Product suggestions

[austin95]

Hey everyone - new hobbyist here. I am in the process of amassing all of my gear. I want to show you all my list of products to see what everyone thinks. And if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know thanks!



55 Gallon tank



Salt mix: instant ocean

Sand: Caribsea Fiji pink or Special grade? Suggestions welcome

RODI filter: BRS 4 stage value plus 75 GPD

Power heads: Sicce voyager 2

Sump: TriggerSystems Sapphire 26 or 34? Suggestions?

protein skimmer: reef octopus classic 110NT

Overflow: modular marine 800 or 1200 gph suggestions?

Return pump: reef octopus VARIOS-2

Please give feedback/suggestions if you have any. Thanks!!!

 

[bluemon]

Hey everyone - new hobbyist here. I am in the process of amassing all of my gear. I want to show you all my list of products to see what everyone thinks. And if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know thanks!



55 Gallon tank



Salt mix: instant ocean

Sand: Caribsea Fiji pink or Special grade? Suggestions welcome

RODI filter: BRS 4 stage value plus 75 GPD

Power heads: Sicce voyager 2

Sump: TriggerSystems Sapphire 26 or 34? Suggestions?

protein skimmer: reef octopus classic 110NT

Overflow: modular marine 800 or 1200 gph suggestions?

Return pump: reef octopus VARIOS-2

Please give feedback/suggestions if you have any. Thanks!!!

I strongly suggest going with a vortech. A bit expensive but is worth it.

Also you can look into jebao instead which are Chinese copycats but just as good.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

An auto top off (ATO) is a vital and priceless machine to maintain the salinity level. You haven't listed any heaters, but I would also suggest an inkbird along with the heater.

 

[austin95]

Hey everyone - new hobbyist here. I am in the process of amassing all of my gear. I want to show you all my list of products to see what everyone thinks. And if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know thanks!



55 Gallon tank



Salt mix: instant ocean

Sand: Caribsea Fiji pink or Special grade? Suggestions welcome

RODI filter: BRS 4 stage value plus 75 GPD

Power heads: Sicce voyager 2

Sump: TriggerSystems Sapphire 26 or 34? Suggestions?

protein skimmer: reef octopus classic 110NT

Overflow: modular marine 800 or 1200 gph suggestions?

Return pump: reef octopus VARIOS-2

Please give feedback/suggestions if you have any. Thanks!!!

I strongly suggest going with a vortech. A bit expensive but is worth it.

Also you can look into jebao instead which are Chinese copycats but just as good.

I saw a lot of people use those! But hear mixed reviews. What model do you suggest

 

[reely989]

All looks good. I'm not too familiar with long term Sicce power head use. I like my tunzes a lot. The vortechs are cool but the price markup is obscene.

 

[Bisqwik]

I actually moved my INKBIRD to my quarantine tank and switched over to a innovative marine heater controller.. if the INKBIRD doesn’t see the desired temp after awhile it shuts the heaters off just something to keep in mind. Their app is super glitchy too. Look into a tunze ato as well

 

[ThisIsTheWay]

+1 to the ATO and heater suggestions.

I personally run a Tunze ATO.
For the heater I run an Inkbird with an Eheim heater element. The Eheim has adjustable temps so it does most of the work and then Inkbird is a backup fail safe in case the heater were to fail in the ON position.

I also run Jebao (Recently rebranded to Jecod) power heads in my tank and haven’t really had any issues so far (been running at least one of my power heads for almost 2 years). I think maybe one I returned to Amazon right away because it didn’t sound right when I first used it, but all the others I have are still running strong.
My tank is a 25 gal AIO so you’ll probably wanted bigger sizes than what I have, but I have used both their SLW and SOW style power heads. I believe their DLW heads are updated SLWs that now have Bluetooth.

For sand, I personally went with special grade because I wanted a pistol shrimp. My understanding is that they do better with slightly larger grain sizes and special grade fit that bill while also still being small enough to use it for sand sifting or sand dwelling fish.
Keep in mind, finer sand can be blown around more easily. Also, if you are planning to get sand dwelling wrasses I would do some research and verify what size sand is suitable for them. I think special grade is the largest you can safely do for wrasses but don’t quote me on that.

Best of luck with the new tank build :D