New coral farm

[Xombie2000]

It’s been 10 or more years since my last setup. It’s an SC Aquarums 90 gallon with a rather large sump. I had great success with it and learned some lessons along the way. There were many soft, LPS and SPS colonies. I want to set up a new system. I would like a shallow 5-6 foot timeless display tank, frag tank and sump. I have a 40b I‘m going to use as a quarantine tank. Do I need to consider a scrubber or anything else that I’m missing? I’m looking for suggestions on the best value in tanks for the money.

 

[bushdoc]

Not sure if I understand what is exactly your question, but I was in a hobby in 2000-2005, then I stopped due to frequent moving from place to place and eventually started a tank again 10 years ago. This is a decade of LEDs and Powerheads. Very few people are using Metal Halides, some are using T5 though. Algae scrubbers became sort of popular, but I would not recommend jumping at them immediately. With a large sump, refugium might be a better option if you need it.
I would suggest good skimmer, DC controllable return pump and DC controllable powerheads and LED lights or T5. People use now more dry rock as Live one became expensive and difficult to get. This is another subject and I am still a fan of live rock, but it might be just me.

 

[dedragon]

It’s been 10 or more years since my last setup. It’s an SC Aquarums 90 gallon with a rather large sump. I had great success with it and learned some lessons along the way. There were many soft, LPS and SPS colonies. I want to set up a new system. I would like a shallow 5-6 foot timeless display tank, frag tank and sump. I have a 40b I‘m going to use as a quarantine tank. Do I need to consider a scrubber or anything else that I’m missing? I’m looking for suggestions on the best value in tanks for the money.

Lots have changed since then, especially the shift from ultra low nutrients that used to be a target to now some more to balanced nutrients. There has also been a major leap forward for aquarium controllers in regards to monitoring and dosing elements back into the tank. A lot of high end gear has released with many more brands in the market.

New things to consider (along with what bushdoc said), led aesthetics (they all have different visual spectrums and shimmer, etc), updated aquarium controller (apex, hydros, GHL, optional) and filter roller (optional but nice to have) are just some of the bigger additions in regards to equipment.

Welcome back

 

[dedragon]

Hanna also added a lot of checkers for different tests, the ultra low phosphorous has been an amazing addition that has helped me figure out my nutrient levels and keep them in check. Matters how long you have actually been gone, but I feel these have become way more popular over the years

 

[Xombie2000]

Thank you for the responses. I’ll clarify. The 90 gallon is still up and I ran LED’s with amazing success. I’m looking for hardware. I have reef octopus skimmer rated for 200 gallons that I’ll probably reuse but is that going against the new methods of not running ultra low nutrients? What I’m really looking for is suggestions on aquarium brands. I ran a Neptune system on the current tank but is there a more affordable option?

 

[dedragon]

The skimmer size would depend on the size of the system. Most dont oversize skimmers anymore. Reef octopus skimmers are still solid, might just need a pump upgrade if yours is getting up there in age, but I wouldnt do it unless there were issues.
Really gonna depend on which piece of equipment for each brand as a lot have now started expanding and carry whole lines of things. For example red sea now has lights, skimmer, filter roller, pumps, etc.
Neptune should work well, sure you have replaced probes at some point too. Might have to upgrade if you wanted to add a trident to it or any of the new modules or dosing pumps though depending on which one you have

 

[dedragon]

Not many cheaper aquarium controllers out there right now, and would matter what you want to monitor/control and what expandability you might want for the future. Hydros, apex, and ghl are the biggest right now but there are a few other small ones. Best to stick with the bigger three as they are more likely to continue supporting those platforms imo