Aleelupton
Community Member
Hi everyone!
I've been diving into the the world of reef keeping and need some advice for my first aquarium. My husband and I have been in the freshwater hobby professionally for 10+ years and have had one saltwater tank that housed sexy shrimp only, but we are ready to have a reef aquarium at home for our enjoyment. In this tank we plan to keep fish, inverts, and corals. The two tanks we are between are the Waterbox AIO 65.4 PLUS or the Red Sea Reefer Max 350 G2+. Researching and understanding all the equipment has been daunting so I like the idea of a setup that comes with the essential equipment included. The Waterbox tanks are beautiful and the AIO design is really nice to look at. The included equipment seems to be really nice as well. Both the pro and the con to this tank is that it does not have a sump. This makes it easier for a beginner to setup/understand, but it also limits the equipment I can add to it such as a refugium or roller mat. I could always add a HOB refugium, but I don't know if as I get further in the hobby I would eventually upgrade to a sump anyway. The Red Sea tank also seems to have really nice equipment and sump included. The pros to this tank are the fact that all the equipment is compatible and I can use an app to control basically all aspects of the tank. I have read about the leaks in first generation Red Sea models and have not seen any information as to if this is still a concern with current models available. Keeping in mind the included equipment and size/dimensions of these tanks, which option would be best as a beginner friendly setup, but also one that will work long term? Equipment we would like to add would include a Sicce UV C Clarifier, Dosing pump, Auto Water Change, and refugium. We would like to keep some or all of the fish on this list: Fisher's Angelfish, Black Cap Basslet, Lightening Maroon Clownfish, Blue Sapphire Damselfish, Pink Smith Damselfish, Tracey's Damselfish, Purple Dottyback, Springeri Dottyback, Whitespotted Pygmy Filefish, Yasha Hase Goby and Pistol shrimp, Bristletooth Tomini Tang, Yellow Banded Possum Wrasse, and two Marble Lyretail Mollys as well as a cleanup crew and coral. Are these tanks large enough for this potential stocking? Is the included equipment efficient for a long term successful reef tank? Which tank would you choose and what equipment would you swap out or add to these setups? Any and all advice/suggestions are so appreciated! Also, if you have a completely different tank option for us to look at we are open to that too!
I've been diving into the the world of reef keeping and need some advice for my first aquarium. My husband and I have been in the freshwater hobby professionally for 10+ years and have had one saltwater tank that housed sexy shrimp only, but we are ready to have a reef aquarium at home for our enjoyment. In this tank we plan to keep fish, inverts, and corals. The two tanks we are between are the Waterbox AIO 65.4 PLUS or the Red Sea Reefer Max 350 G2+. Researching and understanding all the equipment has been daunting so I like the idea of a setup that comes with the essential equipment included. The Waterbox tanks are beautiful and the AIO design is really nice to look at. The included equipment seems to be really nice as well. Both the pro and the con to this tank is that it does not have a sump. This makes it easier for a beginner to setup/understand, but it also limits the equipment I can add to it such as a refugium or roller mat. I could always add a HOB refugium, but I don't know if as I get further in the hobby I would eventually upgrade to a sump anyway. The Red Sea tank also seems to have really nice equipment and sump included. The pros to this tank are the fact that all the equipment is compatible and I can use an app to control basically all aspects of the tank. I have read about the leaks in first generation Red Sea models and have not seen any information as to if this is still a concern with current models available. Keeping in mind the included equipment and size/dimensions of these tanks, which option would be best as a beginner friendly setup, but also one that will work long term? Equipment we would like to add would include a Sicce UV C Clarifier, Dosing pump, Auto Water Change, and refugium. We would like to keep some or all of the fish on this list: Fisher's Angelfish, Black Cap Basslet, Lightening Maroon Clownfish, Blue Sapphire Damselfish, Pink Smith Damselfish, Tracey's Damselfish, Purple Dottyback, Springeri Dottyback, Whitespotted Pygmy Filefish, Yasha Hase Goby and Pistol shrimp, Bristletooth Tomini Tang, Yellow Banded Possum Wrasse, and two Marble Lyretail Mollys as well as a cleanup crew and coral. Are these tanks large enough for this potential stocking? Is the included equipment efficient for a long term successful reef tank? Which tank would you choose and what equipment would you swap out or add to these setups? Any and all advice/suggestions are so appreciated! Also, if you have a completely different tank option for us to look at we are open to that too!
