Rookie upgrade here

[mrhasan]

+1

Remember, people will always keep on saying "bigger the better" but I would say "maintaining a smaller tank properly is much much better than maintaining a bigger tank with improper care".

One thing I did learn over the course of this hobby is, if you can maintain a nano properly, maintaining a bigger tank will be a piece of pie given that you have the "dedication" and the "money"

So whether you should get 30 or 50, that's up to you to decide Some general advantages and disadvantages of the size:

30 gallon advantages:
1. Easier to maintain
2. Cheaper to maintain
3. Needs less space
4. Needs less stronger light

30 gallon disadvantages:
1. Limited stock of fishes (I am not going to talk about it since that will make me a hypocrite )
2. Keeping those parameters in check can need a bit more dedication
3. Easier to go wrong and kill stuffs
4. No TANGS!

50 gallon advantages:
1. Bigger dimension; more opportunities
2. Can handle much more bioload (including a yellow tang)
3. Easier to maintain the parameters (in context to 30gallon)
4. ONE YELLOW TANG!

50 gallon disadvantages:
1. Expensive to maintain
2. Will probably need a protein skimmer to maintain "clean" tank
3. One wrong move and a bigger nuked situation!
4. Will need stronger light

There are many more advantages and disadvantages but I tried to note the ones that came to my mind

Originally Posted by asylumdown

Decide what it is that you want to keep, and get the tank for that. If you have a hard on for the majestic tangs, start planning a 180 gallon or more. If you really like the cool small stuff (pistol shrimp and goby pairs are so freaking awesome) you don't need such a big tank. I actually just turned my 5 gallon QT tank in to a full time pico tank because the teeny tiny reef organisms that are so interesting to watch just vanish in to the 275.

If all you want is to keep clowns and an anemone, you can totally build a well planned/researched 30 gallon around that. Less to heat, less to light. But if you want some other corals and a few other fish as well, a 50 gallon might give you more flexibility. The amount of work necessary to maintain a larger tank scales with the size of the tank without some serious infrastructure adjustments (a 1 gallon water change is a heck of a lot easier than a 20 gallon water change if your'e doing it with pales and buckets), but also the stability of the system increases with size as well.

In any case: rule #1 is decide what you want to keep, or have the ability to keep, and get the right tank for that. Plan the system, don't let the system plan you.