What’s the bare minimum tank size w/o fluctuation?
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ndrwater
2500 Club Member
Even larger tanks can fluctuate wildly depending on the situation. There are many more factors at play than just tank volume.
If I were to suggest a tank with decent size, that wouldn't break all the banks getting it setup, would be about 100 gallons
If I were to suggest a tank with decent size, that wouldn't break all the banks getting it setup, would be about 100 gallons
mitch91175
2500 Club Member
As @ndrwater said, every tank is going to have fluctuations. All you can do is try to set it up to eliminate those fluctuations. Salinity is the easiest to control if you have an ATO. dKH/cal/mag all depend on what you have consumption wise in the system. But you will have fluctuation in parameters no matter the size of the system due to consumption.
75 gallons is my minimum for less wacky stuff. That being said, I am running a 60g cube right now and the parameters can swing a bit more than I like, but I chose the inhabitants knowing that this would be a possibility.
Smaller tanks are not impossible, just gotta be on your game more.
Smaller tanks are not impossible, just gotta be on your game more.
TerraFerma
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It's fairly easy to keep even a 20g stable if you spend money on the right things.
Salinity - a high quality ATO (Tunze) w/ an appropriately sized reservoir.
Temp - make sure your heater is big enough, hook it up to an Inkbird temp controller, and have an appropriately sized cooling fan plugged into the cooling plug with the fan blowing across the top of your tank. Evaporative cooling can be very powerful when applied correctly.
Alk, etc - Tropic Marin All for Reef only needs one dosing pump and that handles everything save for maybe a weekly iodine addition if you have a lot of softies.
My place has horrible insulation and can get as low as high 50's in a cold snap, and nearly 100 degrees in summer heatwaves. Just have to refill the ATO reservoir frequently during the heat waves.
Salinity - a high quality ATO (Tunze) w/ an appropriately sized reservoir.
Temp - make sure your heater is big enough, hook it up to an Inkbird temp controller, and have an appropriately sized cooling fan plugged into the cooling plug with the fan blowing across the top of your tank. Evaporative cooling can be very powerful when applied correctly.
Alk, etc - Tropic Marin All for Reef only needs one dosing pump and that handles everything save for maybe a weekly iodine addition if you have a lot of softies.
My place has horrible insulation and can get as low as high 50's in a cold snap, and nearly 100 degrees in summer heatwaves. Just have to refill the ATO reservoir frequently during the heat waves.
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