Switch tanks and take one down

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Zer0

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Alright well.. i have a plan to be able to keep a SW tank going with very little money, but i need some suggestions and feedback on how to go about doing it.

I have a 55G right now.. that is a pure mess. From the start, it never really looked all that good, because i was never able to do what i wanted with the rocks because of the whole width thing only being 13 or 14 inches. Which sucks. But now.. i just want to start over. Nice, new, clean white sand.. i can use the rocks that i cleaned off and look awesome now etc..

It's just that everyday i come in my room and look in to my tank, i see something new everyday. Like today.. lol. A significantly large beetle-type buy was flying around my room and pissing me off about a week ago.. it fell in to my tank and drowned and died and fell to the sandbed. It was about a few inches away from my huge chaeto forest growing in my tank. I wake up and look in the tank today(a week later), and these two clear worm-like apandages have wrapped around the beetles body and are slowly dragging it in to the chaeto forest. The body also had like little bugs and such crawling in and out of it.. Was easily the coolest and grossest thing i ever saw.

Anyways, i have 5 pieces of coral that are just plain amazing.. and i really don't want to give them up. Plus of all the awesome things i have been seeing over the past few weeks just make me want to give it away less and less. But now im at a loss.. :(

I have a gigantic tank.. a ridiculously expensive light fixture and a skimmer that was a decent amount of money. I don't know what to do with them in order to get the other equipment i need to start a smaller tank.

Another thing; What size tank should i move down to? I was thinking about something like a 40G breeder or a 35G. Something that has all around good dimensions but does not go over 40G. Need some suggestions/opinions on that. Also.. what would be the best way to go about stopping so much evaporation from happening.. My evaporation rate on my 55G is pretty ridiculous and i have to top off daily. It's getting to be quite anoying now.

Well, that's all for now so thanks to anyone who inputs ideas and suggestions as to how i should go about doing this "downgrade" or whatever you want to call it lol.
 
50 gallons have a better footprint. They are wider and you wouldn't have to get new equipment.
 
There is also a 36"x19"x19" 50g that is very similar to the 40 breeder, just taller (and an inch wider). I would go that route. The price should be the same. I was gonna use that tank as my reef, but the lfs couldn't get it in fast enough for me. :D 40br would work too though, if that's all you can find (or want).
 
There is also a 36"x19"x19" 50g that is very similar to the 40 breeder, just taller (and an inch wider). I would go that route. The price should be the same. I was gonna use that tank as my reef, but the lfs couldn't get it in fast enough for me. :D 40br would work too though, if that's all you can find (or want).

+1
They have a 50gs in a whole bunch of different sizes.
 
Yeah, i was considering the 50G's.. but that still may be too large for what i want. The 40G breeder is smaller.. but wider. I like the whole small idea lol.
 
What is your exact problem with the 55g? I mean i know you don't like that it is not so deep but what makes you want to downgrade?
 
It's not the depth, it's the width (from front to back), makes it hard to aquascape with LR.
 
You'd be amazed at how much less maintenance a 3ft tank is compared to a 4ft tank. :D I haven't had a 4ft long reef, but I've had a 4ft long planted and finally got rid of my 55g. My 40 breeder is so much easier to clean, scrape algae...prune....etc. I can imagine cleaning the glass and such on a 4ft long reef is more work.
 
Well i could see that. But that and having to make a larger water change would be the only problem when it comes to maitnence.
 
Generally, the 55G is not that bad in my opinion. I'm not trying to diss anyone with 55G tanks.. or even 55G tanks for that matter. Maybe some people like the thinness of the tank, and they don't like visual depth in aquariums.. Who knows. But to me.. it is hard as heck to clean.. because it is so thin you have to really get up top and over it to get anywhere near the spots you really want to get to. Also, the depth of the tank is not my concern. I like how deep the tank is. And as roka said.. aquascaping was a ridiculous task with this 55G. I was excited for aquascaping.. that was until i found how difficult and un-appealing it was to "try" and aquascape with such little room to do so. Also.. i like the look of a nice wide, white, open sandbed. Where there is room to view what is going on in the sand, and for the "sand criiters" to do their thing.. and still have a nice rockwork to retreat to. That is what i had pictured when i was first starting this tank.. but now my tank looks like the complete opposite lol.

But overall.. i'm not complaining. I enjoy this.. but i just want a tank that i could enjoy it even more with. That's all. And i think it will be a 40G breeder. It has dimensions that i really prefer, and i am still able to use my current light fixture. Even if it will give off a ridiculous amount of excess light in to the room because of the sides of the fixture that are hanging off lol. Anyways, thanks for the input ladies and gentlemen. I will update this thread to let everyone know what the dillio is. :p
 
or you can get a bigge one thats wider, mine i got it used but it was like new for 200 dollars it came with the stand filter and uv sterilazer and its a 75 gallon, and is i think the same linght than the 55 gallon and is alot wider i know that forsure
 
Ok, i was just curious, so the only reason why it is more work is because of the diminsions of the tank. So you are not really looking to downgrade, just a tank with better diminsions. That i agree about, that is why i was thinking a 75g when i do SW.
 
I think he wants to downgrade because it would be cheaper with the salt and water changes etc. But I'm not for sure.
 
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