What is Your Current Tank Size? Are You Happy With It?

[n2585722]

I have an old 42 gallon Oceanic hex tank. I am happy with it. I had fun building the stand, canopy and sump. I learned quite a bit about woodworking building the stand and canopy. I made the doors for this also.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I have an old 42 gallon Oceanic hex tank. I am happy with it. I had fun building the stand, canopy and sump. I learned quite a bit about woodworking building the stand and canopy. I made the doors for this also.

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That's neat looking!! Haven't seen a hexagon tank before

 

[mijan]

I have a 75G that I'm very happy with. Someday I would like to get at least a 250G FOWLR tank going so I can keep triggers and angels.

 

[JamesZ.]

I had a 50gal. acrylic years ago. Current tank is a RedSea 170 at 43gal. Wish I had gone bigger 100-120gal would nice

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I had a 50gal. acrylic years ago. Current tank is a RedSea 170 at 43gal. Wish I had gone bigger 100-120gal would nice

Love the coral variety in it!!

 

[Ef4life]

This one is of 400g . Doing this 40 years, and as you can imagine, Ive been through many sizes and find its the bigger tanks that are satisfying-forgiving- reduced maintenance and room for everything I desire to place in tank.
As many are aware, I will be going to a 1500g tank and not sure if thats still big enough for my liking but any bigger, I wont get it through the door.

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Beautiful tank, and your 1500 sounds like it will be incredible.

but I have to (respectfully) call bs on saying larger tanks have reduced maintenance. You might have more ability to slack off on maintenance or go with longer time intervals in between maintenance, but it literally takes more work to do anything on a large system. You can make things easier with good design and automation but it’s still more work than a smaller system.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

I have an old 42 gallon Oceanic hex tank. I am happy with it. I had fun building the stand, canopy and sump. I learned quite a bit about woodworking building the stand and canopy. I made the doors for this also.

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Always liked hex tanks!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Beautiful tank, and your 1500 sounds like it will be incredible.

but I have to (respectfully) call bs on saying larger tanks have reduced maintenance. You might have more ability to slack off on maintenance or go with longer time intervals in between maintenance, but it literally takes more work to do anything on a large system. You can make things easier with good design and automation but it’s still more work than a smaller system.

I in the past have changed water twice a year cleaning socks and skimmer as maintenance. With large tanks, you want automation. I run reactors, scrubber, skimmer and large volume ATO.
I spend 10-15 mins a day if that on my tank. Thats more work?

 

[cwerner]

I currently have a 50 Gallon IM AIO. Eventually want to upgrade to a 90 gallon 4 ft with sump. I'd like to plan on plumbing the sump directly into my basement and setup a frag tank in the same system. I'd be cooking with gas at that point.

 

[nuxx]

Ended up with a 470, ~ 650 total volume.

It was nice being able to put whatever I wanted in it, but looking back it really consumed way too much of my life.

I'd do something much much smaller and focus in on a species if I got another tank.

 

[Ef4life]

I in the past have changed water twice a year cleaning socks and skimmer as maintenance. With large tanks, you want automation. I run reactors, scrubber, skimmer and large volume ATO.
I spend 10-15 mins a day if that on my tank. Thats more work?

Yes that’s more work imo, certainly not unmanageable though, and I personally would find it enjoyable to do it if it were mine as I enjoy tinkering and maintaining my reefs. But it’s more work.

My easiest system - 10g - is glass cleaned inside and out, scrub the power head with a toothbrush, turkey baste, siphon detritus doing a 50% wc, new filter floss. It’s about 15 minutes once a week. 1500ml of all for reef lasts 10 months or longer. I swap the large water bottle I use as a ato reservoir about every 3-4 days.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Yes that’s more work imo, certainly not unmanageable though, and I personally would find it enjoyable to do it if it were mine as I enjoy tinkering and maintaining my reefs. But it’s more work.

My easiest system - 10g - is glass cleaned inside and out, scrub the power head with a toothbrush, turkey baste, siphon detritus doing a 50% wc, new filter floss. It’s about 15 minutes once a week. 1500ml of all for reef lasts 10 months or longer. I swap the large water bottle I use as a ato reservoir about every 3-4 days.

Nothing wrong with small tanks and over 40 years, ive had 10,20,38,46,55,75,90,125,135,240,360,660,400 and by far the bigger ones were my answer and I can Never go back to small.
You would have to experience it to understand this. I have at least 40 fish and I exchange 2 gals a day why the 15 minutes daily but again have over 70 corals in the tank.
Youre discussing two different worlds and the ones on R2R with big tanks share the same feelings with maintenance and satisfaction

 

[c_healy]

I’ve got a custom 80 gallon and absolutely love it. That said, I’ve started planning a 200 gallon build.

 

[Tanglover1]

My tanks are only 20 and 30 gallons and my family thinks they are a huge waste of money. . . especially my wife. . . I feel your pain.

I hv teach them that once the tank is settled, their is no such waste of money but still family is family

 

[vetteguy53081]

Ended up with a 470, ~ 650 total volume.

It was nice being able to put whatever I wanted in it, but looking back it really consumed way too much of my life.

I'd do something much much smaller and focus in on a species if I got another tank.

Its not for everyone but if you have the time and plan. . . its great. Putting what you want in it is biggest reward.
I acquired this birds nest last Sunday which was bigger than a dinner plate and how nice to know when it was offered to be that I could say yes because I had the room.

Cons- Larger skimmer, lighting costs overall weight of the system

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Its not for everyone but if you have the time and plan. . . its great. Putting what you want in it is biggest reward.
I acquired this birds nest last Sunday which was bigger than a dinner plate and how nice to know when it was offered to be that I could say yes because I had the room.

Cons- Larger skimmer, lighting costs overall weight of the system

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Such a nice tank!!!

 

[nuxx]

Its not for everyone but if you have the time and plan. . . its great. Putting what you want in it is biggest reward.
I acquired this birds nest last Sunday which was bigger than a dinner plate and how nice to know when it was offered to be that I could say yes because I had the room.

Cons- Larger skimmer, lighting costs overall weight of the system

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Stunning

 

[o2manyfish]

This is our new 750g - 10x4x3. We just set it up in September. This was an update from a 560 which was an update from a 400g. This is part of a 1500g system that includes 2 outdoor 180g sun lit frag tanks.

I agree with vetteguy in that the bigger it is the less maintenance and time it requires. With the exception of algae wipe my system can easily go 30 days without any time from me at all. And it's setup to run up to 10weeks (the time it takes to go thru a 50lb tank of co2) before it definitely needs a pair of human hands to help it out.

Is 750g big enough... Nope. I wish I could go bigger. But this is as big a tank as this house will hold without impeding on how we use our home. 4' of front to back depth is cool... But imagine 5'. 10' of length is beautiful but imagine 12 or 14'.

Downsides to a tank this size.... Holy crap, with 3 sides viewable thats 40sq ft of algae wiping 2-3x a week. Man did it suck up a couple of hundred corals and still have plenty of room for a few hundred more. It's impossible to take a photo of the whole tank that shows how much is in the tank. Until you see the tank in person you have no idea what a 4' depth of field looks like.

Biggest Downside -- The amount of money given to the utility company every month.

Dave B

 

[biecacka]

Custom built geo cube 48x48x24. Love it. But (there is always a but……), I wouldn’t mind going 96 or 120x48x24



corey

 

[nereefpat]

Biggest Downside -- The amount of money given to the utility company every month.

California utility prices, too.