What are the logistics of an Office Tank

[New&no clue]

Okay, I may not be as much help because I actually work in the industry and we already have a lot of the things I need for my desktop aquarium here already, but I'll do my best to help you!

Awesome, thank you. I've pretty much made up my mind I will do it. I'm now just debating between a 16 or 32 gallon tank.

16 Gallon
Pros: Small so less water to bring in from home, lower maintenance, less equipment that could potentially break, smaller foot print in my office
Cons: Smaller so less room for fish and corals, not expecting much with softies but smaller tank is harder to keep parameters in line

32 Gallon
Pros: Larger so more room for corals and fish
Cons: Larger so more water to bring in for WC, more equipment, larger space taken up in office, still a nano so can have a hard time with parameters.

I mean logically I think a 16 makes more sense, however, I'm afraid I will regret not going bigger. It happened with my first tank. I started with a 55 and immediately(4 months) upgraded to a 75. I just see the same thing happening this time as well.

 

[The District Reef]

I've had a 40 breeder in my office for the past two years. For the first year and a half, I had mostly zoas and LPS, but I recently upgraded my lights and have been slowly adding some SPS. The first step for me was selling it to my boss. He eventually bought in and has even purchased some coral/livestock for the tank. He'll come in and sit in front of the tank during the day so that's also been a plus.

1. How do people deal with water? I know my boss wouldn't let me set up and RODI and mixing station here at work, so do people just bring water from home?

My RODI is set up at home. About once a month, I'll load my SUV up with buckets of water and store them in the utility closet in our office. This has probably been one of the most annoying things about having the tank in my office, but I've made it work.

2. What do you do about feeding over weekends, or holidays?

It's already been said, but fish can go a few days without feeding, but I'll usually feed right before I leave for the weekend and first thing Monday morning. If I'm going to be gone more than a few days, I have an automatic feeder that I set up over the tank. My coworkers love coming in to see the tank, so they will also offer to feed if I'm out for a while.

3. Related somewhat to 2, but what sort of automation do you have for the tank?

Nothing fancy. Just an ATO, doser, and an automatic feeder that's put to use from time to time.

4. What am I not thinking about? For people with office tanks what has been some issues that have come up?

I will say that I'm more motivated to go to work in the morning and stay later at night so I can enjoy the tank. The biggest downside is that I get a little nervous something might happen while I'm away. My first stop when I get back from a trip is usually my office to make sure everything is still running ok. I've thought about getting something to monitor the tank, but if I'm gone, I don't really have a lot of options for rectifying the problem.

Our cleaning crew comes into the office pretty late at night. I think one night they must have spooked the tank because I found my longnose hawkfish on the carpet. They are notorious jumpers and I probably should have covered the tank, but that's one thing that possibly could have been avoided if the tank was at home.

I usually clean the tank/do water changes after hours because I don't want to be a distraction to others.

 

[Joshua Kerstetter]

Its possible that I'll be asked to go to management or engineering someday, and if that happens I'll demand to be allowed to have a tank. My current role doesn't allow that because water/fish and networking equipment in a Central Office aren't the best pals.

 

[LDH]

I am a police officer and my work let me set up my old tank at work to help the crew reduce some stress. It’s awesome and everyone loves it. It is a bit of work but labor of love so worth it.

I try to keep as many things automated as possible.

I have an auto feeder, dosing pumps, auto top off and back up pumps and temps in case something fails while I’m gone.

While I am at work the fish get fresh food but weekends it’s pellets in the auto feeder.

Water changes come from home and I get to work a little early every other Friday to get those done so I’m not disturbing too many people lugging buckets in. That’s the only pain. I got some great water carrying and stackable jugs from Costco that make it easy tho. Look at emergency supplies kits for good stacking water jugs.

I have six jugs. On wc Friday’s I fill up three jugs of freshly mixed salt water and two of them filled with ro for ato. I get to work, top up the ato reservoir with the two fresh ones then I have three empty and three full of salt water. I drain the tank to fill those three jugs then fill it with the three fresh so it’s exactly the right amount.

it’s amazing how much the tank helps to relieve stress for people so I am motivated to keep doing the work.

You should do it.

 

[New&no clue]

You should do it.

