What Would You Do?

[Salam]

I can't make up my mind on what to do next. So I am asking what you would do if you had those options.

Here is the the scenario:

Tank A - 340 litres / 90 USg (4ft x 1.5ft x 2ft)

Tank B - 140 litres / 37 USg (3.5ft x 1ft x 1.5ft)

Tank C - 106 litres / 28 USg (2.5ft x 1ft x 1.5ft)

Options:

Option A
Tank A to be turned into a saltwater tank.

Tank B and tank C stay as they are - both tropical communities but different. Tank B has platies, guppies, cories; tank C has a pair of dwarf gouramis, pygmy cories, kuhlis

Option B
Tank A to be turned into the big tropical community tank. Add all current inhabitants of Tank B and C into it (they are compatible) and in the future possibly add a little more (a shoaling fish for example or a bristlenose plec)

Tank B to be turned into a mbuna tank

Tank C to be turned into a smaller reef tank

I have pros and cons for both scenarios in my head but I won't write them down here yet as I'd like to see what you think first. So, which option would you go for? Basically a huge reef tank and two smaller/medium communities or a huge tropical tank and a smaller reef tank and a mbuna tank?

 

[Salam]

It's a close call in the voting. *bites nails*

 

[tmiller]

It's a close call in the voting. *bites nails*

Oh.. I see you actually want to try a marine tank though or you wouldn't have asked...
Get with it and update us freshies on how it goes already...

 

[Salam]

No, I honestly don't know what I want. Trust me, I am the most indecisive person on this planet

I will definitely try marine, but don't know whether to try a smaller one first (even though parameters are less stable) which is more manageable or go for the big one straight away and risk maybe losing a lot of money if you see what I mean.

We (me and my husband) have to make a decision soon as this weekend and week is going to be a huge turnaround in tanks if we go for option B as we are both off work. He wants option B, and I like the idea of it, but I feel such a huge tank is 'wasted' on bog standard community fish unless I can manage to pull off awesome aquascaping. I feel like the guppies etc would get lost in a big tank. But then again it might look fantastic. See? I really don't know what I want.

There you go, some of my pros and cons

I suppose I could list all pros and cons.

Option A:
Pros - amazing reef, inhabitants in tank B and C are happy as they are
Cons - expensive reef, never tried SW so not too sure if I can pull it off

Option B:
Pros - three very different tanks (tropical community, marine, mbuna), easy to maintain, reef cheaper and could possibly upgrade in the future
Cons - Community tank seems like a waste of big space, reef might be less stable in parameters

See? It's even stevens.

 

[creeker]

Try the Salt. Sounds like you are ready for a new challenge.

 

[tomtomtom1230]

No, I honestly don't know what I want. Trust me, I am the most indecisive person on this planet

You clearly haven't met my girlfriend

 

[Salam]

Lol, you lot are helpful. 3 vs 4 at the moment

Creeker, there will definitely be a salty but on a big or on a small scale that's the question.

Tomtom, if she also needs about 10 months after your child's birth to finally decide on a name then she is more indecisive than me

 

[Salam]

Ok, after asking the man of the house what he honestly wants he said option B. So there we go, as it is a joint hobby I will go with that. One huge community, one small reef and one mbuna tank. Watch this space for updates!

 

[Gilli]

I would go with option a and a salt water tank I I could afford it!

 

[Salam]

Argh, not it is even!

He wants B, I am more for A, but would also go with B. Seriously, this is a huge decision in this house.

Ok, another option. Go with B, but next year upgrade the reef tank to a bigger tank if things work out to be going well. Does that sound ok?

 

[Salam]

He is really not confident with option A, so we are going for option B for sure. A huge reef is daunting to him and he'd have to build the sump (I know it's not a necessity, but I wouldn't want any equipment in a beautiful reef tank). But he promised that if things go well with the small salty we are going to upgrade at a later point next year when I'm settled in my new job starting in September and we got more cash flow.

Plus I get to have my bristlenose plec

 

[Salam]

Option B in the lead. He is just washing the sand to go into the massive tank. I would have preferred something black as substrate but as there will be many cories we need sand. And black sand for that size tank is too expensive, hence playsand. I think he is excited and I am somehow. Just hope we can pull off a lovely aquascape for a huge community tank.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Turning "tank B" into a sucessful Mbuna setup will be a mammoth challenge in my opinion, typically 4-foot ~240l tanks are a far better startpoint. However, "tank B" is very doable as a Tanganyika setup, with a few carefully selected pairs and/or trio hareems.

 

[creeker]

Turning "tank B" into a sucessful Mbuna setup will be a mammoth challenge in my opinion, typically 4-foot ~240l tanks are a far better startpoint. However, "tank B" is very doable as a Tanganyika setup, with a few carefully selected pairs and/or trio hareems.

I agree with this excellent idea! Tank B could become a mbuna warzone!

 

[Salam]

I got a Tang set up already, just completed it (post is somewhere in the African cichlids section).

I was hoping 3.5 ft would be enough? Do six inches really make such a difference? (I know what you are thinking )