just can't decide

new guy here, but not new to fishkeeping. I have had many tanks over the last 25 years including a 24 gal. nano reef. left the hobby for a few years because of back problems. 18 monthe ago I came back. I was going to set up a 120 gal. fowlr but decided I wanted the challenge of discus. I'm pretty proud of my tank but the sw is always on my mind. I'm thinking of selling everything but the tank and lights. my problem is I'm retired and would like to keep the costs down a bit. I was thinking of using the two cannisters for flow and running them empty unless I need some carbon or phosphate remover. I would get a hob skimmer. I know the advantages of a sump but they are not cheap and I'm dangerous with tools, lol. my tank is as low tech as can be and my fish are very healthy. I would like to keep it as simple as I can. what do you think? am I crazy for wanting to tear this tank down? here is a pic of my wild discus biotope.

 

thats one nice tank!;D I think you should tear it down if you want a sw fowlr. they are really cool.

 

Hi, and Welcome to 3Reef!

Considering the beauty of your tank and your own reluctance to decide, I wouldn't advise you to tear it down at this time. Perhaps it would be better to set up a nano or biocube for now and decide later what to do, and you never know-- You certainly won't be the first to choose to keep both.

 

That is an awesome discus tank. I have always wanted to keep discus, but they can get pricey, lol. I would recommend keeping your current tank until you know for sure what you want to do. To bad you just missed the awesome sell Petco had on their fish tanks. You have just gotten yourself a new tank, lol. Good Luck to you

 

yea, in a perfect world I would have both. the problem is I have room for only one tank. really don't want another nano. half the fun is scaping a tank and I would love to try with all the room in the 120. what does everyone think about going with the cannisters instead of a sump? don't see them being nitrate magnates if run empty and I have read that they are useful for carbon or phosban if needed. really don't want to get into corals again and would like a good number of small to medium fish instead of a few large fish.

 

That tank looks amazing! no way should you take that down.

 

thanks for the compliments everyone. it would'nt be a hard decision if I did'nt like this tank so much, but to be honest discus are a boring fish. they are very slow moving fish and are happy just lording over the tank. if it were'nt for the lemon tertas I might as well be lookikg at a photo. I'm not in a hurry and want to make sure on which way to go.

 

I'm going to +1 the "don't tear it down" group. That tank (and obviously healthy fish) is a stunner. Nice work!

 

Do you have someone that will by the discus from you? It sounds like you already know what you want to do deep down anyways.

 

Hey I am retired too. Some ideas on a budget if you are doing a fish only is going to home depot and getting a small sturdy rubber maid and use it as your sump. Or you can go on CL and find deals there or for sale sections on reef central. That's what I did for starters.