Big tanks are a trap :p

[haroldsteen]

good day reefers,

I have had a 90 gallon reef tank for 2 years now. I love it but I hate the maintenance it's just time consuming.
it feels like a trap, 4 years ago I had a 30 gallon reef tank. I had so much fun with it. It didn't matter what the problem was, a major water change was done in no time. and so I was drawn into going bigger. 2 years later it feels like a trap and I want to go smaller again.
I was wondering what you guys think about this.

thank you in advance !

Ps: I went bigger so I could keep more fish. then I found out that all beautiful fish eat coral or you need half a Seaworld in your living room to keep them

 

[Garf]

good day reefers,

I have had a 90 gallon reef tank for 2 years now. I love it but I hate the maintenance it's just time consuming.
it feels like a trap, 4 years ago I had a 30 gallon reef tank. I had so much fun with it. It didn't matter what the problem was, a major water change was done in no time. and so I was drawn into going bigger. 2 years later it feels like a trap and I want to go smaller again.
I was wondering what you guys think about this.

thank you in advance !

I had a 2000 ltr system in my old house, now I've got a 200 litre. I don't enjoy it any less.

 

[ryanjohn1]

I’m not sure what kinda daily maintenance you’ve got to do. But I’ve got a 100g a 300g and a nano and on a heavy maintenance week I might do an hour or 2 max on maintenance. And that’s mostly just filling top off containers.

 

[Doctorgori]

sometimes what drives up tank size is always wanting that next cool frag or up pops that fish you only see every 2 years et …
also same reason why fish tanks seem to reproduce

stay strong but also know resistance is futile

 

[VintageReefer]

My 75g is 6 min of work per week or less. Not including feeding

What is the maintenance your doing that takes up so much time ?

What are the problems you easily fixed on the 30 that are difficult to fix on the 90?

 

[haroldsteen]

I’m not sure what kinda daily maintenance you’ve got to do. But I’ve got a 100g a 300g and a nano and on a heavy maintenance week I might do an hour or 2 max on maintenance. And that’s mostly just filling top off containers.

I’m not sure what kinda daily maintenance you’ve got to do. But I’ve got a 100g a 300g and a nano and on a heavy maintenance week I might do an hour or 2 max on maintenance. And that’s mostly just filling top off containers.

not daily but weekly then I do a water change and vacuum the sand, clean it and blow off stones, it takes me almost all day

My 75g is 6 min of work per week or less. Not including feeding

What is the maintenance your doing that takes up so much time ?

What are the problems you easily fixed on the 30 that are difficult to fix on the 90?

Weekly I do a water change and vacuum the sand that takes a lot of time, window cleaning, blow off stones, cleaning sump, algea reactor

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

you are definitely right, my smaller tank is alot more fun when it comes to maintenance compared to my big tank. the maintenance on my larger tank always feels like work! lol

I couldn't tell you how much time I spend on my tanks but it's a heck of a lot more than 6 min a week lolol!!!!

 

[VintageReefer]

Why do you vacuum the sand ? I’ve never cleaned my sand and my tanks been setup 10 years. The sand becomes an important part of biological filtration, when you disturb it you disrupt the bacterial layers that naturally form

My sand is bright white. Never cleaned it once. Nassarius snails and a conch is all that’s needed to get any food that lands on the bottom

Same for the sump. I have never once cleaned my sump. Yes there’s detritus that settles. You leave it. It becomes mulm. A healthy and natural form of filtration that’s on the reefs.

Cleaning glass - can’t get around that. Might be able to do it faster with a larger algae scraper. Don’t clean my rear glass. My sides i sometimes skip. My 48” front panel takes about 2 minutes

What algae reactor do you have ? Some are much easier to clean than others. Is this time consuming ?

Water changes - I don’t do water changes but I understand most people do. Years ago when I did do them, I would keep a brute, approx 60g, filled 75% with rodi and salt, with a heater and large powerhead. A return pump and long hose could refill my tank in a minute or two, after I drained water out of it.


I’ll blow off the rocks once every few months. I don’t think it’s super important if you have good filtration and flow

 

[jcmjoe]

In my opinion, larger tanks equal more stability . It takes a lot longer for 90 gallons, in your case to change something like temp, salinity, alk etc… than a 30 gallon system. I have a 75 gallon mixed reef with a 20 gallon sump that is rock solid. My 15 gallon tank is the one that I have to keep a constant eye on for the simple fact that it has so little volume and can swing all over the place.

 

[haroldsteen]

Why do you vacuum the sand ? I’ve never cleaned my sand and my tanks been setup 10 years. The sand becomes an important part of biological filtration, when you disturb it you disrupt the bacterial layers that naturally form

My sand is bright white. Never cleaned it once. Nassarius snails and a conch is all that’s needed to get any food that lands on the bottom

Same for the sump. I have never once cleaned my sump. Yes there’s detritus that settles. You leave it. It becomes mulm. A healthy and natural form of filtration that’s on the reefs.

