Noodling a 500 Gallon Upgrade

[pascal32]

There is some great insight to larger aquariums in this thread. Personally I don't believe a well designed large aquarium is much more effort than a smaller aquarium. Absolutely, the monthly recurring costs are more - salt, larger pumps, larger skimmer, more lights, more power, larger reactors, larger dosing equipment, etc are there, however the maintenance itself not so much.

For example water changes (probably the biggest time consuming activity) would be larger - say 75 gallons per week versus maybe 30. on a well designed system the effort of changing water should not involve buckets - as such the quantity to drain and fill can be balanced with the correct drain, properly sized holding bin, and properly sized pump to replace water. alternatively a genesis renew can be used to do constant water changes, if used the effort would be punching in a larger number of gallons to changes.

There is more glass to clean and more sand to siphon, but these shouldn't be activities consuming numerous hours if there is a way to drain the siphon and refill the system easily.

I suppose all I'm saying is that systems should be scaled according to their size such that there is enough water on tap and routing activities are easy to do.
just my two cents

 

[Capt_Cully]

I give you the Golden Cajones award for considering this. I just want to offer another realistic issue. My tank is 3 feet front to back and for all intents and purposes, 29" deep. If I want to put something on the rocks toward the back of the tank, we're talking shirt off, wet face, wet armpits, and possibly a nipple or two (TMI I know). Its not the easiest thing to work on and gets frustrating.

You're talking 4 feet front to back? That's the full Monty just to place corals or retrieve an item that's been dropped. Its just the reality. I presume you've SEEN this tank in person? I don't know. That's a staggering foot print. It does sound awkward to say the least.

If you are going to go big, be in love with the tank. Have you seen the 300 DD in person? They're massive, but again, its in a more traditional layout.

Salt, water, costs, blah blah blah, we've all said it. Wet clothes and partial nudity are a reality that should be considered as well. If you're gonna go for it, we're with you! But if you're not in love with the tank from the get go it may be more of an albatross than anything.

 

[pascal32]

Mark, I have a frag for you that would look great center back of your tank...you mind if I watch you put it in ?

The height of the tank is a serious thing to take note of. I mentioned before that I love the deep dimension tank, but the height is a touch much, this is even more. I just helped a friend stack rocks in a 36" deep acrylic tank. What a pain in the ***!

 

[GMaquarium]

The dimensions on that tank are great. I like it. Acrylic vs glass talk aside I personally do not see a huge difference in maintaining a 300 vs 500 display. Large tanks should not be run like a small tank main thing about it. Sometimes folks upgrade to much larger tanks without adapting different practices. Planned and structured maintenance. I think the size of the tank should be predominantly determined by the size of the room. How will the entire layout look. Will you feel like your sitting in front row of a movie theater because the chair/couch can't be far enough. In terms of handling the long term upkeep, one must never underestimate anything. Plan everything out, not just equipipment but also logistics of routine maintenance.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

You're talking 4 feet front to back? That's the full Monty just to place corals or retrieve an item that's been dropped. Its just the reality.

This is definitely important but IMHO is one of the things you sort of adjust to. Besides being 4' front-to-back my tank is higher off the ground than might be normal, so pretty much anything beyond dumping food in means I'm grabbing one of those little foldy metal stool things. And yeah probably taking my shirt off. When I was working on plumbing and lighting before it went live, I spent a fair amount of time sitting inside the tank, because that was more convenient than reaching in.

It's very different from reaching in to a tank that's only 18" wide and 12" lower, but honestly, you get used to it. And while it's a pain it's also kinda fun, at least if you're twisted like me. And again it's not something you can't make better by careful design. For instance, you don't want a light hood 4" off the water with no convenient way to move or raise it because reaching to the back/bottom of the tank pretty much means getting your entire upper body above the tank.

 

[jeremyjoslin]

Has anyone used an odd-sized peninsula tank against a wall like this?

 

[Gary Gnu]

Hey Jeremy. I just read through your thread and I think you should definitely go with this moster tank! It sounds like a dream come true..... Oh and it is still very lonely sitting in my garage

 

[oneradtek202]

Hey jeremy sounds like he's gettin antsy....time to get a better deal than expected lol jk

 

[Gary Gnu]

No worries. I know Jeremy is not able to use the tank. It will find the right home someday.

 

[jeremyjoslin]

For the record

For the record

Good observation Brandon. Erick doesn't seem like the type to get "antsy" though.

I can't reiterate what a gorgeous tank it is... My decision to not go with this tank mostly lies in the physical properties (its handedness is opposite my needs for the single spot I can place it).

FWIW I do plan to stick to my original 300dd plan once the remodel is done at home.

Thanks everyone for the honest input and valuable thoughts.

 

[pascal32]

Excellent choice to go with glass Have you made a decision on starfire on the 300DD or regular glass?

 

[jeremyjoslin]

Excellent choice to go with glass Have you made a decision on starfire on the 300DD or regular glass?

I think I need to see a few to decide. Brandon's is really the only low-iron glass I've seen. His tank would look good through anything (even green glass) so I can't make a decision on that one only.

We should set up a Syracuse tank crawl night....