Thinking about a bigger tank... what am I in for?

[caragol]

I'm thinking out loud here more than anything, but please chime in with advice or your own thoughts. I'm wrestling with going big here.

I'm in my new house, and for the first time in my life I have a basement. There is plenty of room for a fish room. So naturally, that means big tank. Here's the catch, I've never had a reef tank bigger than a 75. I've also had a 60, a 29, a 33 long and several picos that all did well (picos upgraded to 33 to 75, down to 60 then crash, current tank is the 29). What I like about the smaller tanks is the ease of maintenance. Water changes take little water, etc.

I was thinking about going for a 180, then I started considering a 240 long, which is basically a 8 foot long 180. Then I stopped and started wondering what I may be getting myself into before I go further. I figured I'd build the stand out of 4x4 and 2x4s, put it in wall (you can see the sides from inside the fish room). Go fuge, skimmer, LED lights... and keep the same mixed reef I always do, but with room for tangs this time.

I know I'm not considering something, how much water will a tank like that evaporate? I'm trying to figure out what my daily maintenance will become which is what I'm afraid of, I can't spend two hours a day futzing with it. The tank has to be as maintenance free as possible, without being costly.

Talk me in or out of it here, tell me if it's a pain despite it's beauty, or if it's all about the same once you get past the initial costs.

 

[caragol]

Next thought would be how the heck would I get an 8' tank into the basement. It's a straight shot from the garage down the basement stairs, then a right turn, and down four more. I think I'd have to build a mock up of the size of the thing with 2x4s to see if it would fit or if I would need to tear out a wall to make it just a straight shot. Moving a model of course would be much ligher than a tank, and probably .. anyone with experience with this?

 

[DD]

Aside from having to clean more glass of algae and larger volume water changes I think that maintenance would be nearly the same.

Largest tank I've owned was a 96 gallon. It was salt but not a reef. I think many of us, yourself included can attest to the fact that once the tank is established, there's really minimal attention needed. Well not any more than what you've done in the past and are currently doing.

Hope this helps. I would tackle the top off question but I'm not sure how much evap you'd have.

 

[caragol]

I always go open top, evap is less now that I've got LEDs and no hot bulbs. But, multiply by 10 and I'm running my RO/DI unit for a few hours a day. So, perhaps that's solved with a big reservoir that I use for topoffs and just let my RO/DI run all day Saturday.

My maintenance is so low, it's almost neglect, but the tanks usually seem to run themselves. I don't even clean the glass, I've got stomatellas that do a good job and enough chaeto that I don't really get any algae growth. I'm hoping for the same. Want to go as cheap as possible on this tank where it doesn't matter. Was thinking of DIY reef rock due to the size and the time I have to cure it. I figure that's one of those things that doesn't matter much because once it's covered in coraline and corals, who would know? But then again, dry rock is pretty reasonable these days. Nobody could see the stand, so I'll build that myself, but I'll get decent heaters and pumps and power backups because I've purchased too much junk that fails too easily (especially pumps).

 

[icedearth15324]

If you are building a fish room, then top offs won't be a problem. Plumb an RO/DI unit straight into a large reservoir (75-100 gallons or so) and attach a float valve to shut it off. Then have an ATO attached that will auto-top off the tank.

If you're gonna go big, then might as well go all out. Spend more time planning and buying equipment up-front. That way when you finally put it together, the whole thing will be awesome and you won't need to add more stuff to it.

 

[caragol]

It's a room and I can plumb the RO/DI into water/drain for sure. As well as install a slop sink. I'm excited.

So... small sampling, but so far big isn't necessarily a lot more work, but plan it out well rather than going piecemeal.

 

[icedearth15324]

The only thing that will be more work would be water changes and glass cleaning. Instead of like a 5 gallon change, it'll be a 30-40 gallon change. But even those can still be done in a small amount of time.

Otherwise a bigger tank is just more planning and spending.

 

[caragol]

A 30/40 gallon change might actually be faster, because I'll be near a drain and not trying to lug water to and from my garage to my office and dump it in awkwardly then clean up.

