Shallow, wide, braceless, rimless tanks have been popular with reefers, especially in Japan for a few years now. Amano's used them too in a few layouts. But I've never seen one in the UK until recently.
In opti-white they look amazing. And they make perfect sense for the aquascaping enthusiast. All that extra depth to play with to get the best views possible. The fish love it too, with better oxygen exchange and more surface area to swim about.
Last week I aquascaped this tank for PFK's Jeremy Gay. I'm not allowed to show any aquascape photos or tell you what we put in there but from these photos you can get a rough idea of the dimensions - 80 x 30H x 60 cm. That's 60cm front to back and just 30cm tall!
Perfect for growing emergent plants, protruding wood etc. Even exposed rockwork perhaps. And they're so easy to maintain too. With long tweezers and scissors you hardly need to get your hands wet! These types of tanks really do open up a whole new world of potential when compared with regular dimensions.
For instance there's a completely new aquascape viewable from the side, with a 60 x 30H cm viewing window.
Sure, you can achieve this with a cube but another advantage of a shallow tank is that water circulation becomes less of an issue and you can run lower lighting than usual to achieve nice carpets and/or compact plant growth.
In fact I don't really see many downsides, except for more evaporation and some fish may spook with such an open expanse above, depending on your planting and decor design. Maybe they may not fit well into some cramped living spaces, I guess.
I think this style of aquarium has the potential to do really well with aquascaping enthusiasts and I am certainly considering one myself.
This tank (excluding cabinet) wasn't too expensive either costing around £120 from UKAPS Sponsors, Aquariums Ltd.
I'd be interested to hear what you think. Would you consider a shallow and wide tank?
In opti-white they look amazing. And they make perfect sense for the aquascaping enthusiast. All that extra depth to play with to get the best views possible. The fish love it too, with better oxygen exchange and more surface area to swim about.
Last week I aquascaped this tank for PFK's Jeremy Gay. I'm not allowed to show any aquascape photos or tell you what we put in there but from these photos you can get a rough idea of the dimensions - 80 x 30H x 60 cm. That's 60cm front to back and just 30cm tall!
Perfect for growing emergent plants, protruding wood etc. Even exposed rockwork perhaps. And they're so easy to maintain too. With long tweezers and scissors you hardly need to get your hands wet! These types of tanks really do open up a whole new world of potential when compared with regular dimensions.
For instance there's a completely new aquascape viewable from the side, with a 60 x 30H cm viewing window.
Sure, you can achieve this with a cube but another advantage of a shallow tank is that water circulation becomes less of an issue and you can run lower lighting than usual to achieve nice carpets and/or compact plant growth.
In fact I don't really see many downsides, except for more evaporation and some fish may spook with such an open expanse above, depending on your planting and decor design. Maybe they may not fit well into some cramped living spaces, I guess.
I think this style of aquarium has the potential to do really well with aquascaping enthusiasts and I am certainly considering one myself.
This tank (excluding cabinet) wasn't too expensive either costing around £120 from UKAPS Sponsors, Aquariums Ltd.
I'd be interested to hear what you think. Would you consider a shallow and wide tank?
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