New to saltwater tanks. Help picking tank size

[Spencer88]

I have kept freshwater fish for years and finally want to try my hand at saltwater tanks. I have done a bunch of  research but get all types of answers. I'm trying to decide on a tank and what size.  I'm looking at a Fluval Evo 13.5 or setting up a 55gl. Will the 55gl be easier to control for someone getting into saltwater or will the Fluval be fine?  I plan on just starting out with rock and soft corals.

 

Thanks

[Tamberav]

I find 25-30g to be the sweet spot. Small enough to run on water changes and easy to manually remove pests and clean the sand. Large enough to not swing super easily.

 

I would hate a standard 55....they are deep and not very wide and super awkward to scape and light and most of the cheap Petco ones are not drillable and it would be a nightmare imo.

 

I would go fluval over 55 any day. If you can afford it...consider the IM25 lagoon...it's cheaper to light then longer tanks ..shallow and easy to work in. It has more room for corals....fluval fills up fast and then you need to upgrade too soon.

[mcarroll]

 

1 hour ago, Spencer88 said:

I have done a bunch of  research but get all types of answers.

A 55 makes a good fish display, but I'm with @Tamberav as far as using a tank that skinny for a reef. 

 

You can find examples of 55 gallon reefs on here though, so I'd look up a few and see if any catch your eye or if you think more like we're saying about it being too skinny.

 

It's a matter of taste more than a practical thing that would prevent you having a healthy reef.  In general folks seem to prefer tanks with a more equilateral footprint vs a rectangular footprint.  Again its not a rule -- just a rule of thumb.  Look at examples and see what you think.  Off-hand I remember that @TinyGiant had an SPS tank in a 55 Gallon.

 

It also sounds like you have no reef books.  Shop around and pick up at least one.  Buy used if you don't have the budget for it, but get at least one book.  Doesn't matter too much if it's new or old.  Since you've done freshwater you might consider getting a thicker, heavy duty reef manual vs one of the smaller books.

 

I'll post some suggestions when I'm on later!  😉

[Tamberav]

Oh... if you want something bigger.... you could do a 40 breeder instead of a 55. They are a great dimension for a reef and cheap at petco's sales. 

[Spencer88]

2 hours ago, Tamberav said:

I find 25-30g to be the sweet spot. Small enough to run on water changes and easy to manually remove pests and clean the sand. Large enough to not swing super easily.

 

I would hate a standard 55....they are deep and not very wide and super awkward to scape and light and most of the cheap Petco ones are not drillable and it would be a nightmare imo.

 

I would go fluval over 55 any day. If you can afford it...consider the IM25 lagoon...it's cheaper to light then longer tanks ..shallow and easy to work in. It has more room for corals....fluval fills up fast and then you need to upgrade too soon.

That does make sense because they can be a pain reaching in. I'll look up that IM25 

1 hour ago, mcarroll said:

 

A 55 makes a good fish display, but I'm with @Tamberav as far as using a tank that skinny for a reef. 

 

You can find examples of 55 gallon reefs on here though, so I'd look up a few and see if any catch your eye or if you think more like we're saying about it being too skinny.

 

It's a matter of taste more than a practical thing that would prevent you having a healthy reef.  In general folks seem to prefer tanks with a more equilateral footprint vs a rectangular footprint.  Again its not a rule -- just a rule of thumb.  Look at examples and see what you think.  Off-hand I remember that @TinyGiant had an SPS tank in a 55 Gallon.

 

It also sounds like you have no reef books.  Shop around and pick up at least one.  Buy used if you don't have the budget for it, but get at least one book.  Doesn't matter too much if it's new or old.  Since you've done freshwater you might consider getting a thicker, heavy duty reef manual vs one of the smaller books.

 

I'll post some suggestions when I'm on later!  😉

Thanks for the input.  

1 hour ago, Tamberav said:

Oh... if you want something bigger.... you could do a 40 breeder instead of a 55. They are a great dimension for a reef and cheap at petco's sales. 

I thought about that as well. 

[Melfy77]

I have an IM 25g lagoon and love it!! The IM 30g long is also an awesome tank!! I think you'd be happy with both. Many members have these tanks and look amazing!!! Look on tank journals, it'll give you ideas  😉

[Kangster911]

I am a beginner like you myself that transitioned from a 72 gallon fresh water tank but I think AIO type is much easier for a beginner like us unless you must have your tank drilled. 

3 hours ago, mcarroll said:

 

A 55 makes a good fish display, but I'm with @Tamberav as far as using a tank that skinny for a reef. 

 

You can find examples of 55 gallon reefs on here though, so I'd look up a few and see if any catch your eye or if you think more like we're saying about it being too skinny.

 

It's a matter of taste more than a practical thing that would prevent you having a healthy reef.  In general folks seem to prefer tanks with a more equilateral footprint vs a rectangular footprint.  Again its not a rule -- just a rule of thumb.  Look at examples and see what you think.  Off-hand I remember that @TinyGiant had an SPS tank in a 55 Gallon.

