Alternate Idea for large tank

[vmiller]

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=226815

What do you guys think?

Vin

[DanConnor]

Sounds awesome! Personally, I would be inclined to do a 120 and a tank larger than a 180 (maybe a 300) and limit it to 2 tanks.

If you are not doing that because you want to keep 2 particular tangs together, thats fine- but years later when you maybe are not so focused on those particular fish, you will still have the 3 180s......

[vmiller]

Dan, you have a very good point.

Here is some of my thinking...

I don't plan to invest too much money in these tanks. I'm not in a rush, so I plan to watch for good deals on new or used tanks.

What has me sold on the third tank is being able to grow out frags of my favorite corals in a completely separate system. I've heard too many stories of people losing corals they've had for years when their system crashes for whatever reason. The only thing that would cause two systems at once to crash would be a power outage. Maybe this isn't the best idea, but it sounds pretty good to me right now.

If I stick with the L idea, it will almost be like having a huge tank.

Another nice thing is that I can do this in steps. I can start now with 1 180 instead of waiting for eternity until I can afford a huge tank and have the time to thoroughly plan it out. If I get a 180 now, I'll have 3 tanks and can see if it's too much to maintain. If I go huge, there's no going back.

Still think two would be better?

[DanConnor]

That's pretty well thought out. OK, go with it!

[vmiller]

That's my problem, I do too much thinking. :)

Thanks for the input.

[greenman]

MORE AND BIGGER IS ALWASY BETTER!!!!! imo anyway....

altho a 180 is a waste to gorw out frags to dam deep!

[vmiller]

Just because I'm going to have frags of my own corals in it doesn't mean the third tank is going to be a prop tank. It will definitely be a display, just with some duplicate corals.

Another thing that is cool about this is the opportunity to try different lights on the same coral at the same time long term.