Cleaning glass - can’t get around that. Might be able to do it faster with a larger algae scraper. Don’t clean my rear glass. My sides i sometimes skip. My 48” front panel takes about 2 minutes

What algae reactor do you have ? Some are much easier to clean than others. Is this time consuming ?

Water changes - I don’t do water changes but I understand most people do. Years ago when I did do them, I would keep a brute, approx 60g, filled 75% with rodi and salt, with a heater and large powerhead. A return pump and long hose could refill my tank in a minute or two, after I drained water out of it.


I’ll blow off the rocks once every few months. I don’t think it’s super important if you have good filtration and flow

Why do you vacuum the sand ? I’ve never cleaned my sand and my tanks been setup 10 years. The sand becomes an important part of biological filtration, when you disturb it you disrupt the bacterial layers that naturally form

My sand is bright white. Never cleaned it once. Nassarius snails and a conch is all that’s needed to get any food that lands on the bottom

Same for the sump. I have never once cleaned my sump. Yes there’s detritus that settles. You leave it. It becomes mulm. A healthy and natural form of filtration that’s on the reefs.

Cleaning glass - can’t get around that. Might be able to do it faster with a larger algae scraper. Don’t clean my rear glass. My sides i sometimes skip. My 48” front panel takes about 2 minutes

What algae reactor do you have ? Some are much easier to clean than others. Is this time consuming ?

Water changes - I don’t do water changes but I understand most people do. Years ago when I did do them, I would keep a brute, approx 60g, filled 75% with rodi and salt, with a heater and large powerhead. A return pump and long hose could refill my tank in a minute or two, after I drained water out of it.


I’ll blow off the rocks once every few months. I don’t think it’s super important if you have good filtration and flow

I vacuum my sand because a lot of dirt builds up around the sand. Do you perhaps have a photo of your aquarium?

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

Sounds like you maybe better off with a bare bottom tank. If you don't have anything that likes sand. Then you can have your circulation pumps or add a couple that points on the bottom to kick things to overflow. This will reduce maintenance. Eventually Coraline can take over. There are also a lot of automation equipment that could help as well.

I think small tanks are way easier than larger as I have had both. But try to see if there is automation or other things you can do to cut down maintenance first.

 

[VintageReefer]

I vacuum my sand because a lot of dirt builds up around the sand. Do you perhaps have a photo of your aquarium?

Sure

Understand it’s 6:30 am for me so my tank was dark and not awake yet but I took some pics for you

White light no filter

I don’t run white only like that I just wants you to be able to see the sand clearly.

Various lighting presets through day/night and corals I keep

 

[jcmjoe]

Just curious, do you have a heavy feeding schedule? When you say dirt, is it fish poop or like debris off rock? Do you have a picture ?

 

[VintageReefer]

On the opposite side of the spectrum I also keep a 1.1 gallon pico and I don’t clean the sand in that either

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

The "bigger is better" thing is so outdated and boring, I've heard this rhetoric for so long and its not true. It might have been true 30 years ago, but the information and equipment available to hobbyists now make it easy.

 

[Kmst80]

I don't know, i started with a 100 gallon and have now a 200 gallon and a 30 gallon. If i could i would go even bigger. I go with the old Berlin method, life rock as filtration, skimmer and carbon on and off. I do weekly waterchanges but that is my friday afternoon timeout, phone off, music on and it's just me and the tank.

 

[VintageReefer]

Better is a relative term with certain things it applies to. Cost certainly not one lol

It’s more resilient to parameter and elemental swings and more tolerant to “nuking”

A fish dies in a 10g and it can seriously affect the parameters quickly, and can start chain reactions.

A fish dies in a 100g, it’s unnoticed and unaffected

 

[Ron Reefman]

I guess I kind of agree with you. Over 25 years in the hobby and I've been from a 30g starter tank, up to 4 tanks that totaled over 600g and back down to a simple 40g aio with corals, anemones and NO FISH. It's beautiful and so easy to care for.

 

[VintageReefer]

I guess I kind of agree with you. Over 25 years in the hobby and I've been from a 30g starter tank, up to 4 tanks that totaled over 600g and back down to a simple 40g aio with corals, anemones and NO FISH. It's beautiful and so easy to care for.

Any one of those would be easy with no fish

 

[haroldsteen]

Sure

Understand it’s 6:30 am for me so my tank was dark and not awake yet but I took some pics for you

White light no filter

I don’t run white only like that I just wants you to be able to see the sand clearly.

Various lighting presets through day/night and corals I keep

I have decided to keep my tank, I have made a new reefscape and I am also going to stop changing the water and cleaning the sand. Thank you for the inspiration!!!