AIO upgrades?

[shimmer]

I currently have a 15 gallon AIO. I’m not sure of the brand, it looks like some sort of custom waterbox aquarium maybe. It came as part of a helloreef kit(which I am super unhappy with.)

It currently has:

Filter Sock

Activated Carbon in a bag that just sits it the middle chamber

A filter Sponge

Sicce Micra Plus Return Pump

Sicce Nano Circulation Pump

50W Eheim Heater

I recently had a clown die of brook so I have six weeks to wait before adding more livestock.

In the meantime I’m just wondering what I should add to my setup to make it better. I do eventually plan on upgrading my tank and keeping this as my QT, but that’s way off in the future. In the meantime I’m not sure if I am going to set up a 10gallon QT or just buy quarantined fish from a place like Dr Reefs.

The heater even turned all the way up won’t keep my water at temp, so that’s the first thing I’m going to upgrade.

I’d like to add a media basket I think. I’m just not sure if it has to be one made specifically for my tank, or if that’s even something that’s worth it.

I’d also consider switching from filter socks to a fleece roller just unsure if any solution for AIO tanks is even worth it.

Is a HOB skimmer worth it or beneficial?

Will likely add an ATO if topping off ever becomes tedious, it hasn’t yet, but everything is also kind of new and exciting right now and it just gives me something to do while waiting.

 

[Reef.]

Depends you can run the tank just fine the way it is, a media basket will not do any more than a bag of carbon is doing now, it being in a media basket wont make it work better.

The roller will be expensive and not any better than a filter sock, you just need to change the sock every 2-3 days for it to useful.

The HOB skimmer would be useful if you decide to keep the 15g but just keep in mind it won’t look too good unless you can hide it at the back, and again a water change would probably be as effective as the skimmer, not to mention less noisy.

My advice would be to save your money for a bigger tank, keep the nano simple, a couple of water changes a week will be as effective as a load of equipment.

The main reason for equipment is to reduce water changes as they are time consuming and expensive on big tanks, on nanos they are easy and cheap to do.