Ex-Newb Hobbyist - I caught the bug again

[duhnilo]

Hello All! I am a former newb hobbyist and I am planning on getting back into the hobby as even more of a newb. I formerly had a 29g BioCube and had a great run for 3 years. A friend of mine just recently got into the hobby and I have caught the bug again. I know that one of the limitations I had previously was the size of the tank. I decided to sell everything when I was getting married and bought a house. Since then, I have a 2 1/2 year old toddler, a fairly demanding job that takes me about 3 hours to commute to and from each day and a baby on the way. I want a good size tank this time around so I can really build a great reef tank but I need something that isn't too advanced to maintain.

I need your help! I am not a handy guy so I have been looking at Red Sea and Waterbox aquariums. I am leaning toward the Waterbox 135.4 (99g) or 100.3 (74g) Platinum series tanks. I need help with an all-inclusive list of items I will need to get started. I am looking to do mainly fish and inverts with some beginner coral. I don't want to get ahead of myself either so please share your thoughts and experiences with me. I have a couple of decent LFS around too.

So far, these are the items I have thought of:

• Aquarium inclusive of sump and ATO
• Lights
• Protein Skimmer
• Reactor(s)
• Pump(s)
• Heater
• Filter Media
• Powerhead(s)
• RO/DI unit

*I don't need a chiller as my home is cooled with central A/C and we keep our house between 68-72 degrees during the summer.

I guess my questions are:
1. What other equipment do I need?
2. What kind of reactor(s) do I need? More than one?
3. What do you think of Waterbox vs. Red Sea? Do you have any other aquarium suggestions?
4. What are the best equipment brands/models in your opinion?
5. What are the easier corals to maintain?
6. Do you think that automating the entire system using hubs like Current's Loop system are worth the money?
7. Please share any and all advice and your own experiences!

 

[Jesterrace]

A lot of it depends on the kinds of fish you want to keep. Why not do some research into that and let that determine what size you buy.

 

[duhnilo]

A lot of it depends on the kinds of fish you want to keep. Why not do some research into that and let that determine what size you buy.

I'm leaning toward the larger size tanks because I do like Tangs, Butterflyfish, etc. I would love to get an Angel in there as well but I know they require pretty large tanks. I also would stick to reef-safe fish since I do want coral.

 

[Psustein]

Red sea is my vote and with the demanding schedule you need the Neptune apex. Take a lot of the guess work out and get notified when things are off rather then having to test all the time which gets rough if your busy a lot.

 

[Palyzoa]

If you can afford it and fit it in your house I would go bigger. Most people I know in the hobby including myself is always looking to upgrade to a bigger tank. Save yourself the time and money and go as big as you can off the bat.

Another item to consider if you plan on keeping stoney corals would be a doser or a calcium reactor and kalk. Keeping your Alk and Ca. stable is key.

I don't know much about water box but I do like the Redsea tanks allot. You can find allot of info on both in these forums.

My advice would be to make a list and do research. Take it slow and enjoy the different stages of the hobby as you learn and grow.

Cheers!

 

[Palyzoa]

Oh and, Welcome back to the hobby!

 

[Jesterrace]

I'm leaning toward the larger size tanks because I do like Tangs, Butterflyfish, etc. I would love to get an Angel in there as well but I know they require pretty large tanks. I also would stick to reef-safe fish since I do want coral.

FYI, Butterfly fish and reef safe do not go hand in hand. For Butterflyfish you would need one of the following:

Pyramid Butterflyfish (about as reef safe as you can get) require a 125 gallon minimum
Copperband Butterflyfish mostly reef safe require about 100-125 gallon minimum
Longnose Yellow Butterflyfish mostly reef safe requires about 100-125 gallon minimum

For Angels if you go with at least a 125, you can look into the Genicanthus Angels (ie Lamark's, Swallowtail, Bellus) as they are arguably the most reef safe angels out there