Nyos Opus G2 300 Pro-Line

After starting my very first nano tank back in 2024, I fell in love with this hobby. I have been an aquarist for three years now and have finally moved on from the freshwater hobby.. Since July, I’ve been the happy owner of the Nyos Opus G2 300 Pro-Line in gray and want to share my setup with you. The main idea behind this setup is to keep two mandarin dragonets with as many different corals as possible, while also giving a home to other fish. Have fun reading through this build thread!


June 2025 - Aquascape
Since I knew I wanted to create a perfect and personally appealing aquascape, I started building the main rockwork before I even got the tank. For this, I used myArka dry rock and Nyos cement to build the main arch along with a pillar. The idea behind this rockwork is to create a gradient from SPS to LPS and ultimately to soft corals, moving from the left to the right side of the tank. The flow pump will be mounted on the left side of the display tank.

On the left, I plan to grow montiporas, acroporas, and other SPS corals, while the space above the arch is reserved for my acros. On the pillar in front of the arch, I want to place different types of euphyllias — long-polyp varieties on the platform at the top and smaller-polyp ones, like hammers, at the base.
On the right side, I plan to add soft corals such as leather corals. Corals like GSP, discosomas, or pulsing xenia will be kept apart from the main scape on separate rocks to avoid that they spread over. For the anemone that I’m transferring from my nano tank, I’d like to place it in the back right corner — though with anemones, you can never expect them to stay put if they don’t like the spot!


15.07.2025 - Tank Arrival and Build
After waiting for two months, my tank finally arrived and I was able to start building it. When it was delivered, the packaging seemed very solid and well done — Nyos really did a great job here!

On the bottom of the 1.2 m × 0.8 m × 1.1 m, 170 kg pallet, the cabinet parts were packed, while the display tank was placed on top. The sump, along with the manuals (Nyos unfortunately included the wrong one — for the 200 Pro-Line), tubing, and accessories, were also included.

After unpacking everything, I assembled the cabinet and tubing in about 1.5 hours with the help of my grandfather. Building it was very straightforward thanks to the clear manual (which I found online on the Nyos website). The cabinet itself is sturdy and well-built, though I did notice a small scratch on the inside of the left door. Other than that, the finish is excellent, the materials feel high quality, and the fit is perfect. The sump is also very well made and provides plenty of space.

To evenly distribute the weight of nearly 500 kg, I placed the tank on a 21 mm thick wooden plate.

16.07.2025 - Eqipment for Starting
Adding the new equipment is, in my opinion, the best part of the dry build. For this tank, I’ll be using the following components:

• Flow: AquaIllumination Orbit 4
• Light: 2x AquaIllumination Hydra 32 HD
• Skimmer: Deltec 600i
• Return pump: Ecotech Vectra S2
• ATO: Red Sea ATO+
• Heater: Aqualantis 150 W heater along with the reef factory temperature control
• Dosing: Red Sea Dose 2
• Illumination of the cabinet: LED strips from a local marketplace


Since the native AI light holders are, in my opinion, very expensive and not very appealing, I decided to build my own light fixture using aluminum profiles from a Swiss manufacturer (Item24). The Hydras were then attached to the profiles with screws on the back of the LEDs.

A note of caution if you’re buying AI Hydra 32 HDs: I unfortunately received two different models with completely different threads — one with an M5 and the other with a strange, almost-M5 thread. On top of that, the driver in one of the units wasn’t inserted correctly. If your device shows a driver fault, try pressing gently between the two lenses until you feel the driver slide into place properly. So be aware of these two things!


17.07.2025 - Filling Up the Tank
Now the moment has come: I’ll fill up the tank with RODI water! For this, I’m using the ARKA myAqua 1900 RO unit. After filling both the tank and sump, I added Red Sea Salt (not Coral Pro). The salt was fully dissolved by the next day, after which I added live sand from CaribSea. For this tank I want to keep the SG at 1.025.
Two days later, I began the cycling process by dosing Microbe-Lift Special Blend to start colonizing the dry rock with beneficial bacteria.

