I can't decide between a 40B or a 75gal

[GrumpyAlison]

TLDR: Trying to decide between a 40B and 75 gal tank and was curious if there's cleaner shrimp that are notoriously NOT rude to corals.

I'm condensing all of my tanks (I have 3 systems with 6 tanks total not including my bergia tank and my quarantine tank ;n into a single, 2 tank system. I have an existing 40B and I'm trying to decide if I want another 40B or a 75gal for the second/main display tank.

I like the 75 for the options it provides but I realistically don't NEED that much space (I'm not a huge fish person & I prefer the smaller, more peaceful fish anyway, but the look of long tanks is pretty imo) but the 40 is obviously cheaper and takes less space. My only hard requirement is the deeper (not 12" deep) tanks because I loath doing aquascaping on tanks that thin, so 55 is out.

I currently have 2 pairs of clown fish and 2 pairs of green banded gobies (I'll throw one pair of each in each new tank and I'm not going for dedicated fuge setup) and like 5-6 BIG brittle stars. No cleaner shrimp because they're evil, assorted small hermits and miscellany fancy snails. Corals are primarily duncans and softies (I have simple tastes XD). If I have the space I might look into adding another fish or two or a small pile of cardinals after the new tank is setup, but ngl I mostly keep the fish for their poop for coral food XD

I do like little schooling/schoaling fish though (that aren't super expensive because, again, I'm more of a coral/invert person), so if anyone has suggestions for fun little peaceful dudes that won't mess with my coral or eat my gobies, I'm all ears. Having cute fish keeps my boyfriend happy when he looks at the tank, so sometimes I'll research a bunch of fish and if we're at the store and he likes one that would work in the tank I'll consider grabbing it for him. That's how I ended up with one of the clown pairs I have.

I'd also love to find some cleaner shrimp that won't steal food out of my corals. I have some fancyish shrooms and my old peppermint kept jamming his fingers into their mouths to steal food so he was banished to my friend's tank. He was very cute eating aiptasia though. It was like candy to him - as soon as I put it in the tank he'd run over and murder it instantly 3

So what size would you guys get if you were me? Thanks!!

 

[Zach B]

I'd rather go big and have extra room than need or want it later Just my opinion

 

[Devaji]

I would go rimless 40Br size alltho the extra space in nice but seems like your a smaller tank lover anyway so I would suggest smaller but nicer tank with a good clean stand.

just my option tho

 

[Peace River]

These are both solid choices. Keep in mind they have different lighting requirements.

 

[Storm Trooper Reefer]

2 pair clowns? age and type? clowns should be same type. when mature, 1 will be female, the rest male. the dominate will become female, that couple (group) will fight to death with different species. most mature at 3-4 years.

 

[mdb_talon]

2 pair clowns? age and type? clowns should be same type. when mature, 1 will be female, the rest male. the dominate will become female, that couple (group) will fight to death with different species. most mature at 3-4 years.

One pair in each tank she will be fine.

 

[Devaji]

These are both solid choices. Keep in mind they have different lighting requirements.

yeah lighting 3' tanks are painful on the wallet. for that alone is a reason for a 4' -75

 

[GrumpyAlison]

Thanks for the thoughts so far!
I've decided after I actually setup the new system I'm going to get some skunk cleaner shrimp because shrimp are life
I'd also love a midas goby (I'm a sucker for anything that looks like a weird eels and its the one fish I REALLY want XD) but I know they can get a bit grumpy so I was curious if anyone had thoughts about them in either size tank with the green bands. I normally have a LOT of rockwork and crevices for things to hide in, but I'm not going to get something that might terrorize them.

If the midas won't work I'm curious if anyone has thoughts for additional stocking of peaceful fish. Bonus points if they look like 'ocean fish' (like wrasse aesthetic but it doesn't need to be a wrasse if that makes sense. People always give me low-key crap because all my marine fish 'look like fresh water fish' and I do like color anyway). I know a lot of people lean towards firefish (I lid all my tanks fully btw) but I could take them or leave them tbh.

One reason I sort of lean towards a 75 is because it might hold some slightly more interesting fish because of the length.

I would go rimless 40Br size alltho the extra space in nice but seems like your a smaller tank lover anyway so I would suggest smaller but nicer tank with a good clean stand.

just my option tho

Oh the stand is going to be hideous either way - one of the lovely cinderblock monstrosities XD The tank is in the back hole of the basement so I'm not overly concerned with overall appearance, I just like watching corals and such grow. And my giant clumps of red macro algae which grow faster than the green stuff. My existing 40B is like 50% full of the stuff @_@

2 pair clowns? age and type? clowns should be same type. when mature, 1 will be female, the rest male. the dominate will become female, that couple (group) will fight to death with different species. most mature at 3-4 years.

