My first reef tank 75 or 180.

[Reef Swimmer]

This is going to be my first tank ever. I had gold fish as a kid but now I want to do a reef tank with a few gobies and blennies. I have been talking to a few people about filtration and lighting and I'm going LED. I have also decided to go with a refugium system and a protein skimmer. But besides that I'm clueless. I'm either doing a 180 or a 75.

[SABOB]

Might as well go big, you'll probably outgrow the 75 in no time and want to upgrade


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[Triggerman]

go as big as your budget allows....also larger systems tend to be more stable in the long run. There are a lot of sizes in between 75 & 180, take your time and have fun.

[Southern Flame]

Go big or go home lol

[electricrcplane]

Really depends on what you're willing to spend I think. Yes a bigger tank is more stable due simply to water volume but you'll also be shelling out quite a bit more for pumps/skimmer/lights/rock/salt mix for water changes. Plus if you dose any chemicals you'll be paying quite a bit more to dose since the volume will be more than double. I'd look around and research what type of fish you really want to keep and then decide how big of a tank you'd like.

[350gt]

go as big as your budget allows.......


too many ppl get in over their heads and end up going cheap on the most critical components....


Remember the bigger you go, the bigger the skimmer, lights and WATER CHANGES..... stuff adds up fast and maintenance is very important and costly.....


100-150 isnt a bad start.... IMO

[350gt]

Really depends on what you're willing to spend I think. Yes a bigger tank is more stable due simply to water volume but you'll also be shelling out quite a bit more for pumps/skimmer/lights/rock/salt mix for water changes. Plus if you dose any chemicals you'll be paying quite a bit more to dose since the volume will be more than double. I'd look around and research what type of fish you really want to keep and then decide how big of a tank you'd like.



sorry didnt read this and posted almost the same thing......

[alton]

Really depends on what you're willing to spend I think. Yes a bigger tank is more stable due simply to water volume but you'll also be shelling out quite a bit more for pumps/skimmer/lights/rock/salt mix for water changes. Plus if you dose any chemicals you'll be paying quite a bit more to dose since the volume will be more than double. I'd look around and research what type of fish you really want to keep and then decide how big of a tank you'd like.

x3
I see too many people jump in and spend 1000's only to get burned out and quit after a couple years. May want to start with a used 75 that way after you get your feet wet, figure out you can go bigger you can transfer your stock to the 180 and resell the 75 and lose very little.

And welcome to MAAST

[koa25]

x3
I see too many people jump in and spend 1000's only to get burned out and quit after a couple years. May want to start with a used 75 that way after you get your feet wet, figure out you can go bigger you can transfer your stock to the 180 and resell the 75 and lose very little.

And welcome to MAAST

What he said. Get a starter tank. Especially if this is your first endeavor into SW. You will more than likely go bigger. But you will also make mistakes with this first tank that you'll want to do differently in your next tank. Always good to have a dry run. My first was a 24 gallon. Got a feel for it and then jumped into a 125.

[Reef Swimmer]

Yeah thats what I have been thinking is just getting a used 75 and going from there. I do want a dusty blue tang or a tang that can fit into a 75. How would a 125 be as a starter?

[allan]

My first tank was a 100 gallon tank. Long swim area, easy to maintain, then I jumped into a 190. I've always been one tank after the other with no build time between. Because of that I'd say do the 75... run it for a minute, then when you're ready peep some bigger tanks, and do a Scutterborne. Set up the new tank, take your time, run the piping and power so that it looks neat.

If you've run a 75 successfully, you will have gone through some learning events. Building a tank from the bottom up is a lot easier if you've some practice at it before hand. And if you have time you'll have a really nice turn out. The rush jobs, like mine, never look pretty.

Oh, and don't get discouraged and hang up... sometimes you have to push past the crashes and the hard lessons and the monies put into the system, if you persevere you'll enjoy the outcome.

[Scutterborn]

Well, I would suggest a 75ish gallon tank to start. Many folks do get burned out when they start realizing the initial start up cost. That leads to cheap equipment resulting in expensive problems.


-Ben-

[koa25]

A 125 is a nice foot print. I loved it. Plenty of room for a tang(s) to swim around. You can put a tang in a 75 as well. The tang police may argue otherwise. But you seem to have plans to go bigger anyways so that leaves wiggle room with the tang police. As long as you start out with small tangs and upgrade or plan to give them to someone that has a large tank for them to swim, I don't see any issue.

[jcnkt_ellis]

Look at the bristletooth tangs if you go with the 75, most of them are "rated" for a 75-90 gallon tank...otherwise get whats in your budget, leds over a large tank add up quickly, pumps for a large tank cost proportionately more, etc...If you do go small then big buy the equipment accordingly, I bought an mp10 for my 30gal first tank and had to sell it when I upgraded to my 150 because the glass thickness on the new tank was too much, not a good investment in resources...