First Reef

[banditpowdercoat]

BIGGER is allways better. Especially when you allready have a 300gFW

I started with a 45g, now have a 150 AND the 45 LOL

[intarsiabox]

Bigger is more stable, not always better. You can always try a nano reef for a year and all corals, fish, rock, etc can be transfered to a larger tank if you decide to stick to reef keeping without spending a fortune on equipment just to have it wasted. Check out nano-reef.com and you will see small tanks that look just as good or better than many large systems or search this forum as well. Either way you decide it is a rewarding hobby. What I like most about it over FW is that everytime I look in my tank I see something new and everything is alive, even the sand and rock!

[365seasons]

If you've already got a 300G FW, I'd definitely aim bigger.


Go big or go home...
Wait...go as big as you can FIT in your home.

[bignose]

Obviously you know to research. Make and plan with your budget and stick with it. If this is going to be your first SW tank learn from it to see if it is something you like, if not get rid of it. Don't go balls to the walls.

[naesco]

I am with everyone else. Get the biggest one you can

[triggereef]

Agreed,, I went the with a 50 gallon at first and it was so
much harder so i scraped the idea and looked for a bigger
tank.. luckly a good friend was selling a 230.. its awesome
to have because since its quite big there is less chance of
it getting any sorts of deseases,, WAY better and more fun
then the 50 hah

so in the end bigger is better!

[BlueAbyss]

I'll be one of the few that disagree with the 'bigger is better' statement. I went with a 10 gallon because I am on a budget and wanted to 'test the water' so to speak (I know that's a terrible pun for those of us that do a lot of parameter testing )... I have plans for a 29 gallon but felt a need to go smaller with the first reef.

I'm interested in animals that would be lost in a large reef... Pom Pom Crabs, Sexy Shrimp, Pederson's Cleaner Shrimp etc... But the draw for a larger tank is more (and larger / fancier) fish, and I love the colorful fish. My 10 gallon will support 1 - 2 small fish... not great for a fish fancier. Since I'm more interested in invertebrates and corals and that sort of stuff, that's great... I can see the small stuff up close.

Every facet of this hobby is pretty great... I've seen impressive tanks as small as a few gallons! Smaller tanks take less things to fill them, but have less room to grow, plain and simple. Smaller tanks are more challenging to keep stable also... something I learned very well in the past 2 months since I started my tank.

Whatever you decide to do, Canreef is an excellent resource. Keep us posted, we all love pics!