What piece of equipment has been your best investment?
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c.declivisowner
Active Member
Guessing you have a tank, you might already have ATO. But if not ATO makes life a bunch better.
The single thing that made my personal tank better would have to be my Bubble King Skimmer. I just started a new tank up and went with a cheap skimmer in my opinion and it isn't anywhere close to as good. I'm thinking of getting a Vertex Alpha for the new tank now. Besides a quality skimmer things that can never really let you down is: Better lighting, Controller, Nice Sump. As well as if you don't already have an RODI, I'm guessing and hoping you do but if not that would be by far the best. Nice lighting will always make things look better, Fish, corals etc. Controller just add's safety and non essential products, but is nice to have, but it's definitely possible to go without. A nice organized sump would also be of large benefit. I upgraded my sump after a while and made a world of difference. Changing the socks, cleaning skimmer, removing detritus and the clean look made me want to and more willing to clean consistently. If you have to move a trillion things to change your sock you probably won't do it as much. When you have to slide on off and other on most likely it happens more often. In the end its about what your tank needs. You might need a new powerhead or reactor when I need new lighting. Just pick whatever is the weakest link in your system and upgrade it.
The single thing that made my personal tank better would have to be my Bubble King Skimmer. I just started a new tank up and went with a cheap skimmer in my opinion and it isn't anywhere close to as good. I'm thinking of getting a Vertex Alpha for the new tank now. Besides a quality skimmer things that can never really let you down is: Better lighting, Controller, Nice Sump. As well as if you don't already have an RODI, I'm guessing and hoping you do but if not that would be by far the best. Nice lighting will always make things look better, Fish, corals etc. Controller just add's safety and non essential products, but is nice to have, but it's definitely possible to go without. A nice organized sump would also be of large benefit. I upgraded my sump after a while and made a world of difference. Changing the socks, cleaning skimmer, removing detritus and the clean look made me want to and more willing to clean consistently. If you have to move a trillion things to change your sock you probably won't do it as much. When you have to slide on off and other on most likely it happens more often. In the end its about what your tank needs. You might need a new powerhead or reactor when I need new lighting. Just pick whatever is the weakest link in your system and upgrade it.
OP
OP
Scribe
Active Member
I'm kind of torn now between upgrading my skimmer and adding an Apex. I have an ATO, granted just a simple float switch, but it's been working great for me for years. Seems like a lot of people sure love there Apex's. It is all about automation and less work and more enjoyment.
TJ's Reef
Valuable Member
Wow! Great question with so many possible answers as already mentioned above. Originally was going to say my Apex hands down as well but after reading all of the posts above thinking ATO by a hair over Apex followed by my SWC Doser. Going back 3+ decades in this hobby have had many 'greatest thing ever' purchases for my systems and just to get a perspective from an 'Old Salt' in rough order of key additions. Reliable submersible heaters, powerheads to replace air stones in lift tubes on under gravel filter plates, introduction of Protein skimmers, introduction of actinic lamps (T12 NO & VHO), readily available bulkhead fittings eliminating the need for J-tube/overflow boxes, affordable mostly accurate SW test kits, prop style power heads, LED lighting, commercially available ATO systems, controllers Neptune and DA, wave maker power heads and lastly my Apex Fusion. setup.
Cheers, Todd
Cheers, Todd
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gacolt
JEEP STUFF
ato is a big one aswell as a spare pump for water changes has made my life easier.switching from led to halides has made made my corals explode with growth.im hoping the next one will be my dosing pump
1. ATO (who wants to add a gallon of rodi everyday and swing salinity?)
2. Calcium rx
3. Chiller
I picked these three in order simply Because they make my life 10x easier when it comes to daily maintenance (no daily maintenance anymore!), and I simply couldn't have a reef tank without a chiller where I live.
2. Calcium rx
3. Chiller
I picked these three in order simply Because they make my life 10x easier when it comes to daily maintenance (no daily maintenance anymore!), and I simply couldn't have a reef tank without a chiller where I live.
RO/DI unit and ATO.
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