New in San Diego

[cgripp256]

I’ve had a few 10 gallon freshwater tanks in my life and always wanted a reef tank. Now that I’m almost 50 years old I’m finally going to pull the trigger.
I’m a voracious reader and researcher whenever I start a new hobby. The problem I have is making a decision about which way to go.

I have an initial budget of about $1000 and am contemplating a 32gal bio cube vs a standard 40 breeder. I know I’ll eventually upgrade but with my lack of experience if things go bad and I lose the whole tank I couldn’t afford it to be in the thousands not to mention the cost of something like a Red Sea or JBJ is out of my reach currently.

I like the bio cube for a few reasons. We have dogs and cats and I like the security of a lid. I prefer the cube look vs a traditionally longer than wide aquarium.

I know the upgrade paths are limited with the bio cube vs a standard tank but I don’t think that’s a serious concern for me. If I got to the point where I wanted to upgrade I’d probably just buy a whole new system anyway and then keep the existing one.

Anyway, I look forward to getting going soon and picking over the thousands of posts here!

 

[Peace River]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!!!

 

[DE FISH]

Welcome to the site buddy ;) I come from a fw background I studied and read books on reef keeping for around a year before I started my salt water tank.

 

[Reeferjunkie]

Welcome to r2r

 

[SeaworthyAquatics]

I certainly prefer the 40B over the all in ones like Biocubes since you have more options down the road. Either way it's a good place to start and welcome to R2R!

 

[tharbin]

Welcome to R2R! I think you will be very happy with a bio-cube. The 40 breeder is actually my favorite size tank but they can be a challenge to make look really nice unless you drill it or add an AIO chamber. HOB setups work well but are rarely 'living-room-worthy'.

 

[rmorris_14]

HEY! I have a biocube and I LOVE IT !

Except it is limited when it comes to being able to customize, but it sounds like you have already made peace with that!
I think it depends on whether or not you plan on upgrading your lighting before you upgrade the tank. There aren't that many options for upgrading the biocube lighting AND keeping the lid. Ive only come across STEVEs LED as an option to upgrade while keeping the stock lid. Some people love them, some people haven't had great experience from my research.

 

[Sean Clark]

Welcome. Any tank is always better than no tank IMO.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Welcome pull the trigger.

 

[PeterC99]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[Fred2482]

Welcome! If you are not drilling the 40 for a sump I would prefer biocube.

 

[jsker]

Welcome to R2R!! :)

Just a suggestion, but you can either have a cover made for your tank. Another option is to DIY a cover out of lighting defuser that I sold at the big box home improvement stores

 

[Kennya]

Welcome to R2R

 

[bnord]

Welcome to the club San Diego.. an should like you are off to a great start.

I have lids on all the tanks, and still occasionally have a jumper, which takes a little piece of your soul
On my 15 peninsula Water Box a had a glass lid cut out for it
Saves immensely on the ATO issues
Never did a PAR reading with and without the glass, and have concerns about spectrum more than PAR, but out is growing softies and LPS just fine

 

[FiddlersReef]

Welcome to R2R!

Definitely get a cover of some sort. Even expensive ones become cheap after losing a few fish to the floor. :)

 

[Projects with Sam]

 

[Schraufabagel]

 

[KrisReef]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Oceanside here!

 

[blaxsun]

 

[Just John]

Glad you're here!