Rookie reef: What size was your first aquarium?

[FrugalReefer]

120 gal Topfin from PetSmart sumpless was my first tank. Now I have a nano . . . with a sump.

 

[davidcalgary29]

1. Way too small
2. Still too small
3. Big enough to start my own aiptasia export business
4. Big enough to flood my kitchen when the seams burst in the middle of the night
5. Big enough to finally provide competition for the next-door neighbour's power consumption from his basement cannabis farm

 

[Nate Chalk]

Mr aqua 12 gallon bookshelf

Had 2 clowns and a rock. Many others over the years

Got a free 90

Then built my current beast 180 and 75 sump. Diy

 

[Geo007]

Mine was a 75 Gal Fresh Water tank on an Oak stand. I had a few problems, but I have since realized that it was because of OVERSTOCKING my fish. I didn't realize at that time that there was too little O2 in the tank for the fish to survive.

 

[Genomecop]

I hate to say it, but I kept a Lion Fish in a ten gallon tank for years.

 

[JHSteepat]

1970s Florida, as a kid, put some sargassum weed in a bucket of water and put in 10g tank on my back porch. Had shrimp, fish, crabs, and a really cool sea slug. Got water from beach every week, but after a couple of weeks all I had was a larger crab.

2000s 72 gallon bowfront plumbed to a 55g sump in basement. T5s, skimmer, and CO2 calcium reactor. Growing everything from gsp and acros, pacific live rock. Had little kids so maintenance was bad, and my main powerhead siezed and I lost fish. Got rid of everything out of frustration and cost at the time.

Now, going to a WB infinia 150.4 whenever that arrives, with eventual Apex monitoring and alarms….currently cycling Marco rock aquascape patiently in 75g tank.

 

[Minifoot77]

35 gallon hex and a 38 gal reg both fresh water first saltwater is my current 5 foot 75

 

[ReeferHD]

my first reef was an 8 gallon cube, and we used a canister filter from our freshwater days, i took all my inspiration from Danny's aquariums on youtube, his videos were the first reefing videos i watched, and his tanks are still my favorites, the picture below was day 1 with corals, the only coral i still have in this picture is the Psammacora on the left, the rest unfortunately didn't survive my beginner mistakes. i still miss this tank for it's simplicity, and i may remake it in the future.

 

[littlebigreef]

20 Gal high with a skilter. Filled it with tonga rock and caulerpa, 50/50 vho bulb. Finally I was able to bring home a 2” Achilles hybrid from the pet store I worked at. That was a great little tank.

 

[cvicente]

My first saltwater aquarium back in 1983 was a 30 gal long with an undergravel filter and two Tomato clowns, a few rocks and nothing else. My first reef tank was in 1986, a DIY 110 gal glass tank, wet & dry biological filter, skimmer, ozone, and a Coralife 5500K MH fixture with VHO actinic T12 bulbs. I have kept reef tanks ever since.

 

[Waters]

It was a 29 gallon with a wet/dry filter, tap water, and a bunch of fish that shouldn't have been in there.

 

[SPS2020]

I hate to say it, but I kept a Lion Fish in a ten gallon tank for years.

You made me think of the toadfish I caught off the coast of NC and put in one of my early tanks. Man, what a mistake that was! I finally caught him a second time (in the aquarium this time) and put his behind back in the ocean. Maybe I need to post that to the Fish You Should Never Put In Your Aquarium thread. lol

 

[drolmaeye]

My first reef tank venture was in my fraternity house in the late 80's it was a cinderblock wall with 3 tanks in it. Each tank was 48x10x10 - That's right in the old days these were for housing bettas - long small tanks - I had them stacked on top of each other and water flowed from tank to tank to tank to sump - which was full of DLS rolls back in the day.

That tank wasn't successful. So when I moved out of the frat house I got a 75g tall reef. I had the most tick colored yellow halide, that was bought from a company that supplied lights for parking lots. This time we upgraded and had bioballs instead of the DLS rolls.

This tank lasted 2 years and then upgraded to a 125 High. The 125 was a wonderful tank, and while enjoying it eventually Protein Skimmers came to popularity, and at one point it even had a custome fluidized sand filter on it. This tank moved up to 2 metal halide bulbs - and the colors got a lot less *****. This tank also had a motorized pool ball valve on it and every 1/2 hour the water shifted from the left side of the tank to the right side.

