Need to downsize...I think!

[willray]

Last night dreamed about having to sell my "dream tank" and woke up to my tunze pointing at the sand bed and you can imagine the trouble it caused.Sand everywhere and an avalanche of rock work,good part is it missed the glass at least as most of the rocks are bound together in one way or another.This was I guess the tipping point.
I'm having a hard time accepting the fact... that I cannot keep up with my tank any more...financially or physically (this is deep tank for me to work in).It's making me feel...crappy just to think of it 'cause I worked so hard to get here (I know we all have).Started with a 55 gal then 75 gal than this 120 larger beautiful low iron glass tank I got from -B-.The last few weeks I've been going over the pros and cons of smaller vs bigger,seems not long ago I was doing the just opposite bigger vs smaller and like most anyone.... can justify it either way.

Anyone who has downsized want to give me your opinions,pros,cons,regrets,feelings etc. and talk me in / out of this! thank you for reading this, Bill

 

[cstmpprl]

I've never downsized, But quite a few years back we sold everything thinking it would save us money. It turned out that you will always find some other place that your money will go. We missed Or I should say Bob missed having a tank. We are back with 100 times more water volume and loving it. We don't get nice vacations, but we get what we need. You'll make the right discussion no matter what it is. If height is your issue, Have Matt build you one of those Lagoon tanks he did. That came out cool..
Good Luck

 

[highpower9979]

i went from a 90 gallon to a 58 gallon oceanic and i never looked back way less maintenance and my electric bill last year was 350 a month now its 70 bucks you be the judge

 

[RayD]

i went from a 90 gallon to a 58 gallon oceanic and i never looked back way less maintenance and my electric bill last year was 350 a month now its 70 bucks you be the judge

I just got layed off from my job so the thought of giving up the tank is looming big. My electric bill is in the 300 range. Boy would I like to see that go away.

The thing is I really love my tank, have had it for years (like Bill) and I don't WANT to give it up. Weighs heavy all the time since the job loss.

 

[MikeG]

i went from a 90 gallon to a 58 gallon oceanic and i never looked back way less maintenance and my electric bill last year was 350 a month now its 70 bucks you be the judge

Interesting, When I took down my 140, I didn't see any real change in my electric bill and that was running a 400W halide, two VHO's and a reeflo dart pump that was drawing 140W

 

[highpower9979]

Interesting, When I took down my 140, I didn't see any real change in my electric bill and that was running a 400W halide, two VHO's and a reeflo dart pump that was drawing 140W

i was running a mag 12 a 2 250 hqi 1 150 hqi a quater horse chiller a calcium reactor 2 tunze 6100 2 300 watt heaters skimmer all high drawing stuff
now i run 200 watt evoloution leds no chiller a 100 heater 1 tunze turbell a small one eheim return no reactor and since im only putting lps in the tank i cut down the light cycle by two hours it made a huge difference for me i can tell you that and i kept all my favorite lps from my big tank im very happy now for me change is good once in a while also i think the big change in the bill was my house was always boiling from the lights so the ac went in alot earlier than normal now its always seems cold in here

 

[dcforester1]

I just got my first electric bill yesterday since I put my LEDs in. I was always at $225-250, and my bill was $166. I don't know how much was due to the light because they have been est my bill for the last 18 mos. With four kids and one in college it gets hard to justify, but I feel it's the one thing I have. I work 60-70hrs week, and I don't go out on Friday nights. I am considering getting rid of my sons Nano, but enjoy that as well. If you can get a smaller tank try that, or maybe keep a FOLR so you can cut the light cycle. What ever you chose good luck.

Derek

 

[willray]

If height is your issue

Its arm length that's the issue.

i went from a 90 gallon to a 58 gallon oceanic and i never looked back way less maintenance and my electric bill last year was 350 a month now its 70 bucks you be the judge

I like the sound of that!

I just got layed off from my job so the thought of giving up the tank is looming big. My electric bill is in the 300 range. Boy would I like to see that go away.

The thing is I really love my tank, have had it for years (like Bill) and I don't WANT to give it up. Weighs heavy all the time since the job loss.

Sorrow to read that.I hear/feel ya Ray....I'm still there.

Interesting, When I took down my 140, I didn't see any real change in my electric bill and that was running a 400W halide, two VHO's and a reeflo dart pump that was drawing 140W

Big house?

i was running a mag 12 a 2 250 hqi 1 150 hqi a quater horse chiller a calcium reactor 2 tunze 6100 2 300 watt heaters skimmer all high drawing stuff
now i run 200 watt evoloution leds no chiller a 100 heater 1 tunze turbell a small one eheim return no reactor and since im only putting lps in the tank i cut down the light cycle by two hours it made a huge difference for me i can tell you that and i kept all my favorite lps from my big tank im very happy now for me change is good once in a while also i think the big change in the bill was my house was always boiling from the lights so the ac went in alot earlier than normal now its always seems cold in here

So you downsized or economized?