 

[jm23]

I'm thinking out loud here more than anything, but please chime in with advice or your own thoughts. I'm wrestling with going big here.

I'm in my new house, and for the first time in my life I have a basement. There is plenty of room for a fish room. So naturally, that means big tank. Here's the catch, I've never had a reef tank bigger than a 75. I've also had a 60, a 29, a 33 long and several picos that all did well (picos upgraded to 33 to 75, down to 60 then crash, current tank is the 29). What I like about the smaller tanks is the ease of maintenance. Water changes take little water, etc.

I was thinking about going for a 180, then I started considering a 240 long, which is basically a 8 foot long 180. Then I stopped and started wondering what I may be getting myself into before I go further. I figured I'd build the stand out of 4x4 and 2x4s, put it in wall (you can see the sides from inside the fish room). Go fuge, skimmer, LED lights... and keep the same mixed reef I always do, but with room for tangs this time.

I know I'm not considering something, how much water will a tank like that evaporate? I'm trying to figure out what my daily maintenance will become which is what I'm afraid of, I can't spend two hours a day futzing with it. The tank has to be as maintenance free as possible, without being costly.

Talk me in or out of it here, tell me if it's a pain despite it's beauty, or if it's all about the same once you get past the initial costs.

I have a 265 gallon DT, 80 gallon Frag, and Sump.

The initial/ongoing cost is in my opinion the only thing that should stop someone from getting a big tank. Things that you have to upgrade would be skimmer, lights, powerheads, dosing (alk,cal,mag) amount, return pumps (depending on size as they IMO only need to be strong enough to provide a little more GPH then your skimmer can handle), heaters, generator or battery back ups (bigger tank = more livestock = more money to lose if power goes out for extended period of time, though everyone should have some way to keep their tank going no matter the size), bigger QT for if you need to treat all your fish (a problem I just ran into) and probably something else I am missing.

My tank evaporates 5 gallons every 2 to 5 days depending on the season. I only use a 5 gallon bucket for ATO just in case there is a malfunction it won't dump a ton of RO/DI water in my tank. When I leave for a weekend trip I just dump another 5 gallons in the tank itself (that is the nice thing about big tanks is 5 gallons of RO/DI water doesn't change the salinity that much at all) to make sure my tank stays topped off. Water changes aren't horrible and if you have a room designated for reefing then you can make a system that will pump that SW into the tank and pump it out for very easy WC (man how I would love that). I do about one 40 gallon or so brute trash can WC a month, I also use that WC to clean and rinse the new GFO and Carbon using the SW I am about to change out. I have an APEX which I would highly recommend for peace of mind.

I would say on average I spend 10 mins a day doing the necessary tasks for the tank, so I don't think it is much more time consuming then a smaller tank. If you can afford it go for it, I don't think you need to worry about increased maintenance time. I had 6 guys bring my tank downstairs and thankfully it fit. Building a mock up isn't a bad idea, and depending on how high the ceilings are you can always stand the tank on end to get around corners. Good luck let me know if you have any more questions or if you ever want to come over and see the setup I have and hash out any more thoughts.

 

[caragol]

Jon, is that a 6 footer or and 8 footer? That's my other big concern, getting it in. Figuring out if I should use moving straps or suction cups or what... And where did the six guys go? I'm trying to figure out the corner we'll have to navigate. It's a straight shot but for one 90 degree turn on the stairs, it could be stood up but then who's holding where... those logistics get me too.

Edit: I mean, where were the six guys positioned, to be clear.

 

[jm23]

Jon, is that a 6 footer or and 8 footer? That's my other big concern, getting it in. Figuring out if I should use moving straps or suction cups or what... And where did the six guys go? I'm trying to figure out the corner we'll have to navigate. It's a straight shot but for one 90 degree turn on the stairs, it could be stood up but then who's holding where... those logistics get me too.

