What piece of equipment would you not purchase again?

[Sk8r]

kalk reactor with stirrer. It's enough to toss kalk into the topoff barrel and stir it once. I threw it away, much as it cost. I couldn't in good conscience palm that object off onto another reefer.

 

[cincyjim]

Bio-pellets. Never could get them to tumble no matter how big a pump I would put on the reactor.

Corallife skimmer... just awful IMO. Like Sk8r, I threw this in the dump, no way I could have pawned this off on someone and slept good at night.

 

[toothybugs]

Anything cheap:

- SeaClone skimmer (great to start learning with, but once you decide you hate the noise and want something that pulls more junk out, you grow out of it)

- DIRT CHEAP LIGHTING DEALS. Just no, ugh. They come in many flavors but they all end up bitter at some point.

- "$39.99 with free shipping" skimmers. I literally snorted as I typed that out, because, yes, once....

- Big-box clearance powerheads. I'd say they blow, but they didn't, so that was kind of inherently the problem.

And I'll probably never own another UV sterilizer again. Interesting story of how you "have to get this to fix your problem" when there are now much better, easier ways to take care of many of the issues it fixed.
-

 

[Isaacs55]

Good thing none of my equipment is on these lists yet...Lol
This should be a great thread for beginners like myself who have a hard time figuring out what and what not to buy for their first build. Thanks guys!! Keep em coming!! Great thread ZPak.

 

[kmbyrnes]

Any kind of 'reef supplement', 'special bacteria', etc etc

 

[scooter31707]

API testing kits.

 

[SparkyTuna]

Current USA Orbit Marine LED Aquarium Light..

 

[letoan]

My first box of salt.

 

[Roccus]

Marineland in sump skimmer....poor design... even poorer performance...

 

[JammyBirch]

API testing kits.

Good one...Me too... The accuracy and condition of the chemicals is questionable. My starter kit had bad Nitrite tests.

 

[digger4rc]

Koralias
-mount sucks
-impeller failures
-weak/narrow flow
-stiff power cable

Single Large Heater - should have bought two smaller ones

 

[digger4rc]

Current USA Orbit Marine LED Aquarium Light..

What are your complaints with it?

 

[SparkyTuna]

What are your complaints with it?

Just not enough light for my tank My lfs sold me the light saying we could grow anything under it. Found out I would have had to buy 2 more just to start getting enough light, rookie mistake. Plus the controller loves to set its own times to come on and off. This is the old unit, not the new one coming out now.

 

[digger4rc]

Just not enough light for my tank My lfs sold me the light saying we could grow anything under it. Found out I would have had to buy 2 more just to start getting enough light, rookie mistake. Plus the controller loves to set its own times to come on and off. This is the old unit, not the new one coming out now.

I have one as well. I went into it knowing that SPS wasn't really an option. Current even states that on their website. It does well on my 55g. Zoas, Palys, and LPS are doing well. The front-to-back spread is a bit narrow so I would not use it alone on a 75 or 90.

Did your controller have that issue from the start or did it develop over time? Mine has been fairly solid so far, but it is only a little over a year old.

 

[eddiereefs]

Red sea amino acids, cyano outbreak. I couldnt say i wasnt warned

 

[BigCountry74]

Chinese led boxes

 

[SparkyTuna]

Did your controller have that issue from the start or did it develop over time? Mine has been fairly solid so far, but it is only a little over a year old.

The controller was messing up when I first got it. Now I got the light on my salamander tank, and the controller has been perfect so far. Don't get me wrong, its a good light if used for what its intended for. I did not realize at the time that I could not grow sps under that light. Also, my tank is a cube, so the light spread was way to narrow, lots of dark areas.

 

[schatzi]

Marineland Maxi-Jet powerheads. short life, suck electricity, unreliable suction mounts

 

[NS Mike D]

1. This might be a little controversial but my skimmer is back in the box. I have a 29 gal nano with a large HOB refugium. I though my math was spot on, but it was too tall to fit I'm the refugium and there wasn't a discrete place for it in the tank.

I put it aside and decided to revisit the idea as the tank matured, but I'm in my fourth month and my numbers are spot on with the refugium and 5g weekly water changes.

2. My phosphate reactor has carbon in it since my phosphates have yet to test above zero.


3. Non-Programmable, non-dimmable LEDs. It would be nice to automate the sunrise and sunset features.

 

[lespaul339]

On my old 65 gallon tank I had Marineland Reef LED's. Complete junk! They had to replace my lights 3 times and every single one of them had the same problem and ended up failing.

Also, API test kits.