Monster difference: What new challenges come with a big tank?

[design.maddie]

FLOW
I will say that I have never owned anything bigger than a 70 gallon. Flow on the larger tanks completely changes equipment types. Methodologies completely change in the way to efficiently create the underwater atmosphere of a reef. At a certain point closed loops become the standard. Gosh, I love closed loops.

 

[pandaparties]

My tank is 120x36x24 and a 72x24x24 sump. There are a lot of things but the first is probably non-equipment cost. Everyone thinks how expensive the tank and big items like lights are, but its the small ones that get you. On a small tank rock/CuC/sand/salt is pretty negligible. On my system i spent about 1k on rock, 1k on CuC, 1k on sand and probably 400 on salt for the initial setup. Actually filling it with livestock to make it not look empty costs thousands. The dosing and/or carx, GFO, carbon etc. It just really stacks up. My monthly electric is around 30/40$, food is 50$, 30$ on salt, 30$ on media.

The other things that are challenging is water changes. If you don't have a space for a huge reservoir and mixing station then filling brutes in your house takes hours and then water change itself is a lot lot lot more time consuming and labor intensive.

 

[Scorpius]

Heard too many stories of people with large systems downgrading to 100 gallons to less systems and actually enjoying the hobby more which keeps me happy with my 3ft. 65 gal system.

 

[AKL1950]

Added my vote to the “Other” category. Bigger system means more of everything which equates to a lot more money.

 

[Floyd-]

Heard too many stories of people with large systems downgrading to 100 gallons to less systems and actually enjoying the hobby more which keeps me happy with my 3ft. 65 gal system.

Ive thought about downsizing a few times but I love my tangs too much to do that.

 

[reefnfun]

I have a 400 gallon system, the main display is 240. sump is 100 (Rubbermaid) and a 75 for the heck of it. I run Halides, Power consumption is the number 1 cost. I don't know anyone that ever said I wish I had a smaller grill. I know lots of people that like smaller tanks nano, pico. Do whatever makes you happy, Thats the best thing to do

 

[nuxx Verified Sponsor]

Last tank was 650ish total volume and went from a 50 gallon.

I'd say just the logistics totally change.

Where are you storing top off water?

Where are you storing water change water?

How are you doing water changes?

What other tanks are you going to have? Multiple QTs, frag, etc...

Don't do it unless you have enough extra monthly money sitting around and double what you think it's going to cost. Our UPS guy hated us for all the boxes of salt.

How are you going to deal with the humidity? We had two large dehumidifiers going non stop and emptied out gallons a day.

Any small problem becomes a big problem! Good luck catching that one bad fish...

But hey you can get more interesting fish and coral. Also water chemistry doesn't change as fast

 

[Floyd-]

How are you going to deal with the humidity? We had two large dehumidifiers going non stop and emptied out gallons a day.

Agreed! Living in FL our humidity is high and then toss my tank on top of it and we have to run a dehumidifier most of the year. 50% is about the lowest we see in the house and without the dehumidifiers we get up to nearly 70%.

 

[am3gross]

I voted flow.... Cost is up there but it is more of a me and wife thing, so we both put into it financially. Alot of the things she likes is wavey LPS/softy stuff while I am more into the SPS. So trying to figure out the flow where her stuff is happy and not getting blown everywhere because my SPS needs it. My tank is a 375 (96x37x24) with filtration ( 300 sump, 75 fuge, 75 refugium, and 50 gallon skimmer tank) in the garage. The garage is my safe place!

 

[uhgster1]

In the "other” selection, just from the point of practicality, when does the size of the tank become a burden? Hobbies are meant to be enjoyed and NOT the focus of your life. I couldn’t imagine myself, approaching 60, having to deal with the labor of maintaining a 300+ gallon reef. Of course I would love to have something big enough to swim in, but realistically, if you are not wealthy in the first place, giant tank’s are the Porsches, Lamborghinis, and yachts that that you see drive by on your way to work. Most, not all, of the people that can afford it don’t do their own maintenance and pay someone else to do it. I love my reef, it provides me with awesome peace and beauty, couldn’t imagine not having one, but I would not go into debt to buy something that’s going to suck every extra minute of my life. Kinda defeats the purpose, doesn’t it?

 

[BaghdadBean]

I have a 400 gallon system, the main display is 240. sump is 100 (Rubbermaid) and a 75 for the heck of it. I run Halides, Power consumption is the number 1 cost. I don't know anyone that ever said I wish I had a smaller grill. I know lots of people that like smaller tanks nano, pico. Do whatever makes you happy, Thats the best thing to do

I know some folks will argue this, but I feel like with the right reflectors, mh are actually pretty efficient, maybe more than they’re given credit for. The lumenarc and lumenbrite reflectors, for example, cover some serious space. Even with 175 watt bulbs, they give ample light for most corals, and with 250watt, they freaking rock all the way out to 36” x 36”. The XR30 G6’s are advertised at 205 and 215 watt (pros), which really isn’t all that much less. I see soo many systems with XR30’s stacked at pretty close intervals, which really makes me wonder if they’ve actually got the effective 3’ spread that they claim. I think the heat may be what truly causes the energy inefficiency, but for northern areas, the MH heat helps save wattage otherwise spent on running aquarium heaters. I have a chiller for my system, but it generally only kicks on in the height of summer, on days where even with LED lighting, I would have had to run the chiller anyways. FWIW I run a 72” x 24” x 22” tank on 3 175 watt MH‘s in lumenarc reflectors and I don’t feel hindered from keeping anything in it. I think it just comes down to personal preference, and you said it beautifully: ”Do whatever makes you happy.”