The 125 lasted 6.5 years until I got into the colored sticks. It was upgraded to a 360, which lasted a year before the seams started to go bad and was replaced under warranty - but we upgraded to a 400g. The poorly built 400g from the same crappy builder lasted 20 years, before it started bowing too much to be comfortable.

We got nervous about the 400 and in a panic replaced it with a 560g tall on Xmas eve. The was a beautiful tank at 36" tall. Just stunning. But after a double disaster losing all fish and corals within 36 hours the wife pushed me to build my final tank.

So we went to a 750 last fall.

A bunch of tall tanks . . . as a new reefer I only think of how much of a pain it would be to work with anything deeper than about 24" (or even 21"). But to see your current tank in the pic, it is amazing how awesome that height looks.

 

[NowasReef]

35 gallon hex in 2001. Had as a Cichlid tank. Went on vacation and heater died...tank dead. Figured why not give it a shot. Ordered actual live rock that came in a box dripping wet that rock was wrapped in newspaper. Stunk the house up for a week! The stuff that came out of it though was amazing! LFS said it would never work in that tank. It did.....until I upgraded to a 100 gal a few years later. Now have a 75 hex, 55 gal, 75 gal, and 18 gal nano...all sumpless reefs and going strong!

 

[secret_reefer337]

Very first FOWLR is 75 gal but reef tank is 35 gal cube.

 

[McPuff]

Very first fish was a betta that I kept in a bowl. Then I had a larger bowl with two fantail goldfish. My first aquarium was a 50 gallon long with 3 oscars. Eventually, we added a giant snakehead and boy did that fish grow fast! ) This was around 1990. Good times.

 

[Astronomical]

I had a 10 gallon saltwater tank in my room as a Florida kid in the 90s. It was decorated with coral skeletons from the beach and home to a snowflake eel and dogface puffer.

I regularly fed the puffer live goldfish, which he loved! ..The goldfish had mixed feelings.

 

[Aquamanvin]

Rookie reef: What size was your first aquarium?

You may be just getting started or you may have an amazing mature reef like the picture shown below. For many of us, the tank, or tanks, that we have now is not where we started. That first tank may make you cringe, or you may wistfully look back on it, however there was probably a lot of learning that happened with that first tank. Please tell us about your first tank and your experience with it in the thread below!

Pro Tip: There are many perspectives on the best size for a first tank and lately the small tanks have been getting a lot of focus. I still find that 40-75 gallons is a good range to consider. The cost of equipment to support bigger tanks can become a limitation, however aquariums in this range still have enough water volume to be a little forgiving,

Photo by @maroun.c


This QOTD is sponsored by: www.topshelfaquatics.com

“Whether you are looking for that one of a kind piece or for the perfect beginner coral to start your reef, our dedicated staff is always eager to help!" -TopShelfAquatics

My 1st Reef tank setup 7 months new. 40 gal.IM Nuvo Fusion. Great setup. I’m blessed that things are progressing well. My recent stumble was adding a Diamond Goby. Gravel everywhere. I will definitely be returning this character to my LFS. 2 Oceleris Clowns, 2 Bangaii Cardinals, 1 Pajama Cardinal, Azure Damsel, Awesome Valentini Puffer, Coral Beauty and a Purple Firefish. I would love to have a Flame Hawkfish if possible. The learning journey continues. Corals: Rock Flower, Green star polyups, Gorgonian, Duncan, leather, Torch.

 

[Quietman]

Wow...let's 1972 ish. 20 gallon with metal (assume chromed steel) edging everywhere.

Something like this...

Man, ain't that some groovy metalwork. Freshwater - naturally. Corner air filter with floss AND charcoal. Plastic plants, sand colored gravel (for that timeless natural look) and a ceramic tiki hut. Swordtails, neons, algae eater, tiger barbs, an angel fish and a platy I think. No snails, no water changes, and only the occasional cleaning. Kept it for 3 or 4 years. Loved it. Probably get a visit from SPCA today...probably more from the dog chained in the back yard than the fish though.

 

[meefsreef]

My first reef was a whopping 3 gallons. The entire setup consisted of the tank, a light, a mini undergravel heater, and a hang-on back filter. It was a complete disaster overall, but it still grew the most coralline algae that I've ever had .