When should a tank be considered "full"?

[j.falk]

I'm been thinking about this a lot lately...how does one know when a tank should be considered full?  

 

I've always been of the mind that it's better to have less livestock with plenty of room for things to grow...yet I see some amazing nano tanks packed to the gills and wish I could have something similar just for the sheer variety of things to look at.  Do you just keep adding things until you start to see detrimental effects and then realize you have reached capacity?  What do you think determines when a tank is full?

 

 

 

 

[jservedio]

13 minutes ago, j.falk said:

I'm been thinking about this a lot lately...how does one know when a tank should be considered full?  

 

I've always been of the mind that it's better to have less livestock with plenty of room for things to grow...yet I see some amazing nano tanks packed to the gills and wish I could have something similar just for the sheer variety of things to look at.  Do you just keep adding things until you start to see detrimental effects and then realize you have reached capacity?  What do you think determines when a tank is full?

 

 

 

 

There is always someone looking to buy bigger-than-frag sized corals for frag prices, so you will never lose your money if you realize something has to go, so long as you aren't killing things. You can always sell things quickly and easily if you add too much.

 

Most people you see with packed to the gills tanks from early on generally just upgrade to a bigger tank when things start growing after a year or two and repeat until they no longer have a nano. If they keep their tank longer than 2-3 years but packed it early, they will be constantly selling things for the next year since its just not sustainable. Once you've got more mature small-medium colonies in a tank, you just be careful about your placements and you can let them grow and compete with each other. Fights become less of a concern since things aren't just going to get nuked like frags do. You also control growth through fragging.

 

I considered my tank full when I ran out of "safe space" in the tank. That doesn't mean I don't occasionally buy new things and then heavily frag or sell stuff to make room for new things. A tank is never "complete."

[seabass]

27 minutes ago, j.falk said:

What do you think determines when a tank is full?

I don't typically try to fill a tank full.  I usually try to keep the waterline around an inch from the top.

[mitten_reef]

Good question!

 

Assuming we're talking corals here.  A tank is unlikely to be so full that it can't support the corals.  It is all about how you manage your system, and what you use to balance it.  Usually a "crash" happens when a component, or components that support the system failed.  one could argue that means corals consumed to much xyz, or tank has too much byproducts (toxin waste, etc).  but in the end it's the failed components that failed the system.  corals will grow forever, as long as your life support system functions and adapts to their requirements; they'll duke it out for space if they need to.  

 

I think "full" is very subjective to what you're attempting to achieve, as well as what you can keep and grow.  equally important is the space requirement for certain corals, such as those with long sweeper tentacles.   also realize that "growing things out" process will likely take longer time that you imagined at first.  that's why you see people fill up their tanks with frags.

 

What does your tank look like now?  I can't find any build journal for it...you should start one, so that you can share your progress with other members.

 

Is my tank full?  I'd say yes. 

How long did it take to get where it is now?  probably 18+ months - and this is within a fully-matured system.  My full overhaul of the tank was in May '19, and you can see some progression here:

  

[jservedio]

3 minutes ago, mitten_reef said:

Is my tank full?  I'd say yes. 

Nah, I still see some rock and glass - you're good to go 👍

[seabass]

Some of the pics of tanks fully packed with corals are of new-ish tanks that people have just recently stocked, or rearranged.  Many of these tanks, if left to grow out, will have competition issues down the road.  Others are meticulously fragged to maintain the peace.  Still others avoid aggressive corals, while letting compatible or more peaceful corals approach each other.

 

Over many years, the most aggressive corals tend to claim more and more space.  Aggressive meaning stinging, overgrowth, or light blocking.

 

45 minutes ago, j.falk said:

I see some amazing nano tanks packed to the gills and wish I could have something similar just for the sheer variety of things to look at.

I agree, there are some impressive examples.  Some of these are very well planned out and have been growing for some time.  I often get jealous too.

 

46 minutes ago, j.falk said:

I've always been of the mind that it's better to have less livestock with plenty of room for things to grow

I like that point of view.  In the long haul, you'll probably end up with larger colonies and an impressive display by using this approach.

[billygoat]

As @seabass and @mitten_reef mention above, the fullness of a given tank depends largely on the type of corals that are growing in it. Personally I like to grow gorgonians, which complicates the fullness question since they cause a number of unique issues. Originally I wanted a macroalgae tank, so I did not do a good job of planning my aquascape to accommodate the vertical and upper-water horizontal space that gorgonians require. The result, almost two years later, is a tank that in my opinion is definitely full and even a little overcrowded:

 

 

Might not look like it from the picture, but that just goes to show how coral choices matter so much: the gorgonians require so much vertical space to sway and grow that it's reached the point where they are bumping and rubbing together, which causes them to irritate each other and grow in weird, unattractive patterns. Shading is also becoming a large issue, again because I did not plan the aquascape properly to account for the growth of my gorgonians.

