# 125 Gallon or 75 gallon for a salt tank?



## redbellyjx © (Jan 26, 2004)

IM picking up a 125 gallon acrylic today and i already have a 75 glass tank. I had the idea of using one tank for ps and the other for a reef tank. I wanted the 125 for my p's originally becasue they are a little big for the 75; now that im thinking about it, i think the acrylic is going to be easier to drill for over heads for the sump, etc. what would you do?

the acrylic tank has a "hex" shape. the foot print looks like this

_________________
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so that might be a strike against using it as a P tank


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## Timmy44221 (Oct 11, 2005)

The acrylic may be easier to drill, but I wouls think in the long run it wouldnt hold up againts the salt envoroment as well for a long tome.

All that rock and chaances of scraches...

Just a thought.


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## thePACK (Jan 3, 2003)

moved to salt discussion forum


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## redbellyjx © (Jan 26, 2004)

thanks, i wasnt sure which section to put this in.


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## bjmarche (Jun 30, 2005)

I'd go with the 75.
If the Piranha are kinda big for the 75, put them in the 125.
And there isnt a heck of a lot you can put in a 125 saltwater tank, that you can't put in a 75, so no restrictions. And the acrylic may be slightly easier to drill into, but I don't think it would make a huge difference.


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## redbellyjx © (Jan 26, 2004)

i should also mention its a 4ft vs 6 ft tank (glass and acrylic respectively)

aslo how does galss hold up under the weight of liverock, etc? i dont want my 75 cracking like ill ninos


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## bjmarche (Jun 30, 2005)

I'm pretty sure it will do fine.
Mine is acrylic, so I can't really say I know for sure, but many people keep big glass tanks as saltwater tanks, and they all do fine.


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## Fresh2salt (Jul 16, 2004)

I'd go with the 125 for salt bigger and easy to care for then a smaller tank IMO


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## illnino (Mar 6, 2004)

if this is your first setup, go with the 75 as a 125 can run you thousands of dollars to setup a reef. any questions, please pm me. i consider raptor and I the most knowledgable of sw, reef, and equip. there is someone else on here but he is never on...


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## Guest (May 10, 2006)

illnino said:


> if this is your first setup, go with the 75 as a 125 can run you thousands of dollars to setup a reef. any questions, please pm me. i consider raptor and I the most knowledgable of sw, reef, and equip. there is someone else on here but he is never on...


Easy there Trillion :laugh: This is a forum! I agree that Raptor and you are the most knowledgable excluding 00nothing and thePACK (and possibly jiggy), but the point of this is to open the dicussions up for the public to read, learn, and comment on.

As for the tanks, I would use the 75g only because P's need a lot of space, and like said before, the only real difference you are going to see is in cost...unless you are planning on keeping some large agressive fish which need lots of swimming space...then obviously a 6ft tank would be the better option


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## Trillion (May 10, 2004)

Well actually I agree with both of you, but (danny, illnino), but a little more towards danny cause it is only a 4ft 125. though it would steal be as expensive, the ps would rather have more length than width.

So in my opinon its kind o a trick question cause the ps (depending on how many) are steal gonna be crammped wit almost the same amount of swimming length, but may retreat off to the back of the slightly wider tnk.

I say ditch the ps (especially if there red bellies), and go all out on a reef.

make your 75 a breeding tank for the clowns of your choice, that will make money for and take care of your 125 gl, reef, by saling and trading off the off spring.

if not I vote for the 75 gl. reef.


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## jiggy (Jun 27, 2004)

use whatever tank you can afford to maintain. this isnt freshwater, and the difference between a 75 and 125 isnt just 50 more gallons.

you will need 50g more salt plus u need to do bigger water changes weekly, bigger ro/di unit, more lights, more liverock, bigger chiller, bigger reactors, more co2, more flow, more corals, more fish.. the difference between a 75 and 125g all out reef is at least $1000 more, not to mention it takes more time to clean..

reef keeping is a never ending investment. dont go cheap with any of your equipment, youll regret it. (for example, my powerheads and controller alone cost over $1600)


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## redbellyjx © (Jan 26, 2004)

Trillion said:


> Well actually I agree with both of you, but (danny, illnino), but a little more towards danny cause it is only a 4ft 125. though it would steal be as expensive, the ps would rather have more length than width.


actaully i said it was a 6 ft tank up above


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## Trillion (May 10, 2004)

well my bad I thought you said it was only 4 ft.