Hoping to combine some Christmas money to do it. Now I’m just debating on what size to go with

 

[New&no clue]

So I read this thread last week about what’s the most annoying thing on here. Lots of people had said cliff hanger threads. I tend to agree, people ask questions get answers but there usually isn’t a resolution so... for anyone who wants to know how this thread ends you can follow along with my build thread on this tank

Build Thread - My ULM Office Tank- Nuvo 30L

This is my second tank. I've wanted a tank in my office for some time but scared away by some hurtles. I had several concerns about an office tank; 1. Water changes- I will not be able to have an RODI system at work so all water has be brought from my house. 2. Testing and Dosing- I will not be...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[ReefRondo]

I no longer use buckets and hoses and installed an Apex with a DOS for auto water changes. Cannot praise it highly enough. Love it and well worth the astronomical money involved. It is pulling water from the other side of the office building through the loft and back again to a drain and water container in a shower cubicle. Can't believe how far it pulls water!

 

[Amado]

If you don’t own the company it’s not a good idea as an employee to setup a fishtank.
even if they agree they have no idea what they are agreeing to. Saltwater will destroy everything. Dead fish stink. You can’t control
The temp at the office. If your boss doesn’t own the space and he is renting I am sure the lease/landlord will not be happy with a tank.

 

[New&no clue]

I no longer use buckets and hoses and installed an Apex with a DOS for auto water changes. Cannot praise it highly enough. Love it and well worth the astronomical money involved. It is pulling water from the other side of the office building through the loft and back again to a drain and water container in a shower cubicle. Can't believe how far it pulls water!

I would love to set up a mixing station in the back and have water pumped up. However between the shop and the office there is a steal fire wall. How big is your tank? I was looking at some other AWC and the reviews were not great for small tanks. I didn’t look at the APEX due to price.

 

[Rollman]

jealous?
one man's treasure... haha
...sitting with your tank 6 feet in front of your desk all day every day isn't necessarily something to be envious of.
To me, although beautiful and fun to gaze at, it's a non-stop critique-fest.
In a way, the tank is a reflection of me and just as I am with myself, I'm never "satisfied" with its current state.

I would continue, but I think I see a rock out of place... oh, and that coral looks like it needs to be rotated... crap, there's salt creep on that corner... now, where's my tank towel?
gotta go.

Totally agree... I own a business, work from home and have my baby next to my desk. I couldn’t imagine not being able to lay eyes on it daily.. I would never trust others unless they were in the obsession, I mean hobby

 

[NanoDJS]

So, I've become a reefing addict. Its true the first step of addiction is admitting there is a problem. Okay, so now that I've admitted it let's talk about how to continue it.

I would like a small AIO tank at my office. I was thinking the BioCube 32 as I have heard good things about it. I was also thinking of doing a mostly softy tank so the lighting requirements and dosing would be a lot less. However, I'm still kinda stuck on how people have tanks outside their home. Here are some questions I have.

1. How do people deal with water? I know my boss wouldn't let me set up and RODI and mixing station here at work, so do people just bring water from home?

2. What do you do about feeding over weekends, or holidays?

3. Related somewhat to 2, but what sort of automation do you have for the tank?

4. What am I not thinking about? For people with office tanks what has been some issues that have come up?

Thank you for the advice. This is something I keep going back and forth on.

Get a JOB at BRS seriously though its tough to do an office tank unless you own the office. (then they hire people to maintain the tank usually) where there is a will there is a way !!!!

 

[ReefRondo]

I would love to set up a mixing station in the back and have water pumped up. However between the shop and the office there is a steal fire wall. How big is your tank? I was looking at some other AWC and the reviews were not great for small tanks. I didn’t look at the APEX due to price.

It’s the reefer 425XL.
Honestly I’m so impressed with the auto water change function. Everybody I show buys one! It’s the shear distance this thing can work from that’s so impressive. You can have your water literally the other side of the house/office which means almost anybody can do it really.

 

[fmustang1981]

It's cool that you think through everything to the smallest detail. You have very well noticed the importance of automating the process, given that the office can be quarantined at any time. We are very wary of this, so we redesigned the layout of our office, just like here osdoro.com.sg, to reduce the risk of unwanted interactions between people. So it turned out that there was a free space in the center of our office and we persuaded the boss to put a large 75 gallon tank there. The guys from the IT part of the office wrote a script that will feed our fish automatically with the same period using a small motor and improvised tools. Now the boss often stops in the middle of the office to look at the fish.