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Top 5 Reasons to Avoid Tall Reef Aquariums
Last updated on November 17th, 2023
Tall Reef Aquariums
Tall reef aquariums, including tube and hex style tanks, come with a variety of additional challenged. Though tall reef tanks may be some of the most stunning saltwater tanks, they can also be some of the most challenging. Here are the top 5 challenges to tall reef tanks.
Top 5 Reasons to Avoid Tall Reef Tanks
5. Swimming Space
Tall reef aquariums don't offer a lot of space for fish to swim. Remember, most fish swim left to right, not up and down. Tall reef tanks limit the types of fish you can keep.
4. Light Penetration
Tall reef aquariums require either stronger lighting or less high demand coral. Since the space with high par values is limited to the top area of tall reef aquariums, you will likely be forced to have a mixed reef with SPS coral on top, fading in to LPS and soft corals on the bottom.
3. Flow Pattern Difficulty
With a short width and length, tall reef aquariums are fairly difficult to properly provide good, turbulent flow without over doing it. This is because you can't have the pumps facing each other without an overly high flow location.
2. Difficult to Aquascape
Tall reef tanks offer one method of aquascaping, a tower. This is because the is really only one direction to go. Too many shelves in tall reef aquariums will block light to the bottom of the tank and should be avoided.
1. Hard to Clean
Tall reef aquariums are very difficult to clean! This is because it is hard to reach the bottom of the tank with a siphon. Even if you are tall enough, with long enough arms, you have to work around the rock and coral. What is likely to happen is either the bottom of the tank will be left uncleaned or you will break coral/knock over rock.
Conclusion
I spent this whole article telling you why I do not like tall reef aquariums. I do want to mention that, when done correctly, tall reef tanks can be some of the most stunning mixed reefs as they best mimic the coral reef. If you decide to set up a tall reef tank, make sure to go big to provide swimming room for fish and space to clean.
Thanks for Choosing Reef Stable
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Recommended Reading:
- Guide to Flow for Reef Aquariums
- How to Set Up a Saltwater Fish Tank - Equipment Guide
- How to Clean Saltwater Fish Tanks
About the Author
John Krenzer
John is a Software Engineer with a passion for saltwater aquariums, as well as the founder and president of Reef Stable. He started in the aquarium hobby as a child with a 20 gallon freshwater aquarium. His interest in aquarium life grew and in 2008, John set up his first saltwater aquarium.
Today, John maintains an over 300 gallon reef tank system, consisting of a 120g reef and a 210g reef. These large tanks are contained within the same system, sharing a sump as a means to reduce total maintenance and increase total water volume.
John writes articles for the blog as a means to learn about more reef aquarium topics. These articles act as a reference for the readers as well as himself. John updates these articles frequently to provide additional information or make corrections as new information becomes available.
If you would like to request an article, tank tour article, or to collaborate, let me know via the Contact Me Page!
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