Originally Posted by
crustaceon
I don’t think you truly “need” anything aside from the basics. Many people will tell you to get the apex and trident setup in order to prevent catastrophe, but what happens when the apex or trident units fail? It’s an added layer of complexity that personally, I would never fully trust. The expenditure certainly doesn’t guarantee a lower chance of failure. What I would go for though are systems and methods that are simple and redundant. An example would be using a dosing pump and keeping the additive bottles below water level to prevent siphoning in case of dosing head failure. Maybe go with a lower dose through that system and back it up with lightly saturated kalk in your ato, so if one dosing method kicks the bucket, the tank is still getting dosed through the other method at a lower, but coral-saving level. Maybe for nutrient export, run chaeto with two bulbs in case one burns out, or a combination of chaeto and a skimmer. Go with two small return pumps instead of one, etc. IMO a tank with a bunch of Radion xr30 g5’s, four ecotech mp40’s, a full apex system with doser and a triton auto tester isn’t inherently going to be a better or easier to keep system than a basic tank with a six bulb t5ho fixture, lots of hydor koralias, a trash can full of kalk solution on a timer + aqualifter and occasional manual testing. I honestly would rather have the cheaper setup and spend the money saved on fish and frags. The aesthetic inside of the tank is always going to be my priority over the aesthetic outside of the tank or showing off pricey toys to my fiancée and her friends who couldn’t care less about my weird hobby but does like the looks of my pretty “tree-looking rocks”. SMH.
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