What does the "average" reef tank look like?

Travis Rider · Nov 28, 2016

gfox · Nov 28, 2016

I will let the other reefers judge my tank.

lion king · Nov 28, 2016

I say average, I have success with some, some not so much. This is a year in a 90g, after combining 3 nanos; 1 of 9 months, 1 of 2 years, 1 of 3 years. I let it run itself now, I'm kind of over the maintenance to make it look good. I think that happens; I have 4 lions in there and that's my fascination, I would be just as happy with fake corals. I also have 2 fowlrs and a small angler tank with Living Color corals.

Elleuckyreefs · Nov 28, 2016

Id say average. Still working on fine tuning things and for most of the sps to really grow in. I've had super great growth this last month though! Some of the clams and corals like the elegance I've had for quite a while..

dakoop · Nov 28, 2016

Below average

RONBATTLE · Nov 28, 2016

Paul B said:
I would say the average tank has easy to care for fish like clowns and wrasses. You may see some equipment visible and those cement frag plugs everywhere. I really hate those things and break them off before I take the frag out of the bag. I also don't like to see a picture of a tank with a lettuce clip on the front glass.
Here's my tank when I had some leeks on my front glass

NOT TO SOUND REALLY DUMB, BUT WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH THE LEAKS...I GOTTA KNOW...LOL

RONBATTLE · Nov 28, 2016

Paul B said:
I would say the average tank has easy to care for fish like clowns and wrasses. You may see some equipment visible and those cement frag plugs everywhere. I really hate those things and break them off before I take the frag out of the bag. I also don't like to see a picture of a tank with a lettuce clip on the front glass.
Here's my tank when I had some leeks on my front glass

THAT IS FUNNY...GOOD JOKE....YA GOT ONE

John Carroll · Nov 28, 2016

12 years in the hobby and I have seen some epic softy tanks and some epic SPS tanks. Those are the exception, not the norm. For every epic tank there are 5-10 that are far from show pieces. In order to have a true average you have to count the good and the bad. In my opinion the "average" tank has some form of nuisance going on somewhere like bryopsis, bubble algae, GHA, aiptasia (or mojano anemones), red slime, etc...Just remember that every epic tank had that ugly diatoms phase at some point in time. As for my tanks, they wont reach epic status because I don't let them. I frag my LPS/Softy tank to pay for my SPS tank. I grow out my slow growing SPS. However I frag my fast growing SPS to pay for my Anemone tank or I deposit the money in my "tank account" for other frags to grow out. It is a vicious cycle.

John

JFalco · Nov 28, 2016

I guess my tank is average. It has come along pretty good in a year since I moved from my 14 gal to my 65 gal. It's almost time for an upgrade

Orcus Varuna · Nov 28, 2016

A very new tank here it's just under a year old.

waybad41willys · Nov 28, 2016

I feel mine is average even some people have told me different I would say there is always something I wish was better

david p. · Nov 28, 2016

for me below-average-above for a reef translate with the level of care, balance and details the tank has, i could also add esthetic in the sence of the right mix of texture and color between corals. You can have really simple scape well placed corals, not necessarely high end corals, and have a very nice tank. Of course the fishes! again, no need to have high end fish, i like to see healthy fish in the rights numbers and space available and diversity! i guess it's personal preference. but above everything, seeing large colonies in a 5...10... 20..30.. years old reef is amazing, to me that's above all, that means resiliance, commitment and passion!

nice tank so far, interesting to see all these reefs!

here's mine, while lights were turning off. Tank was started end of May-2016. Went crazy pretty fast on SPS, but i get pretty nice growth, it will fill in eventually. i would like to believe that i'm above average, but only time will tell! still learning everyday and making mistakes.