cd77
Premium Member
I'm not a veteran.
Yes, as a general rule of thumb for any habitat -- the bigger the better. Does that mean you should start big is the real question here.
I can tell you what I think. I think I'd rather start small (I chose a 70 gallon) The 70 gallon is small enough to ensure I don't have a heart attack if I happen to crash the tank six months down the line. Small enough so that I don't have to worry about rebuilding an entire portion of my house if there is a leak, small enough so that I don't have to consider structural/foundation concerns, and small enough such that I don't have to spend a lot of time each day maintaining it or paying someone else to, and lastly it's small enough that I can buy it from my LFS without having it custom built to specification and having to consider things like knocking out a wall, re-plumbing, addiional circuit breakers, etc..
It's big enough to allow me to play around with things like sumps, refugiums, automatic topoff systems, protein skimmers, dosing systems, aqua controllers, various lighting options, and a there is a lot of livestock (fish, invertebrates, corals, pods, bacteria, etc..) to learn about from personal experience that I can put in a 70 gallon tank.
Waterkeeper once said in a thread that any tank younger than a year is new to him. From reading lots of other posts, I can see why. It will be a while from now before I can consider myself as having an "established" reef. During that time, I'll learn a lot -- I even try to participate here by answering questions, because I recognize that teaching is part of the full learning process and the veterans here will quickly put me in my place when I'm wrong -- either way, I'm learning. And I've only just begun this journey. I still take time every day to learn a little bit more about various critters, water chemistry, algae, gear/technology and I don't think a day has gone by since I set up my tank that I haven't added a new bookmark to my browser.
AND.. I've already made my fair share of mistakes. Once your tank is first cycled, it's very tempting to run out and immediately buy a small coral or a cleanup crew or a damsel or something.. Hell, I'm still trying to figure out the optimal amount of food for my tank.
For now, I can learn a lot, and pick up a lot of experience before I jump into a larger tank. I'm doing this because I really enjoy the hobby -- the same as with my FW tanks. If you're only doing this to watch the pretty fishes and money is no object, then pay a professional to engineer the entire setup, and pay someone to maintain it. Simple.
When I build my dream tank sometime down the line, I'll be going into it with a lot more knowledge and experience, and I'll have an established tank to seed my dream tank with.
Yes, as a general rule of thumb for any habitat -- the bigger the better. Does that mean you should start big is the real question here.
I can tell you what I think. I think I'd rather start small (I chose a 70 gallon) The 70 gallon is small enough to ensure I don't have a heart attack if I happen to crash the tank six months down the line. Small enough so that I don't have to worry about rebuilding an entire portion of my house if there is a leak, small enough so that I don't have to consider structural/foundation concerns, and small enough such that I don't have to spend a lot of time each day maintaining it or paying someone else to, and lastly it's small enough that I can buy it from my LFS without having it custom built to specification and having to consider things like knocking out a wall, re-plumbing, addiional circuit breakers, etc..
It's big enough to allow me to play around with things like sumps, refugiums, automatic topoff systems, protein skimmers, dosing systems, aqua controllers, various lighting options, and a there is a lot of livestock (fish, invertebrates, corals, pods, bacteria, etc..) to learn about from personal experience that I can put in a 70 gallon tank.
Waterkeeper once said in a thread that any tank younger than a year is new to him. From reading lots of other posts, I can see why. It will be a while from now before I can consider myself as having an "established" reef. During that time, I'll learn a lot -- I even try to participate here by answering questions, because I recognize that teaching is part of the full learning process and the veterans here will quickly put me in my place when I'm wrong -- either way, I'm learning. And I've only just begun this journey. I still take time every day to learn a little bit more about various critters, water chemistry, algae, gear/technology and I don't think a day has gone by since I set up my tank that I haven't added a new bookmark to my browser.
AND.. I've already made my fair share of mistakes. Once your tank is first cycled, it's very tempting to run out and immediately buy a small coral or a cleanup crew or a damsel or something.. Hell, I'm still trying to figure out the optimal amount of food for my tank.
For now, I can learn a lot, and pick up a lot of experience before I jump into a larger tank. I'm doing this because I really enjoy the hobby -- the same as with my FW tanks. If you're only doing this to watch the pretty fishes and money is no object, then pay a professional to engineer the entire setup, and pay someone to maintain it. Simple.
When I build my dream tank sometime down the line, I'll be going into it with a lot more knowledge and experience, and I'll have an established tank to seed my dream tank with.
