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How tall is too tall for a vertical tank?

4K views 29 replies 18 participants last post by  hpglow 
#1 ·
A friend of mine gave me an aquarium that I wouldn't trust with water in it for the life of me (bad repair job on the back/side and the middle brace is broken out)... I was originally going to use it as a paludarium until I saw it but I just thought of something silly yesterday...
I don't have space for a 6' long tank really buuut what if I stood it up?
If I remember right it's about 120g or so but I don't want to go measure it right now.

I'm not sure if there is a way to make it be sturdy enough to have vertical but that would sure give a person height to use a plant that gets tall, or something.

I told her I wasn't going to use it but I don't think she wants it back so I'm just trying to think of something to do with it.
 
#6 ·
to solve that, couldn't you just put some lights in the middle as well?

maybe even instead of them being on the outside, put one in the middle inside. just need to make a waterproof overhang that the light can be in. like an upside down 5" pot surrounded with great stuff to completely hide it. then just put a piece of screen under it to keep the frogs from coming in contact with it and getting burnt.
 
#8 ·
zaroba said:
to solve that, couldn't you just put some lights in the middle as well?

maybe even instead of them being on the outside, put one in the middle inside. just need to make a waterproof overhang that the light can be in. like an upside down 5" pot surrounded with great stuff to completely hide it. then just put a piece of screen under it to keep the frogs from coming in contact with it and getting burnt.
At an indoor garden store, I saw a cool t-5 fixture that I think could be used.
It places the bulbs verticaly, in a tower, to put in the middle of the garden.

I thought a person could do something like that, and disguise the front (viewing panel) with something like a tree trunk.
The shadows would be sort of un-natural, but it would work.
 
#9 ·
While I don't know much about them (search the frognet archives for some good information on the technical aspects), this seems to be a better use for LEDs as it would allow for spot lighting.

This would also allow one to simulate a more typical enviroment if you placed high light plants up high and low light plants lower down with a dense leaf litter substrate

Ed
 
#10 ·
I just picked up a 55gal that is 4 feet long that I'd like to make into a vert. (It was $25, BTW).
I, too, had the idea of putting an LED grow light in the middle, but everything that I found was truely ridiculus in price.
I really do not want to put lights on the outside in the middle like Pigface did, because I'd like it veiwable from three sides.

It's going to be awhile before I get started on this new tank, so I'm interested to see what your lighting solution is, Pet Teez.
 
#12 ·
Just a thought ? How about leaving an opening or two in the background about half way up , a couple circular holes in the great stuff , mount a light on the back and have the light shine through the back sort of like a sky light ? Depending on the thickness of the background you could aim it a little .
 
#15 ·
#16 ·
Hiya guys, I just went out and measured the other two parts, if it were sitting the "proper" way the tank would be 72" long, 23"(plus a smidge) tall and 17"deep.

I was considering using natural light through a window/slider for this (would help cut down on my electricity consumption a bit) but then thought that we could make a cabinet type thing around it so that the front is where you view it and I could mount some lights to the back but if all the light came from the back all the plants would grow away from me, wouldn't they?

It seems like it would be a bit too unnatural (to me) if the lighting came from the sides/bottom but it would work for plants I guess.

I'm not sure that I would try to keep any critters in this but the project popped into my head from viewing this forum (plus some paludariums on a website that has planted tank contests) so I figured I would ask.
The main thing I was wondering is if it would be strong enough to have set up this way.

Ok, enough of my rambling (for now) and thanks a ton for all the replies so far :)
 
#17 ·
My concern with natural light is heat. If it gets direct sun the tank heats up a lot, think the greenhouse effect. I do think bright indirect light could help. Mounting some lights on the side could work with a strong light at the top. I would not run the lights on the side all the way down, maybe half way. Afterall, plants on the forest floor get less light than those at the top. If you considered planting and light requitements for each plant it could be done. A cabinnet design should be enough to hold the thing up, but I would anchor it to the wayy, no one wants 6' of glass coming down.
 
#18 ·
Mywebbedtoes said:
My concern with natural light is heat. If it gets direct sun the tank heats up a lot, think the greenhouse effect. I do think bright indirect light could help. Mounting some lights on the side could work with a strong light at the top. I would not run the lights on the side all the way down, maybe half way. Afterall, plants on the forest floor get less light than those at the top. If you considered planting and light requitements for each plant it could be done. A cabinnet design should be enough to hold the thing up, but I would anchor it to the wayy, no one wants 6' of glass coming down.
If you are putting it in a cabinet that hides both sides, how about lights on both sides, as well as the top? You could time them so the came on in the morning on one side, then toward midday, the top lights could come on, then as it progressed toward afternoon the "east" side lights would go out and the "west" side come on. Finally, later in the day, the top light could go out before the "west" side light. This might counteract the tendency of the plants to grow toward the side with the lights, or have light coming from both sides at once, and casting weird double shadows.
 
#20 ·
I didn't mean outside or right up next to a window ;)
I've been a turtle person for a long time and I've had to explain to people many times about keeping tanks in direct sunlight and outside.
We have a a few areas of the house that light up during the day so I wouldn't need to subject it to greenhouse type heat issues to light it.

I might not set it up at all, not sure yet... I just have ideas pop up in my head like anyone with "MTS" does... plus I'm kind of tired of the tank sitting on the front porch. heh

Mywebbedtoes said:
My concern with natural light is heat. If it gets direct sun the tank heats up a lot, think the greenhouse effect. I do think bright indirect light could help. Mounting some lights on the side could work with a strong light at the top. I would not run the lights on the side all the way down, maybe half way. Afterall, plants on the forest floor get less light than those at the top. If you considered planting and light requitements for each plant it could be done. A cabinnet design should be enough to hold the thing up, but I would anchor it to the wayy, no one wants 6' of glass coming down.
 
#25 ·
since the tank is 17" deep, why not get 2 T5 lights at 6 ft long? When you make your stand, make a small curve around the front an extra 3 inches-or just big enough to block the light to the viewers from the front. Have them aimed at the front that way.

I don't know if that makes sense. But I hope it does.
 
#26 ·
Before I had dismissed the idea of in-tank LEDs as too expensive.
Most of the ones marketed as "grow lights" truly are. Otherwise at most sites prices range from expensive to really expensive.

However, there are some reasonable ones out there.
Here are the the cheapest ones I have found:
http://stores.ebay.com/LEDwholesalers-Inc
Using a spot or flood should work to get the lumens up near or above 100. They also do have panels of grow lights that are not too expensive, but they don't look like they would be very good for viewing.
 
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