GOING BIGGER: Are you planning a reef tank UPGRADE?

[cassilyn]

Go clownfish/nem tank that’s my plan for the 20g when I go bigger

Thanks. That's what I thought. He says he wants a frag tank, though. Either one will be great, but I have two small grandchildren that live with us and think they would love a clown tank.

 

[H3rm1tCr@b]

I’d love to say yes but my wallet says nooooooo

 

[AKreefgirl]

My tank is approaching 2. I've taken things VERY slowly and feel I'm not even 1/2 way to where I would like to get with corals and fish. For now, this is the size I can afford to do well. I could go up a 125 in the space but would loose room for my quarantine tank. I'm happy with the 75 (for now ).

 

[Old Reefer]

I have a 50 g now

Hello folks! Hope your day is off to a good one. I'm sure it's going great if you're planning on a new tank upgrade soon! I thought we could talk about that today and what you're planning on doing! So please let us know by answering the following questions:

1. Are you planning to upgrade your aquarium to a BIGGER aquarium soon or at some point down the road?

2. Why are you planning for a bigger tank? Why the upgrade?

If you have any photos of a new upgrade please share!

Hello folks! Hope your day is off to a good one. I'm sure it's going great if you're planning on a new tank upgrade soon! I thought we could talk about that today and what you're planning on doing! So please let us know by answering the following questions:

1. Are you planning to upgrade your aquarium to a BIGGER aquarium soon or at some point down the road?

2. Why are you planning for a bigger tank? Why the upgrade?

If you have any photos of a new upgrade please share!

I have a 50g now. My 180 g is being built, going with glass this time. Im having a steel stand built 40" tall, which will be wrapped with wood. Building high stand to accommodate 75g sump which will sit beneath.

 

[Mistahman]

Had a 100 gallon up and running. One day I was casually looking through for sale ads on Facebook. Wow, a 265 gallon drilled tank with stand for $300! I figured it was too good to be true. But, I had to make contact. The guy responded, he was about an hour and a half away. Couple days later I picked it up!

 

[BighohoReef]

Forgot to mention we’re going from a 30g bow front to a 100g Waterbox. Progressing slowly but surely, taking our time and doing it right.

Next things on the tank list:
More live rock
Additional fish:
Diamond goby
Yellow Tang
Wrasse (still researching)
T5/Orphek 120 Blue install
Coral move
WB ATO to Refugium conversion
Skimmer install
IKEA besta cabinet for controllers

Stretch upgrades (within a year or two):
Neptune Apex
Dosers - open to recommendations I like the new Ecotech Versa but Neptune is tried and true.
Sensors - Autoaqua skimmer sensor
FMM flow monitors

I put up one T5 to see what the light bleed would look like. Think it’s too much?

I’m thinking of an Orphek OR3 blue LED instead or mixed T5/OR/XR30 combo Started a separate thread for that here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/hanging-with-orphek-the-light-bar.718107/#post-7441202

 

[Ruben's Reef]

Happening now. Upgrading from a 40g to a 75g in-wall. Reason ? More space on tank for corals and fish. Getting rid off GSP covering the whole tank and fish room, everything on one spot.

 

[sbash]

I know I'll have to move sometime in the next couple years; my wife has to relocate for work. So it really depends what will happen with my 220. If I am not bringing it with me, then I'll go up to an 8' x 24" x 24" (just a guess). The 220 is great, but I would prefer something a little more shallow.

That said if I move my 220, then I'll need to redesign everything with my lessons learned. An apparatus for the lights that I can hoist up, or swing outward would go a long way to managing things when I have to put my hands in the tank.

 

[James210ReefLife]

210g build.
Work in progress... about 49% complete. that's 3/4" structural plywood in the back.
all 2x6 except in the back, top piece is 2x8, no center support for easy access to sump.
stand is 84"x26"x40"
There will be (2) 40g breeders inside. one dedicated to refugium the other for socks, heaters, skimmer, and return.

 

[scchase]

Would need a bigger house first 1100ish is about the limit of what I can do now

 

[waterskiguy]

I just upgraded in September. This is putting too much pressure on me now. LOL

 

[Kryptonian]

Waterbox Reef Pro 180 is ON THE WAY!
We have a 75 gal reefer going and have some fish we've been very interested in that don't work with the smaller tank. Planning another reefer and can't wait to get going!

