Equipment Preferences/suggestions

[FroggyFox]

Hey guys...I know there have been some threads about this from time-to-time, (I just saw one about the little powerhead that Lordroad uses in his nano) but I thought maybe we could start a thread about what your favorite/best tested types and brands of equipment are so, for example, before someone like me goes out and just picks the cheapest pump with the highest gph rating (as I did) we can skim through your thoughts and maybe make more educated/tested choices?

Oh...and of course comments about types you wouldn't reccomend because of terrible horrible nightmares with a specific brand/type.

Powerheads
Skimmers
Tanks
Lighting
Heaters

Things like Salt Mixtures and Medications, Test Kits and Foods(not really equipment, but something that a lot of people have questions on which one to use or to start out with)

what other things am I missing? Feel free to add your own categories...

 

[FroggyFox]

Only ones I can really comment on are Heaters...I love my Hagen Tronic heaters...seem to work great.

I have heard good things about Instant Ocean salt mixes...thats what I've used and haven't had any issues with it but I'm still pretty new to SW.

I'd be interested to see some reccomendations on reliable powerhead brands, also maybe some lighting insight...

 

[lordroad]

I'd like to give props to the coralife aqualight, 96 watts of 50/50 heaven. Also great price at hellolights.com. With this light over a ten or twenty gallon, you'll be set unless you want to keep corals that require mega strong light.

Also, my marineland visitherm heaters, all at the smallest and second smallest size, have never done me wrong. I had a 300 watt one not work but the company sent me a new one.

For powerheads, everyone swears by the aquaclear. I have one and frankly I'm not impressed. I don't like its design. I would personally stick to marineland powerheads.

 

[OCCFan023]

Powerheads: I love my hagen aqua clears, they are working good for me.

Skimmers: Havent used on but have heard great things from the Remora Aqua-C skimmers. When I get my big tank in the future this is the brand I plan on using. As for skimmers I have heard nothing but bad things about seaclones (fires. leaks, ect..) so Id stay away from seaclones if possible)

Tanks: Try to get long tanks as opposed to high tanks to create as much oxygen/water contact for mixture as possible)

Lighting: I like coralife as Lord mentioned, its a quality brand.

Heaters: I use nothin but Ebo-Jagers. if it is a long tank get two smaller ones and put them on each side, as opposed to one big one.


Misc:
-Salt Mixes: Ive been using store bought but kent is a reputable brand.
- Medication: Become familiar with QTing new fish, and read up on hyposalinity treatment. Its also good to have active carbon on hand.
-Test Kits: Cant go wrong with sailfert. Althogh pricey there a great brand.
-Foods: frozen mysis, brine are good (brine is less nutriouse so use it more as a treat than food). Marine one is a good brand. Salt fish need a variety in there diet so make sure to read up on potential fish.


Thats about all I can think of, as for any other categories maybe salinity readings. For salinity I use a hydrometer from Instant ocean and I like it. Although if you can afford it go with a lab grade refractrometer, there extremly handy and reliable.

 

[lordroad]

OCC, I wish we had ebo jagers where I live. WOuld have solved a heating fiasco I had a while back.

How much longer (in inches, eyeballed) is a 20 g long than a standard?

I use Instant Ocean salt mix and will never buy another product. We had a debate in my reef club about reef crystals--the overall conclusion was no difference at all really.

I have a magfloat algae scraper I keep in my tank, one side on the inside the other out. Makes cleaning easy and fun.

I use the same hydrometer as OCC, works fine for me, also accurate.

Food: Cyclo-peeze is great. My zoos eat them, as does the mandarin, starfish, everyone. Also frozen mysis and formula 1. And orange capelin roe, the clown and everyone goes crazy for this. I buy frozen brine shrimp from time to time but I keep forgetting it on the kitchen table for an hour or so, rendering it melted and useless.

My penguin biowheel mini filter is excellent. Had some clogging problems, but then I cut the intake tube in half... problem solved!

Oh, one of my favorite pieces of equipment... a timer from a big hardware outlet, all of 4 dollars.

 

[FroggyFox]

20G high is 24 inches long 16 high 12 deep, 20G long is 30 inches long 12 high and 12 deep. ...dont know what normal is All-Glass doesn't look like they make one...

