Reef Youngling; First tank, 24 gallon Aquatop Recife

TSSagraves · Mar 18, 2021

After months of reading and looking at these discussion boards for ideas, I FINALLY am starting my tank. I plan on going to my LFS to get needed items and then rock/sand/salt water from them.

I bought a 24 Gallon Recife Aquatop All-In-One. Specs: https://www.aquatop.com/products/recife-eco-24g-tank-stand-combo

I have many questions but my few are:
-What heater should I use and what chamber should I put in in?
-Should I change or remove any media?
-Recommendations for cycling? (I’ve seen so many different ways to do it; I kind of am leaning toward idea of using dry rock to make my aquascape easier)
-Power head recommendations and where to put it?
- Testing kit and meter recommendations?

Thanks in advance to any one who reads!

harley32907 · Mar 18, 2021

Welcome to R2R!

HBoojie · Oct 13, 2021

TSSagraves said:
After months of reading and looking at these discussion boards for ideas, I FINALLY am starting my tank. I plan on going to my LFS to get needed items and then rock/sand/salt water from them.

I bought a 24 Gallon Recife Aquatop All-In-One. Specs: https://www.aquatop.com/products/recife-eco-24g-tank-stand-combo

I have many questions but my few are:
-What heater should I use and what chamber should I put in in?
-Should I change or remove any media?
-Recommendations for cycling? (I’ve seen so many different ways to do it; I kind of am leaning toward idea of using dry rock to make my aquascape easier)
-Power head recommendations and where to put it?
- Testing kit and meter recommendations?

Thanks in advance to any one who reads!

I too am building a Recife 24g, I know I’m a little late to the party, but if you’d like any help with this I found a few things to make this tank top tier!
Return pump upgrade to a controllable jabao dcs-2000, paired with a random flow generator. I ordered a kraken reef lid for the tank, and they also made me a diy media basket for the Intake side instead of rigging something up and running a filter sock. I just add a little filter floss and we are golden! Also found out the aqua duetto ATO paired with a 5 gallon reservoir matches perfect in the stand! I went with a synergy reef 5 gallon and it fits like a dream inside the stand! Upgraded also to an AI prime 16HD for this tank with Vivid creative aquatics shades attached! I also did find the adjustable 90 degree arm looks way better on these tanks than the flex arm.. just my opinion.

ChaosAquaculture · Oct 13, 2021

Welcome! One of the most important things I tell new reefers is to have patience. Dry rock may take longer, but it’ll make you escape a bit easier. Same with live and or dry sand/substrate. You also have decide if your doing FOWLR or reef tank, that’ll help guide you in the direction of what’s most important to your tank to reach your final goal of what you want it to be. - kali

Silver762 · Nov 6, 2021

HBoojie said:
I too am building a Recife 24g, I know I’m a little late to the party, but if you’d like any help with this I found a few things to make this tank top tier!
Return pump upgrade to a controllable jabao dcs-2000, paired with a random flow generator. I ordered a kraken reef lid for the tank, and they also made me a diy media basket for the Intake side instead of rigging something up and running a filter sock. I just add a little filter floss and we are golden! Also found out the aqua duetto ATO paired with a 5 gallon reservoir matches perfect in the stand! I went with a synergy reef 5 gallon and it fits like a dream inside the stand! Upgraded also to an AI prime 16HD for this tank with Vivid creative aquatics shades attached! I also did find the adjustable 90 degree arm looks way better on these tanks than the flex arm.. just my opinion.

I'm looking for a media basket too . You have any pictures?