21.07.2025 - Add Established Biomedia
Since I added some biomedia to my old tank back in February 2025, I transferred the populated media from my nano tank to this new build to help establish beneficial bacterial growth. I also monitored the water from time to time to keep track of progress. After a few days I started noticing nitrates :-) .


26.07.2025 - Soft Corals
After waiting a few days, I transferred my soft corals from the old build to the new tank. The corals included Rhodactis corals and a finger leather coral. After a little over a week, I have to say that the tank is completely silent — especially the skimmer! I was surprised that this skimmer is quieter than the Tunze 9001 DC skimmer I had in my previous build. Already now I can recommend the Deltec 600i skimmer.

I also added my 20 banded trochus snails (10 of which are self-bred) and the two hermit crabs to the new tank.


01.08.2025 - LPS Corals
After the disk anemones, I added some LPS corals to the new tank since the anemones were doing well. The corals I transferred included hammer euphyllia, chalice, duncan, and acanthastrea. Within just a few hours, all the corals had opened and were showing their polyps. My goniopora was left behind in the old tank to wait for the final transfer step, when I plan to move all SPS corals along with my two clownfish to the new tank.

02.08.2025 - First Fish
As I wanted to add livestock gradually, I introduced two Banggai cardinals after quarantining them for two weeks.


09.08.2025 - Transfer of the Rest
The day finally came to empty my nano tank and transfer my two clownfish, their anemone, SPS montiporas, acroporas, and my Leptoseris to the new tank. At first, the anemone didn’t want to attach to any rock, but after two days it settled on the main reef on the sandbed. A few days ago, diatoms started to appear, but they haven’t bothered me. My total silicate concentration started at 10 ppm and has slowly but steadily dropped to 1 ppm (current value).

Both clownfish are doing very well and have reaccepted the anemone as their host.

I also added some live rock from the old tank to the sump to further help establish microfauna in the new tank.

23.08.2025 - Update
After carefully monitoring all the fish and corals, and keeping my old tank as an emergency backup, I realized that everything is doing great. The fish are eating well, and the corals are growing — I didn’t expect the acropora to show signs of growth so soon! I added a few more corals to the tank, including pumping xenia, Stylophora ‘Milka,’ and Alveopora. As you can see, the anemone chose to climb toward the light and anchor itself firmly to an overhang, just like it did in the old tank.

 

[smitten with ocean life]

well done!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

After starting my very first nano tank back in 2024, I fell in love with this hobby. I have been an aquarist for three years now and have finally moved on from the freshwater hobby.. Since July, I’ve been the happy owner of the Nyos Opus G2 300 Pro-Line in gray and want to share my setup with you. The main idea behind this setup is to keep two mandarin dragonets with as many different corals as possible, while also giving a home to other fish. Have fun reading through this build thread!


June 2025 - Aquascape
Since I knew I wanted to create a perfect and personally appealing aquascape, I started building the main rockwork before I even got the tank. For this, I used myArka dry rock and Nyos cement to build the main arch along with a pillar. The idea behind this rockwork is to create a gradient from SPS to LPS and ultimately to soft corals, moving from the left to the right side of the tank. The flow pump will be mounted on the left side of the display tank.

On the left, I plan to grow montiporas, acroporas, and other SPS corals, while the space above the arch is reserved for my acros. On the pillar in front of the arch, I want to place different types of euphyllias — long-polyp varieties on the platform at the top and smaller-polyp ones, like hammers, at the base.
On the right side, I plan to add soft corals such as leather corals. Corals like GSP, discosomas, or pulsing xenia will be kept apart from the main scape on separate rocks to avoid that they spread over. For the anemone that I’m transferring from my nano tank, I’d like to place it in the back right corner — though with anemones, you can never expect them to stay put if they don’t like the spot!


