Close to pulling the trigger on a 60x30x14 rimless tank thoughts?

[brent245]

I'm close to pulling the trigger on a custom size rimless glass tank from glass cages. 60x30x14. it's going to be a shallow planted tank. My idea is to create a rocky island in the center with vegetation out of the water as well a submerged vegetation in the water, and large driftwood pieces I haven't seen anyone do this type of tank in this size. Most tanks seem to be less than 36" long

My concern is the height of this tank, does 14" tall seem to be enough? I don't want to go too tall because shallow with a big footprint is what I am going for, almost like a frag tank but for freshwater.

As far as inhabitants I am not really sure at the moment. I have thought about doing several razorback musk turtles and a bunch of small danios, tetras or other small fast fish. Thoughts?

 

[fishhead0103666]

I've heard mixed reviews from glass cages so I can't say anything there.

 

[deeda]

It sounds like a very cool project, especially as a somewhat planted tank. I can't comment on your livestock choices as no personal experience.

Have you seen this tank in person? I don't see an issue with the height for your plans, what I think is more important is if you really like all the dimensions of the the tank visually.

 

[brent245]

I like the look of something like this, but mine would be on a much larger footprint. I've never seen photos of any as large as i'm thinking of.

 

[deeda]

You could always try laying out the dimensions of the tank on your floor though that doesn't really give you an honest view of what it would look like. You could always get some large appliance cardboard boxes and recreate the length x width x height to get a better idea of what it would actually look like.

 

[fishhead0103666]

Or make an outline of the tank using popsicle sticks. Literally build the tank using popsicles sticks, it'll be a fun project.

 

[brent245]

I guess I can visualize it, it would be 2" taller than a standard 10g tank, and 4" shorter than a 40 breeder

 

[Gourami Swami]

My concern with such a shallow tank with big footprint would be maintaining enough circulation throughout the tank. Since it's so shallow any décor will probably break the flow. Not saying it's not do-able, just might require some thought. I think more output nozzles with less flow from each, pointed in different directions, would probably be ideal. If you were to drill in the center and bring the water up through a pipe there, which you could silicon rocks all around to make a base for your plant part coming out of the water, I think that would be awesome. Sounds like an amazing tank! I would look at frag tanks for inspiration, lots of reefers have shallow tanks like this for growing frags of coral.