 

It also sounds like you have no reef books.  Shop around and pick up at least one.  Buy used if you don't have the budget for it, but get at least one book.  Doesn't matter too much if it's new or old.  Since you've done freshwater you might consider getting a thicker, heavy duty reef manual vs one of the smaller books.

 

I'll post some suggestions when I'm on later!  😉

I am also very interested in a book. Please make a suggestion. Thank you.

[ninjamyst]

When considering size of the tank, here's a couple of things to keep in mind:

 

5 - 20 gallon

• Cheaper for lighting and equipment in general.  Smaller light, smaller pump, may not need a skimmer, etc
• Cheaper maintenance overall.  Less salt, less RODI, less supplements, etc.
• Harder to achieve stability.  Not a lot of room for error.  On the other hand, if things go wrong, it's easier to do a large water change.
• Limited in what fish you can get
• You will run out of room for corals at some point.  We are all hoarders at heart.  Corals will grow and compete for space.

20 - 40 gallon

• Lighting is still relatively cheap, but depends on length of the tank
• More options for equipment since the back chamber is larger or you can run a sump. 
• More water volume usually means more stability
• More options in fish and number of fish
• More room for corals to grow

40+

• More equipments required.  Skimmer, reactors, dosers, etc.  Lighting can easily be double the cost of a small tank.
• Maintenance is more expensive.  Salt aint cheap when running a large system.  You will be dosing more too.   More electricity will be used to run higher wattage lights and pumps.
• Maintenance is more time consuming.  Larger glass to scape.  Larger water changes.  If things go wrong, good luck making 40+ gallons of water in one night.  
• Easier to stabilize with more water volume, more space for equipment to maintain stability.
• You can now get some of the more popular fish like tangs, angels, anthias, etc
• More room for all sorts of corals and inverts
• WOW factor with a large tank.  

 

I agree that 20-40 gallons range is the sweet spot.  If you go small, you will usually end up going bigger.  If you go big, it may be out of budget and too time consuming.

[Falcon789]

whatever you get, get it long!!!

[Spencer88]

Thanks for the input everybody its helped me alot. Guess ill look into like a 20 long.

[billygoat]

3 hours ago, Kangster911 said:

I am a beginner like you myself that transitioned from a 72 gallon fresh water tank but I think AIO type is much easier for a beginner like us unless you must have your tank drilled. 

I am also very interested in a book. Please make a suggestion. Thank you.

I recommend "The Reef Aquarium" by Charles Delbeek and Julian Sprung. There are 3 volumes and each is a big thick textbook of several hundred pages; the first one is probably the most practically useful (it discusses system setup, water quality, parameters, elements and what they do, livestock, pests and solutions, etc.) but the 2nd is also really good. These books were published in the 90s and contain quite a bit of outdated information, especially regarding things like lighting and plumbing (AIOs did not exist back then, and nano aquariums were considered almost impossible), but I have found them to be an incredible resource and have learned a ton by browsing through them. Back when it was current "The Reef Aquarium" series was considered the "bible" of home reefing.

 

EDIT: To add my two cents regarding the actual topic: I second the IM25 Lagoon. It's such a great tank and has pretty much everything you can ask for in a nano AIO, both size-wise and when it comes to ease of maintenance, stocking choices, lighting... the list goes on. I myself have a rectangular tank (Cobalt's C-Vue 18) but if I were to do it over again from the beginning I would definitely go with the 25 Lagoon.

[mcarroll]

51 minutes ago, billygoat said:

Back when it was current "The Reef Aquarium" series was considered the "bible" of home reefing.

I'd only caveat that to say "one of the bibles".  It was the most current when it was current, so obviously it was the go-to reference.  But Moe's books (J. Spring does the foreword on "Marine Aquarium Handbook...") were highly regarded as well.  Straughan's books (who has the opening quote in The Reef Aquarium), which are even older SHOULD be just as highly regarded.

 

I think more folks would like to know about the Tunze Reefpack system....I think folks were building their own "AIO"s from these components for quite a while...possibly into the 1990's.  Only the original Reefpack 500 was available for a long time though.  All their great nano options, including the 200 and 100, have come along more recently.

[mcarroll]

4 hours ago, Kangster911 said:

I am also very interested in a book. Please make a suggestion. Thank you.

Martin Moe

"Marine Aquarium Handbook: Beginner to Breeder"

"Marine Aquarium Reference: Systems and Invertebrates"

 

John Tullock

"The Natural Aquarium"

 

Dana Riddle

"The Captive Reef"

 

Straughan

"The Salt-Water Aquarium In The Home..."

 

Fossa and Nilsen

"The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium"  another great book series, a la The Reef Aquarium, but four volumes long.

 

Borneman

"Aquarium Corals"

 

Fenner
"The Conscientious Marine Aquarist"

 

...I know I'm forgetting some....

[Tamberav]

Albert Thiel had a book about Nano Reef Aquariums but not sure it is available anywhere anymore.  Used to be able to buy an e-book of it. 

 

https://reefbuilders.com/2013/06/14/albert-thiel-nano-reef-aquariums/