Need help with an older setup given to us

[Sk8r]

Most all-in-ones have all equipment including lights (choose a higher end light) pump, skimmer, heater, canopy, total 30 gallons, for around 300.00. You can resell those if you like the hobby. They do fine with a couple of clowns and a bubble tip anemone, and they also do nicely with a couple or 3 goby or blenny types (they get along) and some zoas or mushrooms. You still have the ato issue. But the canopy helps slow down evaporation, which is not important to softie corals or anemones. (It is, to stony coral.) Hope that helps.

 

[Dweezilz]

So I decided to abandon the idea of using the old setup. Just too many obstacles and too high a cost to sink into an old 75g. As luck would have it, I stumbled into a used Red Sea 250 for a reasonable price. It included a Seaside Aquatics skimmer and two Eheim 3000's. I managed to find a Hydra52 HD used at a good price too. Now...for whatever else I need. Is doing a refugium necessary? If not, then I need to get some filtration media to put in the sump (not sure what yet), heater, testing stuff, rodi unit, powerheads, etc... Not sure what else. I need to also clean the tank out. I was planning to run citric acid solution / water through it with the pumps and sump and let it clean out for a while to get the deposits off.

I've done lots of reading but any other good advice from here would be great and then I'll be off to the races with this!

 

[Dweezilz]

Oh, and also the Red Sea 250 didn't have the original AIO/tank so I'm going to buy a 5 gallon jug and then figure out which ATO device to buy. I can get the original red sea gravity one for $17 but I think I'd like something more reliable and safe. Not sure if there is anything between that and the Tunze 3155. Rather not spend $200 on that.

 

[Sk8r]

The Hydor units aren't totally bad but you would be replacing them as they break down, cost spread over time. I found they last about 2 years. Periodical vinegar-bathing the sensor unit and shedding accretion can prolong its life.

 

[Tcook]

I run the JBJ ato on my Nuvo 20 aio and it works great. Use it with the Neptune utility pump. I use the Tunze 3155 for my larger display.
The clear box is the siphon overflow box for the wetdry. Looks like the Gulf Stream i ran in the late 80's.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

[wsboyette]

If you do a fish-only with no live rock, you will most likely need to use that trickle filter as there will be no live rock in the tank to provide biological filtration.