Hello Reef Tank Community!
I recently got interested in reefing in about the past year or so. I come from a pretty good freshwater background so Im not a complete freshy, or young blood as my name suggests. I have been strictly researching heavily for about the past 6 months or so and have a decent I would say knowledge of the reef tank setup and biology. My main concerns now with dealing with equipment parts. I am only a college student so my funds are quite limited and unfortunately that means those beautiful radion lights, high end skimmers and Reactors and such are out of the equation :(
So far I have settled with the Innovative Marine 20 gallon nuvo. This is primarily because its decently low cost as well as has a nice upgrade path with the skimmers, reactors, mini refuguim which I plan to add all eventually. I wanted to get some first hand accounts on lighting, specifically the Kessil A160. The tank is 24 long and the light is rated for 24 as well however I wanted to make sure that this would be sufficient as well as producing strong enough light that I can grow quite a few LPS as well as one or so LPS corals. For pumps I really wanted a controllable one however it seems out of my price range, all the testing and redundancy elements really add up quick. I was thinking about the Tunze nanostream 6020 however I want to double check as well as receive some feedback if this would be sufficient for this tank or perhaps too much flow. I will of course have an ATO and will be using Kalk as it seems the cheapest and simplest way (with some risks I have researched) to dose the tank, Im looking at the Tunze nano osmolator. I will be choosing the minimax reactor and ghost skimmer which are designed for the IM nano tank. My biggest question about this is regarding the reactor. If you could only choose one media to put in the reactor which would it be? GFO or carbon? Or perhaps a mix? As someone who has never done a reef tank I was thinking that maybe I would use GFO alone in the reactor as phosphates control seems to be the biggest challenge a newbie would encounter, I would of course be running a media like Carbon ROX in a mesh bag as well? Some input on this would be highly beneficial as I am most interesting in what would give me the best results. Other than that I am open to more ideas as well as input on a first time setup, tips or knowledge in general! Also in terms of heaters, I have heard EXTREMELY mixed reviews of the Cobalt Aquatics neo therm...from entire meltdowns to incredible accuracy?? BRS makes it seems like the best heater ever, however the reviews do worry me
To recap the list:
-IM nuvo fusion 20 gal
-Kessil a160 light
-Ghost skimmer desktop
-minimax reactor (media reccomendations as I can only get 1 for now)
-Tunze nanostream 6020
-Tunze nano ATO
IF you read through all of this thats a big thank you and much appreciated!
I recently got interested in reefing in about the past year or so. I come from a pretty good freshwater background so Im not a complete freshy, or young blood as my name suggests. I have been strictly researching heavily for about the past 6 months or so and have a decent I would say knowledge of the reef tank setup and biology. My main concerns now with dealing with equipment parts. I am only a college student so my funds are quite limited and unfortunately that means those beautiful radion lights, high end skimmers and Reactors and such are out of the equation :(
So far I have settled with the Innovative Marine 20 gallon nuvo. This is primarily because its decently low cost as well as has a nice upgrade path with the skimmers, reactors, mini refuguim which I plan to add all eventually. I wanted to get some first hand accounts on lighting, specifically the Kessil A160. The tank is 24 long and the light is rated for 24 as well however I wanted to make sure that this would be sufficient as well as producing strong enough light that I can grow quite a few LPS as well as one or so LPS corals. For pumps I really wanted a controllable one however it seems out of my price range, all the testing and redundancy elements really add up quick. I was thinking about the Tunze nanostream 6020 however I want to double check as well as receive some feedback if this would be sufficient for this tank or perhaps too much flow. I will of course have an ATO and will be using Kalk as it seems the cheapest and simplest way (with some risks I have researched) to dose the tank, Im looking at the Tunze nano osmolator. I will be choosing the minimax reactor and ghost skimmer which are designed for the IM nano tank. My biggest question about this is regarding the reactor. If you could only choose one media to put in the reactor which would it be? GFO or carbon? Or perhaps a mix? As someone who has never done a reef tank I was thinking that maybe I would use GFO alone in the reactor as phosphates control seems to be the biggest challenge a newbie would encounter, I would of course be running a media like Carbon ROX in a mesh bag as well? Some input on this would be highly beneficial as I am most interesting in what would give me the best results. Other than that I am open to more ideas as well as input on a first time setup, tips or knowledge in general! Also in terms of heaters, I have heard EXTREMELY mixed reviews of the Cobalt Aquatics neo therm...from entire meltdowns to incredible accuracy?? BRS makes it seems like the best heater ever, however the reviews do worry me
To recap the list:
-IM nuvo fusion 20 gal
-Kessil a160 light
-Ghost skimmer desktop
-minimax reactor (media reccomendations as I can only get 1 for now)
-Tunze nanostream 6020
-Tunze nano ATO
IF you read through all of this thats a big thank you and much appreciated!
