Thinking of adding another tank already?!

[LittleDabOSalt]

Have we gone over the edge? lol not sure but we've enjoyed our 125 so much that we're considering adding another and this time going even bigger. :neutral: I'm sure those of you in SW for a long time see people come and go and we honestly don't want to be one of "those" so we're weighing it out and trying to make sure that we'd be committed long term.

Are there many like us? In the hobby for less than a year that purchase another tank and have success or due to the lack of real experience under their belts do they tend to crash and burn the majority of the time? The thought of adding other tank excites me but I'm curious what you all think.

 

[pumarjr]

i've had SW tanks since I was about 9yrs old, I've seen lots of people come and go, they spent like crazy, once the tank matures or the new feel of it wears off, they usually lose interest, the tank inhabitants usually suffer and the tank gets sold, they move on. I think that having reef tanks is a huge responsibility and effort. I think that most people do not last, a few do, but most either spend too much or lose interest too fast. I enjoy just the sounds, the visuals of seeing nature and the peacefulness of my very, extremely minuscule part of the ocean alive and thriving in my living room. If you are asking the questions your asking, you have probably already wondered if this is for you.

 

[LittleDabOSalt]

i've had SW tanks since I was about 9yrs old, I've seen lots of people come and go, they spent like crazy, once the tank matures or the new feel of it wears off, they usually lose interest, the tank inhabitants usually suffer and the tank gets sold, they move on. I think that having reef tanks is a huge responsibility and effort. I think that most people do not last, a few do, but most either spend too much or lose interest too fast. I enjoy just the sounds, the visuals of seeing nature and the peacefulness of my very, extremely minuscule part of the ocean alive and thriving in my living room. If you are asking the questions your asking, you have probably already wondered if this is for you.

I appreciate your taking the time to respond and your honesty as well. It isn't so much that I'm wondering if we're one of those people as it is more a question of making sure we're making our decision based on good information. With less than a year experience in SW and no real background or knowledge of what may or may not be the "norm" of whats to come IE... have we seen the majority of the ups & downs in our 125 yet or are we just at a plateau or are there are even greater challenges to come? If there is more to come I'm concerned that we may spread ourselves too thin with the work involved if another even bigger tank is in the picture while we iron things out and burn out. I guess that would have been a better way to put it. Yes, we've wondered if that may be us and we don't want it to be, as we feel that the fish shouldn't have to suffer for our lack of good judgement or not considering everything before taking that leap.

We've had tanks for over 20 years and our interest has never waned in our FW tanks. Our fish are as much members of our family ( silly as it may be to some ) as our other four legged pets. The only reason we hadn't had SW before was the expense while raising kids, we opted to wait until we knew the expenses involved wouldn't be an issue. Here recently we had considered placing our FW fish and turning that 125 into a SW but when it came down to it I couldn't let them go. They will stay with us until they pass from old age.

 

[redemer123]

I think you can do just fine, I had a thriving 55g for the first 9 months I was in this hobby then I upgraded to a 120g with a 100g sump, so far its been up for about 5 months and doing well I may add. I got into the hobby aug. of 2010 so im still very much a noob but I have had great success with this hobby and feel if you have the intellectual curiosity to learn something new everyday you will do well.

 

[rjcranor]

I say if you enjoy it and can afford it go for it. I've had my bumps in the road. Several years ago I tried it didn't have much success so went back to fresh water. I've been working at one for about 6 years now. I'm still having some issues now and then but I'm working at having a nice setup that is a healthy environment. Good luck on your next tank.

 

[steamer51]

You have kept FW for over 20 years and that says you are committed to aquarium keeping. SW is a whole new world with much more diversity of life that can be kept and enjoyed. You have learned the patience and research necessary for SW or you would not be successful enough to consider another, larger tank. Stability is the most important factor and that comes with taking the time to let the ecosystem grow from the sand up. My 55 has been up since August 2006 and I get neglectful, make mistakes and things happen that would crash a normal tank but mine just bounces back with some maintenance because it is balanced by the multiple creatures that live within. If something does die, something else eats it before it becomes a problem. I think your interest will be held in SW because there are so many different creatures and types of tanks to keep. I assume you have multiple FW tanks and IMO it is better to do that with SW as well. You can design each tank for exactly what you want to keep instead of providing some of the requirement for multiple types of corals and fish. Whenever I get started setting up the many tanks I have collected I will have one tank each for Softies, Lps, SPS and fish only all with multiple refugiums and sumps set up specifically for each special need instead of trying to keep everything I want in one tank.

I had my first FW tank 45 years ago and off and on over the years I have kept just about everything that can live in an aquarium. At my FW peak I would have anywhere from 7-14 tanks set up at one time, each specialized for it's inhabitants. Probably should have bought that Pet Store back in the 80's when I had the chance to get all this love of water out of my system. 25 years ago I worked part time at an LFS and first tried a couple of saltwater tanks. No corals, just a couple of fish, snails, crabs and some macro algae full of pods. Undergravel filter with powerheads (not reverse like it should have been) with crushed coral for substrate and coral skeletons for decoration. Live rock was unknown to me at that time and I did not invest the massive amount of money they wanted for early skimmers and bio ball run wet/dry filtration. I only worked at the LFS for four years but accumulated a lot of stuff, some that I am still using. Incredible discounts caused me to bring home very little money but I sure had a good time talking about pets to people and I sold the heck out of stuff because I had already made all the mistakes and could steer people in the right direction on equipment and livestock. Someone takes home the wrong thing for their tank and it dies and they never come back, often getting out of the hobby and selling their equipment. Sell them the right thing and they will keep coming back for more.

 

[LittleDabOSalt]

Thanks all, you have given me some things to think about and I have to agree that SW offers much more diversity of life. Have pretty well kept everything, at least everything that interested us in FW over the years and yes, many different tanks. I have a feeling saltwater may be same on many different tanks as time goes on because our interest is so vast on different species. In time, right now our focus is on what we have and possibly a second but we're still weighing it out.

 

[jenmay44me]

We had our 90g up for about 8 months before we upgraded to a 180g. We knew going into this hobby that it would be demanding, hard-work, and full of fulfillment. I understand why some people get out, but if you've done your research and commit to being committed :wink:, this can be a lifelong passion.

 

[Tonynlo]

Ive been in the hobby for 3 years. Equipment is what keeps me going, I have such a small stock list. I started off with a 55, then a 90, now I built an in wall setup. All of my coral is what I started out with in the 55.