15.07.2025 - Tank Arrival and Build
After waiting for two months, my tank finally arrived and I was able to start building it. When it was delivered, the packaging seemed very solid and well done — Nyos really did a great job here!

On the bottom of the 1.2 m × 0.8 m × 1.1 m, 170 kg pallet, the cabinet parts were packed, while the display tank was placed on top. The sump, along with the manuals (Nyos unfortunately included the wrong one — for the 200 Pro-Line), tubing, and accessories, were also included.

After unpacking everything, I assembled the cabinet and tubing in about 1.5 hours with the help of my grandfather. Building it was very straightforward thanks to the clear manual (which I found online on the Nyos website). The cabinet itself is sturdy and well-built, though I did notice a small scratch on the inside of the left door. Other than that, the finish is excellent, the materials feel high quality, and the fit is perfect. The sump is also very well made and provides plenty of space.

To evenly distribute the weight of nearly 500 kg, I placed the tank on a 21 mm thick wooden plate.

16.07.2025 - Eqipment for Starting
Adding the new equipment is, in my opinion, the best part of the dry build. For this tank, I’ll be using the following components:

• Flow: AquaIllumination Orbit 4
• Light: 2x AquaIllumination Hydra 32 HD
• Skimmer: Deltec 600i
• Return pump: Ecotech Vectra S2
• ATO: Red Sea ATO+
• Heater: Aqualantis 150 W heater along with the reef factory temperature control
• Dosing: Red Sea Dose 2
• Illumination of the cabinet: LED strips from a local marketplace


Since the native AI light holders are, in my opinion, very expensive and not very appealing, I decided to build my own light fixture using aluminum profiles from a Swiss manufacturer (Item24). The Hydras were then attached to the profiles with screws on the back of the LEDs.

A note of caution if you’re buying AI Hydra 32 HDs: I unfortunately received two different models with completely different threads — one with an M5 and the other with a strange, almost-M5 thread. On top of that, the driver in one of the units wasn’t inserted correctly. If your device shows a driver fault, try pressing gently between the two lenses until you feel the driver slide into place properly. So be aware of these two things!


17.07.2025 - Filling Up the Tank
Now the moment has come: I’ll fill up the tank with RODI water! For this, I’m using the ARKA myAqua 1900 RO unit. After filling both the tank and sump, I added Red Sea Salt (not Coral Pro). The salt was fully dissolved by the next day, after which I added live sand from CaribSea. For this tank I want to keep the SG at 1.025.
Two days later, I began the cycling process by dosing Microbe-Lift Special Blend to start colonizing the dry rock with beneficial bacteria.

21.07.2025 - Add Established Biomedia
Since I added some biomedia to my old tank back in February 2025, I transferred the populated media from my nano tank to this new build to help establish beneficial bacterial growth. I also monitored the water from time to time to keep track of progress. After a few days I started noticing nitrates :-) .


26.07.2025 - Soft Corals
After waiting a few days, I transferred my soft corals from the old build to the new tank. The corals included Rhodactis corals and a finger leather coral. After a little over a week, I have to say that the tank is completely silent — especially the skimmer! I was surprised that this skimmer is quieter than the Tunze 9001 DC skimmer I had in my previous build. Already now I can recommend the Deltec 600i skimmer.

I also added my 20 banded trochus snails (10 of which are self-bred) and the two hermit crabs to the new tank.


01.08.2025 - LPS Corals
After the disk anemones, I added some LPS corals to the new tank since the anemones were doing well. The corals I transferred included hammer euphyllia, chalice, duncan, and acanthastrea. Within just a few hours, all the corals had opened and were showing their polyps. My goniopora was left behind in the old tank to wait for the final transfer step, when I plan to move all SPS corals along with my two clownfish to the new tank.

02.08.2025 - First Fish
As I wanted to add livestock gradually, I introduced two Banggai cardinals after quarantining them for two weeks.


