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	Which tank would be better?
covered-in-bees Fingerling I am not a mushroom! Posts: 47 Kudos: 36 Votes: 20 Registered: 16-Mar-2005	Ok, I'm thinking of going dark. I have two tanks I could use, a 30g or a 44g. My 44g hex has my africans in it, but I could move them to the 30. So which is better? The longer 30, or the taller 44? "Constant vigilance!" Mad-Eye Moody
Posted 08-Oct-2006 23:13
sham Ultimate Fish Guru Posts: 3369 Kudos: 2782 Votes: 98 Registered: 21-Apr-2004	It doesn't make a huge difference but I would probably choose the 30g. Surface area and oxygen exchange can become an important issue in a marine tank. I'd stock a tall narrow tank a bit lighter than a shorter wider tank. It does depend what your using it for though. A few setups are much better in a hex tank. The recently mentioned seahorses are one. For a standard fowlr or reef setup a tank with more surface area and bottom space usually is easier to maintain and aquascape. A hex tank can look quite interesting if your a bit creative though.
Posted 08-Oct-2006 23:57
covered-in-bees Fingerling I am not a mushroom! Posts: 47 Kudos: 36 Votes: 20 Registered: 16-Mar-2005	Wow, probably would have helped if I said what I was planning! Duh! I want a reef tank, probably very few fish. So in that aspect it would be lightly stocked. Mostly corals and such, heavily planted I would say coming from my freshie background! "Constant vigilance!" Mad-Eye Moody
Posted 09-Oct-2006 00:23
sham Ultimate Fish Guru Posts: 3369 Kudos: 2782 Votes: 98 Registered: 21-Apr-2004	With the hex tank being so tall and narrow your going to first have issues fitting corals. Everything is going to be stacked in the middle and top space is going to be a real premium. With a longer, wider tank you can build a larger flatter reef structure with corals going all along the top. The 2nd problem is the hex tank will not accomodate as much light and being deeper the corals will be farther from the light unless you really build up the rock structure. With the 30g you can fit longer pc lights and if you desire more than lower or mid light corals more metal halides with the corals also being closer to the light. That being said I've seen some awesome hex tank setups that took advantage of the height and are lit with several metal halide pendants. It would take alot more work and planning though because the space just isn't there and for higher light corals it's just easier to light a shallow tank.
Posted 09-Oct-2006 01:10
sham Ultimate Fish Guru Posts: 3369 Kudos: 2782 Votes: 98 Registered: 21-Apr-2004	heavily planted I would say coming from my freshie background By the way it is possible to do a planted marine tank: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=620824 http://fins.actwin.com/aquatic-plants/month.200212/msg00197.html
Posted 09-Oct-2006 05:01


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