Initial Equipment Selection
Most of the core pieces of equipment for my tank were purchased in late 2019. At that stage, I was not thinking about running an aquarium controller, so I picked items individually based on reviews rather than going with any particular system. Most of my initial purchases remain in use, but I have since swapped out a couple of items. Here is the initial haul, largely picked up in the Black Friday sales:
Return pump: EcoTech Vectra M1 – I picked this up second hand and it has been running flawlessly for the last year and a bit. I have no real complaints about the pump – it runs very quietly and I like the ease of connecting it to a battery backup (more on this later), but when I come to replace it I will likely go for one of the Reef Octopus VarioS return pumps for the 0–10V control input.
Skimer: Reef Octopus Classic 150-INT – I went with a fairly basic AC skimmer that is rated for my tank size. This being my first tank, I didn't want to spend too much of my equipment budget on an oversized expensive skimmer (the 150-INT was about £150 whereas the identically sized DC Regal-150 is close to £500). I have been very happy with the performance of the INT-150 – once I got it dialed in it runs consistently without requiring adjustment and pulls out a good amount of waste. The noise is acceptable and not particularly audible with the cabinet doors closed (I have it on a silicone matt to absorb vibrations).
Lighting: Red Sea ReefLED 90 x 3 – These don't appear to be very popular on R2F compared to the Radions, but I have been very happy with these lights. My plan is to create a mixed reef, so I knew that I wouldn't need complete coverage for wall-to-wall SPS or very high intensity. The ReefLEDs had recently been released when I was making my purchases and I was persuaded to go for them by the good review from BRStv and the fact that the spectrum is managed so that you only need to pick the colour temperature that you like. I also liked that they have built in wifi and are a single lens design, meaning there is no 'disco ball' effect. While I cannot comment on how these lights grow coral compared to others, the lights make my corals look great, have a nice shimmer and the ReefBeat app has good functionality and reliability.
Filtration: Clarisea SK-5000 – I also picked this up second hand for about half its retail price. I knew that I would not have time to swap out and wash filter socks every few days (nor would my wife let me wash them in the machine!), so I decided to go with a filter roller from the outset. The Clarisea does a great job at keeping my tank's water clear, but I have had a few issues with it which have required some modifications. My unit is a v.1 Gen2 and the issues seem to have been resolved in more recent versions.
ATO: Tunze Osmolator (now replaced with reef-pi) – I bought the Tunze because of its reputation for reliability but subsequently replaced it with a DIY controller using reef-pi. While I have no complaints about the Tunze's reliability, there were some annoyances, particularly the fact that there is no easy way to disable it (short of unplugging it) when performing a water change and the lack of any ability to monitor it remotely. The Tunze is also very expensive for what it is – for comparison, it costs the same as my RoboTank deluxe controller and accompanying Raspberry Pi, which is a complete aquarium controller.
Heating: Eheim Jager 250W x 2 – I used Eheim heaters on my previous freshwater tanks and found them to be very reliable. Warning – the 250W units are very long! They fit horizontally in the Red Sea sump, but it is a bit of a squeeze.
Heating controller: Inkbird ITC-308S x 2 – I had these already from my freshwater tanks. While I could now control the heaters using reef-pi, I prefer to use standalone controllers for maximum reliability. The Inkbirds are set up in a redundant configuration controlling one heater each, with one unit set 1 degree lower than the other so that it should only come on if the other fails. I monitor the temperature separately with reef-pi, so will be alerted if it deviates from my set range.
Wavemakers: IceCap 4K Gyre x 2 – These were not purchased until some time later in 2020 and had to be imported from the US as they are not available here in the UK (the Maxspect gyres are, but not with the IceCap controller). My original plan had been to go with MP40s to match the Vectra M1, but with further research I came to understand that the MP40s would not work well for a peninsula tank if both on the same side as they will not reach the far end. I have been happy with the gyres once I got them set up properly, particularly with the updated Hydros app which now has some good presets and is much more reliable. I will detail how I run these in a later post.
These are only the main pieces of equipment running on my tank. I have added many more items as my build has progressed, which I will detail in subsequent posts.
Are you planning to release the Reef-Pi touchscreen interface? It look amazing 
