What’s the smallest size tank you’d keep?

[ScottR]

You told me before lol.

And yeah haha that’s one of the things about me, my memory’s not bad lol hard for me to miss seemingly insignificant details.

That must’ve been last year... summer? I visit friends all the time and can’t even remember where they live.

 

[Zionas]

No lol it was earlier this year. You got many local friends in HK?

 

[davidcalgary29]

Seeing that my only tank is a Fluval 13.5, I guess I'd have to say that....

Of course, though, I'm itching to upgrade that to a larger tank, perhaps down the line when my fish are bigger. Ideally, I'd say 40 gallons, but bigger is better.

The Evo is great, and jars are even better! How else are you going to be able to focus on the sexy shrimp and blue clove polyps?

I have a tumbler full of macro. Next up: shot glass reefkeeping! I suppose that it would be possible to keep a polyp or two on the windowsill for awhile, although water movement might be a problem.

 

[ScottR]

No lol it was earlier this year. You got many local friends in HK?

I run a reef club here. 60+ people but I know many other reefers as well. Popular hobby here.

 

[Poof No Eyebrows]

So thanks to @ScottR I am now building a new tank. Here's the question should I go deep cube style or shallow lagoon style. Will be coral only. Smdh...

 

[ScottR]

So thanks to @ScottR I am now building a new tank. Here's the question should I go deep cube style or shallow lagoon style. Will be coral only. Smdh...

Hahaha. Don’t blame me!! Personally I don’t like deep tanks because they’re harder to work in. But with long tanks, lighting gets trickier. My tank is 24” high and getting my arms in to reach the bottom is a mess. Good luck with your build.

 

[Poof No Eyebrows]

Well I'm thinking 20 gallon. Something like a nuvo fusion 20 and build a custom stand for it myself. And I agree deep tanks look amazing but are a pain in the a** to work with.

 

[Zionas]

Nice. Looking to come over once I can return.

 

[Lemon]

I think a 20 gallon would be the minimum for me. I just need to be able to keep more than 2 clownfish

 

[Ef4life]

Smallest I’m keeping Now is 5.5g, it’s a little smaller than I would like for ease of maintenance, not being able to fit my hand in the tank easily can be a pain. Doing it again, I would not go under a 10g size to keep more room around the glass and a larger back return pump chamber.

5 gallon on desk, and the new larger 16ish gallon cube that will be replacing it.

now if I could only keep just 1 tank - it would have to be at least 75g

 

[Ef4life]

I did a 19 litre tank once, one of my favourites to be honest. If anything went wrong you could just do a 100% water change.

The problem is finding good quality small equipment.

Good small equipment is getting a lot better and easier to find. Heat and heaters imo are still the biggest concern, but an inkbird controller really helps. Can turn on/off the heat or fans as needed.

ai prime, kessil a80s, Aqamai kps, jabeo sow4, Nero 3, mighty jet dc return pump. Or go budget/old school with modded hob filters and diy stuff.

 

[takitaj]

For me it would have to be a 75 gal and up. A tiny pico jar might be cool but I probably wouldn't unless I was bored or something. It's hard enough to keep things stable in a 90 gallon!

 

[schuby]

I would've said 90g (my first tank), but now I'd say 50g based on Charlie's Frags (can't link to his account: maybe the apostrophe). His SPS growth is nothing short of amazing!

 

[nereefpat]

If you had to start over, what size is the smallest tank you’d keep? I can’t see myself keeping less than 40 gallons because of fish limitations. But 60g is probably the smallest I could keep and be proud of. Not to say nanos and picos aren’t nice, but a desktop nano just doesn’t do it for me.

Probably a standard 75 gallon for me (4x1.5 footprint). Easy to light. Easy to get flow right. Can still keep most of the fishes that I would want to, and I can still grow big corals. I definitely see the argument for a 40 breeder. Those are great too. But for me, for a salt tank, I would want a 75.

For a desktop freshwater, I could go pretty small, like 3-5 gallons or so. Betta, or shrimp, or rasboras...with snails and plants.

 

[Trouble1375]

Does the 5 gallon next to my 125 gallon count? I could never keep just a small tank again. The 5 gallon is just there for QT/Emergencies - but it is always ready. Thank goodness for it this past Monday if anyone ready my long ordeal.

 

[DangerDave]

My connected system is 475 gallons-ish. I don’t think I’d ever go smaller. Things happen to fast in small tanks.

 

[N.Sreefer]

Never smaller than 100 gallons I was not an evo 13.5 fan I have one that now sits empty because nanos are a pain in the butt and I'm lazy. Might end up using it as a refugium in my sump.

 

[Poof No Eyebrows]

Well I just pulled the trigger on a Fiji Cube 22.4 nano tank so....

If anyone asks I'm still blaming @ScottR for this

 

[revenant]

40G show...

I had one back in 1999 through 2004 and it was one of my healthiest tanks.. Super bright purple coraline everywhere... only used a HOB "skilter" and I put a HOB overflow on it for a sump.. ran bio balls.. pretty simple setup and ran like a champ.

 

[Zionas]

What would you say are your fave fish?