New tank selection, what to get?

[BeMoTo]

Hello everyone, 

I'm in the market for a smaller tank.  There are alot of options these days.  I would like something between 20 and 40 gallons.  I've had smaller and larger tanks befor.

 

I would like a glass rimless tank, but open to suggestions.  I was looking at nuvo pro setups and also the coralife bio-cube.  I know the bio-cube isn't glass but it a plug and play....

 

What are some of the pros and con of these tanks.

 

What are some things you would look for in a tank or recommend to someone.

 

I'm would like to keep a pair of clowns and some soft coral down the road.  

[Elizabeth94]

After having a Waterbox for a while I would recommend one. But it depends what you are looking for/budget. Im guessing you are looking for an all-in-one style tank. I had the nuvo fusion 10 and 20. Great tanks for good prices. They have more models now that may fit better for what you are looking for.  The one thing I didn’t like about them was how the rear panel was acrylic. I accidentally scratched the back of both of my tanks.
 

The Waterbox uses glass for their rear panel. But keep in mind that it is frosted so its semi-transparent. I haven't noticed an issue and haven’t seen anyone complaining about it yet. But if you are looking for a great quality tank I would consider a Waterbox. 
 

I don't have any experience with the Biocube or any other brands so I cant speak for them. 

[BeMoTo]

Thank you! I didn't know the Nuvo had acrylic rear wall. Thats a con for me.  

 

I haven't looked at waterboxs yet. I'll look into them.

I'm not against having a sump, but I'm afraid I'll get carried away with the extra room! I would prefer a sump myself. 

[Tamberav]

I like the IM25 lagoon, the footprint is just phenomenal for coral placement, ease of maintenance, easy to light, easy to get the flow just right. 

 

It has just been the perfect AIO and I have owned many. The acrylic black wall is not a con for me. I will say with IM is they make many products so they make tons of 'stuff' to fit their tanks should a person need more.

 

Waterbox is good too, they just don't have as many options for style. I think most of their tanks are basic shapes but also a great choice if that is the shape you want.

 

[Elizabeth94]

12 minutes ago, BeMoTo said:

 

I haven't looked at waterboxs yet. I'll look into them.

I'm not against having a sump, but I'm afraid I'll get carried away with the extra room! I would prefer a sump myself. 

Waterboxes have “cubes” and “Marine AIO’s” which don’t require a sump 🙂 but I believe they come with filter socks. Either way InTank makes nice media baskets for both waterbox and Nuvo tanks. 

[mitten_reef]

27 minutes ago, BeMoTo said:

Thank you! I didn't know the Nuvo had acrylic rear wall. Thats a con for me.  

 

I haven't looked at waterboxs yet. I'll look into them.

I'm not against having a sump, but I'm afraid I'll get carried away with the extra room! I would prefer a sump myself. 

the black acrylic is the divider between the display and the AIO filtration chambers.  you'll run into the same thing with biocube, and most other AIOs in the market.  i'm curious why it's a con for you?  a false wall is a false wall, it doesn't necessary perform any structural integrity function.  

 

like @Elizabeth94 said, waterbox is probably the only brand that use all glass construction.   Their AIO 28.2 would make an awesome shallow reef.  

[BeMoTo]

If the dividing walls in the Nuvo or othere tanks are acrylic that's fine.  I would like to be able to clean the main overflow "back of the tank" without worrying about scratching it.  Intend on keeping it completely clean.

[Tamberav]

The back wall doesn't show scratches if they are there. It can be annoying to remove coralline algae on acrylic though.

 

I would say the only con for smoked glass is light will bleed through so if you use a fuge its going to be unsightly. 

 

 

[mitten_reef]

21 minutes ago, BeMoTo said:

If the dividing walls in the Nuvo or othere tanks are acrylic that's fine.  I would like to be able to clean the main overflow "back of the tank" without worrying about scratching it.  Intend on keeping it completely clean.

I personally don't find the black acrylic false wall to have any issues with cleaning for my IM30L.  but i don't clean it often enough to increase any chance of scratching.  good luck with your search.  oh, for the size range you're looking at, look in to JBJ "flat panel" AIO, and cobalt C-vue as well, not many people have those. 

 

Aquamaxx has a sweet 22 long, but you'll have to by acrylic AIO kit to convert.  Wait, your original post didn't say anything about it being AIO, r u looking for sump system too?    

