Smaller system to start or go big off the bat?

[Shawn Blevins]

I would start with something smaller 30-50 gallons until you learn to manage your maintenance and time management. Don’t be afraid to Craig’s list or Facebook marketplace. Almost all my tanks and equipment I have gotten used when I started. 5 gallon weekly water changes are much simpler and help you maintain proper parameters than what would be done on a larger system. Also cost are down and doesn’t hurt as bad when you make mistakes. Like trying to come up with 50 plus gallons of saltwater. I enjoy this hoppy tremendously and the key is to be patient and learn. Usually you learn best from mistakes and a smaller tank means smaller mistakes.

 

[Bfragale]

Welcome!

I think it depends on budget, and room. If you have the budget and space, I think larger is better but honestly people have beautiful small and large tanks so it’s more of your ability and personal preferences. Happy reefing!

 

[SyracuseMatt]

Personally, I think a standard 75 gallon is just about ideal for a starter tank. Easy to light with t5s, good depth front to back for aquascaping, large enough for a bunch of choices in fish, etc., but, it really depends on what you want to put in the tank. Bigger is not always better. I have a 180 and there is some really cool livestock I wouldn’t buy because it would get lost in a tank that size. Of course, that’s why you’ll eventually need multiple tanks......

Matt

 

[Bill Bolton]

Hi All - I'm in the very early planning stages of a system and I have a fundamental question that will determine my path forward.

This will be my first reef tank (up to now I've only kept freshwater community and African cichlid tanks), and I'm trying to decide between starting off with a small system (I'm thinking a 32 gal Biocube) with the understanding that I'll be upgrading in the future, and waiting a while longer to go big (~150 gal) off the bat. I've researched the pros and cons and understand that a smaller tank will be more difficult, but my thinking is that I can get the hang of things while the stakes are much lower, and I could even convert the smaller system to a hospital or QT tank to serve the eventual larger tank. I think getting some hands-on experience with a smaller system (at a much lower price point) would be beneficial vs. going big right away and potentially making some early mistakes that could have otherwise been avoided.

I would start with the biggest you can reasonably afford. The larger water volume brings a lot of forgiveness and room for error.... and there will be mistakes. My first reef was a 30 gallon back in 1983.... and boy.... MISTAKES WERE MADE. If I would have done a 120, I could have saved myself a lot of headaches!!

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Didn't read the thread so I am not sure if this has already been said.
Started with a Fluval 13.5 and I would highly recommend it. I would 100% recommend going smaller as a starter for the following reasons.
1) Less up-front cost: The cost of a premium 75 gallon system is a minimum $1000. Evo set me back about $300 after rock, sand, and tank
2) Less cost if you end up getting out of the hobby: Tank crashes or losing every single fish to velvet would be devastating to any reefer. If my evo crashed from a heater failure I would be devastated but I likely only have about $2000 invested. 3 fish and 8 corals in a 13.5 vs 6 fish and 20 corals in my 40B.
3) Forces you to practice good husbandry: I can get away with skipping a WC or failing to test for a few days in my 40B. I don't because I know that coral growth and fish health greatly depend on tank stability. I learned from the start the consequences of skipping these essential tasks and quickly learned how to accurately dose/measure/maintain stable tank parameters

However I think it was about 6 months before I bought/started my 40B. I love my nano.

 

[RBReefing]