09.08.2025 - Transfer of the Rest
The day finally came to empty my nano tank and transfer my two clownfish, their anemone, SPS montiporas, acroporas, and my Leptoseris to the new tank. At first, the anemone didn’t want to attach to any rock, but after two days it settled on the main reef on the sandbed. A few days ago, diatoms started to appear, but they haven’t bothered me. My total silicate concentration started at 10 ppm and has slowly but steadily dropped to 1 ppm (current value).

Both clownfish are doing very well and have reaccepted the anemone as their host.

I also added some live rock from the old tank to the sump to further help establish microfauna in the new tank.

23.08.2025 - Update
After carefully monitoring all the fish and corals, and keeping my old tank as an emergency backup, I realized that everything is doing great. The fish are eating well, and the corals are growing — I didn’t expect the acropora to show signs of growth so soon! I added a few more corals to the tank, including pumping xenia, Stylophora ‘Milka,’ and Alveopora. As you can see, the anemone chose to climb toward the light and anchor itself firmly to an overhang, just like it did in the old tank.

Love the aquascape in your tank!

 

[castellanamattia]

After starting my very first nano tank back in 2024, I fell in love with this hobby. I have been an aquarist for three years now and have finally moved on from the freshwater hobby.. Since July, I’ve been the happy owner of the Nyos Opus G2 300 Pro-Line in gray and want to share my setup with you. The main idea behind this setup is to keep two mandarin dragonets with as many different corals as possible, while also giving a home to other fish. Have fun reading through this build thread!


June 2025 - Aquascape
Since I knew I wanted to create a perfect and personally appealing aquascape, I started building the main rockwork before I even got the tank. For this, I used myArka dry rock and Nyos cement to build the main arch along with a pillar. The idea behind this rockwork is to create a gradient from SPS to LPS and ultimately to soft corals, moving from the left to the right side of the tank. The flow pump will be mounted on the left side of the display tank.

On the left, I plan to grow montiporas, acroporas, and other SPS corals, while the space above the arch is reserved for my acros. On the pillar in front of the arch, I want to place different types of euphyllias — long-polyp varieties on the platform at the top and smaller-polyp ones, like hammers, at the base.
On the right side, I plan to add soft corals such as leather corals. Corals like GSP, discosomas, or pulsing xenia will be kept apart from the main scape on separate rocks to avoid that they spread over. For the anemone that I’m transferring from my nano tank, I’d like to place it in the back right corner — though with anemones, you can never expect them to stay put if they don’t like the spot!


15.07.2025 - Tank Arrival and Build
After waiting for two months, my tank finally arrived and I was able to start building it. When it was delivered, the packaging seemed very solid and well done — Nyos really did a great job here!

On the bottom of the 1.2 m × 0.8 m × 1.1 m, 170 kg pallet, the cabinet parts were packed, while the display tank was placed on top. The sump, along with the manuals (Nyos unfortunately included the wrong one — for the 200 Pro-Line), tubing, and accessories, were also included.

After unpacking everything, I assembled the cabinet and tubing in about 1.5 hours with the help of my grandfather. Building it was very straightforward thanks to the clear manual (which I found online on the Nyos website). The cabinet itself is sturdy and well-built, though I did notice a small scratch on the inside of the left door. Other than that, the finish is excellent, the materials feel high quality, and the fit is perfect. The sump is also very well made and provides plenty of space.

To evenly distribute the weight of nearly 500 kg, I placed the tank on a 21 mm thick wooden plate.

16.07.2025 - Eqipment for Starting
Adding the new equipment is, in my opinion, the best part of the dry build. For this tank, I’ll be using the following components:

• Flow: AquaIllumination Orbit 4
• Light: 2x AquaIllumination Hydra 32 HD
• Skimmer: Deltec 600i
• Return pump: Ecotech Vectra S2
• ATO: Red Sea ATO+
• Heater: Aqualantis 150 W heater along with the reef factory temperature control
• Dosing: Red Sea Dose 2
• Illumination of the cabinet: LED strips from a local marketplace


Since the native AI light holders are, in my opinion, very expensive and not very appealing, I decided to build my own light fixture using aluminum profiles from a Swiss manufacturer (Item24). The Hydras were then attached to the profiles with screws on the back of the LEDs.

