Starting up again, some equipment questions.

[Kahuna Tuna]

Howdy all, I am looking to start another reef tank after moving and taking a break from the hobby. My old 180 gallon mixed reef system had been up and running for nearly 18 years when I tore it down and I am looking at something smaller, possibly a Waterbox Reef 100.3. The only new tech my old system had was LED lighting so I have a lot to learn about some of the new equipment. I am looking at a Vectra pump and Radion XR15 lights, neptune apex control, and a Tunze ATO. I always ran a UV and a refugium with lots of chaeto but all of the new algae scrubbers, dosers, fleece rollers, and the various reactor chambers filled with God knows what is all new to me. I'm not looking at going crazy with livestock, I really want a Caribbean biotype, I love mushrooms corals, Ricordea florida, St. Thomas shrooms, Carlgreni and neglectus shrooms, probably a few photosynthetic sea whips and some other local zoas and inverts, just a cool little low energy lagoon type system with a few local fish. Any opinions on my equipment choices or is there some new tech I should be investigating? TIA

 

[Macbalacano]

Sounds like you've really done your homework!

Personally, I would get the equipment that you think you really need for now. I would then just add anything else in the future if you end up really needing it.

If you are not stocking a lot, you might never need an algae scrubber if your chaeto is doing well.

You might also never need to dose if you do water changes frequently enough, or you can manually dose small quantities which might never require an automatic doser.

You might decide filter socks or filter floss are good enough instead of getting a fleece roller.

I work in tech and I love high tech stuff - my entire house is filled with countless smart home gadgets. However, I am finding with this hobby, if you can do it in a more simple/less complex way, it often turns out to be better.

Just my 2 cents. Looking forward to seeing the tank!

 

[Kahuna Tuna]

Thanks for the repl

Sounds like you've really done your homework!

Personally, I would get the equipment that you think you really need for now. I would then just add anything else in the future if you end up really needing it.

If you are not stocking a lot, you might never need an algae scrubber if your chaeto is doing well.

You might also never need to dose if you do water changes frequently enough, or you can manually dose small quantities which might never require an automatic doser.

You might decide filter socks or filter floss are good enough instead of getting a fleece roller.

I work in tech and I love high tech stuff - my entire house is filled with countless smart home gadgets. However, I am finding with this hobby, if you can do it in a more simple/less complex way, it often turns out to be

Sounds like you've really done your homework!

Personally, I would get the equipment that you think you really need for now. I would then just add anything else in the future if you end up really needing it.

If you are not stocking a lot, you might never need an algae scrubber if your chaeto is doing well.

You might also never need to dose if you do water changes frequently enough, or you can manually dose small quantities which might never require an automatic doser.

You might decide filter socks or filter floss are good enough instead of getting a fleece roller.

I work in tech and I love high tech stuff - my entire house is filled with countless smart home gadgets. However, I am finding with this hobby, if you can do it in a more simple/less complex way, it often turns out to be better.

Just my 2 cents. Looking forward to seeing the tank!

Thanks for the reply, yeah I had almost zero tech on all the tanks I have kept over the last 40 years but I am looking at a few items to make my life easier, I'm thinking an Apex controller for sure and go from there.

 

[Suohhen]

Apex is awesome and for sure there isn't a need to go too deep down the rabbit hole especially for the type of system your going for. The one thing I would add about the best tech is that it holds its value very well so it might seem daunting that everything costs $300+ a piece but you can have confidence that you can reclaim a big part of that cost if you get out of the hobby. Even more importantly that value can give you confidence that the equipment can last for a very long time. I have had my kessil a350 running every day since 2014 and one of my mp40s for nearly as long.
I personally don't put as much value into the return pump as it does a fairly simple job and Jebaos are only $100, but I have only been running mine for a couple years.
Filter socks and a refugium are definitely a solid start for filtration and maybe all you need depending on how you do it. I can't really get into other filters because there are simply far too many to list I would just add that many people don't use reactors anymore even for carbon but if you are planning on doing a softy tank then carbon obviously a good insurance policy however.
Radions are certainly among the best lights available. The only thing I would add is that a lot of people, including myself, still use t5s to supplement leds.