I regret purchasing ceramic media. They have all broken down and polluted my tanks. I also regret purchasing unnecessary equipment, having the sump area look like the control room at nasa made it difficult to do maintenance. Finally, I will never purchase a square sump again, having the pump in a back chamber that is impossible to access is a nightmare.
my top must haves would be:
1. Rodi unit and FLOAT VALVES!!!!
2. Ato
3. A good skimmer
4. Saltwater mixing station
I can not stress the importance of float valves with the rodi unit. I don’t know how many hours I have spent cleaning up rodi water because I forgot it was running. I would set timers, have others remind me, etc but in the end it would never fail to overflow.
I list an ato second because, in my opinion, the rest of the equipment is luxury. Do you need a $300 light or will the $50 t5 grow just as well? Do you need a skimmer or any other filter action if you keep up with water changes? The water chemistry here is the bloodline of the tank, everyone will tell you to keep an eye on the alkalinity or the nutrients but if you let the water volume fall, all of this becomes compounded and can swing just as bad as dosing too much of an additive.