A note of caution if you’re buying AI Hydra 32 HDs: I unfortunately received two different models with completely different threads — one with an M5 and the other with a strange, almost-M5 thread. On top of that, the driver in one of the units wasn’t inserted correctly. If your device shows a driver fault, try pressing gently between the two lenses until you feel the driver slide into place properly. So be aware of these two things!


17.07.2025 - Filling Up the Tank
Now the moment has come: I’ll fill up the tank with RODI water! For this, I’m using the ARKA myAqua 1900 RO unit. After filling both the tank and sump, I added Red Sea Salt (not Coral Pro). The salt was fully dissolved by the next day, after which I added live sand from CaribSea. For this tank I want to keep the SG at 1.025.
Two days later, I began the cycling process by dosing Microbe-Lift Special Blend to start colonizing the dry rock with beneficial bacteria.

21.07.2025 - Add Established Biomedia
Since I added some biomedia to my old tank back in February 2025, I transferred the populated media from my nano tank to this new build to help establish beneficial bacterial growth. I also monitored the water from time to time to keep track of progress. After a few days I started noticing nitrates :-) .


26.07.2025 - Soft Corals
After waiting a few days, I transferred my soft corals from the old build to the new tank. The corals included Rhodactis corals and a finger leather coral. After a little over a week, I have to say that the tank is completely silent — especially the skimmer! I was surprised that this skimmer is quieter than the Tunze 9001 DC skimmer I had in my previous build. Already now I can recommend the Deltec 600i skimmer.

I also added my 20 banded trochus snails (10 of which are self-bred) and the two hermit crabs to the new tank.


01.08.2025 - LPS Corals
After the disk anemones, I added some LPS corals to the new tank since the anemones were doing well. The corals I transferred included hammer euphyllia, chalice, duncan, and acanthastrea. Within just a few hours, all the corals had opened and were showing their polyps. My goniopora was left behind in the old tank to wait for the final transfer step, when I plan to move all SPS corals along with my two clownfish to the new tank.

02.08.2025 - First Fish
As I wanted to add livestock gradually, I introduced two Banggai cardinals after quarantining them for two weeks.


09.08.2025 - Transfer of the Rest
The day finally came to empty my nano tank and transfer my two clownfish, their anemone, SPS montiporas, acroporas, and my Leptoseris to the new tank. At first, the anemone didn’t want to attach to any rock, but after two days it settled on the main reef on the sandbed. A few days ago, diatoms started to appear, but they haven’t bothered me. My total silicate concentration started at 10 ppm and has slowly but steadily dropped to 1 ppm (current value).

Both clownfish are doing very well and have reaccepted the anemone as their host.

I also added some live rock from the old tank to the sump to further help establish microfauna in the new tank.

23.08.2025 - Update
After carefully monitoring all the fish and corals, and keeping my old tank as an emergency backup, I realized that everything is doing great. The fish are eating well, and the corals are growing — I didn’t expect the acropora to show signs of growth so soon! I added a few more corals to the tank, including pumping xenia, Stylophora ‘Milka,’ and Alveopora. As you can see, the anemone chose to climb toward the light and anchor itself firmly to an overhang, just like it did in the old tank.

Love the aquascape in your tank!

Thank you!

 

[castellanamattia]

05.09.2025 - New Corals

A new week has started, and with it, a nightmare: my anemone started wandering around the tank and stung other corals. Unfortunately, my red Montipora is visibly suffering, so I had to act fast.
I bought a terracotta pot and moved the anemone away from the main aquascape to prevent other corals from being stung. So far, the anemone has anchored itself to the pot, and the clowns seem to love their new spot. Let's hope for the best!

Regarding my two Banggai cardinalfish: they started to chase each other, so I had to remove one from the display tank.