My oldest clown is about 2.5 years, but I was planning to divide each pair per tank as someone mentioned so they won't interact with each other at all. But I have some black oscellaris and Picasso Percs.

yeah lighting 3' tanks are painful on the wallet. for that alone is a reason for a 4' -75

I'm not overly concerned with the lighting tbh. I have a big black box over my current 29 that provides sufficient light for what I have as well as like... 6 little hipagiro lights (they do great on my 10s and 20longs). My plan (again, not the sexy option here XD) is to only light part of the tank with the bigger light and buy more lights as i need them or supplement with the hipagiros and just leave things closer to the surface My current 40B refugium I have some little LED bar lights that do amazing things for growing algae so I'll probably leave them as is once I switch and have one tank primarily for algae and one primarily for coral. (and supplement more lights later if I need to).


Thanks again!

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

TLDR: Trying to decide between a 40B and 75 gal tank and was curious if there's cleaner shrimp that are notoriously NOT rude to corals.

I'm condensing all of my tanks (I have 3 systems with 6 tanks total not including my bergia tank and my quarantine tank ;n into a single, 2 tank system. I have an existing 40B and I'm trying to decide if I want another 40B or a 75gal for the second/main display tank.

I like the 75 for the options it provides but I realistically don't NEED that much space (I'm not a huge fish person & I prefer the smaller, more peaceful fish anyway, but the look of long tanks is pretty imo) but the 40 is obviously cheaper and takes less space. My only hard requirement is the deeper (not 12" deep) tanks because I loath doing aquascaping on tanks that thin, so 55 is out.

I currently have 2 pairs of clown fish and 2 pairs of green banded gobies (I'll throw one pair of each in each new tank and I'm not going for dedicated fuge setup) and like 5-6 BIG brittle stars. No cleaner shrimp because they're evil, assorted small hermits and miscellany fancy snails. Corals are primarily duncans and softies (I have simple tastes XD). If I have the space I might look into adding another fish or two or a small pile of cardinals after the new tank is setup, but ngl I mostly keep the fish for their poop for coral food XD

I do like little schooling/schoaling fish though (that aren't super expensive because, again, I'm more of a coral/invert person), so if anyone has suggestions for fun little peaceful dudes that won't mess with my coral or eat my gobies, I'm all ears. Having cute fish keeps my boyfriend happy when he looks at the tank, so sometimes I'll research a bunch of fish and if we're at the store and he likes one that would work in the tank I'll consider grabbing it for him. That's how I ended up with one of the clown pairs I have.

I'd also love to find some cleaner shrimp that won't steal food out of my corals. I have some fancyish shrooms and my old peppermint kept jamming his fingers into their mouths to steal food so he was banished to my friend's tank. He was very cute eating aiptasia though. It was like candy to him - as soon as I put it in the tank he'd run over and murder it instantly 3

So what size would you guys get if you were me? Thanks!!

90 gallon would be my vote.

 

[GrumpyAlison]

90 gallon would be my vote.

I'd love a 90, I just dont have the extra height space - my ceilings are SUPER low And tbh I hate maintaining stuff in tanks deeper than 12" which is why I started with 20L. If I was going to size up from a 75 I think I'd grab a 100 or 125 for the extra length but that def wouldn't fit in the basement

 

[Devaji]

well heck if its in the basement then and looks are not that important do a custom long shallow tank, like 6 feet long but 18" high that would be supper cool!

 

[GrumpyAlison]

well heck if its in the basement then and looks are not that important do a custom long shallow tank, like 6 feet long but 18" high that would be supper cool!

If I were a rich man, la la la la la la la la la.
That would be cool though I think the most I could fit is about 4' because of the pips it's sitting between XD tbh 75 is probably overkill for what i have, but it might maybe allow me to get a fish or two that I wasn't able to get before (i'm super into engineer gobies, I'm just kind of afraid they'll knock too much stuff over. I even considered adding a separate, raised platform to hold my mushrooms and stuff off the sandbed so they wouldn't kick sand ontop of them.

 

[rtparty]

75 for me. Extra water volume plus you don't have to use the full tank if you don't want but you can't just add more space if the 40B runs out of room

 

[GrumpyAlison]

I just ordered a 75 I pinged aqueon, but I assume the glass on the sides is untempered & safe to drill? Does anyone have any experience drilling them? Not to build my horrible cinderblock stand XD

I'm also curious what pumps you guys are partial to that are easy to service (looking at internal pumps for price & laziness)

 

[rtparty]

I just ordered a 75 I pinged aqueon, but I assume the glass on the sides is untempered & safe to drill? Does anyone have any experience drilling them? Not to build my horrible cinderblock stand XD

I'm also curious what pumps you guys are partial to that are easy to service (looking at internal pumps for price & laziness)

Aqueon won't know if any of the panels are tempered. You have to check before drilling.

For return pumps I really like the VarioS or Sicce Wifi pumps. For powerheads I lean towards Tunze because they are bulletproof and if you ever need help, Roger is one of the best in the business.

 

[mdb_talon]

I just ordered a 75 I pinged aqueon, but I assume the glass on the sides is untempered & safe to drill? Does anyone have any experience drilling them? Not to build my horrible cinderblock stand XD

I'm also curious what pumps you guys are partial to that are easy to service (looking at internal pumps for price & laziness)

Generally the side panels of any aqueon tank are not tempered and the bottom is on some sizes. The disclaimer is they have stated that due to glass availability they may at times substitute tempered for non-tempered.