gallon tank.

Tanks with more surface area are almost always better. Tall tanks are sometimes useful for fish like angels but even then your better off getting a bigger tank like a 29g versus a 20g tall instead. More surface area allows for more gas exchange and more oxygen in the water. It also means the footprint or bottom is larger too. That allows you to keep more bottom dwelling fish and even give mid dwelling fish more space. Most fish swim side to side and not so much up and down so having a large footprint or surface area gives much more useful space. All of these allow long or breeder tanks(extra wide instead of long) to be stocked more heavily than tall tanks. It especially makes a difference with schooling fish. A longer tank provides schooling fish with enough space to swim at speed and stay together. A tall tank will result in a more scattered school and less natural behavior since they cannot swim back and forth together.

Generally whenever you have a choice go for a long or breeder tank instead of a tall tank. Get the longest and widest tank you can. However at some point it's just worth it to get a larger tank unless your working with a weight and really strict cost limit. For example 20g long, 29g, and standard 30g all have the same footprint and so take up basically the same space. They just get increasingly higher and more expensive so if you have the space for a 20h but money for the larger tank you might as well get at least a 29g. It's not going to take up more room and will allow you to either keep more fish or do less maintenance if you keep the same number of fish you were planning for the 20 long.

Sham is 100% correct re that the water surface are is important, I would go on to say it would be one of the most important. I have actually seen a tank 6ft+ with less than 2sq ft top surface area. Other things about tall tanks they can be rather difficult to aquscape especially reaching the substrate for placing plants and cleaning.
As being better for fish as Sham and myself stated it is the surface area that is most important for the fish and the total water movement.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

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Keith

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Hmm, that's what I thought. Probably going to go for a 20 Long if I can have a 20 on campus instead of 10.

Aside from the water surface issue and the taller fish like angels or very tiny fish, most fish appreciate the maximum horizontal swimming area you can give them. Most of the tall and hex tanks at the 20 gal sizes will be for people who put style over substance, usually buying such tanks unless you have species suited for them is a beginners error. 95% of fish species you can buy will appreciate horizontal space, and their fitness and behaviour will be much better in the longer tanks. Tall tanks in the much larger sizes like a 50gal or above are fine, but in the 20 gal area, tall orientation tanks are pretty valueless for fishkeeping.Almost any fish you can put in them would do better in a longer tank.

20 longs are best, but i personally like 20 highs, it also depends on your fish selection. Also how muchyou are planning to stock. Like stated, the more surface area, the better.

Hi,
The "tall" tanks were invented to be "show tanks."
You can get more of them on a typical banquet table, side
by side, than you can get the "regular" or "long" or
"breeder" tanks (all the same tank, just different names).

They were designed to limit the swimming room of the fish
to mostly vertical motion so that the judges could stand
in front of the tank and have the show fish confined to
a space directly in front of the judge. Since it was a show
tank, the number of fish in the tank were also restricted
to either a small school, shoal, or a couple of solitary
fish (perhaps a mated pair of something).

The surface area of the tank is where the gasses exchange
with the atmosphere, most particularly Oxygen and CO2.
The larger the surface area the more the exchange and the
more fish the tank can hold.

For the majority of our fish, shaped well, like fish,
the long tanks are superior, however the few fish like
the Angels, and Discus, require the high swimming column
as well as the surface area. The Angels require the depth
to prevent them from dragging their lower fins along the
gravel as do the Discus. Because of their size, they also
require a larger surface area too. So to properly house
them you would need a tank that has the height of a show
tank, but the surface area of a breeder tank, in other
words, a much larger capacity tank to fit both needs.
As an example, to house angels for instance, a 20
tall would work for the height of the tank but not
enough surface area. A 20L (long) tank would work for
the surface area but not for the height. So a standard
40 or 45G tank would fit both needs (larger capacity).
The "trick" is to keep in mind that the larger capacity
tank will comfortably house the angels or discus, but you
can't stock it with them as if you were stocking it with
some other fish.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

If you're keeping Angels or Discus, go for a tall tank, but if you're not, just get a long tank, as it has more surface area & easier to keep & clean.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/corydoras/
Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
http://www.maltaaquarist.com

The director in charge of all housing at my college called me today. He said he is going to give me an exception to have a 20 gallon fish tank. So I'm probably going to go for the 20 Gallon Long tank. So that's awesome.
I'm kind of worried how much it will weigh though. Do you think a 20 gallon fish tank would weigh about 100 pounds being half way filled with water? I can lift that, but it is still quite heavy, if lifting it with a second person, no problem at all then. But if it ends up being a problem for transporting, might have to get a bucket or some container or simply plastic bags and put the fish in there while transporting, and empty the tank to 25% water. Or do you think fish would be ok up to 10-40 minutes in 25% filled 20 gallon tank so that I could just keep them in the tank while transporting?

