I can name 3 items:
1. Tunze Easy Care magnet. It's much easier to clean along the bottom at sand level without risk of scratching your tank. [Acrylic owners, still be careful!]
2. Hydor Smart Level Autotopoff: has 4 levels and warning beeper. Levels are: way low---low but ok; high; and overfill. Overfill and low both have beepers. Magnet holds it in place, clips to secure lines. Tolerance is about half an inch down before fill kicks on, but fine for my tank. Only caution would be very small tank where half an inch is significant; or a sump that gets a lot of handling, because a jostle could angle the sensor up or down and mess up the reading. As topoff systems go, this is inexpensive, easy to set up, and has a lot of nice features. Reset is fairly fast. And it warns you when you need to fill your reservoir or when your return pump is not pumping.
3. Gyre: I don't use the pulse function---(there is a caution for thin-walled tanks or tanks apt to bow, and though mine is not thin-walled, I figure it would add up to strain on the fan, anyway.) I figure just a good rolling circulation does a nice enough job. It does as advertised, blows straight out and the flow rolls through the rock caves and any spaces underneath, eliminating dead spots. I have bought four powerheads, two of which broke, and I have gotten rid of all of them in favor of this one fairly trim unit, mounted transversely an inch from the surface.
Anyway, those are my favorite adds to the tank, equipment-wise.
1. Tunze Easy Care magnet. It's much easier to clean along the bottom at sand level without risk of scratching your tank. [Acrylic owners, still be careful!]
2. Hydor Smart Level Autotopoff: has 4 levels and warning beeper. Levels are: way low---low but ok; high; and overfill. Overfill and low both have beepers. Magnet holds it in place, clips to secure lines. Tolerance is about half an inch down before fill kicks on, but fine for my tank. Only caution would be very small tank where half an inch is significant; or a sump that gets a lot of handling, because a jostle could angle the sensor up or down and mess up the reading. As topoff systems go, this is inexpensive, easy to set up, and has a lot of nice features. Reset is fairly fast. And it warns you when you need to fill your reservoir or when your return pump is not pumping.
3. Gyre: I don't use the pulse function---(there is a caution for thin-walled tanks or tanks apt to bow, and though mine is not thin-walled, I figure it would add up to strain on the fan, anyway.) I figure just a good rolling circulation does a nice enough job. It does as advertised, blows straight out and the flow rolls through the rock caves and any spaces underneath, eliminating dead spots. I have bought four powerheads, two of which broke, and I have gotten rid of all of them in favor of this one fairly trim unit, mounted transversely an inch from the surface.
Anyway, those are my favorite adds to the tank, equipment-wise.