As always: no new corals means I'm not happy XD. I found an online offer from someone selling his entire tank and was able to get a few frags and a big Acropora frag from him for a few Swiss francs. Hope you like the new addition! Do you have ideas / suggestions on where to place them?

By the way: do you know the identity of the Acropora sitting above the arch? What about the tiny Euphyllia?

 

[castellanamattia]

10.03.2026 - 7 Months and 20 Days After


Wow, it's been quite a while since I last posted, and I'm bursting to share all the exciting updates about my reef tank! After more than 5 months, so much has changed! I can hardly believe it — I've added a whole bunch of new corals! My tank is now home to a stunning green Seriatopora hystrix (difficult to find in Switzerland), a vibrant Myjagi, and a beautiful toadstool coral with a diameter of more than 20 cmwhen fully opened, just to name a few. Can you believe it? I've counted over 40 different corals thriving in my tank right now!
My Montipora digitata are currently suffering, and I don't know why. Acros are growing, so I am puzzled... You may have had similar experiences with this type of coral. Honestly, an acro is easier to carry than the digitata.

And let's talk about inhabitants! I've welcomed a baby blue chromis (he was 3 cm when I got him), a firefish, a yellow watchman goby, and the star of the show — the phenomenal mandarin dragonet (which is, btw, a baby too)! Seriously, this fish has captured my heart!
I've added a Lysmata amboinensis and a Lysmata debelius, although I almost never see the debelius one. Stunning invertebrate, but would not buy him again as it is always hiding - completely the opposite of what the cleaner shrimp is doing!
Two Strombus luhuanus complete my crew.

On the tech side of things, I've made some upgrades too: I've added the ReefDose4 from Red Sea, a Nyos Torq G2 2l, and a refugium featuring the Tunze EcoChic 8831. Plus, the Fauna Marin Skimbreeze reactor.

Now, about my parameters... I'm currently in a little battle with my KH levels since the acros and seriatoporas are growing like crazy! But overall, my phosphate, calcium, and magnesium are steady. Here's the scoop on my latest parameters:
- Specific gravity: 1.026
- dKH: 7.0
- Phosphate: 0.055 ppm
- Calcium: 425 ppm
- Magnesium: 1500 ppm (I know, it's a bit high due to a dosing miscalculation, but the corals and inhabitants seem totally unbothered!)
- Temperature: Between 24.5 and 25.0 °C
- Silicate: 0.013 ppm

I'm just so thrilled with how everything is coming together in my tank! I can't wait to see how it evolves even further! What do you think: Could I add a Ctenochaetus flavicauda as my last fish to the tank?

​

 

[castellanamattia]

03.05.2026 - 9 Months and 15 Days After


Wow, it’s hard to believe that three-quarters of a year have flown by! The tank, along with its vibrant inhabitants, is absolutely thriving, and I couldn't be more excited to share the progress!

First up, let’s talk corals! Since my last update, the Acropora species, especially the Seriatopora, have really taken off and grown tremendously! Just take a look at the images; it's a remarkable transformation! To my delight, I’ve added three more stunning corals to my collection: a colorful Acropora confetti, a captivating green torch, and a yet-to-be-identified LPS coral that resembles a Chalice. I can't wait to see how these new additions will flourish in my tank!

Not only are my corals flourishing, but the water parameters have also reached a level of stability that I'm thrilled about, especially after raising the alkalinity to 7.5 dKH. Here are the current stats:
- Phosphate: 0.031 ppm
- Nitrate: 6.3 ppm
- Alk: 128 ppm / 7.71 dKH
- Calcium: 425 ppm
- Magnesium: 1350 ppm
- pH: 8.0
- Salinity: 1.026
- Silica: 0.05 ppm
- Temperature: 24.9 °C

What’s even more exciting is that the colors of some corals seem to be intensifying! The calices on the lower end and the Acropora enzman are really popping, while others, particularly some of the Acros, have begun to fade. However, I’m absolutely loving how the Acropora Miyagi is almost entirely turning a magnificent shade of purple—it's stunning!

