Is a 220 for your first reef tank insanity? What about a half reef half FOWLR?

[Borsig]

Came across a great deal on a newer marineland dual corner 220 that's been run as fresh for its lifetime (5 years so says the owner). Great shape, 500 bucks with eshop sump and a stand etc.

I'm kind of intimidated to do this as a first reef. Is it insane to try? To much to take on? What about lighting half of it, and doing 1/2 in coral, rock, such and leaving the other side as a sand bed for expansion, room for fish to free swim, and so on? I also don't know if I can afford the huge amount of money it would take to fill this thing with corals. The tank is in great shape and a steal, and big tanks will not be getting cheaper any time soon. I was looknig for a 120 used, but they've been impossible to find lately.

Thoughts?

 

[SPR1968]

On the basis its your first tank, and assuming you don’t know much about running one, it’s probably a bit on the large size for a first attempt if I’m honest. Remember your caring for living creatures and if it goes wrong…..

With a small tank, if things start to go wrong, there a bit easier to but right, although of course with larger tanks it’s easier to keep the water parameters in check, but only when you know how to do it.

On the positive side, it would mean you don’t have to upgrade for a while, if ever, which most of us tend to do once you get hooked.

Another option is buy the big tank if it’s a bargain, for later, and try a cheap smaller one until you get the hang of the hobby and learn for a while.

My S650 was my 2nd tank (150) but I had a small one for a few months first. When the S650 arrived I thought OMG! And when I then took delivery of my custom 530g 4 years later, thats what I would call daunting, with it sat at the side of me! Lol

You do of course have full access to R2R and the wealth of knowledge on here to help you out, so It’s your decision and I’m sure you’ll get some more comments/thoughts soon.

 

[Borsig]

I have a 180 fresh and sump now. (rift lake).

I've just never kept a reef or marine.

 

[J1a]

Came across a great deal on a newer marineland dual corner 220 that's been run as fresh for its lifetime (5 years so says the owner). Great shape, 500 bucks with eshop sump and a stand etc.

I'm kind of intimidated to do this as a first reef. Is it insane to try? To much to take on? What about lighting half of it, and doing 1/2 in coral, rock, such and leaving the other side as a sand bed for expansion, room for fish to free swim, and so on? I also don't know if I can afford the huge amount of money it would take to fill this thing with corals. The tank is in great shape and a steal, and big tanks will not be getting cheaper any time soon. I was looknig for a 120 used, but they've been impossible to find lately.

Thoughts?

Open sandbed is awesome. I choose to have that by design. I think it dramatically reduces the equipment requirements due to the fact that you only need to make light and flow provisions for half a tank.

 

[brandon429]

its a great idea. you want to be able to reach in there, lift out the rock and scrape off bryopsis vs trying to dose a system that large and fingers crossed wait/hope for compliance. The accessibility afforded by that plan to your bommie pile of rocks can be a swing vote in you hating the tank in 6 mos and making excuses to all viewers, or being able to show them a layout like that one above-not riddled in algae.

J1a may or may not have had to physically work to attain that look, some painters can just paint

all laypersons should expect bigtime work, bigtime direct access to keep an excuse free setup. in a tank that big you dont want to have to rely on water dosers and testing, plan for direct access cheats to save you thousands of bucks and thousands of excuses to onlookers.

 

[theMeat]

Would say go big the first time if that’s the goal. No sense in setting up a tank, the money involved, then doing it over and over.
With that said would do a tank with ghost style overflow with bean animal plumbing. Instead of corner overflows with durso style plumbing. Takes up much less room in tank and quieter

 

[Borsig]

I'm not sure I understand what this means. The last part. About dosing, thousands of dollars, and excuses.

I'd envisioned something like a pile of rock on one side, adding corals a little at a time, and having a larger flat sandy area maybe with a sparse rock or two on the other end. Maybe that seems more realistic to me or something, I don't know.

One thing is I probably can't afford to fill a tank this size with corals, and I can't afford an 800.00 skimmer. I don't want in over my head, but I'd like something scalable. I don't want something that loses 5k in corals if something happens. I'd rather geta 40 or 75 or 120.

But I do have a spot for it.

I may yet use it to replace my 180, but the thought of starting a marine / reef is really tempting

 

[brandon429]

Dont start with dry rock unless you want pain lol

go to your pet store, and incent them to sell you forty pounds of their best live rock with coralline. If they won’t sell it, the best they have, and instead recommend some lesser rock, incent them better.

 

[J1a]

its a great idea. you want to be able to reach in there, lift out the rock and scrape off bryopsis vs trying to dose a system that large and fingers crossed wait/hope for compliance. The accessibility afforded by that plan to your bommie pile of rocks can be a swing vote in you hating the tank in 6 mos and making excuses to all viewers, or being able to show them a layout like that one above-not riddled in algae.

J1a may or may not have had to physically work to attain that look, some painters can just paint

all laypersons should expect bigtime work, bigtime direct access to keep an excuse free setup. in a tank that big you dont want to have to rely on water dosers and testing, plan for direct access cheats to save you thousands of bucks and thousands of excuses to onlookers.

It takes a lot of discipline to try and keep the sand bed as open as possible. It will also require work to keep that sand beds clean.

I'd envisioned something like a pile of rock on one side, adding corals a little at a time, and having a larger flat sandy area maybe with a sparse rock or two on the other end. Maybe that seems more realistic to me or something, I don't know.

