Single Best Piece of Equipment?

[Paul B]

Reverse Undergravel Filter.

 

[X-37B]

Well it was my 9410 dc skimmer. Now its my 3171 calcium reactor. Simple setup within 3 days and no more 2 part manual dosing.
Got to love Tunze products!

 

[TheOne]

Automatic water change that changes out 1 gallon a day. I have it setup to change out while I am asleep over the course of an hour. A close second....Trident, no more test kits for me ever again. Sure I still have my hanna to check phosphates but that is once a month if that.

 

[Jon Fishman]

Genesis Renew. Five years now of automatic water changes, 1 ga./day. I mix salt once every month-and-a-half. Good luck!

Link to this setup? Been shopping for AWC

 

[A_CoupleClowns]

https://genesisreefsystems.com/products/renew-pro

I have the Genesis renew and storm (ato). Work great together imo.

I don’t fill ato & I don’t have to do waterchanges. Really I just refill my 100g sw barrel and add salt.

 

[Tampaman]

Metal halides

 

[H3rm1tCr@b]

My light (okay maybe not). It grows my corals okayish and it is pretty to look at.

 

[Nereaga]

First and foremost is a good RO/DI unit. Followed closely by an ATO setup.

 

[aslmx]

Return pump. You want a good trustworthy return pump. It’s hard to beat good ole mag pumps. I’ve had a mag 18 running for years.

 

[TopShelfAquatics]

From a hobbyist standpoint an ATO does magical things.
Purchasing one basically solves major parameter swings(not just salinity) and that doesnt just mean your corals will grow faster it means you'll lose tons less livestock by not stressing them on the daily.

 

[fcmatt]

Tunze auto top off. I am so lazy and that thing just works.

 

[Makki_73]

I'm not old, but I am in this hobby for more than half of my life continuously and I got my chemical engineering degree for the love of reef tanks. My current tank is 9 years old, but looks like 2 with the maintenance I do.

The best piece of equipment is a combination of the best products, nothing is more important than the other.
For a 100 gallon reef and more, you definitely need lights, wave makers, skimmer, refuge, UV, biopellet, doeser or Ca Rx, all together for optimal growth and to life support. I wouldn't give up any of these and I say this after tons of research and reading.
9 years on this tank without a controller and its been perfect, no Crashes " knock on wood".
But I believe we reached a point in this hobby where the controllers are now something we can depend on and use to even perfect our tanks and ensure keeping our tanks alive and healthy.

I will make a huge transition to control my tank using GHL profilux, switch from dosers to Geo's calcium reactor, use GHL power bars to show equipment failures with the energy consumption feature, use the maxi doser to do 1% daily water changes, Kh director to measure my alkalinity 4 times a day, and switch all my AC pumps to DC.

using these devices will insure optimal growth and the least fatalities with corals which would result in more fragsthat will pay off for all the new investments in my tank.

 

[Borg]

Credit card.

 

[Arego]

Mine would be the aquamaxx ts2 sulfur denitrator.

 

[EricR]

Credit card.

New credit card is the worst -- financially for reef tank!
Expired credit card is safer -- algae scraper.

Seriously, I'd go with ATO as my single, best purchase, so far.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Credit card.

I ordered my 400 gallon on a CC with no intention of paying it back lol

 

[GARRIGA]

In the 80/90s lighting was the most important piece of equipment. Don’t see why that has changed. I’d save on everything else but not lights.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Tough question! How would y'all answer in 2023?

 

[Rmckoy]

I have never ran any controller such as apex in the many years I’ve been reefing .
By far the best equipment I will never go without is an external skimmer .

besides rodi , lights , and ato . Skimmer is my top vote

 

[Muffin87]

Tunze macro algae reactor. My tank is clean and grows macro algae like crazy
I agree no to Apex

I just ordered one!
Do you have the large one or the smaller one?
Any tips? What sort of flow and lighting schedule do you use?