What piece of equipment has been your best investment?

[Scribe]

What piece of equipment has been the best investment you have made? As most of us probably are I'm always thinking about what to upgrade next. I'm leaning towards a vertex skimmer currently, but that changes daily. Just wondering what piece of equipment minus the tank obviously has made the most difference in your tank. Curious to hear your thoughts.

 

[TheClark]

Tough question! I am leaning towards my APEX. The automation, leak detection, float switches, etc... So many good things happen out of this box. Good skimmers probably trump an apex but hey just sharing! Good luck with your decision...

 

[wildcrazyjoker81]

My Giesemann Spectra 72" 3x250W MH and 4x80W T5. These lights are stunning and growth has been incredible under them.

 

[Zero Nitrates]

Dosing system Bubble Magus. Makes a huge difference.

 

[BODI]

Daily topping off was really getting old which really makes me appreciate my Tunze ATO.

 

[FF337]

apex with ato

 

[mike007]

Ato for sure. Makes life so much easier. lol

 

[yellojello]

Pretty much everything has been my best investment to minimize my own labor. But I guess lighting would be the only thing that can't be replicated by humans. Unless you use sunlight.

- Water Quality - Consistent water changes, topping off water, manual dosing. or RODI Unit, Sump, ATO, Skimmer, Autodoser (CA reactor, GFO, Carbon, Kalk, ATS, etc... for other methods)
- Flow - Hands swooshing through the water with a paddle or stirrer. or Powerheads and Pumps
- Temperature Control - Using a hand fan or newspaper or magazine, blowing with mouth across water?, fill bag with ice, hugging the tank?. or Heater, Fans, APEX controller

So probably lighting, powerheads, pumps, heater, fans, and APEX would be a complete necessity while everything else "could" be done myself.

 

[mfief]

This is tough. ATO for convenience but then upgrading to my 300w Razor is great. I think when my skimmer getts upgraded that may also qualify for consideration. I would go with the ATO right now though

 

[fishroomlady]

not sure if this counts but I would say my sump has been my best investment after running my previous tanks with all hang-ons, having a sump has been completely awesome! Following the sump would be that I really like my T5 lighting.

 

[Scribe]

Great to hear all these answers keep them coming. I agree auto top off is huge.

 

[ws6kid]

I would say that the aquarium was best. Without it, I wouldn't have a reason to have bought all the other fun toys

 

[BODI]

So probably lighting, powerheads, pumps, heater, fans, and APEX would be a complete necessity while everything else "could" be done myself.

That's pretty funny right there lol :laugh:

 

[Jimbo662]

apex with ato

+1 on these two

 

[Preyou]

My Apex... hands down. It saved my display on my recent trip out of state. Return pump crashed and I was able to determine the issue and have a friend repair it before anything was lost. In addition to saving my life, it handles top-off duty, monitoring of salinity, temp in the display and sump, lighting control, ph monitoring, and monitoring of my skimmate collection vessel.

 

[MRRBW]

lol yellojello! newspapers are so much fun to cool my tank ;-) I was thinking about my upgrades, my Razor was a great upgrade, allowed me to switch from a fowlr to a reef tank. An upcoming RO/DI unit will be nice too. Buuuut, my next upgrade will def be adding an ATO. I can buy RO/DI from lfs, but they won't come add it for me everyday. With our busy schedules, I think this will be my single best upgrade and happy wife maker of them all. I will spend less time everyday on the tank which will win me points with the wife :-D

 

[ifarmer]

ATO and the doser

 

[pirate2876]

Chiller and ATO.

 

[vic67]

+1 on an ATO.

 

[Nitr8]

Apex. No question.