I would remove all the fish & water & move the tank empty. It's safer that way. Then you'll have to fill the tank again, in place & start all over.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/corydoras/
Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
http://www.maltaaquarist.com

Hi,
I agree with Jason. Empty the tank, move it, and then
set it up, again. Trying to move a tank with wet gravel,
or half full exerts tremendous torque on the joints and
it can easily spring a leak. Even with two people, one
lifts at different times, or moves in one direction
opposing the other as they walk.
Your chances of a leak after move are huge.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Hi, I got a 20 gallon tank today. I decided to go for a 20 High instead of 20 Long.

My tank has:

*Millennium 2000 Wet-Dry Multi-Filter made by Marineland. It has a bio-grid biological filter plate, and uses Rite Size M filiters which contain black diamond premium activated carbon. This filiter pumps 160 GPH.
*Penn-Plaxy undercurrent which is an undergravel filiter which only 1 single tube and it creates bubbles from the center of the plate. This filiter uses both Carbon and Zeolite cartridges at the same time.
*To pump air in the undergravel filter, I have Aquarium Air Pump that is also Marineland brand called AirMaster 2000. It's used for 40 gallon tanks and higher, so it's a bit stronger for a 20 gallon tank then which is good.
*For heater, I have Penn Plax Therma-Flow PC Plus which has 100 watts.
*Also added gravel, and thermometer.

To help speed up biological process, I added rocks that used to be in my ten gallon tank, however those rocks haven't been in my 10 gallon tank for about 1 month. I added them any ways in case they might still have bacteria, also some of them had old java moss growing on them which is still green. I also added TetraAqua AquaSafe and API Stress Zyme which is a biological filitration booster that contains dual action live bacteria used to speed up development of the biological filter. I also added a tiny bit of water from the 10 gallon into the 20. I also have Tetra EasyBalance with Nitraban, but I didn't add that.

So how long till the 20 will be ready for fish and plants? And if a long time, what can I do to speed up the process? One thing I could do is a get a feeder goldfish and put in the 20. Preferably I'd want to get the tank good in a few days, 1 week max. It took longer with the 10 gallon since it had no previous bacteria or any thing to add to it, so it took about a month.

To speed up the cycle, just take some filter media from a cycled tank & place it in the tant you want to cycle. But remember that it takes time as well, but will speed things up.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/corydoras/
Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
http://www.maltaaquarist.com

As was suggested filter media from an established tank will help speed the cycling process. The beneficial bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrite to nitrate lives not in the water itself, but on the rocks, gravel decorations and to a much lesser amount the filter media. People often overlook this when starting a tank or offering advice, or maybe they just don't know. Anyway, if you can use some gravel from an established tank you will be putting much more bacteria into the tank than from just media, and water from the established tank will help feed the bacteria. I heve done this on several occasions with new tanks with great success.
Also, as was stated before the greater the footprint, surface area etc of the tank, the better the gas exchange of the water, the more room for fish to swim etc.
Good luck with your new tank it sounds like it will be nice. Definitely transport the tank empty. Anything in it during transportation may cause breakage should it ecounter bumps, turbulence or whatever. Water weighs in at about 8 pounds per gallon so 20 gallons would be 160 lbs, plus the weight of the tank, gravel and the like. Also, try to make the shortest trip possible. The bacteria (if you choose to pilfer some gravel or filter media) will not live long outside of the tank, in the absence of water. My wife tried moving a 20g tank with the filter inside a cardboard box inside the tank. I don't know the particulars but we vacuumed a lot of glass from the backseat.

Thanks, I hope I haven't been annoying people with all these threads and questions I have been making. This thread was originally about the different types of 20 gallon tanks. Then it shifted to about speeding up the biological process. So I made a new thread. This one is related to nitrites. http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/thread.aspx?id=34961&rp=5

As to related to this thread. A trip from college to my house is like 10 minutes. So I'm thinking maybe putting most of the gravel and some of the water in a buckets or maybe even in a cooler. Or maybe some water in a buckets or some container and a little bit in the 20 but hardly any water, just a tiny bit like 10% or less. Then the fish putting them in a plastic bag such as maybe ziplock with water.

GH, no such thing as annoying! I think it's goo dot ask questions. I just got started in this hobby myself a couple months ago with a 20g long tank. My tank just cycled finally last week. I also picked up a case of Ich, and added too many fish at once, both of which set back my cycling time.

The best advice I can give, from experience is to be patient. I was not and I ended up extending the time it took my tank to cycle, and killing 6 Tiger barbs in the process. Listen to what the experts here have to say. They have made the mistakes and learned so maybe we won't have to!

Make sure that whatever containers you use to transport their water have not ever had solvents or cleaners in them. I would probably give the tank water a good shot of conditioner before re-releasing the fish back into the tank. I would also be sure to acclimate the fish slowly to the new water temp once you refill the tank. Acclimate them just like you would if you had just brought them home from the LFS, floating their bags in the tank for awhile, all the while occasionally dripping some of the tank water into the bag before you release them. It might also be best not to turn on any tank lights for awhile after releasing them, just to keep the stress to a minimum.

Good luck and enjoy!