I started with a 20 gallon. I do wish it was bigger but I got a red sea nano max in a raffle so that is where I started (First world problems, right!). I would love to go bigger but there are some considerations that you should think of.... For me to do a water change is really easy! If things aren't quite right 10 gallons for a 50% wc is easy. I can easily do a 20% every week. I am trying to keep my ph up so I got a CO2 scrubber. I could not afford that on a larger tank. I am dosing all for reef. Could I afford that on a larger tank, no. What is my electrical bill attributed to the tank... About $10.00 per month. Replacing evaporated water.... 2,5 gallons lasts me about 2+ weeks. I have a heater for making salt water, a pump for mixing it, a refractometer, test kits, coral dip, food, emergency parts etc.... All in all I think the regular maintenance on a smaller tank is less costly. I am planning a bigger tank but slowly adding some of the things I desire to make it closer to lower maintenance with more reputable equipment (I have 2 little kids and travel for work). So bit by bit I added a tunze 3155, Apex EL, trident, Macro Algae Reactor, power heads, some nice corals, Versa dos.... I know before I get a bigger tank I want an RO/DI system, Automatic water change, quarantine system, some nicer power heads, nicer lights and some other things. For me and only me... I think I would have gotten frustrated with unforeseen costs had I started with a larger tank. Sometimes I roll my eyes at all the gear on my tiny tank but I feel it is setting me up better for less headaches when I do upgrade. Furthermore, I am learning a lot from my current tank too, although I wish I had negotiated for the RS 170 for a nice comprise . Final thought... the automation I do have gives me the time to read and learn more on these forums.

Good luck with your build!

 

[Zan's Aquatica]

I will have to respectfully disagree with you on some points.

I started out with a big tank, a 150G and everything was fantastic but it leaked.
Went to my LFS and bought a 110G and transferred the rock and livestock.
This is a temporary set up until I get my 150 replaced.

Well I started a 12G Nano while I was waiting on time and money to get my main tank back up and running again.

The nano is a lot more work and worry. Parameters are so much harder to keep stable, temperature fluctuations everything. Algae blooms can overtake it in a matter of hours, its crazy. Not to mention being a new reefer one mistake will crash the tank.
In a nano one drop to much ALK and there's an immediate deadly spike, ETC.

Yes the volume of water changes with a big tank are larger true.
But they are a lot farther in between, once a month or six weeks. Nano tank needs weekly or more water changes. At least my tank does.
Until today its was a bit overstocked, with two clowns, a Yellow eye Tang, eight heads of Dendro was 12, and a BTA, and last but not least two snails.

Yes I know the tang should not be in there. I had no choice as he was loosing the fight with the potters angel in the 110 and he is the smaller of the two fish so I put him in the nano.
My new 150 system is up and running and as of today the clowns and Tang are in their new and permanent home.

So I say go big or go home, I for one will be happy to get my corals moved out of the Nano over the next week or so and for now, be done with it. YMMV

some solid points! yes, i’m experience so i find nano so much easier and 1/10th of the time and cost

 

[X-37B]

Got back into the hobby with a 25gal 18" cube with sump. Ran for 2 years now running a 120 and 45 frag system. Took a year aquiring the 120 and all related equipment. Best thing I did was know what I wanted the tank to look like before starting.
That said the nano cube was nice but sump was a pain as everything is smaller.
I would do a 40 breeder with 40 breeder sump. Close to 60 gal with just salt water.
I run no baffles in my 2 40 breeder sumps and there is lots of room for any equipment you want.
It would make a good frag tank with lots of room when you go big.
Good luck on your adventure and......

 

[a4edwin]

At this point of the thread what size are you thinking about now? If you look in the market place you’ll find used equipment cheap if you want to try and save money on things you might be able to find a 75g tank and stand for 200 if you’re lucky maybe even a bigger tank. Whatever you do just do your homework on the things you want to buy from livestock to equipment so you’re not throwing your money away on fish you shouldn’t keep in a certain size tank and replacing equipment that doesn’t work for you. Example of a craigslist ad near ny

 

[RBReefing]

some solid points! yes, i’m experience so i find nano so much easier and 1/10th of the time and cost

Zan, I will concede the easiness as the only bigger tank that I have had was a fresh water. I can say that if I were running a larger tank like I’m running my Nano it would be a lot more expensive to set up and maintain even if I substituted 2 part and some other things. Really the best solution is to get a large tank so I can see both sides of the coin, and I am okay with that

Thanks for the feedback! Not sarcastic

 

[Jordan Prather]

