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Reef in apartment questions and considerations


BostonMatt

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Hi everyone:

As you can see, this is my 1st post, but I've been lurking for a very, very long time. The long story short is that I'm desperate to get a reef started, but have been in the hand-wringing phase literally for years now as I live in a rented apartment.

 

A little background: I grew up in Tampa, FL with excellent LFS's abundant and with a father who was a long-time hobbyist. So, until college I was accustomed to having tanks of all shapes, types, and sizes. Since then, I've been through undergrad and many years of grad school. All throughout I've wanted a tank, but certain not a good idea for a PhD student. Along the way had a few smaller planted FW's and a small FOWLR. None of these really satisfied the reef urge, as I'm sure many of you can attest.

 

So, for some time the single-biggest barrier was money. Just getting established with the new job, etc. All that's handled now, money is not a major concern. I could easily blow $2,000-$2500 on a start up. That's been the case for some time. I find myself thinking about my imagined reef daily. I feel ready to get started on the one hand, but the living in an apartment thing gives me pause. My next move will probably be Sept 2016.

 

So, my question is for people who have or who have had reefs they've either had to move, or who have had apartment reefing experience.

 

At present my thinking on size is that a 30g would be about ideal. I've considers pico's, but I can't imagine even a 10g would keep me happy. I've never been into the cube look, as scaping is vital to my enjoyment of a tank, so the IM 30 long seems the ideal set up for me.

 

My specific concerns:

 

1) Moving a tank like that in less than 2 years seems like a recipe for disaster.

 

2) I tend to travel a lot for pleasure. Hitting No. India in March of 2016 for 2 weeks. (What do you all do when on vaca that long? My father used to have a buddy do it, but Tampa was sick with reefers. Boston it seems to be unheard of.

 

3) The typical water concerns. Flooding (and the IM 30L really worries me here). I'd get a policy that would cover tanks, but still something to think about. Even bigger is the RO/DI situation. I suppose I could get a faucet attachment, but I'm still concerned about all that water, float valves, etc in an apt setting.

So, with all this said 1) Profound desire for reef, 2) Apt living moving in less than 2 years, and 3) occasionaly long vacations what would you all do?

 

What goes through my head:

 

1) Bite the bullet and live life as I want. Moving a reef isn't idea, but neither is having ocean-going critters in a tiny puddle. Some things will die, others will live. It'll be a rough spell, a soft cycle, and life goes on.

 

2) That's all true, but your vacations will kill everything before you get to that point.

 

3) Okay, fine. I'll just do a highly automated 10g and will select only livestock that can be autofed pellets.

 

4) No, the 10g will just cause you to obsess about the 30L you really want.

 

5) Repeat on loop every time I think about this multiple times per day.

 

Thanks!

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ReefSafeSolutions

I'm also interested in what you all think about moving a tank...I'll be watching this thread for sure! (Sorry I'm of no help BostonMatt!)

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Hi everyone: As you can see, this is my 1st post

Welcome to Nano-Reef.com.

 

1) Moving a tank like that in less than 2 years seems like a recipe for disaster.

It doesn't have to be. I often break down tanks after a couple of years to clean out or replace the sand bed.

 

2) I tend to travel a lot for pleasure. Hitting No. India in March of 2016 for 2 weeks. (What do you all do when on vaca that long? My father used to have a buddy do it, but Tampa was sick with reefers. Boston it seems to be unheard of.

You don't need a reefer to feed pre-measured food, or top off to a mark on your tank. It's also possible to setup automatic feeders and auto top off systems.

 

3) The typical water concerns. Flooding (and the IM 30L really worries me here). I'd get a policy that would cover tanks, but still something to think about. Even bigger is the RO/DI situation. I suppose I could get a faucet attachment, but I'm still concerned about all that water, float valves, etc in an apt setting.

For a RO/DI attachment, get one of these. They hook up just past the cold water shut off valve, and can be removed without permanently altering the plumbing. With a tank that small, just make water when you are around (along with an emergency shutoff valve). They are pretty safe for homes or apartments.

 

So, with all this said 1) Profound desire for reef, 2) Apt living moving in less than 2 years, and 3) occasionaly long vacations what would you all do?

It's certainly possible to do, especially if you find somebody to assist when you are away.

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Do you have an idea of where you will be moving to in September 2016? Do you plan to stay somewhat close? or are we talking across the country?


Also, ther eare a lot of pet sitting companies out there. I use one when I travel because I have 2 dogs, but they also take care of my tank for me. This is not something that they are used to doing either. It was, in fact, the first time the girl had even seen a reef tank. With that said, like GHill mentioned, there are ways to make it pretty easy on them to care for your tank.

