Pros and cons to a cube tank

[ScubaSteve]

Originally Posted by xenon

We are in the middle of building a cube (24x24x18) and the biggest "con" would have to be the footprint under the stand. Its really tough to fit everything needed to run a proper reef under the stand.

You need room for sump, skimmer, reactors, return pump, doser, dosing containers, auto-top-off, powerbar, etc...

It can be done, it just requires careful planning.

I'll second this! I'm in the process of designing a new sump to fit under the stand.

My other complaint would be the difficulty with placing rock to have lots of real estate for corals. I'm an SPS guy, so it may be more of an issue for me that others.

I built a 24x24x20 cube (don't make a true cube, they look goofy). I like the 20" height as it avoids the wet armpit syndrome. If you're going with 30x30 foot print, you're pits will be even wetter as you need to reach further into the tank to touch the middle.

What do I love about it? Everything else!

[IanWR]

I went with a cube-ish tank, 30x24x24. If I had to do it again, I would have made it only 20" deep.

[Aquattro]

While my tank isn't a cube, it's cube(ish). 30x40x22h. I faced the potential for limited space under it, so simply made the stand bigger. It's footprint is about 34 x 52, giving me a nice ledge around the tank. Fits all my stuff

[reefmandan]

Footprint under the stand was definitely a con for me when I had my cube. I also found aquascaping hard, at least to produce something I liked that could handle placement of all the coral I had.

[xenon]

I am currently enjoying the challenges of a cube.

It sure does help that I have 10 years experience under my belt.

I would have failed miserably planning a cube if it was my first tank.

[Proteus]

I have a 24x24x12 half cube.. Flow was easy to achieve using directional bulkheads and a couple mp10..

Under the tank was a bit of a challenge but I managed to have a sump with socks skimmer reactor and return nicely packaged. Along with a 5 gal ato (fluval bucket) and a doser with container's. While it's a tight fit it works well

[sphelps]

How is the footprint under a cube smaller than a comparable rectangular tank? 24x24 is the same as 36x16 or 48x12. In fact cube tanks make it easier to have a stand that can accessed from all sides so if anything you're at an advantage. In general sounds to me the space issues you guys are having relates more to fitting a lot of equipment under a small tank, not a cube tank specifically. You'd probably use the same equipment if you up'd the tank size to 30x30 or even 36x36.

The biggest disadvantage I had was light and flow as others mentioned, not so much an issue with a 24x24 but with 30x30 or 36x36 problems start to rise since most lights are designed for a 24x24 footprint. Cubes usually have 3 main viewing panels as appose to one so it's less desirable to place power heads on the sides so you're usually forced to have all source flow on the back which again becomes more problematic the bigger you go in footprint.

Advantages I liked was the amount of accessible space under the stand, in fact I ended actually putting a second display tank under the main although I did later end up moving equipment in the room behind but not out of necessity. I liked the aquascape and coral placement potential for 3 viewing panels and the overall presence of the tank was significant.