3ft or 4ft tank?

[14litre]

Not now but I'm preparing for future (not near future) upgrade.

I'm doing my research for low tech low maintenance tank.

Tank Size, on paper (after reading a few articles) i wanted to go for 55 gallons, 4 FT tank.

When I went to a LFS, i found 4 FT is huge but something I love to have.

I was thinking how about 3 Ft then?

So I'm in a dilemma now.

For those who have owned these 2 types of tank, which one is more sensible long in the long term?

I need to consider the filter and lightings.
I'm not going for CO2.

Filter and lightings, between 4 FT and 3 FT, are the price difference huge and electricity consumption high?

For filter, please consider eheim only.

For lightings, please consider T5, 4ft will be 55W, 3ft will be 45W. Rating is 6500K (I'm not sure what this means, just read from Internet that this is recommended rating)

So between 4 and 3 FT,
Any big difference in the startup cost,
And running the equipment in the long run, which is more economical?

Which one will you pick and why?

Thank you in advance.
I've not own a big tank before and this is one thing that I want to do as my bucket list. I will settle just on 1 tank, not going to change anymore.

[Shadow]

What will the tank for? Aquascaping, planted tank, shrimp tank or fish only tank? What you want to keep is effect I on what tank size you need. For example if you plan to keep altumn angel then 4x2x2 will be suitable. Another example, in aquascaping, bigger tank have beter chance to get higher rank.

[14litre]

It will be a Planted Tank for home viewing (my retirement: sit beside it, one hand with a bah bao, another hand with kopi ).

Neon tetra will be the fish.
Shrimp as algae cleaner along with Oto.

Not for aquascaping because i tend to be lazy.
That's also why I am going for low tech low maintenance and without CO2.

My intention is to plant heavily at the start, with a lot of stem plants.
After a few months I will slowly phase out these with slower growing plants.
(I gathered these from reading a few articles)

I wanted a planted tank with a lot of greenery.

If the start up and running cost for 4Ft are not much different from 3ft, i will settle with 4ft.

If there is a wide cost difference, then I will settle for 3ft.

[kermit13sg]

Hi, I was in your dilemma a month ago. Like you, I am planning a new planted tank for my new place. It was a battle between a 3 or 4 feet but finally I made up my mind on a 4 because I want to prolong the itch backside syndrome. I tend to like to upgrade after a while. So if I settle for a 4 now, it will be virtually impossible to go bigger because of space constraint. But with a 3, I know it can grow.

In terms of price of equipment, to me, I think it is not going to be much more. Even if it is, why not? It is your passion and spending more now may save more in the long run.

Just my 2 cents worth.

[lantian69]

Yup, agreed with Kermit13sg. Totally same scenario as u guys here. So that's how my 4ft came into my room ^_^

[aza]

I had the same dilemma too. In the end it came down to what's most affordable at that period of time. Now itching for a larger tank, urgggghhhh!

[14litre]

Thank you so much guys. Your feedback reaffirmed my decision. 4FT, here I come!

I am very kiasu type, this setup is for my far future project.

Finalizing the size is important for me because I find it difficult to search for a specific product.
Now with the size fixed, I can narrow down and zoom into anything with 4FT.

I will post what I have in mind in the near future so as to get any opinion/comments/recommendations/caution before I seal the shopping list.

Thank you so much for sharing once again.

[kermit13sg]

Well done 14litre, glad we can help. In future may need to contact you on where you get your stuff...


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[14litre]

Thank you. I have a lot to learn. I might have questions every now and then, so please pardon me if it sounds too noob.

[BlessChwee]

Personally I would not go for a 2ft depth anymore for my future tank as many plants grow much better in a 1.5ft tank without having headache on lighting issue. Another plus point is easier maintainence as whole arm have to
go into water if need to clean the tank

[14litre]

Oh! Thanks for sharing your experience. Much appreciated.