 

I tend to pre-defrost my frozen food and pull it into pre-measured syringes, 1 for each day that I am gone. Then, all they have to do is inject 1 syringe into the tank each night and the fish/coral are fed. If you have everything else automated(i.e.auto top off, dosing unit, light controller, etc.) then all they have to do other than that is visually inspect the tank(i.e. take a picture and send it to you) and fill up the top off reservoir when it starts to look low.

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I'm in an apt. Small one. Key for me is placement. On kitchen counter, 16 gal. Easy water changes too. I just get water from lfs.

 

Check my tank thread, lost shaker of salt.

 

Small tank is plenty for me. Check it out.

 

I have friends that I showed how to do maintenance for when I'm out of town. It's easy in an established tank (top off the top off container, feed the proportioned container in the fridge, twice a week). I never get them to do the more sophisticated things.

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I'm in an apartment. Staying organized helps. Buckets get put away in a closet when I don't need them out for a water change. There are many RO/DI units that are easy to hook up (and disconnect) to a kitchen faucet.

 

Moving happens. If you are methodical and careful you'd have minimal loss. The only issue would be a cross-country move, which would just require more effort and planning.

 

If you have a friend who you can teach basics of feeding and topping off then that's helpful for vacations. If not, then there's your only real problem. If something falls, will they be willing to reach in and re-position things? if something dies, are they willing to grab it out?

 

My mom comes to stay at my place to take care of my cat when I'm away for even just a few days, but she refuses to get involved with the fish tank.

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Wow, awesome input already! :Happydance!:

 

Oracle, love your tanks and pics. Especially love the one of the 8 with the kiddo. That's really what this is all about, isn't it? Sitting in the dark under a blue glow watching with wonder and awe! That your kiddo? Certainly sums up a large chunk of my youth!

 

The move will be local. I'm home in Boston, will be here until retirement barring something completely unforseen at this point. But yeah, we're talking no more than an hour drive. It sounds to me like you're in the, "quit being so fatalistic and get a tank started camp"? I tend to be very meticulous and planned out when making any kind of a large decision. There's a part of me that says it's very impractical to have a 30g in an apartment, but there's another part of me that thinks I'm putting too much conventional practicality in a situation that's not exactly life or death. So, hearing from respected reefers that this isn't utter silliness is good juju indeed.

 

Aesthetics are hugely important to me. I want to run a meticulously maintained mixed reef, and the aesthetic that appeals to me most is the IM Nuvo 30L. I've seen a great deal of conversation about bowing and breakage with these - and more than a fair share of complaints about the stand.

 

At this point is this tank and stand generally recommended? I've also considered the Cadlights 34, and love that it's more what I'd consider a true AIO. The downsides for me for it are the curved front corners and the more traditional shape. I really want this to be the centerpiece to my livingroom and look like a refined living piece of furniture rather than the total DIY fishman space that my dad was into, so it's a big, but not insurmountable consideration.

The stand for the 30L seems extremely pricey for a stand many people consider iffy. Should I go with it, or look for other options. Anyone recommend another stand that would do the job? I don't mind to increase price to increase peace-of-mind. I hate cheaping out then obsessing about the upgrades I need. Stand would need to be fine on low-profile livingroom carpet from a leveling standpoint.

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I'm in an apt. Small one. Key for me is placement. On kitchen counter, 16 gal. Easy water changes too. I just get water from lfs.

 

Check my tank thread, lost shaker of salt.

 

Small tank is plenty for me. Check it out.

 

I have friends that I showed how to do maintenance for when I'm out of town. It's easy in an established tank (top off the top off container, feed the proportioned container in the fridge, twice a week). I never get them to do the more sophisticated things.

Tried to search for it, nothing came up. Link?

I'm in an apartment. Staying organized helps. Buckets get put away in a closet when I don't need them out for a water change. There are many RO/DI units that are easy to hook up (and disconnect) to a kitchen faucet.

 

Moving happens. If you are methodical and careful you'd have minimal loss. The only issue would be a cross-country move, which would just require more effort and planning.

 

If you have a friend who you can teach basics of feeding and topping off then that's helpful for vacations. If not, then there's your only real problem. If something falls, will they be willing to reach in and re-position things? if something dies, are they willing to grab it out?

 

My mom comes to stay at my place to take care of my cat when I'm away for even just a few days, but she refuses to get involved with the fish tank.

Don't know why I never thought of it, but no reason I couldn't fly my mom up to watch things while I'm gone. At least for a part of my vacations, she is retired afterall.

 

The nice thing is that my apt is quite large, living room this will be in is huge.

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Get the tank you want. It doesn't sound like you have anythin huge in mind.

