Hi,
I have been a fish keeper my entire life but began reefing during COVID, learned a ton doing 2-3 different tanks, still maintain a very nice looking 30 gallon simple reef for my sister.
My house was gutted over the last 6 months and we're about 2 months away from move in. On the main floor we have planned to do a peninsula style tank, but the 20k question now is what type of tank. I had electrical run dedicated breakers to a "tank" set of outlets where the tank will go, and we have a first floor coat closet that is plumbed for an RO/DI unit and 2 50 gallon drums. My wife has basically given me cart blanche here.
I am torn of going reef or FOWLR. I have little kids right now and time is limited. Doing 3 different reefs was a serious stretch on time, but now having simplified things and only having a single tank, I feel like a realistic goal is a 200 gal reef of mostly softies and LPS. I have been looking at the Cade 1800S2/P because I'd like it to be a peninsula.
However, I am also toying with something closer to 500+ gallons, like a 96x36x36, and running it as a FOWLR for the next 4-5 years until my kids are self sufficient enough that I could transition it to a reef. Even though I'm new to reefing, I am in my element QTing and keeping difficult fish, but I have never kept something half as big as this. It would be helpful if maybe somebody could talk me out of doing this. Main things I'm questioning:
- I'm worried about evaporating a ton of water into the house. It's brand new. I have central air and HVAC usual sucks all moisture out of the house, but how much should I worry with this much water? I was thinking I would run the tank closer to 74/75 degrees to limit algae growth and diminish evaporation.
- I already have the closet water system - I really do not want to use any of my basement square footage for equipment. What I would like to do is have an under-tank sump that houses a big refugium, something like a Bubble King Supermarin 300, heaters pumps etc. and then plumb UV in somehow. Is something like this going to be tight in the footprint I have? Most huge tanks I see have dedicated rooms for this sort of setup for easy access. It seems like mapping it out I could do this with something like a 100 gallon tank as a sump.
- Am I totally naive of how much maintenance this will be once it's going? The largest FOWLR system I've had was 180 gallons, and once it was in the groove that was a 1-2 a month, 25% water change situation. Also, having learned a lot of lessons over the years regarding QTing fish, I just don't expect to experience major outbreaks or catastrophic loss of life. What I am most worried about are pumps backing up in a power outage but it seems like there are routes to build in safeguards to prevent that. It just seems like even at this size it will be much less a headache once it gets going than a reef half the size?
- I really don't want pumps on the viewing end of the peninsula. In a tank this big, not needing the turnover to reach corals 8' away, I feel like I could crank MP60s and a gyre or two, get enough flow to the end of the tank that there isn't a ton of detritus build up, and keep all the flow mechanical on one end?
Believe it or not my wife is in favor of the 500 because her only parameter for this build was "I want to see some fish" as my reefs to date have had limited swimming going on. I am just trying to figure out if this is a big mistake in the experience of those who have done it.
I have been a fish keeper my entire life but began reefing during COVID, learned a ton doing 2-3 different tanks, still maintain a very nice looking 30 gallon simple reef for my sister.
My house was gutted over the last 6 months and we're about 2 months away from move in. On the main floor we have planned to do a peninsula style tank, but the 20k question now is what type of tank. I had electrical run dedicated breakers to a "tank" set of outlets where the tank will go, and we have a first floor coat closet that is plumbed for an RO/DI unit and 2 50 gallon drums. My wife has basically given me cart blanche here.
I am torn of going reef or FOWLR. I have little kids right now and time is limited. Doing 3 different reefs was a serious stretch on time, but now having simplified things and only having a single tank, I feel like a realistic goal is a 200 gal reef of mostly softies and LPS. I have been looking at the Cade 1800S2/P because I'd like it to be a peninsula.
However, I am also toying with something closer to 500+ gallons, like a 96x36x36, and running it as a FOWLR for the next 4-5 years until my kids are self sufficient enough that I could transition it to a reef. Even though I'm new to reefing, I am in my element QTing and keeping difficult fish, but I have never kept something half as big as this. It would be helpful if maybe somebody could talk me out of doing this. Main things I'm questioning:
- I'm worried about evaporating a ton of water into the house. It's brand new. I have central air and HVAC usual sucks all moisture out of the house, but how much should I worry with this much water? I was thinking I would run the tank closer to 74/75 degrees to limit algae growth and diminish evaporation.
- I already have the closet water system - I really do not want to use any of my basement square footage for equipment. What I would like to do is have an under-tank sump that houses a big refugium, something like a Bubble King Supermarin 300, heaters pumps etc. and then plumb UV in somehow. Is something like this going to be tight in the footprint I have? Most huge tanks I see have dedicated rooms for this sort of setup for easy access. It seems like mapping it out I could do this with something like a 100 gallon tank as a sump.
- Am I totally naive of how much maintenance this will be once it's going? The largest FOWLR system I've had was 180 gallons, and once it was in the groove that was a 1-2 a month, 25% water change situation. Also, having learned a lot of lessons over the years regarding QTing fish, I just don't expect to experience major outbreaks or catastrophic loss of life. What I am most worried about are pumps backing up in a power outage but it seems like there are routes to build in safeguards to prevent that. It just seems like even at this size it will be much less a headache once it gets going than a reef half the size?
- I really don't want pumps on the viewing end of the peninsula. In a tank this big, not needing the turnover to reach corals 8' away, I feel like I could crank MP60s and a gyre or two, get enough flow to the end of the tank that there isn't a ton of detritus build up, and keep all the flow mechanical on one end?
Believe it or not my wife is in favor of the 500 because her only parameter for this build was "I want to see some fish" as my reefs to date have had limited swimming going on. I am just trying to figure out if this is a big mistake in the experience of those who have done it.