The bigger the better to an extent if you ask me. Personally if the space is there I think a 180 is perfect but if you dont have 6 ft a 4ft 120 gallon is another awesome choice. I have both and a 220 and 90. The reason I recommend those two is that most lights on the market have a 2x2 spread which match the dimensions of the 120 and 180. The 90 gallon is to narrow for a good scape and my 220 while I love it reaching down 30 in to the sand bed is a pain. Keep in mind to that when it comes to equipment it's all relative you might spend $200 on a skimmer for a 90 gallon and be able to get the next size or 2 up for a 180 for $250. And you get a ton more options for fish aquascaping and room for corals to grow out before becoming super crowded. The larger the tank the more stability you will have to.

 

[K7BMG]

The best Tip I was given to date was not about the tank at all.

I was told buy the un-fun stuff first, that the first purchase that I should make is a RO/DI system.
Why, because people smarter than myself told me, first off good quality water matters, and makes all the difference in the long run. Second, The effort of hauling water is one of the biggest hobby killers known to the reefer.

I was asked to calculate how many gallons are required to properly operate the tank I planned to have.
How much water I should have on hand at all times and so on. Then calculate the cost of it per week, month, or year.

In my case, that was 150G tank and at least 50G to have on hand for water changes and top off.
So 200 individual jugs of water, or 40 5 gallon buckets. To fill, load up, transport, unload, store, pour into a mixing container, and so on.
The time alone was considerable, then there's the cost. RO/DI at my LFS is $1.25 I think. That's $250.00
Distilled or purified water at a store was like .90 per gallon so that's a bit less at $180.00.
A 7 stage RO/DI unit is what $350.00.

It made perfect sense to me once explained, so I was not about to be buying and hauling gallons and gallons and gallons and gallons of water from the LFS.

Now when I visit the LFS, I see people coming into the store with stacks of buckets, or various water hauling containers, carts and the like. They all look so happy don't they. Not to mention I guarantee you will need water immediately for one reason or another from time to time and that's exactly when every jug or container you own will be empty.

The investment in a RO/DI system will last for decades and it works with a 1 gallon tank or a 10,000 gallon tank. It will save so much time and money in the long run. Yet more often than not its the first thing the new reefer will cross off the equipment list due to budgets.

 

[JimG1966]

First off welcome to R2R. I started out with a plan old 55, we was not planning on going reef with it but thats the way it went. After a couple of months we set up a 125 for fish. Had i known we was going to go reef there is no way i would have went under 75 gallon. The real regret is even being reef it is filling up way to quick. My thoughts on it is get a idea of what your wanting to put in your tank, if there are any fish your wanting to add other than maybe a couple of clowns and a couple other small fish, the 32 isnt going to fit your needs. Nothing wrong with a 32 cube, i plan on setting one up for my wife for more delicate fish that she is wanting, but knowing ahead that you already plan on going bigger and planned ahead for using the 32 for a qt tank your not going to run into the issues i am having. I cant put the corals out of the 55 in the 125 with the fish that are going into it. Now i have found fish that we want that wont fit in the 125 and setting up a 210 so we can get those....lol... good luck on your choices... going in with a good plan and doing your homework is a great start.

 

[See Gee Sea]

Good question and really good responses so far! I got back into the hobby with a 91 (73 display 18 sump) and started 20 years ago with a 35 with a canister filter. I’ve been wet for only 2 months and will admit the larger tank was a bit intimidating at first. Overall, it’s more stable and the sump isn’t that difficult to figure out as I had imagined it would be. The only drawback of the larger tank is larger water changes so you’ll need more RODI water at the ready for salt mix and water changes vs. a smaller tank. But overall it’s much more stable. The start up costs are a bit more for lights as compared to a cube obviously. I asked a similar question about an all in one vs. a 55+ with a sump on a Facebook page and you would’ve thought I asked what’s the best endangered species to house in my tank!

 

[LesPoissons]

Start small but plan for big.

