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Total Newbie ready to start !


jeffh129

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Thanks for having me. I have two freshwater planted tanks and now want to start my first salt reef tank. A few recommendations please. My tank will either be a "plug and play' cube or a 40 breeder " regular " tank. I looked at the 32 gallon led nano biocube tank today at my lfs . Is this a new tank? I can' find any reviews on the 32 led tank. What is the best brand nano cube in this price range. Red Sea seems great , but it's significantly more expensive than I want to spend. On the other hand if I were to utilize a "regular" tank, would the 40 breeder be a good size for a soft coral reef tank? Thoughts and comments greatly appreciated. Thank you!

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Welcome!

 

You are going to find a lot of varying ideas and info here. But if you want a good all in one tank.

I'd suggest one of the following 3 brands:

 

Red Sea: the most expensive, but the best plug and play.

 

Innovative Marine: great build quality and design, but equipment will need upgrading , and additions will be needed.

 

Fluval: great entry tanks with basic stuff. Their new marine evo looks like it might be the easiest least expensive option for getting into SW.

 

That's just a starting point too.

Then you need to buy a light! ?

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Welcome.

 

There isn't a specific tank that is best for corals. There are other factors that are important for corals.

 

You can do a reef in a 40b, many do but that means either setting up a sump or hob filter.

 

For Aio

 

Red sea are awesome but very expensive.

 

Innovative marines are good. i upgraded my pump and media basket.

 

Like Droy suggested, The Fluvals are becoming very popular for starter nano's.

 

Take into consideration what your lighting budget is when choosing the tank. Lighting is one of the most costly items for the tank and the dimensions of the tank will factor into what light you can use.

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Fluval 12.5 is the new model that looks pretty awesome.

The issue with most AIO tanks is that the lighting and flow aren't typically sufficient. It's easy to add a small powerhead to fix the flow, but the lighting requires replacing a piece. You could go for the IM10/IM20 tank only (or whatever size you want) and add lighting yourself. My understanding is the bundled lights on the IM series and the new fluval are enough for softies/some LPS.

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I did a 40 gallon breeder a while back. The extra floor space gives you more options for design but buying all the equipment needed may cost you more than an all in one if you buy all new. I would try an all in one for a first time to get your feet wet in the hobby.

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I am constantly amazed by the amount of equipment people here have on their tanks. There is no short or easy answer to your question since everyone here has their own ideas based on what works best for them - your tank has to be the one which works best for you. As was mentioned above the 40 has the benefit of extra space for things that you dont get with a cube, its my second favorite tank just because of that but you give up some height as a result. So everything depends on what you want to put in the tank and how you want to lay it out.

 

Good luck

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