 

Sure enough, I am currently in the process of upgrading this tank, just as @jservedio mentioned. This time I intend to leave plenty of space for my gorgonians to grow very large, so that hopefully I can avoid this "overfullness" problem (and also the problem of endlessly buying bigger tanks until I am plumb out of "nano" range 😅). I feel like it is an issue that many aquarists - myself included - encounter early on though, as they want their tank to look full and "complete" as quickly as they can, but fail to account for future expansion and growth.

[Tamberav]

Just want to point out that large mature colonies I think look better than 200 little frags with no room to grow. This becomes more apparent in larger tanks of course. 

[Leo_ian]

I think fish wise, it depends on the shape of the tank too. Like for example if a 20g cube has a pygmy angel, it would be slightly uncomfortable for it, but if it has a 20 gallon long, it would probably feel much more comfortable

[j.falk]

7 hours ago, Leo_ian said:

I think fish wise, it depends on the shape of the tank too. Like for example if a 20g cube has a pygmy angel, it would be slightly uncomfortable for it, but if it has a 20 gallon long, it would probably feel much more comfortable

There's also the fact that fish swim from side to side...not straight up and down.  🙂

[mcarroll]

On 9/25/2020 at 8:58 AM, j.falk said:

I've always been of the mind that it's better to have less livestock with plenty of room for things to grow...yet I see some amazing nano tanks packed to the gills and wish I could have something similar just for the sheer variety of things to look at.

If it seems too good to be true, it usually is.  Trust your gut on that.  Reef tanks on the internet are no exception.

 

Leaving yourself a comfortable margin for error is a smart rule of thumb.

 

But also consider that "packed" with corals isn't the same as "packed" with fish.  "Packed" isn't a simple term when it comes to a reef tank.  😉

 

Ask yourself how long a tank that "looks packed" has really been running and stable.  Has it been problem free?  You can give more weight to the modes and methods of tanks that have been running and stable, problem-free for longer.  How are those tanks different from tanks that have ended up with problems?

 

On 9/25/2020 at 9:27 AM, jservedio said:

There is always someone looking to buy bigger-than-frag sized corals for frag prices, so you will never lose your money if you realize something has to go, so long as you aren't killing things. You can always sell things quickly and easily if you add too much.

How do you figure "always" and "quickly and easily"??   😋  I need to know!!  🤑

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Leo_ian]

14 hours ago, j.falk said:

There's also the fact that fish swim from side to side...not straight up and down.  🙂

sea horses..... they swim up and down

[j.falk]

11 hours ago, Leo_ian said:

sea horses..... they swim up and down

We are talking about fish...not horses.  🙄

[Tired]

Yeah, I don't really know what a seahorse is, have you seen those things? Armor on the outside, prehensile tail without a fin, weird little face. That look like a fish to you? 
(I know they're fish, I'm kidding.)

 

A full tank will depend somewhat on what corals they are. For example, a tank that mostly has zoanthids can largely be left to grow until everything is all smushed together, if someone prefers that look. Zoas don't fight each other, they just try to outcompete each other. A lot of SPS will only fight at areas where they pretty much touch, and as such can also be packed together pretty heavily if you don't mind the localized bits of skeleton. LPS, though? Hoo boy. Cram those together, and you'll get lots of dead stuff. 

[Cannedfish]

Too full? Huh? IDK you can always glue frags on top of other frags (frags on frags on frags). As Sun Tzo famously said in The Art of War, "A monti is just a living frag rack."

 

I'm kidding... sort of.

[Nano sapiens]

If you space out your coral frags, and have a successful system with heathy growing corals, you will eventually 'run out of room'.  In the wild, coral may experience slow, or quick growth depending on environmental variables and the same is true in our reef aquariums since to a large extent the reef keeper can influence growth rates by the amount/quality of light, amount of nutrients, temperature, etc. 

 

I started with a bunch of mostly fingernail sized frags in a 12g knowing that it would take some time to fill in.  I tend not to buy new frags often, so it's been a steady progression over the years.  On occasion, I've had to completely remove a coral due to massive shading issues or unforeseen extreme aggression threatening to annihilate just about everything in the aquarium (luckily, that's quite rare and can be virtually eliminated with informed stocking decisions).

[Brad.williams]

I'm a big believer that less is more. I wouldn't fill it up just for the sake of it. Leave room so you can add to your tank at a later date if you fancy freshening it up.