Which peninsula AIO for beginner?

[zdrc]

I'm getting a lot of messages not to cheap out on the lights, but I think the Nicrew 50W might actually be a pretty decent light. According to this thread it has better or at least comparable PAR readings to the AI Prime 16HD (use this for an AI Prime 16HD PAR map). The worst thing about it is it has awful controls. I think it might be worth a try if I can figure out a good way to control it.

 

[zdrc]

I say get an evo, you are eventually going to want to upgrade. This hobby is addictive and the evo is small enough that when you think you messed up it only takes a couple minutes for a water change unlike my old 100 gallon. The pump sucks but you can upgrade. And when you are ready for a bigger tank it makes a great QT tank theres whole groups on fb dedicated to this tank with lots of very nice people. Stores up here sell evo packages with everything you need some kits include the upgrades and some even include some fish and clean up crew for after your cycle. Bonus… its not that expensive so you can invest the extra $ into other things. I eventually chose to upgrade my lighting. The light that came with it is ok, then I went with a nicrew, then got an AI prime 16 HD. I honestly really wish I had just got the ai prime when I got the tank. You can pm me if you have any questions or want to join one evo groups if you go that way. Theres tons of 3d print things for the evo too.

Which wattage Nicrew did you get? Did you take PAR measurements? What tells you that the AI Prime is better than the Nicrew?

 

[Jasanne]

Which wattage Nicrew did you get? Did you take PAR measurements? What tells you that the AI Prime is better than the Nicrew?

Im an ******* sorry, I was at work when I gave my opinion. Went to check which nicrew it was when I got home cause I couldn't remember seeing more than one type, and Its an aqua knight, it was the controller I bought for the original evo light was nicrew.

 

[paul barker]

I know it's not cheap but the redsea has a 20 gal all in one with all the bell and whistles it has a build in ATO come with it all you need pull and play I have had a lot of tank over the last 30 years and I seen a lot of new stuff over the years it's funny all I had in the beginning was a 75 gal tank with 150 lbs of rock and sand some pump to move water around and t5 for lights and now 10 tanks later 180 gal with all the bells and whistles back in the day all I did was change water one a mouth and still had nice corals and fish

 

[zdrc]

I went with Option D, a $50 Aquapod and stand from craigslist. Admittedly, I probably bought myself a bunch of extra work, but for some reason I'm looking forward to it. The stand was homemade and pretty gross/rusting so I'm gonna disassemble, clean, and rebuild it with better paint and screws. I would like to try out the Nicrew light and a variety of different filtration media. The Aquapod will be a test bed for me to figure out what works and what is worth spending money on. Once I upgrade to a larger AIO I can turn the Aquapod into a frag or quarantine tank.