Decisions, decisions....

[FSU]

So I have a little over a month left before I am about ready to start setting up. The hard part is I have no idea what I want to do. I have never had an aggressive tank or a FOWLR.There are some aggressive fish I would love to have. With that, I also love corals, clams, and the many inverts that would become a feast for an aggressive tank. I honestly don't know which way to go. The easy way would be talking my wife into letting me set up 2 tanks right off the bat! :D Anyone have any suggestions? I would like to start with a 125-150g, but though about doing maybe a 75 and 55 or possibly 2 75gs to have my cake and eat it too! The problem with that is I would be very limited to the fish I could get for an aggressive tank having a smaller tank and the size of some fish I would like to have. Any advice?

[Mr Cob]

me personally... I would go with a mixed reef tank because in my opinion it's kind of like an investment if you aren't into heavy duty expensive equipment. Coral grows and as it grows you can frag it and trade for other pieces.

At some point you can trade coral for new equipment and perhaps even a new tank and then at that time you can get your aggressive tank too : )

That's how I reefed back in the day.

[Big_Pun]

2 tanks! its better to ask for forgivness than permission. Thats why my G/f fowler now has coral and a nice light(but i tell her its cuz i love her), that tank was a fowlr for like a month. what do you like the most the fowlr fish or coral and clams, whatever you like best is what i would set up first. then sneak in the other.

[Bill S]

I think if I were to do it all over again, I'd do 4 smaller tanks instead of 1 big one. Like 4 75 gallon tanks. All in the wall. All different water quality requirements, so I could move water from tank to tank, in downward water quality requirements, maybe like this:

seahorse
sps
lps/zoas/palys
mangrove
fowlr
aggressive

Yeah, I know, that's 6. But I'd choose 4.

[LuckySingh]

me personally... I would go with a mixed reef tank because in my opinion it's kind of like an investment if you aren't into heavy duty expensive equipment. Coral grows and as it grows you can frag it and trade for other pieces.


+1 on this
i personally never liked FOWLR...it just dnt gve me a saltwater look.....mixed reef is the way to go in my opinion...its like all in one shot deal with the amount of money it requires to setup a saltwater tank....I like easy light load on fish and more corals .....

[Mr Cob]

I like that idea Bill. I emplore a similar approach with the current tanks I have. The business tanks have the best water quality and when I do water changes I use the pulled water to water change in my softy/LPS 55g tank.

[FireWater]

No one can make this decision for you. What ever you decide it has to be the right one for you to be happy.

with that said. What about doing something such as a larger aggressive tank and a smaller mixed tank? 125-150G Aggressive and a 60 Cube. The cost to equip an aggressive tank should not be as bad as equipping a reef tank. A 60G cube has a nice footprint and gives you a lot of flexibility.

[BSJF]

125 or 150 gallon
And a "temporary" 90 gallon cube for QT (haha)

Once she sees how coll everything looks, she won't let you take the temporary one down :)

[FSU]

Isingh, I agree with you that FOWLR just doesn't quite do it as a saltwater tank. My dilemma is because I wanted some fish that i can't have in a reef tank or with some of the fish I would put in a reef tank. Like I said, i have never had an aggressive tank, so i was tossing around the idea. i think it makes sense what most people are saying though to go ahead with a reef tank, get all the equipment and get it out of the way. As for equipment, I wouldn't say I buy the best by any means, but I do tend to get nicer things. Just getting back into it after a few years, I would be doing the basics I guess: tank, stand, protein skimmer, sump/refuge, lights, then the smaller odds and ends, power heads, etc. I will have to do some research on lights. I use to really like the halide fixtures, halides, actinics, and moonlights built into one. So...... it sounds like I will probably go with a 125-150 then and just do what most have suggested. I feel that you guys are right and would probably be a good idea to do so. Besides, if I get the big tank going good, I might have to get that 75g Qt tank....at least thats what I'll tell the wife hahahaha!

[FSU]

BSJF, a 90 cube would be even better lol. My wife is pretty cool though. I could just tell her I am getting another tank set up and she probably wouldn't care! BTW, her favorite are clams....so....it gives me an excuse to have GREAT lighting :D

[ErikH]

I am setting up my reef tank again. It's going to be SPS dominant. However, I am going with some fish that are known to eat coral. I know at some point, I will hate myself and call myself stupid. :)