[BeMoTo]

I'm open to both, leaning towards AIO 

[billygoat]

I appear to be one of the few people on this site who owns a Cobalt C-Vue AIO, and I can attest that they are quality aquariums. My only complaint about them is that the dual-overflow design leads to rather slow water circulation through the rear chambers (especially if you use the included filter socks), which reduces the effectiveness of your heater when it is hidden back there. I remedied this by placing the heater directly in the return pump chamber and fashioning a lid for the sump area that helps to reduce evaporation and hold the heat in. So far it seems to be working out fairly well. So if you're looking for a "standard shape" rectangular aquarium the C-Vue is not a bad option, though they can be difficult to find.

 

I admit that if I started over again I would probably end up with a Waterbox 20 or IM 25 Lagoon though. 😉 I've also noticed a lot of 16g and 32g Biocubes popping up here on N-R recently! Those seem like an excellent choice if you're willing to work with their stock lighting.

[banasophia]

I love my Biocube 16, which was my first fish tank, and I also just got a Biocube 32. Due to the lid, you would likely need to run a chiller in the summertime to keep the temp down since it doesn’t get significant evaporative cooling. 

Biocube 16

Biocube 32

[BeMoTo]

They look great!  Didn't consider them getting to hot in the summer. Part of the reason why I wanted start this post.  Have to consider that. 

[banasophia]

5 minutes ago, BeMoTo said:

They look great!  Didn't consider them getting to hot in the summer. Part of the reason why I wanted start this post.  Have to consider that. 

I run a chill solutions chiller on my Biocube 16, and plan to get one for my 32... cost for the chiller plus installation kit is around $300. My Biocube 16 + chiller cost around the same amount as my Nuvo 10 + AI Prime + ATO, as I recall. 

[BeMoTo]

What kind of temperature do you get? Keeping better water control is my main goal this time around.  I'll be honest I didn't monitor temp very well last time.  

 

I'm from west Michigan and we still have some really hot days.  We do have A/C in our house. 

[ef4life]

You don’t have to run the lid on a biocube. I run an old sunpod metal halide fixture on my bc29. I dislike lids and canopy’s. 

[banasophia]

1 minute ago, BeMoTo said:

What kind of temperature do you get? Keeping better water control is my main goal this time around.  I'll be honest I didn't monitor temp very well last time.  

 

I'm from west Michigan and we still have some really hot days.  We do have A/C in our house. 

My tank was running 80-84 in its first summer, before the chiller... I live in Northern California and we use AC too, but the slight increase in our house temp in the summer also led to an equivalent increase in the tank temp. 

 

Here’s a thread I did about the chiller. 

 

[banasophia]

2 minutes ago, ef4life said:

You don’t have to run the lid on a biocube. I run an old sunpod metal halide fixture on my bc29. I dislike lids and canopy’s. 

Very true, but if I was getting a new tank and already knew I didn’t like the lids, I’d personally look at getting a tank that’s designed to be lidless from the get go. 

[Elizabeth94]

Btw- Regarding the whole acrylic back wall thing I mentioned. Getting scratches is def my fault/user error. You just have to be more careful thats all. I did like my Nuvo tanks that why I have multiple that are still sitting empty in my attic haha. 

[BeMoTo]

I like the 20gal waterbox.  I'm ok with making a few mods to the Biocube but if I have spend some money for new lights or chiller, I think I'd rather spend the money on a different tank from the get go.

 

What tanks should I look at that are sump ready.  I do have a sump or like the idea of making one. 

[Clown79]

I love my IM lagoon 25 & IM 20. I also had the IM 10. All 3 have been excellent tanks to run. 

[BeMoTo]

As of now I'm between the Waterbox 20 plus or the AquaTop 20/40.  My wife wasn't to excited about the stand that AquaTop has.  I would only get the stand if I got the 40.

 

 

[mitten_reef]

17 hours ago, BeMoTo said:

What kind of temperature do you get? Keeping better water control is my main goal this time around.  I'll be honest I didn't monitor temp very well last time.  

 

I'm from west Michigan and we still have some really hot days.  We do have A/C in our house. 

I’m in Lowell, MI.  I have my tank in the basement, no need for chiller. But my tank also has open top. I’d think if you run house AC, your tank would be fine in our weather. I have never had a closed top tank either though.