I was the same. I had freshwater for years. Got my 1st salt tank- go big or go home- bc I knew I’d eventually want bigger anyway. 220g. Mistake. If you are brand new to to salt- you screw up a lot- esp if you don’t have the $ to buy the high end equipment right off the bat. Little mistakes in a big tank are big, frustrating, expensive, time consuming mistakes. Now you will prob spend a lot to get the 32 running well with the right equipment lighting etc but you can resell/re use/keep 2 tanks (most likely lol) etc. A couple tips- buy equipment that can transfer to a bigger system later to save some $. Like an rodi system- get the 180 gallon per day system. Tank light? Get a light you can put on the 150 later etc.

2nd piece of advice- but high quality equipment. If you go cheap- you Will pay the price in replacements and tank issues.

And research!!!! Best of luck!!

 

[Mkus]

I agree its less expensive to stock.
But that's because your extremely limited in the first place.

Yes but I’ve seen and own a well kept nano with only water changes look 100 times better than a larger reef imho a nano is easier and less time consuming to take care of unless you all automated like my buddies 90 .
My nano has been running 14 years never had a crash just running a refugium and do my water changes every week ..

 

[fjpod]

I'm a perfectly happy 16 gallon BioCube person. I like everything all in one box. Sure, the large tanks are beautiful, and I go out of my way to see one whenever I can, but I don't want to tie myself down with big expenses and responsibility beyond what I know I can do on a daily basis. I've had larger tanks and found the work load to be greater than I could keep up. Life has a way of taking your time away from hobbies and things you enjoy...LOL.

That being said, if you like doing things in a big way, don't start small.... start big and make a little tank as a quarantine tank.

 

[dutch27]

I disagree with people saying to start big. I started with a smaller tank (JBJ 24g), eventually went up to 120g, then back down to a smaller tank. The 120g was nice, could keep cool stuff, but the maintenance was more intense than the smaller tank, and overall it was much more expensive.

A smaller (20-40g) all-in-one is really easy, it just needs a couple hours once a week and occasional swipes with a mag float. Water changes can be done with a 5g bucket from Lowe's. It's a great place to get some experience, see the real time, expense, and challenges involved before committing to a much bigger tank. Then, if you upgrade at some point, you can have a smaller tank around as a QT, or a frag tank, or whatever.

IMO the sweet spot is a 40B with a sump. Small enough volume to keep maintenance easier, big enough to have a sump and some add-ons like skimmers and reactors if you want. Also depends on what fish you want though.

 

[Amado]

Bigger is not better. I would buy a small tank to get started. Treating a large tank is very expensive. Lighting a 6ft tank is very expensive. Stocking a 6ft will take forever and you will spend a fortune. The tank will look empty for a long time. Heating/cooling a 6ft tank is also very difficult. I would start with a small used system. 24 x 24 cube is a good start. You can buy high end lights and when you are ready to Upgrade you can move it over to the new tank. Most new reefers don’t make it past one year. So buying expensive large tanks only benefit
The fish store.

 

[Rudzbrewski]

I am brand new to saltwater and recently went through the same dilemma. I spent months reading and watching videos before deciding to jump in. I went through and wrote down all of the pieces I would need for my ideal display tank (Reefer 250 to xl 425) to “do it right”. I learned about the importance of having a second QT tank set up to increase chances of successfully run that tank and mapped that out in my master plan as well. I realized I could start by setting up my smaller QT tank setup with all components I would need in the long run (some staying on the QT, some that could be transplanted to the DT). This seemed like the perfect way for me to practice and learn basics at a much lower initial investment without “wasting money” on things I would upgrade or replace later on. I know the upgrade will allow me to have the actual types and quantity of fish I ultimately want, but for now I can keep beginner level stuff and grow out some smaller frags of coral while continuing to learn before upgrading to my dream DT. I know keeping water parameters will be more of a challenge, but it made sense for my timeline and budget. I’m still in the initial build phase (hoping to start cycling by this weekend at the latest), but that’s the route I decided to go. Good luck!