Many of my corals starts from finger sized frags. Pick some fast growers (birdnest, digitata, Bali slimer, etc) and you will have a nice palette for your rock work.

If your space allows, I would say 100% go for a large tank.

 

[brandon429]

Excuses vs non excuses summary:

Excuses meaning when we tell onlookers, friends, family that a given look for a tank in total distress and obviously ugly is a normal part of reefing, that the uglies are natural, expected, and subside in time (they do not subside for many, see nuisance algae forum here for prep study)




no excuses setup:
expects to hand guide invasive growths off rocks at all times, like front lawn gardening where both you and your neighbors are proud of your manually controlled dandelion and weed free lawn. Resolve causes that look, not luck, not waiting for two years hands off when you first moved in. Good lawn owners won’t accept the alternative look, do that in reefing.

when a mat of cyano grows on the new sandbed, you’re inserting a siphon hose and doing a ten gallon water change to remove it, always. More work required up front, less work as the tank ages.
youll never allow the precursors of an invasion, therefore an invasion isn’t possible.

when algae of any type grows on a rock you lift up the rock and remove the algae physically, as the rock sits on your counter. Set the rock back clean, mentally come up with effective ways you can remove algae off rocks there’s a range of options with a broulee torch on the extreme end and a pocket knife on the easy end of the resolve continuum.




excuses setup:

you’ll be giving excuses to onlookers if they’re seeing a wrecked reef. They want to see a reef like there is shown above. Doing opposite of resolve, access, physical removal leads to excuses and a help entry in the nuisance algae forum. I know this sounds mean to entrants in the forum, but tough love will save ya.

 

[nereefpat]

What are the dimensions of the 220?

If it's the 30" tall one, personally I wouldn't want it for a reef. Maybe you could get it and swap it with your freshwater setup.

Anyway, if you want a 120, I would keep looking for a 120. A new Marineland 120 can't be much more than 500 bucks. Of course you'd be building or buying a sump and stand too. A 75/90 or a 120 is a different kind of monster than a 6' 220, as far as equipment and maintenance.

 

[brandon429]

I'm sending a link to the Op regarding a huge tank rip clean. I don't want to out anyone here, we are lucky when they decide to share with us the degree of work it takes to force a misperforming reef into compliance.

The single, sole, standout point from this send is you can either wait till the tank is full of invasion and do a ten hour fix job that can possibly get you scrape infections from having to do all the put off work all at once, or, you can do it in simple increments expecting per the rules of no excuse reefing to have to do that. Only the lucky get to set rocks in a reef and never lift them out; I know you were planning for that

take that plan, and punt it

 

[Little c big D]

I think if the cost of equipment scares you. Not to go so big. There will be other deals. There are ways to make it work on a budget however. One thing that won't be cheap is salt. Your maintenance schedule on a 220 could be alot of work. I do 10% weekly water change.... if I had a 220 that's 22galons a week. That's alot of work and salt for me. It is all about the effort and expense your willing to do [my waterchange schedule is my own, I'm not saying it's how it should be done]

The positive to big tanks is they tend to be more stable. You could always look into a soft coral tank. They will favor the dirtier water and lower light levels allowing you to have less invested. There's so much you COULD do with it

Good luck either way

 

[Borsig]

It's the 30 inch deep one, which was another hold up of mine. It's hard to get into a 30 Inch deep tank to get to the bottom. I know. I have a 110 that's 30 deep and I use an extension and a ladder.

 

[Borsig]

The more I think of this, the more I see it as an upgrade for my aging 180.

As for the 120 I want, the cheapest new one I can find locally is 900.00. If I could score a new 120 reef ready for 500 I'd already have it

 

[nereefpat]

The more I think of this, the more I see it as an upgrade for my aging 180.

Nothing wrong with that. Taller makes a great looking display.

As for the 120 I want, the cheapest new one I can find locally is 900.00. If I could score a new 120 reef ready for 500 I'd already have it

Have you checked your LFS + Petco/Petsmart for Aqueon/Marineland/Deep Blue brands?

Petco is currently selling 75 Aqueon for 175 bucks on sale. "Reef Ready" is usually more expensive, but if that means those build in Mega Flow type overflows, you likely don't want those anyway.

 

[Borsig]

Whats wrong with a megaflow? Are the poor quality? I dont want to mess with drilling a tank., honestly.

My 180 is a rift lake. Frontosas, Gentler haps, and so on. This 200 would make a great upgrade for that, and it's virtually maintenance free as I have an auto water changer on my 180.

 

[nereefpat]

Whats wrong with a megaflow? Are the poor quality? I dont want to mess with drilling a tank., honestly.

Quality is fine. They work fine. They just take up a bunch of room in the tank, don't look the best, and only have 2 holes. So if you want to use a quiet siphon-type drain system, you have to drill additional holes and/or go over the back with returns...which works fine too.

On the cheap, if I wanted a 120, I would get a standard Aqueon or Deep Blue non-drilled and drill it to accommodate an overflow like this or similar: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/lopro-external-overflow-box-800-gph-fiji-cube.html

Lots of ways to plan a tank, however. I understand seeing a deal and jumping on it. There is also value in getting exactly what you want, and setting it up the *best way...which everyone has different opinion on what they want and what is best. I'm rambling a bit. I personally would not want a 220 with those dimensions with that overflow system, but that's just my opinion.