This new tank is making me bite my nails.

[70Cuda]

So much to think about, its overwhelming. I have decided i like the LSP and going to build my tank around that. What draws me is that they seem to be hardier than SPS and be a little more colorful. Now where it getts difficult for me is what i need to purchase most for my system to make it work. Calcium reactor, ozonator, phos reactor ,ionizor , ato, kalk mixer.
what do i really need.

 

[seminolecpa]

I think what you really need to ask youreslf especially with some of the things you have on your list above are how much work do I want to do. The key elements for any reef tank are flow, lighting and water quality.

most benefits from a CA reactor can be had from simple 2/3 part dosing though clearly one is more time consuming and labor intensive then the other.
phos reactor- some people use them some don't a simple refugium may be all you need depending on your bioload and skimmer.
ozonator and ionizor- I don't personally know that many people that use them (not to say they might not be beneficial)
auto top off- again how often do you want to manually add water


The primary place I would spend the bulk of my budget aside from the tank itself would be on a good skimmer, pumps (tunze or vortechs), and lighting. The rest again is really a factor of how much manual labor you want to do. To some this can be the best/worst part of owning a tank.

 

[Elite]

I would spend more $$ on the flow, light and skimmer..

 

[MontanaBay]

Edit, pretty redundant to what Elite and Semi said, but they posted so quick!

1) How big is your system (sump?)
2) How willing are you to do consistent water changes?

I'm a big believer in minimal supplements if you can do consistent water changes (10-20% weekly). If you have a large system, getting all the bells and whistles might be a good idea, since doing a 10% water change becomes a lot more involved/costly. But if you can get fresh salt mix in your tank every week, LPS will be happy, especially if your mix has good # in Ca and Mg.

I just use IO, Ca in fresh mix comes in at ~400-420 on my tests and will drop to 380 by weeks end. Trying to keep it above 430 has been tough for me in balancing (keeping consistent) Ph and Alk.

I'd say skip the ozonator and concentrate on good water flow and oxygenation (skimmer or cascading water).

Phosphate reactor, skip it if you can do water changes, unless you like the smell of hydrogen sulphide

An ATO is nice if you have the space for one (I wish I had room for one more 5gal bucket!).

 

[70Cuda]

Lighting is 250 metal halides with 4 20k atinics and the really nice bar led moonlights im pretty sure im good there.
dual overflow built into the tank with a scwd in each overfill and two seios. The seios are zip tied to the returns to help with strong flow and the scwds are to keep from having dead spots and are located in the overflows to give a clean line. There are two 1500 but i have 2500 (i think its 2500 i cant remember and its covered in pink (need to clean it im sure lol) in my current tank that i might use instead. all my live rock and sand from the one i have running is going into the new tank. sump is 55 gal and there is a euro reef 125 in there. the calcuim reactor came with the tank im just debating if i want to hook it up looks complicated. I suppose i could run a fuge hadnt really thought of it. I would post pics if i knew how, not much of a computer person. Think all the questions were answered.

 

[70Cuda]

ahh the tank i have now is 100 gallons new tank same maybe a bit bigger ill post measurements when i find a tape measure. My eight year old had it last it could be anywhere. The tank i have up and running is maybe 12 deep by 7 long by 24 high the new tank is very different. New tank is probably 24deep by 5 long by 36 high. (these are est as i need to find that tape measure)