Should i upgrade my tank ?

[Calvinctyng]

Hello fellow reefers.. Being new to the hobby, i decided to start with a small AIO cube nano tank which is 23L only.. But then when i started to purchase other necessary stuffs.. the cost just ramp up so quickly.. to a point the aquarium is just a small fraction of the cost.. And because of that, i have very limited space in my tank.. and for doing poor research.. i misplaced my coral and 1 of hammer got stung to death.. So right now im thinking if i should upgrade my tank.. to something slightly bigger which can fit my space in my bed room..

I have 2 dimensions in mind atm, 1) 2ft(L)x2ft(W)x1.5ft(H) AIO Sump at the back or 2) 2.5ft(L)x1.5ft(W)x1.5ft(H) AIO sump at the side.. These will all be custom made.

So the question now is should i upgrade ? or should i stick to my current tank.. i have since moved the corals and they seem to be still doing ok atm...

Another question i would like to ask is.. are those x in 1 pH/salt/temp/tds bla bla bla meter with a probe in the tank good? Will it give accurate readings?

 

[Bj’s Reef]

First welcome to the forum. Yes the tank cost is small compared to the other stuff you need. I say go for the larger tank. Especially if the small tank is already limiting what you can do. You won’t regret going a bit larger from the beginning.

 

[Idech]

If you are going to upgrade, why not get a sump under the tank ? It will give you more possibilities down the road, and maybe prevent having to upgrade again.

 

[Calvinctyng]

First welcome to the forum. Yes the tank cost is small compared to the other stuff you need. I say go for the larger tank. Especially if the small tank is already limiting what you can do. You won’t regret going a bit larger from the beginning.

Thanks for the warm welcome.. Yea guess i started off wrong.. i thought a larger tank would be much harder to maintain but it seems like smaller tank is tougher compared to a larger one.. the measurement above is like the max length i can fit in..

If you are going to upgrade, why not get a sump under the tank ? It will give you more possibilities down the road, and maybe prevent having to upgrade again.

I do not have the space for a cabinet to house a sump..

 

[Lavey29]

You should check out the IM small AIO tanks which are plug and play simple and offer some decent space in the small tank field.

 

[Uncle99]

Hello fellow reefers.. Being new to the hobby, i decided to start with a small AIO cube nano tank which is 23L only.. But then when i started to purchase other necessary stuffs.. the cost just ramp up so quickly.. to a point the aquarium is just a small fraction of the cost.. And because of that, i have very limited space in my tank.. and for doing poor research.. i misplaced my coral and 1 of hammer got stung to death.. So right now im thinking if i should upgrade my tank.. to something slightly bigger which can fit my space in my bed room..

I have 2 dimensions in mind atm, 1) 2ft(L)x2ft(W)x1.5ft(H) AIO Sump at the back or 2) 2.5ft(L)x1.5ft(W)x1.5ft(H) AIO sump at the side.. These will all be custom made.

So the question now is should i upgrade ? or should i stick to my current tank.. i have since moved the corals and they seem to be still doing ok atm...

Another question i would like to ask is.. are those x in 1 pH/salt/temp/tds bla bla bla meter with a probe in the tank good? Will it give accurate readings?

Smaller waters always harder to keep cause things change real fast, but are comparatively lower cost.

Bigger waters are more forgiving as the opposite is true, things may change at a slower rate. Rate depends largely on volume. But, larger waters are more expensive to keep.

So it really depends on your goals, time and wallet.

Welcome and good luck.

 

[JustAnotherNanoTank]

Welcome. I’ve been in the same place.

A photo of what you have currently and the space you have to work with is always extremely helpful.

On this forum a picture truly will get you a thousand words of advice.

 

[fishface NJ]

You should check out the IM small AIO tanks which are plug and play simple and offer some decent space in the small tank field.

he's in Malaysia

 

[Lavey29]

he's in Malaysia

Nice place, IM vendors like BRS can ship international but warranty might be limited then.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

23 litres is only 6 gallons, hopefully you don't have any fish in there. Certainly upgrading to a larger tank will give you far more options for fish and corals

 

[Calvinctyng]

You should check out the IM small AIO tanks which are plug and play simple and offer some decent space in the small tank field.

Yea I have looked into the innovative marine AIOs before.. but the price on those tank compared to a custom 1.. i can get it much cheaper having 1 custom made here locally.. probably for just 1/5 of the price.. excluding the accessories .. there are some stuff from my freshwater tank which i can reuse for this purpose and that's another cost saved..

Smaller waters always harder to keep cause things change real fast, but are comparatively lower cost.

Bigger waters are more forgiving as the opposite is true, things may change at a slower rate. Rate depends largely on volume. But, larger waters are more expensive to keep.

So it really depends on your goals, time and wallet.

Welcome and good luck.

Yea totally understand that.. especially the amount of salt i need to use.. the amount of supplements i need to dose etc adds up.. That is why im not planning to get something too massive.. mainly because the limited amount of space i have also yea.. like you mentioned.. time and wallet..

Welcome. I’ve been in the same place.

A photo of what you have currently and the space you have to work with is always extremely helpful.

On this forum a picture truly will get you a thousand words of advice.

My room is so messy.. im feeling reluctant to post a photo of my room lol.. but my current tank is 30cmx30cmx26cm AIO with a sump size of 9cm wide.. so that leaves me with only 21cm in the display tank.. it is really small.. another thing is.. my cabinets and desks etc are fixated to the wall so yea they can't be moved..

23 litres is only 6 gallons, hopefully you don't have any fish in there. Certainly upgrading to a larger tank will give you far more options for fish and corals

unfortunate i do have 2 clowns in there.. they are both about 2cm in size..

 

[Calvinctyng]

So if i do decide to upgrade my tank... which of the above mentioned dimensions would be better? There is only a difference of around 10L volume only between the 2..

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

unfortunate i do have 2 clowns in there.. they are both about 2cm in size..

2 clowns should be in a 20 gallon, 6 gallon is much too small for any fish. The right thing to do is upgrade the tank or return the fish.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

Hello fellow reefers.. Being new to the hobby, i decided to start with a small AIO cube nano tank which is 23L only.. But then when i started to purchase other necessary stuffs.. the cost just ramp up so quickly.. to a point the aquarium is just a small fraction of the cost.. And because of that, i have very limited space in my tank.. and for doing poor research.. i misplaced my coral and 1 of hammer got stung to death.. So right now im thinking if i should upgrade my tank.. to something slightly bigger which can fit my space in my bed room..

I have 2 dimensions in mind atm, 1) 2ft(L)x2ft(W)x1.5ft(H) AIO Sump at the back or 2) 2.5ft(L)x1.5ft(W)x1.5ft(H) AIO sump at the side.. These will all be custom made.

So the question now is should i upgrade ? or should i stick to my current tank.. i have since moved the corals and they seem to be still doing ok atm...

Another question i would like to ask is.. are those x in 1 pH/salt/temp/tds bla bla bla meter with a probe in the tank good? Will it give accurate readings?

Welcome to R2R! Someone on here will be able to help you.