Now, onto my fish! They are all doing wonderfully! I’m especially thrilled to share that my little Chromis is growing bigger every day, and they’re full of energy! I’ve decided to add one last fish to my tank—this week, I’ll be welcoming a Scopas tang. I plan to keep it until it outgrows my tank, but thankfully, a good friend of mine is ready to adopt it when that time comes. My local fish store has one that grew 12 cm in about 7 years, so I can’t wait to see how mine develops over the next year!

As for my mandarin dragonet, it’s doing well, but I’ve noticed it isn’t gaining weight as quickly as I would like. Luckily, there are plenty of copepods in both the sump and the display at night, so I’m hopeful that it will start to fatten up soon.

I’ll definitely keep you all updated on the journey—there’s so much more to come! Exciting times ahead!

If you know the ID of this coral, please tell me more about it:

 

[h4x]

Thanks for the detailed report, and congrats on your success with the Nyos setup. It really looks absolutely stunning.

I’m currently planning to get a Nyos OPUS G2 300 Pro Line as well and I’m trying to finalize the equipment selection. It would actually be my first saltwater aquarium.
Looking back, would you change anything about your technical equipment choices? Are you still happy with the Hydra lights?
Right now I’m leaning towards either 2x EcoTech Marine Radion XR15 G6 Pro or the Blue version for the lighting.

 

[castellanamattia]

Hi h4x,

I'm really glad you like my tank and the journey that got me to where I am today.

First, if I had to go back, I would choose the same tank again – the build quality is superb. Honestly, there's not really anything I dislike about the tank itself. If I had to nitpick, maybe the sump could have a bit more area, but that's absolutely not an issue. As it is, I can fit a skimmer, refugium, return pump, a rack with biomedia, and a media reactor. The reason I chose the specific equipment brands is that they'll allow me to control everything with a Neptune Apex in the future (which I plan to set up soon).
Maybe the reservoir is small (but lasts easily for 7 days). I don't consider this a problem since I am going to hook up a frag tank with an additional cabinet with more space and a bigger reservoir in the future.

About the equipment: I'm very happy with my gear from Ecotech, AI, and RedSea (to name the main brands). After 9 months, I think it's time to write a proper review.

• AI Hydra 32 HD: Excellent lights – powerful enough to grow acros and other light-demanding corals without any problem. The only issue I had was that I received two different models, and the attachment threads didn't match. One had an M5 thread, the other had some American thread I can't recall. Otherwise, control via Mobius and the AI app works perfectly. I'm currently running the Saxby template at 60% with a 35 cm mounting height, and the acros are growing fine.
• Ecotech Vectra S2: Very silent and low maintenance. I've never cleaned the pump itself – only the tube that connects to the tank's return pipe.
• Deltec 600i skimmer: Excellent German craftsmanship. Extremely low noise, high efficiency, and it pulls out a brown paste just as I want it. You can barely hear it running. After 9 months, I've cleaned it only once, and disassembly/assembly was very easy.
• Skim Breeze Reactor (Fauna Marin): Nice unit, does its job. Though I don't really need it, since I always keep my window open.
• Nyos Torq G2: I use this reactor for carbon, and it works very well. My only dislike: once you close the lids, they're very hard to reopen for cleaning. Otherwise, the pump is fairly quiet, but I do turn the reactor off at night.
• Ecochic refugium LED: Does its job, and I like that it's submersible. However, I don't like that it has two cables that need to be connected together – the connector is prone to corrosion.
• 150W EASYKLIM+ heater (Aqualantis): Does its job.
• Reef Factory Thermo Control: Very nice piece of equipment that works well. I dislike the price (very high in my opinion), but the ability to see the temperature from anywhere in the world via the internet is perfect.
• RedSea ATO: Perfect piece of equipment.
• RedSea ReefDose 2 and 4: Work perfectly and are rather quiet. Precise to 0.2 ml in my experience – more precision isn't needed in my opinion, since solutions can always be diluted.
• AI Orbit 4: Works well, but in my opinion, it's too strong for my tank / this tank size. I might consider the Orbit 2 instead, but since I can run the Orbit 4 at a low percentage (25% max), it's definitely quieter than running an Orbit 2 at a higher percentage.

