4ft tank suitable?

[smithrc]

We've moved now and the plans for the room dividing tank have gone (Now we're moved in, the sizes just wernt going to work)

So we are thinking about getting a trigon 350 for the kitched and having our current 4ft tank stock in that (with a few extras)

So... the 4ft would end up empty, the lounge wont have a tank in, I i still wont have my marine tank.

The tank is metric - 120cm x 40cm x 40cm

thats 4ft x 15.75" x 15.75"

would this be tall enough for a reef tank?

It will be lit with compacts and not halides to the light intensity shouldnt be too much.
(Lorna has said no to an open top and pendant)

What do you think?

 

[ess17]

I am just a beginner to this, but it seems that would be a great tank size. Light fixtures come in a 4ft length so they shouldn't be hard to find. It seems the height would be good too because it will give you some room for aquascaping, but it isn't too deep so the light would be able to penetrate all the way down. (I think this is why reef tanks are very seldom deeper than 24 inches, and most of the time people don't recommend more than 18 inches). Sorry this isn't an expert opinion, but I would say you have a great tank to start with!

 

[Def]

Sounds fine in principle. Only thing I'd be wary of is the lack of front-to-back space. When you get some rock in there it's going to be tough to aquascape, get enough live rock and keep enough swimming space.

 

[canyoubelieveit]

People set up tanks this size all of the time. Aquascaping is not a problem if you are careful. Try a few larger pieces of LR and A LOT of smaller pieces. This can be a beautiful tank, with the proper amount of planning and maintmance.

Keep us posted!

 

[smithrc]

oh... there will be planning - lots of planning
thats one of the best bits (being an engineer )

the tank is a complete kit - running fresh water tropical at the moment.
I'm planning to retro fit compact floresents into the hood.

not sure what size / output yet

It'll probably end up being modified with a DIY overflow and sump - returning via 2 fluval 304's and a vectron 8w UV (as I have these already) in one of the fluvals will be the Phosphate removal stuff - the other will probably be empty.

I'll probubly light the sump with CF's too so i have somewhere for frags (am i getting ahead of myself here! )

 

[Navarre]

The tank holds 42 gallons and i feel that 40 gallons is a great starting capacity for a 1st time reef tank. Its an ideal size for viewing, great for a good number of fish to give the tank movement and colour.

If you can add a sump then you will gain the benefit of even more stability and i fully recomend its addition if its practically possible.

as has been mentioned, the aquascaping needs to be carefully planned. It is perfectly possible to get a stunning looking reef design but with a narrower tank you might just need to hand pick the liverock for your tank a bit more carefully.

As for lighting...
The tank is not too deep and thus halides are not essential. I didnt see what type of corals you wish to keep but if we are to take the tanks development one step at a time then this curent design is perfect for soft corals and also ideal for many lsp hard corals.

You might bhave problems with acros or montis but i would not recmend these corals for a beginner yet anyway so i feel its best to learn the technicalities of a reef system before attempting them.

one last thought...
You obviously know the history of the tank so you should be able to answer the qusestion easily. Has the tank ever been doses with copper? if the tank ever had a case of whitespot and you dosed with a freshwater whitespot treatment then its highly likely its copper based. If this is true then i would be very careful about adding a reef to this tank. Copper is deadly to inverts in the tiniest quantity and can remain resident in the tanks silicone indefinately. Most cases wont see the copper return back into the system but to be sure i would run a polyfilter and regular copper tests to be sure its safe.

 

[smithrc]

pretty sure we're safe from copper as we have snails and shrimp in the tank and didnt want to kill them either

Hopefully I'll add an overflow to the back of the tank and have a sump in the cabinet below. probubly a 2ftx1x1. will a skimmer fit in that?

Planning on sofies to start with - until I get the basics and start to progress

will 2 fluval 304 be enough flow? I know they are rated at 1000l/h but they really dont seem like it looking at the output

I might see how long it takes one to empty a bucket.

 

[Navarre]

The fluvals are not as high on flo rate as they like to claim. New ones maybe but they soon lose their potency imo.

A skimmer should fit this but take a lok around and ask your lfs what they supply near you etc. There are skimmers.... and there are skimmer )

 

[smithrc]

cool.. one fluval and a return pump then.