Kids want a “Nemo”.....

PSU4ME

JoePa lives on!!!
Staff member
PREMIUM
Hey Everyone!

Long time no chat so I hope everyone is doing well! As some of you remember, I used to have a 120g tank with a few corals the first the most part grew and didn’t die.

My kids (3 and 5) have been begging me for a fish tank and I was looking to do something easy so I was looking at FW but I just can’t get myself to do it.

Everything they want is SW soooooo I might as well look there. I don’t want anything drastic, really want to be in the low maintenance stage of things but I’m also ok to do it right.

I haven’t searched for options yet which is why I came here. What’s been new in the past 5 years? Any good AIO? Go FOWLR?

Would love to hear some ideas!

Restrictions:
40g and under
No sump setup, I want water contained up top.
If I got to corals, it would be low to medium ones, nothing that requires pristine eater or anything like that.

Thanks!!!
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
If I had to have a small SW system, and wanted it "plug and play" I'd go for the Red Sea Max E-170. It's about the size your looking for, has led lighting and has it's filtration in the back of the tank. Yes, you could think of this as a sump, but it's not going to have all the potential issues of a sump in the stand.

Before you do that though, consider something like a FW planted tank. You can set up a much smaller tank, and grow a "jungle" of plants in there with not too much work or cost. When it's a cold winter day, coming in and seeing a lush green planted tank can really be uplifting. Check out some of the terms like nature aquarium, to find some good results of what can be done. Make no mistake about good planted tanks, these are an advanced type of aquarium keeping, and not the typical "fish tank" set up sold by you local chain store LFS. Best part of all, a much lower initial initial investment and running costs. This is good in case the children loose interest in a few months. While we are at ti, here is a FW planter tank forum I sometimes post on - https://www.plantedtank.net/ Lots of good information.
 

PSU4ME

JoePa lives on!!!
Staff member
PREMIUM
Thanks Dave! Funny you mention those two options because they are the two I’m considering. The max e170 looks like it fits the sw bill and I had originally planned to do planted. I think I’m still trying to figure out which the rest of the family will like and the pros and cons of each.
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
I have a SW reef and a FW planted tank. I love them both. Picking one over the other is kind of like picking which of your kids you like best.

Since you've been around the block in the hobby, you know what the issues and good and bad points are. I would say start with the less expensive one, and you can always add a 2nd tank if you want to later. This is also a good time to put the kids to work helping with the tank. Obviously at those ages they will not do too much, but it they take an interest, then can take over after awhile.

My younger nephew really liked my aquariums when he was little. When he got to about 12 or 13, his family was down for Christmas. I was teasing him a little about how I was glad he was down and that he could come over and help me get a lot of work done on the tanks. He jumped right in and said sure, lets do it tomorrow. I told him I was just teasing him a little. He replied that he actually wanted to do this. So the next day he came over and we got a lot of work done, and I gave him a lot of money for helping out. Even today he's one of those people that just like to help others.
 
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