 

It's common once you get into this hobby to switch things up regularly. 2 years is a long time for some tanks - usually before that they're changed ;)

 

Moving a tank locally isn't very hard. For long vacations though I think you might want someone that has a clue at least available were something to go wrong. Using controllers, auto feeders, and battery backups should have you covered in all but the worst scenarios or longer vacations. But it's easy enough to find someone who could come over 1x per day to feed your fish.

 

I suppose my only suggestion would be to get livestock that's not too needy or hard to take care of. Keep it to hardy fish without funky feeding requirements, stick with soft corals and LPS and hardy SPS. Avoid anemones and such because they can and frequently do get into trouble. Lastly, I would suggest a sumped system over an AIO for the simple reason that the additional water volume can help soften certain things that might go wrong. But an AIO would be fine too.

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Tl; dr. Do it! Make sure you check your present and future leases for restrictions on tank size! But seriously, don't settle; you'll just end up buying everything twice.

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Tl; dr. Do it! Make sure you check your present and future leases for restrictions on tank size! But seriously, don't settle; you'll just end up buying everything twice.

 

+1.. definitely check your lease/rental agreement for this. I just went through this, didn't check, and it ended a newly setup tank.. had to tear down and start from square one.

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+1.. definitely check your lease/rental agreement for this. I just went through this, didn't check, and it ended a newly setup tank.. had to tear down and start from square one.

My lease did not specify if aquariums were allowed or not. So I asked and my landlord was fine with it. Asked for a second and again he said ok. Lots of people told me since the lease didn't say, I shouldn't ask. But I'm glad I did, I would hate to get something set up and have to take it down/apart. :(

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Just my two cents, but I imagine either there is someone from here near Boston or a LFS that does maintenance that can come by. If anything just to have on stand by in case something does go wrong. I wouldn't let vacations steer you away from owning a tank.

In my 30 gallon freshwater planted tank, I had to fight off a rather heavy slime algae outbreak because my tank had to go three weeks without a solid water change and was seriously overfed while I was away for two weeks once. I solved the over feeding problem by getting those pill sorters with the days, and prefilling each one for the amount of time I am away, and for all my tanks.

The water change issue I cannot do anything about. But if I did really need to be away for longer than two weeks again, there is a LFS I trust very much who does maintenance.

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For a RO/DI attachment, get one of these. They hook up just past the cold water shut off valve, and can be removed without permanently altering the plumbing. With a tank that small, just make water when you are around (along with an emergency shutoff valve). They are pretty safe for homes or apartments.

 

Many thanks for posting that as I've been wondering precisely how I could work out RO/DI in my current place. You wouldn't happen to have a link to a fitting that one could plumb in the waste water as well, would you? ^_^

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Many thanks for posting that as I've been wondering precisely how I could work out RO/DI in my current place. You wouldn't happen to have a link to a fitting that one could plumb in the waste water as well, would you? ^_^

Here's one; it requires you to drill a hole in the drainpipe. However, the screw together plastic drains are easy enough to replace yourself when you are finished with it. Unfortunately this might not provide an acceptable air gap and could be against code in your area.

 

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Great thread- i just recently went through a lot of these same concerns since I rent an apartment. I too live in boston, Cambridge actually. Ended up using my 26 gallon bowfront I had in storage. The tank has been up in my living room since last summer, started putting in corals in late December.

As for Rodi, I use a portable unit that hooks to my kitchen faucet. I run enough water each time (2-3x,a month) for a water change and a few extra gallons for top off, lfs trip, etc. I'm pretty happy with it thus far and it's not a huge pain in the butt.

As for lfs options around boston- it's very lackluster. I've only gone to one thus far and their coral health seems questionable. It's a shame because there was a huge store in the south end that moved a few years back!

I'm curious if you are familiar with any good stores I should check out.

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Wow, awesome input already! :Happydance!:

 

Oracle, love your tanks and pics. Especially love the one of the 8 with the kiddo. That's really what this is all about, isn't it? Sitting in the dark under a blue glow watching with wonder and awe! That your kiddo? Certainly sums up a large chunk of my youth!

 

The move will be local. I'm home in Boston, will be here until retirement barring something completely unforseen at this point. But yeah, we're talking no more than an hour drive. It sounds to me like you're in the, "quit being so fatalistic and get a tank started camp"? I tend to be very meticulous and planned out when making any kind of a large decision. There's a part of me that says it's very impractical to have a 30g in an apartment, but there's another part of me that thinks I'm putting too much conventional practicality in a situation that's not exactly life or death. So, hearing from respected reefers that this isn't utter silliness is good juju indeed.

