As a fellow freshwater enthusiast, I respect your work! It's a nice Dutch-style, with a little of the Iwagumi motif. I know how much pruning and other effort goes into that.
The good news is that your reef tank probably won't be much more expensive, or difficult except for the price of the inhabitants. You have the same concepts down - measuring water chemistry and dosing. That's the primary difference between your average freshwater consumer and saltwater. You've probably got a decent understanding of algae too.
I didn't answer your poll because I don't think it's that simple. Extra volume and room for equipment is good, but that's all the sump will afford you. A 30 gallon with a skimmer and UV will be just as good as a 20 gallon with a 10 gallon sump and the same equipment imo. Fish stocking density is important too but I think you know that by now.
I run a 90 gallon, packed with coral, that pays for all of my tank expenses (9 tanks). Been building up the 20 and 10 gallon tanks with coral too though. The 90 has a skimmer, UV, and dosing pumps. The 20 has a skimmer and the 10 has nothing other than the filter. The 8 gallon biocube is my newest tank, and the problem child. It's dealing with dinoflagellates at the moment.
The good news is that your reef tank probably won't be much more expensive, or difficult except for the price of the inhabitants. You have the same concepts down - measuring water chemistry and dosing. That's the primary difference between your average freshwater consumer and saltwater. You've probably got a decent understanding of algae too.
I didn't answer your poll because I don't think it's that simple. Extra volume and room for equipment is good, but that's all the sump will afford you. A 30 gallon with a skimmer and UV will be just as good as a 20 gallon with a 10 gallon sump and the same equipment imo. Fish stocking density is important too but I think you know that by now.
I run a 90 gallon, packed with coral, that pays for all of my tank expenses (9 tanks). Been building up the 20 and 10 gallon tanks with coral too though. The 90 has a skimmer, UV, and dosing pumps. The 20 has a skimmer and the 10 has nothing other than the filter. The 8 gallon biocube is my newest tank, and the problem child. It's dealing with dinoflagellates at the moment.
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