Vertical Reef

[Zante]

First of all let me say I currently have no intention of doing this. I don't feel I have nearly enough experience with saltwater, but I had this intriguing idea and would like to pick your expert brains.

Imagine a column aquarium like this: http/www.allpondsolutions.co.uk/aquarium-1/fish-tanks/column-aquarium-fish-tanks/stainless-steel-acrylic-view-aquarium.html

I understand that it would be difficult, let's say impossible, to get proper lighting to such a depth, but what if the lights were placed vertically along the tank, high power LEDs for example. It would be something like a classic reef, but turned 90 degrees.

With an appropriate selection of fish and inverts could such a "vertical reef" work?

I've had a look around and found no such setup, not even on the Internet. It could be just me looking in the wrong places, but is it really possible I thought of something new, that nobody tried yet?

 

[ZoddyZod]

the thing that usually kills these tanks as an idea is....

How do you clean the glass at the bottom?

 

[Zante]

the thing that usually kills these tanks as an idea is....

How do you clean the glass at the bottom?

Uhm... A scrub with a reeeeeally long handle?

More seriously, curved walls notwithstandinghow about a magnetic scrubber?

 

[bae1994]

the surface area is the big problems with these tanks and the fish choice is limited due to the small swimming space

 

[MBOU]

It could be done...

Cleaning it would be awful... algae magnets wont work on curved surfaces and they arent tough enough to get calcerous marine algae off. Same with long handled algae scrubbers, at that angle, you wouldnt be able to get the pressure to clean straight down.

You would have to use a lot of powerheads to get the flow and filtration and skimming wont be easy...

But at the same time... fish and shrimp wise you could still make an interesting enough display...

Tank would need to be 2-3ft accross just to get the space in there...

But a lot of fish live on drop offs, reef faces. I think fish like royal grammas and other basslets would love it. Anthias too if the tank was big enough.

Metal Halide lighting to get the light penetrating deep enough...

Would make it expensive to run...

And you certainly wouldnt get me paying for the ammount of liverock it would take to create a vertical tank like that!!

 

[MBOU]

Stupid double post *grumps*

 

[lljdma06]

Agree, you'd do a drop off tank, but why kill yourself with lighting? Get the nps corals involved. Yes, the target feedings would be a challenge, that's for sure, but I think it would be a very interesting system.

Or you go total pest anemones, barnacles, macros, and stuff and do a tank that imitates the life you'd find like on a column of wood from a jetty or something along those lines. That could be cool too.

A challenge, but possible for a hobbyist with enough drive. The tank you posted was actually a nice size.