My tank is 7 feet long. We could only get 4 guys going down the stairs (I had carpet on the stairs so we gently slid it down). If you can get suction cups I think that would have made our job a lot easier. We did have one tight 90 degree turn and we just angled the tank up, while the 2 guys on the bottom held it to avoid putting too much pressure on the bottom end. It wasn't fun, but in the end it worked out ok. My advice would be to have your stand ready to go with whatever holes you need cut for the plumbing so you can put the tank straight on the stand when you still have the moving crew there.

 

[Joe5688]

I'd say go as big as u can afford and fit. 6-8' would be awesome.

As for maintence it's not gonna be much more then u already do. Once the system is up and running ur good to go.

If ur ever in my area stop by. I can show u my fish room thats plumbed into my DT. I'm running dual 35g water storage containers. 1 for fresh water and 1 for mixing salt water. For my water changes it's as simple as opening a valve and letting it drain to a certain level in the sump and then opening another valve and filling the sump back up to proper level. If u go a route like this it's actually much easier to do water changes. Only thing i do different is before a water change i blow off all the rocks and sump and put a filter sock on for a day to collect all the floating crap.

My skimmer dumps into a 1g container so i have to empty that like every 3-4 weeks. And i keep power heads in all 3 of my sump chambers to prevent detritus from building up in the sump.

 

[2clowns]

I currently have a 90 Gallon. But I'm kicking myself for just not building BIGGER. "Thanks to my Wife". But now I'm planning a MUCH BIGGER tank. In the 220 280 range. I say go LED for lights. Better for Heat and longevity. It will take some research for getting it or DIY. I put 108 3watt leds on 3 heat sinks and 3 meanwell dimmable drivers. PLAN, PLAN,PLAN.

 

[2clowns]

Good Luck with the build

 

[skunkmere]

i would worry about the humidity level from the evap. Maybe plan for some exhaust vents in the basement.

 

[mlreef]

Anthony, come and visit me in Naperville. I'll show you what it takes to run a larger tank... Once automated its pretty darn easy...

 

[tkh]

Sounds like you're in for a lot of fun...! Good luck with it!

 

[caragol]

Thanks... I'm sold. I just need to see if I can get 8' down the stairs without ripping anything out. After that I'll need to order the tank and get some help to get it in.

 

[LemontReefer]

Bigger tanks are way easier to maintain. If you plan out your fish room and automate the tank, its pretty much scrape the glass, keep the ato/ water change reservoirs full and let it run itself.

main drawback is initial higher cost...depending on your current skimmer/ pumps might not be that bad. with the wp40's being cheap getting enough flow in a large tank is now fairly inexpensive.

+++ on the generator..... everyone should have one, battery backups are a joke on a big tank.

Im moving my 7 footer this weekend (from penninsula style into an inwall setup ) your welcome to stop by if you want to see all the gadgets and how to set up an automated reef ,my whole system is really down to a few parts...much less stuff then when had to use halides... i run reef angel, ai sol's, nielson reactor, calcium reactor, big external skimmer, a couple brs dual media reactors for gfo/cabon/ floss etc, a couple wp40s for circulation, and have extra aquarims for top off and water changes, return pump, litermeter for ato, a skimmer feed pump, biopellet reactor, and little toms aqua lifter pumps to automate water changes the reef angel is nice as you can have it control salinity, led's and dc pumps like the wp40s, apex is more common but a little more $ and limited in what it can do. I would totally recommend getting the acrylic items used like skimmer, calcium and nielson reactors or diy as they are simple and sellers are lucky to get 40-50 cents on the dollar. I think gfo is cheating a little but when i run a little of it can go 3-4 days before having to wipe the glass.


as far as moving it down the steps, would check out acrylic tanks as they are like 25 % of the weight in the size you are looking at.
truvu is a pretty solid and prices are good, envision is really awesome tank maker but $$

glass- glass cages seems to be a gamblers choice, elos has nice tanks, not sure if they have 8 footers though.

 

[Odyssey]

I would recommend going to Sho Tank and talk to Matt. He's done a lot of crazy installs over the years including putting a 1000+ gal tank into his store. Matt also has a customer with a 20,000 gal tank in his house so he does have some experience with BIG tanks!!!