Biocube and custom 80 gal buildish build, Evo no more. There is some reef related content, sometimes.

[dr_vinnie_boombatz]

Saw your initial posts on the addition of hermits/snails. Sorry to highjacking this thread, I also have an 13.5 and looking to add some clean-up crew in the future. How many blue hermits would ideally fit? Alongside 2 clowns and 1 cleaner shrimp. Thanks!

 

[rmorris_14]

Saw your initial posts on the addition of hermits/snails. Sorry to highjacking this thread, I also have an 13.5 and looking to add some clean-up crew in the future. How many blue hermits would ideally fit? Alongside 2 clowns and 1 cleaner shrimp. Thanks!

I think I started with 10 or 12… if you didn’t make it all the way into my thread (no worries) there’s a lot of non related reef stuff lol. Eventually all my blue legged hermits got picked off one by one, until I found the lone victor devouring his last two victims, despite being regularly fed and provided tons of shells to choose from. He killed for sport. He was named murder hermit from then on. I have since not added any more blue legs. So I cant really be good advisor on that. For the last 6 months I just had murder hermit, a couple Nassarius , one turbo, and various trochus and astreas, also an emerald and I now have two cleaner shrimp. One will move to the cube soon. I’ll probably give the blue legs another go since murder hermit disappeared last month. He was a machine when it came to keep the my frags and rocks algae free.

 

[Stang67]

Just gonna leave this here.....may get in trouble may not let's see.

 

[rmorris_14]

Just gonna leave this here.....may get in trouble may not let's see.

HAHAHAHAHA ---I went to Etsy to check it out... next thing I know, I'm going down a rabbit hole of weird obscure 3D printed products I never knew existed. Thanks!

 

[Sean Clark]

As innocent as Snow White..

 

[rmorris_14]

Photo dump. Aquarium day!!! It’s always one of my favorite ways to spend time with the family.

 

[F i s h y]

Where are the updates... its been 8 days...

 

[fishguy242]

Where are the updates... its been 8 days...

seen them somewhere ?? this weekend...
couldn't tell you where though...

 

[rmorris_14]

RFAs in the cube went for a little walk. They are still getting settled in. Me and the pistol got into it yesterday when he started attacking my ricordea in the bottom left. He is a relentless little guy. Other than that I have been trying to decide if I want to get rid of our antique piano to make room for a bigger tank. Husband, surprisingly is all in on getting something over 100 gallons. I have shown him some 65 ish gallon tanks that could fit where the cube is and he just keeps saying that he doesn’t think I will be happy with that in the long term. That he already sees how limited I feel space wise in the cube and that he doesn’t want to upgrade twice. Two months ago, he told me there was no way in hell, we were going to go bigger anytime soon. I think there is a good chance we might have a body snatchers situation here. Anyways… I’m not looking to make the leap unless I come across the perfect setup for me. It will take time, but the fact that he is on board is exciting and also strange lol.
That’s the update @F i s h y !!!

 

[fishguy242]

@F i s h y just might have that upgrade for ya'...

 

[rmorris_14]

@F i s h y just might have that upgrade for ya'...

hahahaha I heard about that something....

TBH I'm really nervous about taking that kind of leap (100+ gallons). Moving to a larger but smallish tank with a sump will be a leap for me and one I am more comfortable with. Going so much bigger has me really concerned that I might not be able to cut it. I also have commitment issues. Not with not following through, but with deciding which direction I want to go and often ponder things for way longer than a lot of peoples pace on this forum. Plus being away for vacations or if we have power outages... seems way more intimating than if something happened with a smaller investment. Also, all the other life commitments that are also time consuming has me getting cold feet when it comes to changing things. Im afraid that it may cause me to lose the joy in the hobby. blah blah blah ( I know Im rambling ) Has anyone else gone big and wish they had stayed small? i know we are a bunch of enablers, and always push others for MOAR. But bigger cant always be better for everyone, right?

 

[fishguy242]

yep, nope ,yep, 100 + sump not much more than 75 ...
just do it right the 1st time...

...

 

[Stang67]

hahahaha I heard about that something....

TBH I'm really nervous about taking that kind of leap (100+ gallons). Moving to a larger but smallish tank with a sump will be a leap for me and one I am more comfortable with. Going so much bigger has me really concerned that I might not be able to cut it. I also have commitment issues. Not with not following through, but with deciding which direction I want to go and often ponder things for way longer than a lot of peoples pace on this forum. Plus being away for vacations or if we have power outages... seems way more intimating than if something happened with a smaller investment. Also, all the other life commitments that are also time consuming has me getting cold feet when it comes to changing things. Im afraid that it may cause me to lose the joy in the hobby. blah blah blah ( I know Im rambling ) Has anyone else gone big and wish they had stayed small? i know we are a bunch of enablers, and always push others for MOAR. But bigger cant always be better for everyone, right?

