another aquascaping rant: super shallow tanks

[Detritivore]

i have been thinking about aquascaping again in my mental ramblings, i came up with this idea:

what if you set up a tank that was super shallow (18" or less) at any rate shallow enough to keep light loving SPS at the bottom. i am trying to simulate a reef crest here. in addition to being shallow, it would have to be quite long and very wide (36"+). cover the bottom with substrate of your choice (starboard, sand, whatever). something white would probably have the best effect. now, instead of useing a lot of live rock, use very very little, almost none, keeping the rock structure fairly low, so that most of the corals will be on the bottom half of the tank. i think it would look pretty awesome in a few years when the corals start getting really huge and growing closer to the top.

to illustrate my point:


anyway, im having a hard time thinking how it would look. i have come up with a few pros and cons of such a design.

pros:
-shallow depth allows for lower wattage halides, maybe even T-5's
-shallow depth also allows for a wider and longer tank without having too much gallonage(is that a word? )
-lack of LR in main display allows for better circulation
-top down view would be killer

cons:
-most people like tall tanks
-may look somewhat out of porportion
-fish selection would probably be limited due to shallow height
-evaporation may become an issue because of the larger surface area compared to standard tanks
-because of length and width,thus increased surface area more lights would be required compared to standard tanks of similar gallonage ( )

anyway, thanks for listening...tell me what you think

[wasp]

My frag tanks are less than 18 inches, it does work, but from a looks point of view it is not as good as a deeper tank, for a display tank.

[Reef Geek]

I used to have a tank like you propse. It was 72" long x 36" wide and only 13" tall. Lit by 3x 400W MH. Bare Bottom. Some liverock which was used to provide Maxima/Crocea with a place to attach on and to seperate some colonies from each other. System was skimmed using a Marine Technical Concepts Power Pro B skimmer (48" tall re-circulating counter-current venturi skimmer)

My SPS did great with that setup. The main disadvantage was that it was hard to see the corals becuase of the widt, limited height to create depth and thus you could only get a good view from the top.

I think 16 to 18" tall might be a better option as it will give you better and more viewing options.

[keigo]

I think to make it better a 20" tall tank will be just nice height.

[Bad Motor Finger]

My new tank is 7' x 20" tall x 24" deep.

Aquascaping is something I think about. A lot.

My plan is aragrocrete arches and short towers/pillars. I've seen plastic pillars used to house frags and it provided huge flow, space, control of frags. I'm not looking to have a frag-rack growout display tank, but the concept seems sound.

Pillars allow placement and adjustment. My thought is to have the pillars look more natural than plastic tubing, of course, but if pillars are incorporated, they can be moved.

I don't want a slag pile anymore, and I don't want rocks that can't be moved without hurting animals or creating an avalanche.
-Jake

What about the standalone pillar idea? With some arches?

BTW Det - it sounds like your idea; would work really well for clam viewing in particular. With my wavebox, it would be interesting to see what can grow near the top of a shallow tank, hopefully growing to where it's peeking out just above the water line as the wave is in it's low point. Like those stonies in the photo.

[29reef]

Many "Japanese" tanks are done in this way with very little live rock and in the form of a reef crest. Edward has posted many such tanks on RC over the months and years, try to get him to post some of them here.

[Detritivore]

yes those pics got me thinkging

[mesocosm]

Greetings All!

-shallow depth allows for lower wattage halides, maybe even T-5's ...

18" is right on the borderline of T5 effectiveness ... if we're talking about SPS specimens placed on the bottom. I'm thinking 14" - 16" max if you want the full PAR value of T5s ... JMO.

-shallow depth also allows for a wider and longer tank without having too much gallonage(is that a word? )

Clearly there will be a significant water volume and weight efficiency, compared with a standard proportion tank ... not to mention significantly "improved" gas exchange rates.

-lack of LR in main display allows for better circulation

True, the obstruction from LR will be minimized, but 36" is going to add distance and distribution factors which will have to be accounted for.

-top down view would be killer

Definitely ...

-most people like tall tanks

Who cares? And everyone has one ... personally, I like being "different" (... which is just as well, given that the doctors say that there's really not a lot that they can do ...). Another way to look at it ... you'll have created an exotic proportionality that could be quite stunning ... and unique in most viewers' experience. Especially in consideration of the "face pressed up against the glass" perspective. You'll also be creating some light vs. shadow contrast possibilities that are just not possible in a standard proportioned tank.

-may look somewhat out of porportion

See above ... but, from the "across the room" perspective, this is a very valid point. The color contrasts immediately adjacent to the primary viewing pane of the system could influence the viewing experience alot. For example, if the system is "in wall", then different colored paneling/surfaces immediately adjacent to the tank can help to "balance out" the proportional perspective. The color and geometry of the tank's surroundings could not only "balance" things out, but could also be used to "frame" the system, and create natural focal points within the room. Also, "artifacts" such as bookcases, shelving ... etc ... could also serve to "balance" things out.

-fish selection would probably be limited due to shallow height

True enough ... :cursin:

-evaporation may become an issue because of the larger surface area compared to standard tanks

Definitely ... either a functional covering and/or top off system will probably be required.

-because of length and width,thus increased surface area more lights would be required compared to standard tanks of similar gallonage ( )

Fair enough ... but consider the aquascaping. If the aquascaping is structured such that it consists of "islands" and "shelves" ... as opposed to "the wall" ... then you're only going to require that light by directed to only certain regions in the tank, yes? If we're still talking about T5s, then small - medium length "clusters" of lights may be all that's required. This will also allow you to take full advantage of the width in terms of bright light vs. shadow regions.


Another "take" on aquascaping ... don't be trapped within a "bottom-up" mentality. A little ingenuity and some PVC & marine epoxy can create structures which are supported from outside the tank. These will appear to be suspended within the water column ... even allowing for the reduced height.

Some examples ...



Notice the orange and green Zoo rock on the far right ... no visible means of support within the tank.


From a design perspective ...



Different tank ... but the "no visible means of support" concept is perhaps shown more clearly, again, on the far right. BTW, the horizontal blue lines indicate independently mounted pieces (4" diameter PVC slices) ... all the LR associated with them can be moved without disrupting any other parts of the LR structure.

Pillars allow placement and adjustment. My thought is to have the pillars look more natural than plastic tubing, of course, but if pillars are incorporated, they can be moved.

I'm right there with you on the whole "pillar" thing ...





Ignore the Kent stuff ... pillars present the opportunity to create some interesting spacing and proportionality geometries ...




JMO ... HTH

[majesticangelfish]

Many "Japanese" tanks are done in this way with very little live rock and in the form of a reef crest. Edward has posted many such tanks on RC over the months and years, try to get him to post some of them here.

These?

[majesticangelfish]

[majesticangelfish]

[majesticangelfish]

And another one of those "illustrate" pics:
http://www.knop.de/d/korallen/Farmkorallen.asp

[majesticangelfish]

Due to the Width vs Height, you could have great angles for "spotlighting" the coral too, feeding more light to the pigments on the side of the coral...

[Detritivore]

great points gary...i saw that hanging rock in person, that was way cool, i must say...

josh, the problem is, we dont get spotlights in the US :crap:

[Detritivore]

anyone know what those little fish are in the japanese pics?

also, another thing to add, in terms of functionality, i think a tank with this sort of shape would work best as a peninsula style room divider, or better, yet, viewable from all four sides with no obstructions (the ultimate cube!!! or semi-cube...whatever you want to call it)