 

Aesthetics are hugely important to me. I want to run a meticulously maintained mixed reef, and the aesthetic that appeals to me most is the IM Nuvo 30L. I've seen a great deal of conversation about bowing and breakage with these - and more than a fair share of complaints about the stand.

 

At this point is this tank and stand generally recommended? I've also considered the Cadlights 34, and love that it's more what I'd consider a true AIO. The downsides for me for it are the curved front corners and the more traditional shape. I really want this to be the centerpiece to my livingroom and look like a refined living piece of furniture rather than the total DIY fishman space that my dad was into, so it's a big, but not insurmountable consideration.

 

The stand for the 30L seems extremely pricey for a stand many people consider iffy. Should I go with it, or look for other options. Anyone recommend another stand that would do the job? I don't mind to increase price to increase peace-of-mind. I hate cheaping out then obsessing about the upgrades I need. Stand would need to be fine on low-profile livingroom carpet from a leveling standpoint.

Thanks Matt, and yes that is my son. He and my 5 month old son both are in love with my tanks. It is one of my big reasons for keeping them. If you like that pic, then you will love this one.

16773172357_7c67a9031a_b.jpgIMG_4446 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

 

I really don't think at all that keeping a 20 - 40 gallon set up in an apartment is anything to worry about. I would have to believe that there are a lot of people on N-R that do it without any issues. I am not a huge Innovative Marine fan, but I can see the appeal in their 30L. I just cannot stand the fact that they do not use thicker glass, as I believe that is the problem that has plagued them with all the tanks breaking. As for the CAD 34G, I love it! I had told myself when I had the Nuvo 8 running that I would never do curved corners again, but the curves on the CAD are just stunning. It is still personal preference, but trust me you would not be disappointed.

16143475028_d47debb303_b.jpg20150121_000625 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

 

15242735922_759a249ef6_b.jpg20140914_224835 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

 

No matter which direction you decide to go on the tank, just remember to take your time. You have spent a lot of time lurking and researching, and that is great. Do not get ahead of yourself and make a rash decision now. Get what you ultimately want. I spent a lot of time lurking myself(years), then spontaneously got a great deal from a friend on the Nuvo that he was selling. I brought it home, immediately threw rock and water in it and was never fully satisfied with the outcome. With my 34, I spent weeks planning, worked on my scape for about 4 days just in itself, and really paid attention to every detail. I can say I am MUCH happier with the CAD34 than the nuvo8.

 

Just take your time, don't be so concerned with the apartment/moving/vacations, and enjoy the process.

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I will let you know if it's a good idea in a few months. Due to my and the GF lease over lapping, I will have to move my tank twice this summer :unsure:

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Nickbruh510

Get a 40 breeder sunp it and you'll be pleased! And def get an rodi system and a garbage can that fits in a nearby closet or something it's not hard breaking down a tank I've done four so far and I always set another tank up at the other location and only lug about half the water if that makes sense

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I did it all through college. Moved every year. Moved across the country after I graduated. It can be done, but a bit challenging. I used a giant sized cooler during my moves and an air stone. Never had any casualties. In hindsight it might be easier to just get a few smaller coolers to transport your livestock.

 

While on vacation, I usually found a friend to feed my tank. Doesn't take a rocket scientist. Or you can invest in an automatic fish feeder if your fish take dry food. Hope this helps.

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You guys are seriously awesome! Couldn't ask for a better community if you ask me - one of the great but often overlooked awesome things about the hobby is the people!

 

You all have seriously ameliorated my fears, concerns, and paranoias. Long story suddenly got real short: I'm doing it. I've wanted this real bad for a long time, so I feel very at peace now.

 

Now the fun really begins. I'll be obsessing over which tank/stand to go with for the next few weeks at least.

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awesome, keep us posted on what you find.

 

i too am moving, in 2 months. may transfer from the kitchen coutner to a stand for my tank (but the wife hasnt brought it up so i dont think i am going to...).

 

congrats.

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You guys are seriously awesome! Couldn't ask for a better community if you ask me - one of the great but often overlooked awesome things about the hobby is the people!

 

You all have seriously ameliorated my fears, concerns, and paranoias. Long story suddenly got real short: I'm doing it. I've wanted this real bad for a long time, so I feel very at peace now.

 

Now the fun really begins. I'll be obsessing over which tank/stand to go with for the next few weeks at least.

Cool man, glad to hear. Make sure you make a thread for the tank. I look forward to seeing it.

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Glad you decided to go through with it!

 

So I've recently been doing some research on finding some local options for corals and have found a few near Boston- going to check out a place this weekend. Very excited, he had a thread saying something crazy like 3000 frags! Let the spending begin...

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