Pros vs Cons: Rimless Aquariums vs Traditional Braced Aquariums

Pros vs Cons: Which type of aquarium do you prefer?

  • Rimless Aquarium

    Votes: 239 72.0%
  • Traditional Braced Aquarium

    Votes: 93 28.0%

  • Total voters
    332

Steelerfan747

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I see benefits for both and have owned both. The best thing about rimless is you have an unobstructed opening thats easy to work on plus looks modern and cleaner
 

Kenconnect

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Heres a look
 

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Albeez

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What about evaporation? Does a rimless evaporate more and require more top off? When I leave the lid off of my rimmed tank I definitely lose more water over night.
 
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revhtree

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One issue I had with my rimless is small but it still bugged me. Cleaning it by hand or with an algae magnet cleaner always ended up with water coming over the side of the tank.
 

JMSKI333

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At this time I plan to never go rimless for the simple reason that I like my fish in the tank, not on the floor. Adding a mesh screen lid defeats the purpose of the clean look of a rimless tank and it just ends up looking like a rimmed tank that is low on water. On a rimmed tank, the mesh screen frame locks right into place in the rim and looks much cleaner.
 

chem

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I love my rimless just hate how the water sloshes out when i clean the algea off lol
 

chem

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and dont forget those who are rimless (if youre like me in the near future) i will be making a screen top for the tank so i can get more fish in it that are known to jump to so they dont jump out
 

Vwtbug

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I can't wait to go rim less n be able to reach my coral my tanks is 12 month old new to hobby love my tank just hard take care of cant wait to tell wife I want another tank even if ihave to put a cover on it when u have company take it off n enjoy
 
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Vwtbug

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I can't wait to go rim less n be able to reach my coral my tanks is 12 month old new to hobby love my tank just hard take care of cant wait to tell wife I want another tank even if have to put a cover on it when u have company take it off n enjoy

uredy2a3.jpg
150 tall
 

Boa1277

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Rimless Recessed Euro Bracing. I will never own another tank without these features. No problem with water sloshing. No problem with water dripping down front of clean glass. Love being able to set stuff on Euro Bracing. Same look as a full rimless!
 

basile

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Resolving problems between the two

I never had a rimless, and i decided to get 2 of them. I knew about the loose snails; the jumpers, the waterline, water splash.

- watersplash; they both get it no matter what, so....

- the jumpers, you have to put a screen on either of them anyway, so , but you have the option of a rimless at any time by just removing the screen or the fish.

- the runaway snail, i've decided that my cleaning crew would be less dependant on small critter that you have to constantly replace every 2 months or so and go for the professional job holders. For my algae , nothing beats urchins either tuxedo or longspine , they have the widest possible range of algae eating variety possible and a huge appetite, and they dont get out. For smaller area i use fighting conch ; detritus i have one brittle star, the sand ; one red starsfish(Fromia milleporella) , and cucumbers .

- The waterline i actually enjoy the wavemaking of my wavebox and seeing the current going from one side to the other , from a medical journal they said that in some patient in a hospital where they have a tank heart rates and blood pressure go down.


By the way this is what a fighting conch eats which is the widest variety of species of algeas in the snails world,

Derbesia marina
Derbesia species 2
Derbesia species 1
Oscillatoria sp. 2
Oscillatoria sp. 1
Cladophoropsis species 2
Cladophoropsis species 1
Acetabularia crennulata (Mermaids Cup/Mermaid Wine Glass Alga)
Diatoms Stringy Growth
Diatom Coating
Chlorodesmis species (Turtle Weed)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This what an urchin eats;

