New Member - Hello!

[gobmcdeeusa]

Hello, My name is Brad. I have had a freshwater aquarium going for the past 8 months now I have the itch to set up a reef aquarium. I didn't begin with a reef aquarium because it's more complicated and I don't like killing stuff. Anyway, I don't have the funds for a large aquarium so I think I'd like to start small. I've been thinking between 20 gallon up to at most 40 gallon. Does anyone have an opinion on whether or not if something goes wrong in the aquarium one on of these sizes is likely to fair better? It's probably the larger but I value your opinions. Thanks in advance. Do you have opinions on particular brands of aquariums? I'm leaning toward a Waterbox. I looked at Innovative Marine, Aquatop, Tideline, Red Sea. I was thinking AIO but will a sump come in handy and can you get small aquariums with a sump? I thought I would manually dose and not run a skimmer and rely on water changes. Good idea or ultimately not so good? I will have an ATO. I'm not sure yet if I'll invest in home RO or just buy water locally. So many questions, so little time. Thanks for you input!!

 

[Colt]

I’m probably the least qualified to answer this but I’m my experience so far I think reef tanks get a bad wrap. I started my reef tank in January and it’s been doing great.

My tank is currently 24g and I wish I had gone bigger atleast to start. I loved the nano idea because I thought I didn’t really want fish but it turns out I love them. In reef tanks there’s so much fish for a wide variety of problems/pests that can occur. I think ideally 40g would have been a good starting point. Maybe getting a 20 gallon as a little display tank. The biggest problem I faced with 24 aio is the amount of space I had to work with in the back. I didn’t realize how limited I was with what would fit in the back of the aio. I’ve bought a lot of stuff that’s just been to wide or too tall.

In my opinion invest in home ro. I’m looking into right now because I’ve spent 100 dollars just buying the water from a lsf.

If you aren’t trying to rush in the hobby I suggest just lurking on the forums here. People sell full setups for great deals here. You may just have to put a little elbow grease into them to get it looking brand new. Wish I new about this place before I started my first tank. Would have saved alot of money and and gotten a nicer setup.

 

[Cook]

Welcome! Sumps are optional for smaller systems (20 gallon or less) IMO. Agree with @Colt, go with the largest size tank you think you can do without being overwhelmed by it. The Red Sea Reefer 170 is a good tank with a sump for a total volume of 40 gallons. Waterbox, IM, and Red Sea are good brands I can’t speak to the others. You can definitely start with water changes at first and move to dosing later, just don’t wait too long or the parameter swings between water changes can cause problems.

 

[gobmcdeeusa]

Thanks for the helpful information. I will scan the forum for equipment sales as suggested. I think a 20 to 24 inch cube would be the max size for me. I plan to attend the next meeting/event to see what reefers say and do. I'll check out the Red Sea Reefer 170. I'll see if Waterbox has an equivalent option.

 

[gobmcdeeusa]

Hello It's Me, Is it true that the Red Sea ReefBeat app is terrible and basically inoperable on Android but perfectly fine on iPhone (IOS). I know some have success using it and getting it to connect but most seem not to. Should this influence my decision to buy or use Red Sea equipment - lights, pumps, etc.? Are Planet Aquarium tanks just as good or better than Waterbox and Red Sea?

 

[axbrown]

The bigger the aquarium the more room for error and swings before it affects the life in the tank, so if you can go 40 I would. As far as brands go, I absolutely loved my JBJ 30 tank that I had years bag, it was a great tank, and it was all in one. If you have a light bioload with corals, you should be able to handle a tank that size with 5 gallon water changes every week and no skimmer. That's what I did and everything thrived. It is an all in one, so the life support is in the back of the tank and there is no sump. I agree with "Cook" above, and RO unit is a game changer, it makes water changes and auto top off MUCH more affordable than buying from a LFS.