Honestly no ragrets here. My 180 was the best decision I ever made. Just go as big as you can then you can make it work. I go away on vacation pretty regular. I got a generator for outages and it's a plug into the house so it will run everything except the ac. I had to do alot and spent more then I wanted to get it. But yolo and it does make me happy despite all the issues I have had. I would have loved to go bigger but I really do love it. Your concerns are legit especially the time part. But in my case it has been worth it.

 

[rmorris_14]

Honestly no ragrets here. My 180 was the best decision I ever made. Just go as big as you can then you can make it work. I go away on vacation pretty regular. I got a generator for outages and it's a plug into the house so it will run everything except the ac. I had to do alot and spent more then I wanted to get it. But yolo and it does make me happy despite all the issues I have had. I would have loved to go bigger but I really do love it. Your concerns are legit especially the time part. But in my case it has been worth it.

Thanks for sharing your experience .... Also, my favorite part of that movie

 

[MECOMI]

hahahaha I heard about that something....

TBH I'm really nervous about taking that kind of leap (100+ gallons). Moving to a larger but smallish tank with a sump will be a leap for me and one I am more comfortable with. Going so much bigger has me really concerned that I might not be able to cut it. I also have commitment issues. Not with not following through, but with deciding which direction I want to go and often ponder things for way longer than a lot of peoples pace on this forum. Plus being away for vacations or if we have power outages... seems way more intimating than if something happened with a smaller investment. Also, all the other life commitments that are also time consuming has me getting cold feet when it comes to changing things. Im afraid that it may cause me to lose the joy in the hobby. blah blah blah ( I know Im rambling ) Has anyone else gone big and wish they had stayed small? i know we are a bunch of enablers, and always push others for MOAR. But bigger cant always be better for everyone, right?

Hmm interesting question, I just went through the upgrade about 1.5 years ago so I have had plenty of time to overthink this .

Once I realized how much I loved the hobby I knew ‘down the line’ I would want something bigger. But the used Red Sea Max S-500 came available from the LFS so I jumped at the chance. My biggest key was spreading out my budgeting to avoid the judging eyes of the spouse . If the used option didn’t come up I probably would have been overthinking the change for another 5-10 years before really coming to a conclusion.

I think my biggest debate to this day is whether I should run two tanks or just one. Ultimately with just the RSM the maintenance is pretty quick and painless. The maintenance for the Biocube is quick and painless too. However, when you start adding up the work to maintain both, this is where the time constraint comes in. Ultimately I don’t have any rugrats of my own so this is not a huge deal.

The ‘time’ it takes for maintenance I feel is very similar for both, 30-45 minutes a week + a glass cleaning here and there. But when you work with two you might be 1-2.5 hours as the work starts to compound. (rough estimates of course)

So from one overthinker to another if you are interested in going big, and you have a time constraint, then merge the two tanks and the time constraint virtually remains the same. And as long as you have the budget for it or just fall in love with an opportunity then go for it! #overthinkersforlife #SaltwaterEnabler

Later days,

B-Kind

 

[Projects with Sam]

I just spent way too long doing a rip-clean for my GHA issue and at this point I am wishing the 120 was shallower.
If you do go bigger, stay shallow because it eases maintenance. Also, it may not be as much of a difference going from 2 tanks to one bigger tank.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I just spent way too long doing a rip-clean for my GHA issue and at this point I am wishing the 120 was shallower.
If you do go bigger, stay shallow because it eases maintenance. Also, it may not be as much of a difference going from 2 tanks to one bigger tank.

A 4x2x2 with center overflow is a great reef sized tank for most. I could see if folk were a bit short in the poot, it may make it harder.

I dropped my 300 lower by 2 inch and gained an inch of height on the tank so it's an inch lower. The height of the stand is more important I think for maintenance than depth of the tank.

 

[Stang67]

I did 6x2x2 stand at 36-38. I like the height of the stand for viewing from the couch and like the depth for scape purposes. Just wish I was taller and had longer arms. I do have to use a step ladder any time I need in the tank. One thing I wish I would have done differently ia the mounting for the lights. I wanted some thing where I could swing them out ou the way like TV wall mounts, but they didn't give me the reach over the tank I needed. Planning and triple guessing everything is not a bad thing when your planning a big build.

 

[fishguy242]

40" is perfect even w a 24" tall, use a 4' step ladder ,or 2 step stool ,and i'm 5'4 short
and you can get 3 33" pieces out of a 10" board,3 40" from 10' board.
and it's nice to have headroom under stand.
edit: 240 from 1994- 2018 ,unfortunately only pic i have rt now... photo's still packed from move...

 

[Mschmidt]

I'd prefer a lower stand for viewing, but I've had a sump for a week, so I don't fully understand the pains of under-tank maintenance. but what this conversation could use is @OrchidMiss with her tank maintenance pic.