is there such a thing as too big?

[mupwi]

Hi all I have wanted a salt water tank for some time now and have got myb old 20g out of storage that used to be fw now looking at the verious forums I decided tat with the fish I wish to keep ill need somthing bigger was thinking around 55-75g and from what ive been reading the biger the tank the beter as far as keeping it stable as luck would have it a friend of mine recently moved into an apartment and his whole 250g setupis siting in storage which he says I can have my question is will this be too big for a biginner?

 

[HN1]

If you can afford to maintain it both financially and timewise, then no it isn't too big. Equipment for large tanks can get pretty expensive though.

 

[mupwi]

what would the runing costs be of a tank like this im thinking fowlr it has a protine skimmer and mh lighting already I only stay like 1 mile from the beach so I plan on using real sea water for my water changes I plan to only stock it with criters I colect while diving (I already have a permit for this) as a socase to my non diving budys as to what they are missing. other than power what are the runing expencis on a tank like this

 

[catmel]

Costs of running your tank should be based on how much electricity you're using - you just need to figure out how much you're paying per kilowatt hour to get an idea - of course you have to count in the electricity for the pumps etc.

With a tank that size a 25-50 gallon weekly to biweekly water change would probably be best. Once the tank is set up, compaired to a smaller tank, it should give you a lot of wiggle room and be more stable.. doesnt mean it requires any less attention though.

You could certainly have corals if it came with MH lighting - though having those on will increase your costs.. they're not needed if you're looking to do FOWLR or fish only.

Its usually not recommended to use actual sea water because of the die off from bacteria, plankton, etc. Also, pollution is a concern, especially if water is collected near the shore. It may be ok to start out with, but you;d have to be careful doing water changes with it. Ideally synthetic sea water is probably best.

Good luck! I'd love to have a tank that size

 

[cmor1701d]

Do a google search. There's an article on a 50,000 FW gallon tank.

There was an article on a 4,000 SW basement tank too.

 

[pat8you]

I personally find that (as an approximation) if you can manage to send the money on the inital set up of the tank starting with nothing then the maintenance costs will most likely not be an issue. I would start with looking at how much the initial set up of that tank will be. Not a catch all rule but something to consider.