Hello! New Oakland reefer here! Finally decided to take the plunge and purchased an IM Fusion Pro 2, 40 gal (not the long) AIO with APS pedestal. I used to keep cichlids decades ago but have been away from the aquarium hobby for some time. My vision/goal for this tank is a garden of BTA's with a pair of ocellaris clowns (not expecting/caring if they host). That's it, not really interested in anything else in terms of livestock. Have always been fascinated with anemones. Hoping this will be a relatively low bio load and not super maintenance intensive tank once established. Doing some research, I'm finding anemones like stability so was planning on running this tank as essentially a FOWLR with the clowns for the first 6 months before introducing some BTA's (rose). Was hoping to get some feedback/ recommendations on my setup and plans. Looking at AI Prime 16 light or Nicrew Hyperreef Gen 2 for light. Jecod DMP-20 powerhead for circulation. BRS brand RODI filter and titanium heater and temp controller. Caribsea LifeRock and Arag Alive sand. I'm not married to any of these just looking for recommendations on the essentials that won't break the bank. Grateful for any recommendations or advice! Thanks!!
First Build IM Fusion 40 AIO Advice
- Thread starter kntclew
- Start date
Welcome! It sounds like you’ve done a good amount of research on your own, and have chosen some solid equipment. Budget for an ATO as well, and otherwise it sounds like you’ve got a great plan in place. Make sure to remember an anemone guard for the powerhead when the time comes.
MichaelB
Supporting Member
Hi welcome, +1 definitely nem gaurds vital for nems.
I have this one from Amazon below + link in one of my tanks no issues with it so far. If I'm being honest each of my tanks has a different one.
The one below is decent quality for a nem tank. To be clear there are much better and more expensive ones. There are also cheaper ones. I personally balance out cost with effectiveness.
I won't risk cheaping out to the point of having something that may fail, flood my house, over fill my tank with rodi water risking crashing my tank.
I also Don’t personally need one that will send text messages and alerts to my phone from anywhere in the world.
All that said to show there is a vast range of quality and costs. So at the end of the day it will mostly come down to your budget and what you want it to do. The one below would work well and do the intended task. Yet there are much better ones around the $100-$150 range. By better I mean compare reboks to nike shoes?Both works just comes down to your preference.
Now the $10 no name Walmart shoes may work as well but you don't wanna get a ato that you will worry about breaking the next day or catching on fire jk.
MagTool Optical Sensor AUTO TOP Off(ATO) with Upgraded QST Tech and Smart ETFT Algorithm for Both Fresh and Reef Tanks(MT-LITE) https://a.co/d/25OUMuc
Welcome best advice I can give you is become a supporting member. Then read read read ask questions, attend our events. Read some more. Ask more questions. Go slow.
Much appreciated thank you for the recs and advice!
BlueSallymandr
Supporting Member
Hi! I'm a beginner from Oakland too, and set up a similar tank recently. I'm running a Tunze Osmolator Nano ATO on my tank, and so far I have no complaints, but I haven't run any other brands to compare with. If you do decide to go with a protein skimmer (which I'm not sure that you will need given your low bioload, but others can chime in), I found that the Tunze Comline DOC Protein Skimmer 9001 fits in the back compartment of that AIO tank. I have no complaints about it so far, and I've read bad things about the protein skimmer that IM sells (no personal experience though).
Good luck!
Good luck!