Help me wisely spend my next $200-$500... opinions please.

[Fuel1976]

Two cents.... ATO worth it. Consistent salinity and easier for u.

 

[rrbigdog]

Get a controller first. Can do ato, kalk with ph monitoring and integrate powerhead control. If you are handy with diy electronics build d0ughb0y diy controller. Built one for my frag tank. It's a great diy build.

 

[Ep3n3wp]

Try and find an Apex Jr(with out the display and use apex new software called "Fusion") (4 outlets) should be somewhere around $150+-, and then in future you can buy more outlets(Energy Bars) or modules then buy a Jbj ATO... Shouldn't be more than 75 bucks(there's one in my local forum for 50 bucks right now) for the Ato system and add a toms aqualifter(10 bucks) to pump the water. That would put you at 300 bucks leaving 200 for whatever you want... Then I'd say get a nice lighting system for the tank.

Look up odyssea T5/Metal halide fixture. Right now they have a 24" 4 bulb T5 and 1 250watt metal halide with moon lights for 130 brand new!!

Now you got 70 bucks left... Go buy some corals with the rest

Pm me of you want any help or info on what I've mentioned

 

[Ep3n3wp]

Try and find an Apex Jr(with out display) should be somewhere around t 150+- then buy a Jbj ATO... Shouldn't be more than 75 bucks(there's one in my local forum for 50 bucks right now) for the Ato system and add a toms aqualifter(10 bucks) to pump the water. That would put you at 300 bucks leaving 200 for whatever you want... Then I'd say get a nice lighting system for the tank.

Look up odyssea T5/Metal halide fixture. Right now they have a 24" 4 bulb T5 and 1 250watt metal halide with moon lights for 130 brand new!!

They also have a 36" 4 bulb T5 with 250watt metal halide with moon lights for 170

 

[DrBoxedWine]

Ato and controller will transfer no problem to a bigger tank... You're gonna want an ATO for sure once you have a bigger one (tho you'd probably appreciate it a lot now, as well). Lights may transfer if you just buy additional of the same kind. But an ato and controller will 100% transfer no problems at all.

 

[MrCaveman]

I'd go with an apex give your tank redundancy and safety plus some other cool features. It's invaluable and it will be good to have if you upgrade tanks in the future.

 

[Ep3n3wp]

@noj3333 did you get my pm?

 

[NaturalReef]

I agree with everyone else here on the Apex suggestion, but I would go for the new apex which you can get the basic setup for under $200 and add from there as funds allow. Trust me, once you hook up the apex with fusion software...I imagine only crack would be more addictive. I control my hydra 52 with the awm module and my vortech with the wxm module and those two alone have made a change in my tank as far as PE on my corals. When I'm on the road, nothing and I mean nothing beats having the peace of mind with a quick glance of your tank parameters. Fusion is super easy to setup alarms, graphs etc...as you can tell, " I'm all caught up in the game" . Good luck with your decision..

 

[F4talreeefer]

I would have to vote controller for all the reasons mentioned above.. It's so versitle, solves multiple problems, and designing your next tanks set up and equipment around the controller will make your life much easier in the long run. Auto water changes, top offs, monitoring parameters, dosing, ect.