As you can see below, I've added some 3D-printed upgrades to hold equipment.
For my light setup (2x AI Hydra 32 HD), I added shades to the aluminium fixture – custom-made and ordered from item24.ch. The idea is to reduce light pollution where it's not needed.
Inside the cabinet, I've printed parts from OpenGrid to organize my equipment even more. As you may have noticed, I'm an organization freak.

As always – feel free to reach out if you have any questions about my equipment or tank, or if you have any input. It's more than welcome!

Some new pics:

 

[castellanamattia]

Thanks for the detailed report, and congrats on your success with the Nyos setup. It really looks absolutely stunning.

I’m currently planning to get a Nyos OPUS G2 300 Pro Line as well and I’m trying to finalize the equipment selection. It would actually be my first saltwater aquarium.
Looking back, would you change anything about your technical equipment choices? Are you still happy with the Hydra lights?
Right now I’m leaning towards either 2x EcoTech Marine Radion XR15 G6 Pro or the Blue version for the lighting.

I think that the Ecotech Marine Radion XR15 G6 would do a great job. I was also considering them but chose to continue using AI lights, as I had the Prime 16 HD from AI on my nano back in 2024 and made very nice experiences with it.

 

[h4x]

Pure perfection — everything looks incredibly clean and organized. I’d honestly love to see more pictures of the sump/technical section as well.

Are you planning to add UV and/or a fleece roller at some point? Unfortunately I don’t really have a local shop nearby either — the closest decent one is around 3 hours away from me. So I’m wondering if you work with a local dealer or mostly order everything online

How much time do you think you invest on average daily or weekly into maintenance and general care?

I’d probably set mine up very similar to yours if the costs weren’t so insane… by the time you reach 6–7k, you still don’t even have anything swimming in it yet
You really have to be swiss for this hobby ;)

greetings from austria

 

[castellanamattia]

Pure perfection — everything looks incredibly clean and organized. I’d honestly love to see more pictures of the sump/technical section as well.

Are you planning to add UV and/or a fleece roller at some point? Unfortunately I don’t really have a local shop nearby either — the closest decent one is around 3 hours away from me. So I’m wondering if you work with a local dealer or mostly order everything online

How much time do you think you invest on average daily or weekly into maintenance and general care?

I’d probably set mine up very similar to yours if the costs weren’t so insane… by the time you reach 6–7k, you still don’t even have anything swimming in it yet
You really have to be swiss for this hobby ;)

greetings from austria

Thank you for the very much appreciated feedback! I'll keep the thread up to date and will post more about my sump later.

Personally, I don't think a UV sterilizer is needed, as I've never had to use one. The water stays clear on its own because the biological filtration is working well (many sponges in the sump). Aside from my skimmer, the only filtration I run are synthetic filter wool from HOBBY, a filter sock from RedSea (nylon), and carbon in my Nyos Torq G2.
Regarding the fleece roller: I've thought about it, but since my current setup with filter wool + filter sock works perfectly, I don't want to buy another RedSea device (I'm planning to have as much equipment as possible that can be controlled via Mobius or Neptune, as I'm planning to get an Apex 3). Still, if I were to get one, it would be the RedSea ReefMat 500.

As for the costs – yes, but as a student, I managed to finance it. I have to admit that I paid full price for most of the equipment, and it was new, except for the two dosers, which I got second-hand for half the original price. Regarding corals, I was lucky to get most of them from people leaving the hobby for very few CHF.

So: you don't have to be Swiss, but you have to be patient and look out for good opportunities

@h4x: Are you already planning to get one, or just gathering inspiration?