Ulva rigida (Sea Lettuce)
Ulva lactuca
Bryopsis species
Bryopsis plumosa
Cladophora rupestris
Cladophora prolifera
Cladophora laetevirens
Dictyosphaeria cavernosa (Green Bubble Weed)
Valonia macrophysa
Valonia utricularis 2
Valonia utricularis 1
Boodlea species
Ostreobium species
Valoniopsis pachynema
Acetabularia crennulata (Mermaids Cup/Mermaid Wine Glass Alga)
Fucus vesiculosus 2
Fucus vesiculosus 1
Fucus spiralis
Cladophoropsis species 2
Cladophoropsis species 1
Ventricaria ventricosa
Chaetomorpha crassa
Chaetomorpha aerea
Sargassum vulgare
Sargassum sinicola
Sargassum natans
Sargassum johnstoni
Sargassum hystrix
Sargassum fluitans
Lobophora variegata 1
Laminaria species
Enteromorpha prolifera
Enteromorpha linza
Enteromorpha intestinalis
Enteromorpha compressa
Hypnea musciformis
Hypnea cervicornis
Wrangelia argus
Dictyota linearis
Dictyota dichotoma
Dictyota bartayresii
Polysiphonia elongata
Chlorodesmis species (Turtle Weed)
Centroceras clavulatum
Derbesia marina
Derbesia species 2
Derbesia species 1
 
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don_chuwish

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I have one of each. I hate the center brace of the rimmed tank, but hate the water sloshing worry of the rimless. If money were no object I'd probably order a custom 'rimless with minimal euro-brace' style. Basically a euro-brace that is non-structural.
 

DSP

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I don't have a problem with water sloshing out of mine.

Same here Rev that's the first time Iv heard that lol, Gotta have rimless! They just look so clean, Every tank I use to keep that had a rim I would remove the rim because they look bad imo unless u have a nice canopy to hide them. Another pro to rimless is you don't have to worry about salt creep building up under the rims and getting knocked back in the tank.
 

basile

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Now that i had both i can make an objective and informed opinion, and say that Rimless rocks. If your only point of view is to look for the negative aspect ; you'll see it in any senario, either traditional or rimless. Rimless is for me a cleaner look and seem less bulky. The accumulation of eurobrace by salt is so distracting at my friends house its all you see, on top of the tank. Even the light doesn't shine properly its being diverted like a prism. As for securaty i don't have an issue ....yet with my wavebox lol. My snails have stayed all but for one, which i've named Marco Polo and put him back in the tank. He had crawled out and did the whole six feet of the tank outside before dropping to the floor during the night.

The Reef 150G starfire

Photo702.jpg


The display Refugium 75 G starfire
Photo803.jpg
 
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xthunderx

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I think once you own a rimless aquarium you start to realize a few things. I'm not going to say that the cons outweigh the pros, but it does take special care to own a rimless tank. I really disliked cleaning the glass with an algae magnet and I would constantly have to clean up water that would spill over the sides. For jumpers, it makes it really easy to end up dried up behind the tank.

Having owned rimless I went back to eurobrace, and I think that will be most people's experience.
 

stunreefer

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Rimless versus trim is completely personal preference like so many things in our hobby.

Any aquarium I install is drilled so the water line is a minimum of 2" below the glass/acrylic edge, rimless or not. This helps prevent splashing and offers some space between the water surface and lid (screen, mesh, glass, etc.) so that when fish jump (not if!) there's an air cushion prior to knocking themselves silly on the top.

If you keep fish of any species, you must keep a top on it. If you do not keep a top on your tank you should not be keeping fish. Fish have already beaten all odds to get into our hands through collection, export, import, wholesale and retail custody, not affording them the best chance of survival by something as simple as implementing a top is inexcusable.
 

Aquaph8

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Rimless versus trim is completely personal preference like so many things in our hobby.

Any aquarium I install is drilled so the water line is a minimum of 2" below the glass/acrylic edge, rimless or not. This helps prevent splashing and offers some space between the water surface and lid (screen, mesh, glass, etc.) so that when fish jump (not if!) there's an air cushion prior to knocking themselves silly on the top.

If you keep fish of any species, you must keep a top on it. If you do not keep a top on your tank you should not be keeping fish. Fish have already beaten all odds to get into our hands through collection, export, import, wholesale and retail custody, not affording them the best chance of survival by something as simple as implementing a top is inexcusable.

Completely agree
 

killmc

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Traditional Braced Aquarium as i got grandkids and glass tops keep my fish safe :)
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 66 37.3%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 59 33.3%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 14.1%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 27 15.3%
  • Other.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
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