I steal keep my vote the same though cause a 125 is pricey, but if you can afford it I'd go with the 125 for salt, really its up to your pocket book not our vote


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## redbellyjx © (Jan 26, 2004)

well i guess i was jsut wondering what would be a better suited tank.

well the 125 got sold before i could claim it, but i found a 75 gallon tank for sale locally with over flows and stuff predrilled so im gonna jump on that


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## Raptor (Jan 3, 2003)

Well The bigger the better, But like the other said more money.
I dont think youre going to need a 1600 dollar tunze powerhead setup with controller. Thats just a luxury. I know alot of people that have beautiful reef tanks and cant affoed all the doodads. If you are conscious on looking for deals amd buying some used stuff off reefers you could get by cheaper. Another thing is you do get what you pay for Now thats to a point. Do your homework on skimmers, Dont chinse, But you dont need to spend your whole months paycheck to have a beautiful tank.
I would get the 75 gal with the overflows, and diy a sump probably aroud 30 gallons or a 40 breeder would work great.
Get a nice reef ocopus skimmer or ASM skimmer. Have a fuge area in the sump with sand and some macro algea plus have room for an in sump skimmer, heaters, and return pump.
Check out the sqd units that will alternate flow that comes from your return pump. Great for your sized tank (75 gal) and a couple maxijet 1200's on a wavetimer.
Theres tons of ways to save money in the hobbie, You just have to look for them.
Diy yourself a t-5 setup or halide setup, or get a kit.
www.diyreef.com has some great prices on light kits.
Good luck! This hobby is addicting, and i bet 1 year after you start salt your p's will be gone. IMO Its that cool. Well i think so, I loved my p's, But i dont miss them.


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## Trillion (May 10, 2004)

I agree I don't miss my ps either, but if they had breeded, I would steal have them.

its always to cool to se your favorite fish produce offspring.

But if they won't do it then what's the use?

Any way good luck on your venture, and raptors right if you don't have a cool pair of breeding ps, then you will not be interested in them much longer.

but if they do breed you could always us some off the larvae toards trades or sale at your lfs!

good luck, and ggd speed


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## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

ill give you a tip for when you're adding the rock to the tank if you're freaked about about it cracking.

what i did was get some eggcrate or light diffuser (like a plastic sheet of little squares)

i cut it to the size of the footprint of my african tank, as it used to have an arseload of rocks in it.

with the eggcrate on the bottom it spreads out the weight of all the rock, instead of having small points of extreme pressure from the weight and shapes of the rocks.

i had SOOO much rock in my african tank, but it was totally fine with the eggcrate in teh bottom.


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## GoriLLaFromDaMisT (Aug 15, 2006)

125 :nod:


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

you gotta also think that you need to buy more fish for the 125 more LR ,sand, crambs etc bigger things like protine skimmer anomones (unless your just keeping it simple)...
id say 125 is the way to go if you want to spend the extra time and money


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## 00nothing (Mar 26, 2004)

First off let me say Dannyboy if that was a compliment then thank you very much even with the bad blood we have had at times i appreciate it very much

I voted for the 125 but honestly it is a really tough decision as others have mentioned bigger is better but also a lot more expensive i personally would base it on what u are wanting to keep if u are thinking reef with any tangs then 125 is def the way to go, there are a lot of pluses and negatives for both tanks

If it were me i would first consider my budget and then consider what i want to keep and then begin to make my decisions from there

and oh yes one thing to remember is acrylic scratches a lot easier than glass

u could always ditch the p's and use the 75 for a sump and the 125 for display


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## 00nothing (Mar 26, 2004)

LOL jsut got told how old this post is don't mind me i think senility is starting to set in

been without the net for a while


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## flaredevil4 (Sep 9, 2006)

I say saltwater 125 purely for the fact that big community salt water tanks look much nicer


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