 

[Dburr1014]

I'm in the market to buy a new home and that's a perfect time to upgrade!
I ran out of space in the 75 gallon so I'm going to go with a 6 foot foot print. Gallon size TBD.

 

[brandon429]

team keep sending me move messages we have lots of them building up and this is good data for the sand rinse thread. we have several tank moves about to occur without needing bottle bac, without having to test for ammonia, and they will be sharp brand-new looking setups at the new place but using all current live rock bacteria still in place.

 

[dcmartinpc]

Hey Guys! Been a bit absent here for a while, but I am in the middle of a HUGE new build! I will leave the details to the build thread, which I finally started, but short version... Upgrading from a 225g and 60g display to a 8x4x4 1000 gallon "ish" acrylic tank! I am beyond excited! Come follow the journey on my build thread!

Monster Build - 1̶0̶0̶0̶ 600 gallon "ish" build

Well it is finally happening. The tank of my dreams is starting to become a reality! Well, my realistic dreams anyway :) I am sure many of us would just build our homes underwater on a reef if it was feasible! This will be what I am terming a "low and slow" build, which is why I have waited...

www.reef2reef.com

Don

 

[brandon429]

build that with the liftable rock stacks/make your rocks come out of water somehow, is that possible?

#1 way to avoid losing that new reef to gha in 2025.

 

[dbowman5]

Hi,
after reading the comments up to now my comments are as follows:

I currently have a ground level 75 g FW; a basement 10 g FW QT, currently fallow;
a basement 30 g SW bowfront with sump; a ground level 75 g SW with basement sump; and a basement 30 g SW QT

I am in my forever home. my max footprint for an upgrade would be 48 x 24; so without a custom tank my upgrade would be from a 75 to a 120 gal. My ambitions do not extend to anything larger.
However,
I do have an appetite for more tanks. Apparently there is a distance minimum for a quarantine tank. Currently the QT that I set up is sitting next to the basement sump for my 75. If I use the space in my dining room ( display/desk space) for the 120, another 75 would be acquired to be used for its sump. the 75 would move to basement. and the 55 would move to the floor to stay as sump for the present 75. that would likely be my next and last upgrade.
I'll be 66 next month, so maybe this will happen before I hit 70.
way longer comment than i expected to make. kind of 'thinking on the computer', nice to have a place to do that. thanks!

 

[Royce White]

I'am pretty much satisfied with my 75, it is very stable with no problems and it doesn't cost me a fortune to keep it stable. All of that would change if I was to go larger. what I have now is satisfying.

 

[BryanJ]

150 gallon tank is ordered and partially finished. I am upgrading because I am building a new house and my frag tank needs to retire. Here is a photo of the tank waiting for the silicone to cure.

 

[Arabyps]

Hi all. I'm relatively new to this forum but very excited about the quality information and friendly vibe. I'm in the process of cycling a new Waterbox 5526 peninsula after using a 55 gallon "poof of concept" tank. Having been a fresh water aquarium guy, I used my knowledge from that genre and applied it to salt water. My biggest fail is using a canister filter. I have been struggling with nitrates and phosphates for months. The Waterbox is a 170 gallon total system volume (130 gal DT and 40 gal sump). I am following the BRS 4-month cycle with lights off and fish in. The pic is how the tank looks today after a little over one month (lights on but only for the picture). I used dry rock, Reef Crystals for the salt, RO/DI water, and Caribsea live Fiji Pink sand. In my rock-scape I left many nooks and passages for the fish and was careful not to build too high so the Tangs have plenty of open space to swim free. Current live stock inventory is:

Fish:
Purple Tang 1
Yellow Tang 1
Ocellaris Clown x2
Red Head Solon Fairy Wrasse 1
Royal Gramma 1
Yellow Longnose Butterfly 1
Purple Firefish 1
Flame Angel 1

CUC:
Halloween Hermits 2
Conch 2
Red Leg Hermit 3
Cleaner Shrimp 1

To start the cycle I used Fritz TurboStart 900 and dose additional after each water change (30 gal every 2 weeks). Nitrates and Phosphates are now starting to appear so I may soon be able to add macro algae to the refugium. All the fish seem fine (Purple Tang chased the Butterfly for about 30 minutes but everyone is happy now). Most of the livestock were purchased from TSM Aquatics (https://tsmaquatics.com/ ). I favor them because they do a 30 day+ quarantine/medication on all livestock before releasing for sale. This saves me a lot of trouble and worry.

Any questions or advise I’m all ears! Thanks for reading.