I just got my first electric bill yesterday since I put my LEDs in. I was always at $225-250, and my bill was $166. I don't know how much was due to the light because they have been est my bill for the last 18 mos. With four kids and one in college it gets hard to justify, but I feel it's the one thing I have. I work 60-70hrs week, and I don't go out on Friday nights. I am considering getting rid of my sons Nano, but enjoy that as well. If you can get a smaller tank try that, or maybe keep a FOLR so you can cut the light cycle. What ever you chose good luck.

Derek

Know right where your coming from Derek!52 hrs a week for 28 yrs.We have only bought things that were really needed, everything had to be justified.As we get older we consider ourselves minimalist more and more. Have thrown my share of "unwanteds" away over the yrs and am done with that....of course kids tend to do that to ya.
Being an estimated bill that might be just the adjusted difference,I hope not though.
Fowlr cool but love softies,lps,inverts and sticks too much to give it up.

 

[highpower9979]

i did both that seemed the only way to do it and be happy lol ...plus it gave me a reason to buy all new equipment thats energy efficient

 

[stingythingy45]

i went from a 90 gallon to a 58 gallon oceanic and i never looked back way less maintenance and my electric bill last year was 350 a month now its 70 bucks you be the judge

It's highly unlikely that all that power was used by the tank.
I run all that equipment similar to what you had except the chiller and don't come close to that high of a bill.

 

[highpower9979]

It's highly unlikely that all that power was used by the tank.
I run all that equipment similar to what you had except the chiller and don't come close to that high of a bill.

i also had two air conditions one 1300 and one 1200 btu running to

 

[bossreef]

Years ago, I went from a 75 gallon Oceanic down to a 34 gallon Red Sea Max. I always miss having the wide viewing area of the 75, but I also never miss the amount of money that the 75 gallon was costing.

A larger tank usually means: more RO water to make, more salt, more or bigger pumps, bigger or brighter lighting, more clean up crew critters, more rocks, more sand, more corals, more food, etc...

Most of the cost that I mentioned had to do with the initial purchase of tank, rocks, lights, pumps..., but also, at the time, I was continuously purchasing corals and fish to "fill up" the empty spaces in the 75 gallon.

Of course, now I have a 34 gallon Solana and a 27 gallon cube (about 56 gallons combined), but combined, those are still about 20 gallons less than a 75.

If your 120 gallon is already completely stocked, I would think that the ongoing costs shouldn't be too bad other than electricity, bulbs replacement, salt, and having to buy some snails once in a while.

Probably the best thing to do is to create a comparison spreadsheet.
... and since I was curious, I made a spreadsheet with bogus data on it.
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc...zNiaEJlOEFwSUM2Znk2MlE&hl=en&authkey=CPirsMQC

According to my bogus data, going from a 120 gal to a 57 gal would save around $55 a month. I am fairly certain that my electricity costs are way off and probably also my bulb replacement costs and whatever else. Therefore, the cost savings could be greater than $55 a month.

If anyone has a kill-a-watt and knows how many watts of electricity their X gal sized tank uses a month, then we could have a better guesstimate.

If the problem is more physical than financial, maybe using a step stool and tongs would help for general maintenance I use tongs, long tweezers, or a combo of rubber gloves + tongs when working in my tanks. My tanks are also much smaller and much shallower than your 120 gal.

At the time, the decision for me to downsize from a 75 gal to a 34 gal was about financial priorities. Whenever I look at 120 gallon display tank in a LFS, I always yearn to have one. Likewise, I also yearn to have an Audi R8. Perhaps later in life when I'm retired, I can drive my Audi R8 during the day and stare at my 250 gal reef tank at night. For now, I am quite content with compromising by having a 34 gal & 27 gal tank and driving my average car.

 

[willray]

Think for now... I'm done whining and am going to suck it up for another round or 2 of "The tipping point" outbreaks.
That's a great spreadsheet BTW bossreef. Must say the ac was one of best non guilt purchases we've made and will never do w/o it again,reef tank or not(or not will never happen sounds good though),small or large.

 

[JasonandRay]

I went from a 75 to 40. I like the 40 way better already

 

[Aquaman_68]

For me personally....my next upgrade I say would be........................(silent pause) nothing......

But I don't know how I could after over a decade in just reefin...Glad your sticking with what you got...look how much money you r saving on changing out & buying small only to eventually not be happy with the downgrade...Suck it up....The hobby has ups & downs for me.... (on how intense I am with it) That is what keeps me going...Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us!!!

B