What equipment upgrade made the most impact on your tank?

[tigre44]

Orphek light eliminates mh, t5s, timers reduces energy costs just hope it works as well so far so good only had it a month

 

[Klaas]

During our time of having tanks, we will sometimes upgrade our equipment to something better. Maybe it is getting better lights, a better doser or maybe a better sump for our tank. I am wondering what equipment did you upgrade made the most impact on your tank. Curious to see what everyone says!

1. Calcium Reactor. Steady Alkalinity. No more dosing. Love my Deltec Twin 3000

2. ATO directly connected to my RODI system. No more top up water containers. Seamless.

 

[Damien Buckley]

Orphek light eliminates mh, t5s, timers reduces energy costs just hope it works as well so far so good only had it a month

Been running Orphek for 5 years. Couple of gripes here and there but easily fixed. Have a combination of Atlantik and OR3 LED bars and its superb. Looking at Amazonas 960 for my next tank.

 

[mfinn]

Over a nearly 40 year stint in the hobby, two things stick out in my mind that has made the most impact on my hobby.
Going to a ATO years ago was huge. Not having to worry about water level and not needing to test salinity every day. Now I don't test until water change day.
The second was getting away from metal halide and vho lighting going led.
Not having to constantly worry about tank temp is another big one for me.

 

[Daphne's_Reef]

Another vote for my ATO. I work 100 miles from home (yuck. Can't find anything better, and I'm a minimum wage earner. . .) and stay away from home 3 evenings a week so I don't burn up half a shift in gas getting to/from work. Since I typically lose about a gallon a week, I don't even want to know how much more stability I have not having to add half of that at once. Also, when it's clean I love how much gunk my skimmer pulls out of my tank. Yuck.

 

[fftfk]

1. Calcium Reactor. Steady Alkalinity. No more dosing. Love my Deltec Twin 3000

2. ATO directly connected to my RODI system. No more top up water containers. Seamless.

I came to say my Deltec Twin 3000 calcium reactor as well. Saturation type reactors just make running a calcium reactor that much simpler. No bubble counting, messing with adjusting the flow of CO2, etc. Just a push a button. They are expensive but are 100% worth it.

 

[Bruce Burnett]

Ato and large reservoir
Dosing pump
All for Reef
Rollermat
Ats
Reefi lights.
All for stability and reducing work
Auto feeder
I can leave for two weeks and just need to clean glass and refill ato reservoir when i return.
Most everything I have will notify me if there is a problem.

 

[Karliefish]

Adding four Quanta Pro LED light bars to supplement my four Straton ATI lights (over my 365G mixed reef tank) has been a game changer for my acros. Growth was “just ok” before adding these Meso Blue lights and now the growth is truly insane!

 

[DIYreefer]

A good ro/di machine, hands down. The rest is irrelevant if you don't have good source water to start with.

 

[gt4profession]

I love upgrades but only if they serve a true purpose.

 

[gt4profession]

During our time of having tanks, we will sometimes upgrade our equipment to something better. Maybe it is getting better lights, a better doser or maybe a better sump for our tank. I am wondering what equipment did you upgrade made the most impact on your tank. Curious to see what everyone says!

Definitely the going with the hydros system and getting the skimmer cup detection sensor. You have no idea how tired I was of checking the sump just to see the skimmer cup pouring out. This alone has paid for itself IMO.

 

[Dr.coral]

ATO and C02 scrubber

 

[LPS Bum]

During our time of having tanks, we will sometimes upgrade our equipment to something better. Maybe it is getting better lights, a better doser or maybe a better sump for our tank. I am wondering what equipment did you upgrade made the most impact on your tank. Curious to see what everyone says!

ReefMat 1200. It’s so efficient I barely need the skimmer. Can’t imagine reefing without it.

 

[gbroadbridge]

During our time of having tanks, we will sometimes upgrade our equipment to something better. Maybe it is getting better lights, a better doser or maybe a better sump for our tank. I am wondering what equipment did you upgrade made the most impact on your tank. Curious to see what everyone says!

Reef Factory KH Keeper and Dosing pumps fully automated dosing of my tank.
Coral growth took off like crazy once Alk and other elements were super stable.

 

[ScubaSkeets]

I have several:
1. Reef Mat. No more changing/cleaning filter socks!! One roll has lasted me several months and my water is crystal clear. (Although I'm not looking forward to changing the roll when that time comes)

2. My DIY "algae reducer". Going on several months now, and still no long hair algae in my display!! (Haters are gonna hate though)

3. ATO reservoir auto fill. (Just finished that yesterday) A cheap float valve inside the reservoir, 40 feet of tubing and a cheap pressure valve means no more checking the water level and no more lugging out the pump and hose to fill it up!

4. A rodi booster pump. Went from almost two days to about 6 hours to fill up a 32g brute can

 

[CreatiVe2]

Most of the upgrades listed up to this point have been solid! I agree with a lot of them due to trial and error, what works for my setup, and ease of use. With that said here are the top upgrades that changed the hobby for me.

1-Apex Neptune - My tank is 90% automated due to this beast of a controller. I have used two in the 15 years in the hobby with the most recent being the A3 Pro.

2-ATO - Tunze Osmo working for over 10 years. I Tied this into the Apex with a reservoir and solinoid valve from my rodi system. The reservoir is monitored by optical high and low sensors. I never have to worry about the top off system. Just changing the rodi resins

3-Ecotech marine - Radion Pro + MP40 - integration with WXM has given my tank the long term stability needed for fast coral growth. Essentially a set it and forget it program, with profiles set for feed modes

4-LifeReef Custom Sump - I worked with Jeff directly to design this system, I have a lifereef skimmer, three 3" filter cylinders and three 2.5" filter cylinders. Alongside I have a 20 gallon Refugium. Without this setup, my tank would not be able to flourish as well as it has.

5-ReefLife (Tropic Marin) - the powder form of this with the self-made solution has been running on my tank for just about 3 years. In that time I have made zero water changes and just dosed with the appropriate solutions. Phos and nitrate have been controlled by my lighting times in The Refugium, and the amount of feeding. The Trident reports very consistent readings and I set up an automated dose adjustment program with alerts in case the alk dips too low

 

[waterskiguy]

Yeah, the Alexa has an app for it. I can start feed cycles, turn on/off things, get tank status, etc. It's handy when feeding the fish and doing maintenance.

It's always really nice while working on your tank to be able to turn on / off pumps and skimmers, etc when you don't want to put your wet slimy hands on a device to do so!

 

[apb03]

Mixing station w/Strong pump. Makes water changes easy, everything else in my tank is secondary to easy and substantial water changes, even the ATO.

 

[KrisReef]

Melamine sponges replacing magnetic scratching wall cleaners was big.

Switching from vinegar to muriatic acid also improved the life of my pump impellers.

 

[rtparty]

Hard to quantify what upgrade was the most benefit. An ATO might be the biggest game changer of them all. Topping off a tank every day is horrible. I did it for years.

My Apex has saved my tank a couple times from my own stupidity.

The Trident has stabilized my tank more than anything else I’ve ever done.

Versas replacing DOS pumps has been amazing. So much more control and no noise.