 

[David29price]

For me it was weight, flow, lighting and equipment cost. I had the floor reinforced for 8000 pounds additional weight (water, sand, rock and eventual coral).

All the equipment needs to be much larger (you’re no longer dealing with $200-300 skimmers, try $500-$800 or more. Same effect device), and for that, those size pieces are way more expensive. I have a 30” deep tank and not too many lights can penetrate to that depth I found. I went with Orphek and they installed custom lenses that go to that depth. Most brands didn’t have that.

I wanted no visible pumps in the tank to keep the effect of being in the ocean so I went with oceans motions for the wave making system. Great system and nothing visible and nothing to clean, but quite a large upfront cost.

I built a filtration room in the basement which ended up being 50 feet away. So this meant 9 lines at 70 feet each (5, 2” return lines, 3, 1.5” supply lines and a 3/4” dry line for computer cable to link two apex units together), plus much bigger pumps to handle the head pressure. I didn’t want any noise at the display tank at all. I paid dearly for that but I got a quiet display tank and plenty of room in the filter room for equipment and easy access for maintenance.

I used schedule 80 on everything. Worth it for peace of mind and Cepex ball valves for everything but that is also way more expensive than schedule 40, but that crap becomes impossible to adjust and turn valves quickly. I wouldn’t change anything but it’s been a tremendous expense

to get to the final product. tank is 96x30x30.

 

[David29price]

If you're not a taller person, working in the tank can be a challenge. I'm 5'8" and when I had a 220, reaching into it was a chore. It was so much of a chore that I went down to a 125.

I’m 5’5”, I feel your pain…..

 

[vlangel]

In the "other” selection, just from the point of practicality, when does the size of the tank become a burden? Hobbies are meant to be enjoyed and NOT the focus of your life. I couldn’t imagine myself, approaching 60, having to deal with the labor of maintaining a 300+ gallon reef. Of course I would love to have something big enough to swim in, but realistically, if you are not wealthy in the first place, giant tank’s are the Porsches, Lamborghinis, and yachts that that you see drive by on your way to work. Most, not all, of the people that can afford it don’t do their own maintenance and pay someone else to do it. I love my reef, it provides me with awesome peace and beauty, couldn’t imagine not having one, but I would not go into debt to buy something that’s going to suck every extra minute of my life. Kinda defeats the purpose, doesn’t it?

I am not sure what size your tank is but it's beautiful! It reminds me of my tank, only more organised, lol.

 

[BZOFIQ]

At the end of the day it is space and cost.

 

[uhgster1]

I am not sure what size your tank is but it's beautiful! It reminds me of my tank, only more organised, lol.

65 gallons, had to take it down during the summer but I have a little 13.5 gallon to hold me up until I get my 120, which is the biggest I can allow myself to go.

 

[David29price]

As many know, I always have big tanks and since Move delay is in place, I set up a 400g a little over a week ago. Other than considering weight distribution, I think I went for big tanks mainly because of ease of maintenance. With the higher water volume, I do less water changes and maintenance overall and have room for many occupants.
An example of the most recent setup is. . crystal clear, no diatoms, easier landscape and enjoyment.
The only challenges is More salt, more sand and added lighting costs but I already have a bunch of Orpheks so, no issue.
Having a controller unit makes automation and switching so much easier.
In the future I will be setting up the 1500g and that will require more lights, flow pumps and will require 7 buckets of salt for startup

I too haven’t had any nuisance algae problems like most people get with small tanks. Bigger for me meant a lot more fish, a lot more space to aqua scape and plenty of room for corals. As long as I keep up with my maintenance with the filtration, the only thing I do at the display tank is clean the glass. I even automated most of the feeding by using a power feeder that dumps the food into the return pump and after a few minutes turns the return pump off for 30 minutes to give everything time to eat and then restarts. I manually feed frozen in the evenings as I haven’t figured out any way to keep that cold and pump it in. I’ve seen a few people create solutions using lab equipment, pumps and a small refrigerator but it’s a lot of possible failure points and I still need to research that more.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I too haven’t had any nuisance algae problems like most people get with small tanks. Bigger for me meant a lot more fish, a lot more space to aqua scape and plenty of room for corals. As long as I keep up with my maintenance with the filtration, the only thing I do at the display tank is clean the glass. I even automated most of the feeding by using a power feeder that dumps the food into the return pump and after a few minutes turns the return pump off for 30 minutes to give everything time to eat and then restarts. I manually feed frozen in the evenings as I haven’t figured out any way to keep that cold and pump it in. I’ve seen a few people create solutions using lab equipment, pumps and a small refrigerator but it’s a lot of possible failure points and I still need to research that more.

My maintenance is literally check of algae scrubber and replace filter socks

 

[vlangel]

65 gallons, had to take it down during the summer but I have a little 13.5 gallon to hold me up until I get my 120, which is the biggest I can allow myself to go.

Ah yes, I thought it looked like my tank. Mine is a 56 gallon column, so similar water volume.

 

[nuxx Verified Sponsor]

Agreed! Living in FL our humidity is high and then toss my tank on top of it and we have to run a dehumidifier most of the year. 50% is about the lowest we see in the house and without the dehumidifiers we get up to nearly 70%.

We're in Austin and it's not even that bad, as say Houston.

Our skin was probably pretty good back then though