1st saltwater tank.

I used a Seaclone 100 for years. They do suck, but they are not a bad starter skimmer if your watching your dollars or need to spend them elsewhere in your tank, like live rock. Especially if your like me and add fish very slowly and you have a low bio load for a while. Micro bubbles in the tank will be a problem though.

I upgraded to the Aquamaxx HOB-1 with the bubble stopper. It's rated for a 75g, so it may be a little underpowered for your tank. I love the crap out of mine though.

And just to be clear, I am not endorsing the Seaclone. They will do the job, but are horrible in every other way.
 
I am running a reef with a hob reef octopus. It is very quite and does a great job. I am very happy with it. I would not use the seaclone. I am running a fluval fx6 on a 125 gallon with live rock and no sand.
 
Negative on the corallife spend the extra money now or you'll just be spending more in a couple months, can't go wrong with a reef octopus


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I have a coralife sitting in my garage supply box. I took it off of my other tank when i upgraded to 75 gallon. It does work but there is a thing to consider. The pump goes into your display tank. You may not realize that if you never had one. I didn't realize that when i bought it.
 
Jeez this skimmer, ok so can I get like a list of a few choices that are hob, QUIET, and cost around 200ish? Not sure what you guys want me to spend, but above 250 is pushing it. I super appreciate all the comments and experiences, so thank you.
 
Last edited:
From someone who is pretty much starting from scratch this all seems so daunting. My advice is take your time. I have been researching, purchasing items and building things for the last 6 months. I finally plan on adding tap water next week just to get a feel for how my Profilux operates the lights, pump, powerheads, etc... After stalking (lol) this sight for a long time the 1 thing that EVERYONE can agree on is that this takes time to get a properly established tank. I'm hoping to finally get RODI water in and start to cycle by mid July and possibly get a fish in sometime in September. Even with all my research the chemistry side scares the living crap outta me. Good luck and enjoy the ride!!
 
fenrizwolf said:
I must say I am beyond amazed at the astronomical costs associated with a marine tank. It's starting to stress me out. I appreciate all the help and comments.
So i have heater, tank, powerheads filters, my next steps are to get aragonite sand, salt, skimmer, and a hydrometer. I think I need about 80 lbs of sand.
Next phase would be live rock, led lights, fish.
Click to expand...

Not a Hobby for one on a budget. The expenses seem to never end. I had Frontosas for many years and there's no comparison with overall cost of care. If you stay with FOWLR it won't be too bad. Adding any corals will be the deciding factor. We had a mixed reef for years and eventually had a temperature related crash. Just got out.
 
By the way, for sand, Doctor foster and smith has sand for cheaper than Amazon. I got 80 pounds for under $70
 
fishchef said:
Not a Hobby for one on a budget. The expenses seem to never end. I had Frontosas for many years and there's no comparison with overall cost of care. If you stay with FOWLR it won't be too bad. Adding any corals will be the deciding factor. We had a mixed reef for years and eventually had a temperature related crash. Just got out.
Click to expand...

I don't know. You can do it on a budget. You just can't start off with all the best stuff. I started this tank with a Seaclone skimmer, $175.00 Marineland LED, and Aqueon powerheads. That got water in my tank. Of course I've replaced all of these, but over a period of two years.
 
Sorry. I haven't used that one. It's strange that the size you posted is the only Reef Octopus with the pump in the tank. I wonder why that is.
 
Ok so reef octopus classic 90 it is.

Sand and refractometer ordered, skimmer will be ordered. Returning seaclone to chewy.com, returns are free with shipping paid fyi. Going to buy salt from lfs, and get live rock from the 1 hour away fish store. Last thing to get will be some led lighting. Do I need that saltwater test kit or get that down the line if I run into issues?
 
Pigpen17 said:
I don't know. You can do it on a budget. You just can't start off with all the best stuff. I started this tank with a Seaclone skimmer, $175.00 Marineland LED, and Aqueon powerheads. That got water in my tank. Of course I've replaced all of these, but over a period of two years.
Click to expand...

One of the many warnings. Don't go cheap.
 
So we called chewy.com to iniate return and they told us to keep it and they'd credit our card. Lol.

Still buying reef octopus tho.
 
fenrizwolf said:
So we called chewy.com to iniate return and they told us to keep it and they'd credit our card. Lol.

Still buying reef octopus tho.
Click to expand...
Haha! Even they don't want one.

fishchef said:
One of the many warnings. Don't go cheap.
Click to expand...

Oh course. If you can. But you can start a tank without going crazy. I always thought of it as the sooner you can get water in your tank the better, and the longer it runs, even if empty, the better.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

N
Saltwater cycle possible stuck
2
Replies
26
Views
7K
Guygettnby
Guygettnby
L
10g saltwater tank
Replies
0
Views
99
Llama 72
L
E
Setting up 10g quarantine tank
Replies
9
Views
280
Dr. Reef
Dr. Reef
S
Tank is not cycling
2 3
Replies
44
Views
510
wvned
wvned
P
Considering saltwater
2
Replies
28
Views
3K
Patscom4
P
Back
Top