 

[KahluaZzZ]

What would it buy or already bought and what i wouldn't:

Good powerheads : Aquaclear, Maxi-Jet, Seio
Bad powerheads : heard crap about Rio and Zoo Med

Good skimmers: Coralife, Remora, Turboflotor, Deltec.
Bad skimmers: Seaclone, Jebo, skilters crap, some cheap Tunze.

Good Lighting : all Giesemann lamps, Coralife aqualight MH, Philips True Actinics.

Bad Lighting : Hagen Actinics, standard integrated aquarium bulbs, Hagen LifeGlo.

Good Heaters : Ebo-Jager, PRO-HEAT ICTITANIUM HEATER.
Bad Heaters : all those with no real thermocontrol.

Good Salt : Instant Ocean, Reef Crystals, Coralife, Seachem, Tropic Marin.
Bad Salt : Red Sea, Ocean Pure

Med : only used Paraguard..not really a med..Best med for my fishies to date : hyposalinity

Good Test Kits : Salifert, Aquarium Pharmaceutical, Seachem.
Bad Tests : HAGEN!!

Good Food : Formula 2 frozen ..my fishies are crazy when they smell this food. SF Bay mysid, herb preparation and plankton. Nori. Formula 1 and 2 flakes. Selcon to boost the food, great vitamines.

Bad Food : Nutrafin Max Marine Formula..constipated fish. Color Bits..kinda useless. Nutrafin Max Veg. Flakes. Ikari plankton..mine hate this.

 

[radamsk1]

Powerheads: love the AquaClears for some reason, Marineland is good also

Lighting: Never had a problem with the Coralife, sometimes worth an extra buck

Skimmer: Remora good, and think I'd put a Prizm is OK

Heaters: Good -- RenaCal, Stealth Visitherm, and Hydor. Although the Hydor almost boiled my tank

Salt Mix: I like Oceanic, gonna be doing a test of my local seawater too.

Additive/Trace: I've always had great results with EcoSystems Reef Solutions

Test Kits: SeaChem, AP

Food: I do a lot of frozen food feeding, not sure of the brand. Gotta check the freezer!

 

[wayne]

1. Tunzes for rich people with big tanks, other than that aquaclears. For return pumps I like Eheim. Newjet powerheads seem super nice, and I have a little rena water pump that has done many years of sterling service.
2. Aqua C , deltecs, big airblown jobs. bakpaks and Aqua medics are quite nice. Don't like obscure brand rubbish or seaclones. I would like to try a Tunze.
3. I like acrylic myself, but mostly use glass.
4 I have used everything, from cheap to not so cheap, and really like metal halides for practical purposes.. I am however not so sure why some people spend such brutal amounts of money on these things, so if you were to ask me what I likes, I like aqua medic, arcadia stuff (used) and s.t.m. lowbays.
5. Aqua Stabil - Danish brand, seem bullet proof to me

I have used, for salt, Kent, Instant Ocean, Reef Crystals, Red Sea, Elos and Aqua Medic, and frankly none of them were too bad, even the often abused Red Sea. However if cost were equal I would get Reef Crystals or Kent. I'm on a 25 kilo tub of IO now, and if you have anything bigger than a nano my advise would be buy a bucket - it's real cheap then!

 

[JustinP]

PH:
Good - Aquaclear solid, quiet and easily adjustable.
Bad - Rio (they really do stop spinning), MaxiJet (loud and too much vibe)

Salt:
Good - IO, but when I switched to Coral Life due to a sale I won't go back.
I noticed pretty dramatic growth spurt in coral.
Bad - N/A

Lighting:
Good - I have Coral Life Aqualights and they work great.
Bad - Power Glo bulbs wear out fast.

Skimmer:
Good - I have a Bak-Pak 2R and it works well. Since I moved it from the main display to the side of my sump and skim the water down to it it works even better. I also recommend the airstone mod which doubles its effectiveness.

Additives:
Good - ESV B-Ionic 2 part liquid works well for when I need to up Alk or calcium.

Foods:
Good - My fish love the Ocean Nutrition frozen like Prime Reef and Formula 1. I also use Julian Sprungs sea veggies for my tang and he attacks it like a shark. This is what I use although it seems my fish will eat just about anything!

Test Kits:
Good - Aquarium Pharmaceutical

 

[S.Reef]

CPR continous overflows....awesome. Pretty good online prices as well
Coralife lights in general...inexpensive and good quality