Starting with a 500 gallon aquarium

C

cruising

Registered Member
Mar 29, 2011
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Well, it's been a dream of mine for many years, but I'm finally starting a marine aquarium. Goal is to start off with a bunch of live rock (I've got a very soft spot for tiny creepy-crawlies) and see where my heart goes from there. No real "dream fish" or anything.

My plan was to wait for a good deal in the 90-125gal range, but suddenly, I've got the opportunity to buy a 500 gallon setup at an insane deal.

Are there any caveats to starting off with a 500 gallon aquarium? All my research was in "normal" aquariums. Is it a matter of just scaling up the water changes and maintenance accordingly?
 
Ya I think now instead of a 15 gal water change its gonna be 75 gals. Only other diff is gonna be in the wallet.. Boatloads of cash.. Im starting up a 90 gal with a 35 gal sump and by the time im done i will be around $2500. Granted I have bought alot new and havent searched ebay, craigslist etc to get bargains.. Congrats on the HUGE tank and good luck.. PICS will be required also, hope you have your camera/batteries and usb cable ready..
 
Dude. I can't even imagine how much live rock is gunna cost for a 500gallon!! JEeeeeez. I'm starting a 30 and 40lbs of live rock is gunna cost me $100!!
 
TabisFish said:
Dude. I can't even imagine how much live rock is gunna cost for a 500gallon!! JEeeeeez. I'm starting a 30 and 40lbs of live rock is gunna cost me $100!!
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Once you get past a certain point it becomes much more economical to source a large percentage as base rock instead of live rock. Still rather expensive (unless you live somewhere where you can harvest your own base rock) but quite a bit less so then 500-700lbs of live rock.

Plus with a 500g saltwater tank, nothing is really gonna be cheap. Just considering the filtration systems (other then the LR) and lighting system (unless it is a FOWLR and even then usually some lighting is desired), if that stuff doesn't come with the tank, alone are gonna be pretty high.
 
Everything comes with the tank. It even comes with 100gpd R/O unit. Really a killer deal. Just gotta stock the LR...

The water changes is what I'm really worried about. You can change with buckets on 90-100 gal -- just a bucket every week -- but you can't really do that with a 500 gal tank. I did some Googling but I didn't find out how the keepers of such large aquariums do the water changes?
 
From my research the larger tank guys have some sort of auto water change system where they have a drain bulkhead with a valve to let water out then have a large water reserve(another tank or rubbermaid garbage cans seem to be popular) and is pumped back in automatically or maybe semi-auto..

Shane.
 
^ Yep. If you don't have a auto changer you can still set up a reservoir system either near the tank or in a bathroom. Rubbermaid containers are a nice cheap way to set it up.

Splitting up the water changes into multiple changes also helps.
 
Good points -- maintenance might be a bit difficult due to the fact that we'd be placing the tank in our living room, and there'd be no bathrooms or other places to hide such a huge reservoir. It's right behind the kitchen though, and so there's no doubt we could set up a fancy auto-change system eventually, though.

I'm not in a rush to go out and stock it. If I get it, I'd probably let it sit & cycle for six months and be terrified to touch it. :eek:

Leaning towards the "chicken out" approach and just hanging on for a good deal for 90-125 gal at CL.
 
i would just get the 500 if it comes with absolutely everything, as in, filtration, lighting, plumbing. if you can store a bin somewhere to have a salt mix always on hand then you can do your water changes from there. and as someone said, multiple small water changes work well. as for the live rock, if you can contact a LFS and work out a deal with them, they may be able to get a couple boxes of uncured live rock in and you can cure it yourself. from personal experiences, thats really fun.

go big if you have a little extra cash and some determination
 
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