Jessie

Thanks to staff, those of us with large tanks and ponds can find eachother a little easier.

Hi, I have a large tank!

My question that I think may be interesting to discuss is this:

Large tanks (say.... over 75g?) tend to be a bit more difficult to shop for. Lighting, filtration, etc.

Is there something you wish you would have done differently with your large tank?

For me, I would have definitely saved up the cash a little longer and invested in a MH/T5HO combo lighting fixture. I have no complaints with my PCs (not really anyway), but the appearance and penetration levels of MH and T5's are really something that would have been better for me to have realized from the get go. And I am saying this as a person who has 4 mix and match PC lighting fixtures on my tank to provide enough lighting from front to back.

What about you guys?

Missy B

I have a 92 gal. corner tank and I went with a 250watt MH system. I definitely think they have better penetration, and I'm a sucker for the "shimmery" effect

ingg

Slowly building my 180g setup.

The difference in overall costs are astounding, I sort of knew it up front, but wow. Not quite a linear scale.

I wish I knew more about pumps, and doing things inline.

BryceM

The expenses of a big tank are very much NOT on a linear scale. I added up what I spent on my tank and it sort of blows my mind. The big tank / small tank divide seems to happen somewhere around 90g - especially if you decide to get fancy with things. The brain starts to say "It is a big show tank after all - only the best will do"......

The expenses don't stop after the initial setup either. My tank uses somewhere around 1,000 watts when the lights are on. I buy kilos of ferts and gallons of micros every few months, filter media gets expensive, bulb replacement time is a bit painful, etc. etc.

Would I do anything differently? Yes, a few things. Instead of routing PVC piping up and over the top of the tank I would have gone with a reef-ready setup or drilled holes for bulkheads. I would have moved the closed-loop pump to the other side of the wall to get its noise out of the viewing area (my living room), and I'd have gone with a slightly larger UV unit.

OTOH, I'm quite satisfied with my lighting, filtration, CO2 setup, substrate, RO setup, and built-in plumbing. Doing a big WC by moving a couple of valves is SO NICE!!!!

The tank has been up for a little over a year now. Something in the back of my head is starting to whisper "time for a major re-scape". I'm trying to supress the thought, but the current scape is getting tired. Most tanks seem to peak at about the 6-9 month point in their lifespan and I'm having a hard time getting it back into top shape. I really don't think it's possible or advisable to keep a 180g full of stemmies over the long haul. Crypts, anubias, ferns, & a few carefully selected stemmies would be a more sustainable method for a monster of this size. It's also virtually impossible to resist the collectoritis urge with a tank this big. "Oh, there's got to be room for this plant somewhere".

Questin

My 125 has been up for years without much attention. When I did give it attention, boy did the money start dropping.

I have a 75 gallon hex that I am taking the time to do what I want with. One of the regrets of the 125 is the undergravel heater. The one I had is pump driven. It wraps aroudn the heater then under the gravel and out the other end someplace. Well, a powerhead just sucks up whatever is in the water and sends it thru and this clogged the tube. After clearing it out (light headed!) I had to put a prefilter on the powerhead, and it was a very ugly setup. In the hex I am going to use a powered heater instead, so no pumps in the water now. I also did not know much about substrate, so that is another thing I have done correctly for the 75 hex. I am also going to MH lighting, 175 watt bubls, and that is the last regret I can think of for the tank hardware.

Fish and plants are the other regret, but after I get this tank setup, that will all be fixed. I love shrimp, and the congos did too, I just didnt they loved them that much =) trail by fire

I also would like to thank the staff for a forum for the large bodies of water in the hobby, that and the fact that they moved a bunch of threads in here for us rocks!

Jessie

How IS your tank, guaiac_boy? And forgive me, I have your first name on the tip of my tongue... Bryan?

One of the reasons why I'm so glad to have my tank back from my scary ex. That would have been a collected few grand down the drain. To think I was willing to let that arse keep it? Argh!!!

I think that once I find that perfect sweet spot for my tank and things are settled down a bit, much of the stems will go. In such a large tank, it's easy to become completely overwhelmed with plant mass.

NoSvOrAx

My regret is buying T5HO instead of metal halide. T5HO just doesn't have enough to get to the bottom of a 2 foot tall tank. So MH here I come. 3x400w 6700K sound good for a high light 180?

Jessie

Can I drool on it once you get it? Not on the ballasts, of course.

1200 watts may be a bit much. Maybe 3x250w?

Questin

Holy 400watts? You know, they are starting to put 1000watts on reef tanks now, a few people in my reef club have them for their SPS tanks. I wonder what a 1000watt MH would do to plants in our tanks. We might see all new behaviors with that much light.

Jessie

All new behaviors is right.

Like algae sprouting teeth and legs and crawling into our ears as we sleep!