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- Jan 7, 2019
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So I've had my Eheim 9 gallon aquarium set up as a reef for about 7-8 months, in terms of equipment I've had: the standard filter with a strip of activated carbon, a corallia powerhead (the kind you see on pretty much every nano aquarium), and an Eheim heater.
I have nothing in terms of dosing or ATO, so my chemistry probably isn't the most stable, and I have next to nothing in terms of testing kits, I dose haphazardly with kents marine essential elements and vitamins about every other week and my coral seem fine (a collection of zoas, lps, and sps, as well as an anemone and a gorgonian)
But with my birthday approaching in august and with a growing urge to improve upon my skills as a reefer I decided that I'm going to get some better equipment for my birthday, but the question is what?
What I did was go on BRS and look around for a fair chunk of time, I even called them and had a great talk with someone for about 20 minutes, and end the end I found quite a few pieces that I'm now looking into in more depth, these are as follows:
Reef Octopus classic 90 HOB skimmer
Reef Octopus octo pulse 2 wave pump
Xp Aqua duetto dual-sensor ATO system
CPR Aquatics small aquafuge 2 HOB refugium with LED lighting
Hanna Instruments professional reef test kit
All in all this is nearly 1 grand, which is a terrifying thing to think off, so my question to you all is this: Would it be worth it in the long run to get all of this equipment? I know getting a skimmer and an ATO are practically necessary for a thriving reef tank, but would it be overkill for a tank as small as mine?
and with a refugium and skimmer, how exactly do they benefit the tank? I know they both kinda serve as filtration but I'm having a hard time seeing the benefits that they hold over the classic HOB filters.
and would it be easier to get all of these things online? since I did find all of them on BRS, or would it be better to try and find them in my LFS? Which one would be more cost effective?
And finally, would all of this benefit the health of my corals? or would the difference be negligible?
Any and all feedback is welcome, I really need some advice from fellow reefers.
I have nothing in terms of dosing or ATO, so my chemistry probably isn't the most stable, and I have next to nothing in terms of testing kits, I dose haphazardly with kents marine essential elements and vitamins about every other week and my coral seem fine (a collection of zoas, lps, and sps, as well as an anemone and a gorgonian)
But with my birthday approaching in august and with a growing urge to improve upon my skills as a reefer I decided that I'm going to get some better equipment for my birthday, but the question is what?
What I did was go on BRS and look around for a fair chunk of time, I even called them and had a great talk with someone for about 20 minutes, and end the end I found quite a few pieces that I'm now looking into in more depth, these are as follows:
Reef Octopus classic 90 HOB skimmer
Reef Octopus octo pulse 2 wave pump
Xp Aqua duetto dual-sensor ATO system
CPR Aquatics small aquafuge 2 HOB refugium with LED lighting
Hanna Instruments professional reef test kit
All in all this is nearly 1 grand, which is a terrifying thing to think off, so my question to you all is this: Would it be worth it in the long run to get all of this equipment? I know getting a skimmer and an ATO are practically necessary for a thriving reef tank, but would it be overkill for a tank as small as mine?
and with a refugium and skimmer, how exactly do they benefit the tank? I know they both kinda serve as filtration but I'm having a hard time seeing the benefits that they hold over the classic HOB filters.
and would it be easier to get all of these things online? since I did find all of them on BRS, or would it be better to try and find them in my LFS? Which one would be more cost effective?
And finally, would all of this benefit the health of my corals? or would the difference be negligible?
Any and all feedback is welcome, I really need some advice from fellow reefers.