Thinking about downsizing...

[Ben]

I've come to the conclusion that I'm just too busy recently to do a coherent job on 4 tanks. I have enough time and energy for 1-2 and as a result, all 4 are in various states of neglect.

I have a 75 gallon RR complete system that I am considering getting rid of, with about 40-60 lbs of rock re-cycling in it due to near-total neglect. I have my old 45 gallon in a state of benign neglect, but a spike in salinity, fall in alk, and some urchins munching through their branches have annihilated my LPS corals. I have a 125 that is FOW/LR right now that I don't want to get rid of (~200+ lbs of rock & 6" sand bed), but one of the visitherm stealth heaters broke and the wet heating element popped out of the tank and landed on my timer/surge protector. If I hadn't been home and fairly near the tank to spot the fireworks as they happened, the resulting electrical bad thing might have burned down the house. (Casualties: 1 florescent light, 1 surge protecter w/built in dual timers, 1 heater. I also have to re-wire to create a new set of driploops, since I was using the surge protector placement to help handle that.) Lastly, I have a 29 gallon freshwater that is doing pretty much fine, because it has fish that are OK with neglect.

If, as I'm currently thinking, I downsize to just the 45 & 29 active (or possibly move it all from the 45 to the 75), I'll need to get rid of a Pacific Blue Tang, Coral Beauty Angel, and Oscellaris clownfish. Plus one of the 45 or 75 setups with the rock currently in the 75. I haven't decided what to do next with the 125 and its fully cycled and healthy sand/rocks/inverts.

Any thoughts from other club members on things I should keep in mind? I do plan to potentially start up a big tank again in the future, but probably not for a year or three.

[Jnicho]

Not to jump into your club thread...but I just consolidated several tank into one myself...I put everything into one well setup (meaning a good/large sump, big skimmer, etc) 125. Maintaining one bigger tank that is setup well is much easier than messing with a bunch of tanks IMO.

[oyam123]

Keep the 125 going, big tanks = less problems.
sell the extra LR and tanks (out of sight and no temptation).
Ill trade a nice brain coral for the fish....LMK.
I am also down to 1 tank.

[mjsandbe]

I totally understand where you are coming from Ben. I had a 90 & 58 that were both getting 1/2 the attention they needed. I sucked it up and gave away the 90. I am happy to say that the 58 is now in much better condition as a result. I think that you are headed down the right path, consolidating. Once you start to shed the other tank you should be able to get into a self reinforcing cycle. You will be able to focus your attention on the 125, it will improve, you will feel better and be more excited to do the upkeep

[AquaNuts]

Dido....focus on the larger tank. Interested in tang..pm sent

[Ben]

If I keep the 125 as my main tank, it would have to remain in my basement. Either the 45 (well established) or 75 (bigger) could fit in my kitchen / dining room, where we really like to look at the fish... However, if we keep the 125 as our main tank, we can keep the blue tang (whom my daughter does already call Dory and is my wife's favorite fish). I need to talk it over with my wife, but we work opposite shifts so that's practically once a week recently we can talk about anything involved.

The main problem is that after a year, I still haven't gotten the dedication to set aside enough time to finish constructing the hood, plumbing, & sump for the 125, so it has been limping along on the virtues of almost 100 lbs of liverock per fish (profoundly understocked). Had I already gone through with all of that, I'd agree about keeping the 125 as our sole saltwater tank. As is, I wonder when I'll find the time where I am not taking care of kids or bleary-tired to do it all.

EDIT: On another note. Drs F&S has refunded me the price of the heater that failed in the 125 and is contacting the manufacturer on my behalf. I didn't actually contact them directly, just left a review of the product (Visi-Therm Stealth) that it can fail in a particularly spectacular and dangerous manner.