First Setup

[jasonamyers]

Hello everyone,
I'm so happy this community exists! I'm working on selecting my first tank now, and I've been looking at the Red Sea Max E 170. It seemed like a beginner friendly way to start, and possibly expand a bit later with the optional sump. However, I'm working if I will be able to grow any corals I want to in that tank, or if I should be looking at another system. I'm gonna focus on a reef tank with just a other things like clownfish, an urchin, maybe a goby and cleaners. I'd love some opinions on the tank. I did some searching and didn't see a ton about that tank in other posts.

Cheers,
Jason

 

[CafeReef]

The red sea max systems are very nice. They are very friendly PnP (plug and play) systems. My one recommendation would be to go with the 250 series if you are set on the Red Sea max systems. This is simply from a volume perspective, it will be much easier to maintain (more volume, the more stable and easier it is to keep), this will also open you up livestock wise a bit allowing for some more options for fish and inhabitants.

http://www.scaquariums.com/

SC Aquariums also makes some outstanding systems that will be PnP with everything except for a light. if you call them, Steve can potentially build you a system at a discounted price that would be plug and play with a sump giving you more volume, including a light, wave maker, skimmer, return pump etc. The cost would be very similar to the Red Sea max and would get you a star fire rimless system with a sump. Free shipping to boot. There are a lot of people on this forum (myself included) that are extremely happy with our SCA setups, check out the SCA owners thread). IMO, they are the best plug and play systems on the market and the customer service is spot on.