Quote:
Originally Posted by texasfootball21  rroselavy,
Thank you for your comment, it is greatly appreciated. I like your idea of starting a 30 or 40 gallon tank. |
I have only been doing
SW for 14+ months, so take this with a grain of salt:
If I were to set up a tank all over again, I would get a AGA 40g Breeder tank 36"x18"x16" ($95), with a
HOB Skimmer($140),
HOB Refugium ($200 including light) and
HOB powerfilter ($20). I would have a 4"
DSB in the display ($20 Southdown-type Playsand), along with 40-44# of
LR ($160). For lighting, I would at least get an Aquactinics TX5 Series 36" 5 lamp
T5 fixture ($400 including brackets and bulbs).
So thats just over $1k!
Actually, I would probably get a rimless glass tank, a Solaris light fixture and have a custom in-tank
refugium built for a total of $2k+, but that is _my_ problem... :-)
A great example of what one can do with a 40g setup can be found
here.
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Can you tell me if my Marineland Emperor 280 Filtration system could be used if I did choose this option, or would I need to buy a new one?
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I believe your Emperor 280 could be used for activated carbon (in a mesh bag), and possibly
phosphate removal media (such as Phosban or PURA pads). I would throw out any sponge or other bio/mechanical nonsense in there. Change out the carbon and pads on a frequent basis.
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The reason the aquapod appeals to me is because it comes with almost everything I will need as far as equipment, and I really like the lighting system.
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The stock lighting (32W daylight + 32W
Actinic) is fine for
FOWLR setups or low-light corals, but nothing else. You may get frustrated with it if you wish to care for any medium to high-light corals or clams. I would definitely spend the extra $100 to get the open top 150W
HQI version of the Aquapod. This money would be well spent if I later wanted corals or clams that demanded more light.
I would be careful to research the range of organisms you might wish to keep in your tank, and purchase a setup that satisfies that range so you don't have to spend even more $ down the road modifying or replacing your setup.
If you haven't already, search various tank threads in forums and see what mods people are doing to their nanos. Some are easy and great, others are more difficult and merely reveal the limitations of the tank design.
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And also what would you suggest for a skimmer? I was looking at the CPR Bak-Pak 2.
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The Bak-Pak, Remora, and Tunze Nano
skimmers may satisfy you quite well.
Sapphire Skimmers are designed to fit within the back compartment of a Aquapod with the lid closed, which may be more desirable than a
HOB skimmer.
Lastly, some people have turned their middle chamber of the 24g JBJ Nanocube into a mini-refugium. I am not sure how feasible this is in a Aquapod, but I would definitely recommend a
DSB and some form of
Macroalgae to help you reduce
nitrates.
-Scott
