Planning an Upgrade ... Upgrade Beginner(?)

[Lou City Reefing]

Hey everyone! The family and I are looking to upgrade to our *Dream Reef Tank* I currently have a 20 gallon and we are looking to upgrade to a 150-180 gallon tank, because we don't want to upgrade incrementally when the end result will be the same.... A bigger tank!

What tips / advice that you would have liked to have known when you were making an upgrade to such a large system (by my standards this is large lol)

*These are questions for the sake of brainstorming and starting dialog*
Are auto water changes a must have for you?
What costs incurred that you were not expecting when making a large jump? (I know more equipment, more rock, more water = more money).
What would you have done differently when upgrading?
What equipment do you feel is essential for a system of that size?

I plan to piece the equipment out slowly and over the course of several months to a year

After speaking with my local reefing club their advice was "Think about what you want and go bigger!"

I was originally was looking at an Eshopps Mariner M130 or UNS R150, but now we are looking at 6ft x 2ft x 2ft ~180 aquariums.

 

[Lou City Reefing]

I just popped into ReefDudes' YouTube stream and he said if I'm taking my time then I should build my aquascape, and start cycling it in brute cans so that it can be fully cycled day one of starting up the new tank, which I thought was an amazing idea!

 

[me & my baby]

That’s a good idea , also taking your time will let you pick up deals on equipment . Bigger is more stable so go with what you feel suits you the best . I have had 10g up to 300 and I now have a 150 5x2x2 . For me water changes are a must but I am old school and I am in the mind set of if it isn’t broken don’t fix it .

 

[Lou City Reefing]

That’s a good idea , also taking your time will let you pick up deals on equipment . Bigger is more stable so go with what you feel suits you the best . I have had 10g up to 300 and I now have a 150 5x2x2 . For me water changes are a must but I am old school and I am in the mind set of if it isn’t broken don’t fix it .

I was looking at a 5x2x2 150 gallon as well and do like that footprint as well! Does that extra foot make a huge difference?

 

[me & my baby]

It depends on who you ask . To me no , one less foot to try to get flow right in . One less fixture for light . Does limit some of your tangs but all in all I am very happy with mine . Honestly if you were close to Atlanta there is a local guy selling his 150 peninsula for a freaking steal and I mean a steal .

 

[Lou City Reefing]

It depends on who you ask . To me no , one less foot to try to get flow right in . One less fixture for light . Does limit some of your tangs but all in all I am very happy with mine . Honestly if you were close to Atlanta there is a local guy selling his 150 peninsula for a freaking steal and I mean a steal .

Personally, the two tangs I've been dreaming about are a yellow tang and a whitetail bristletooth tang. I can't stop looking at them every time I go into my LFS

 

[me & my baby]

 

[me & my baby]

It depends on who you ask . To me no , one less foot to try to get flow right in . One less fixture for light . Does limit some of your tangs but all in all I am very happy with mine . Honestly if you were close to Atlanta there is a local guy selling his 150 peninsula for a freaking steal and I mean a steal .

Personally, the two tangs I've been dreaming about are a yellow tang and a whitetail bristletooth tang. I can't stop looking at them every time I go into my LFS

Those would be fine in a 150

 

[ScaredGoat]

It depends on who you ask . To me no , one less foot to try to get flow right in . One less fixture for light . Does limit some of your tangs but all in all I am very happy with mine . Honestly if you were close to Atlanta there is a local guy selling his 150 peninsula for a freaking steal and I mean a steal .

I am south of Atlanta, is he selling anything besides the tank?

edit: you posted right before I sent this...