New to reefing and need help!

Red Sea max 250 vs nuvo fusion 50 lagoon

  • Red Sea

    Votes: 5 100.0%
  • IM

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    5

Wmacintosh

New Member
I’m new to reefing as in just getting into the hobby and I have the choice between a Red Sea max 250 with upgraded leds to Vertex aquaristik illumilux 600 mbi or I could get an Inovative marine nuvo fusion 50 lagoon. Which is a better choice? They’re the same price.
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
The Red Sea max is slightly larger. Other than that I don't see much difference between them. On this forum, I'd say many more people have Red Sea systems, so more help may be available on those products here. If I were making the selection, I'd look at the availability of spare parts and what I would need to do to obtain them. Either system should work just fine, so no vote it the poll by me.

All that aside, before you spend any money, give a lot of thought to what you want to keep in the tank and the direction you want to tank the tank in. This is actually a lot more critical than the equipment selection.
 

Wmacintosh

New Member
The Red Sea max is slightly larger. Other than that I don't see much difference between them. On this forum, I'd say many more people have Red Sea systems, so more help may be available on those products here. If I were making the selection, I'd look at the availability of spare parts and what I would need to do to obtain them. Either system should work just fine, so no vote it the poll by me.

All that aside, before you spend any money, give a lot of thought to what you want to keep in the tank and the direction you want to tank the tank in. This is actually a lot more critical than the equipment selection.
Mostly sps corals and a pair of clowns. Maybe another fish or two. I like the look of the IM but extra water volume of the Red Sea would be nice. Aquascaping wise the IM looks better. Opinions?
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
If your new to reef systems, sps corals are probably not a good choice. They are much more demanding of water quality than most other corals. Yes, they can look fantastic, but they also can die off very easily if everything is not just right.

I recommend that you start off with soft corals and mayby some lps corals, both of which are much more forgiving.

As for clowns, they are a good fish, provided you can get high quality stock. Many today seem to be in fairly poor condition. What ever you do, avoid getting an anemone until your tank is well established and stable. This means a year with the tank running and no serious issues for about 6 months.

Don't be afraid to look into the many other fish available. Personally I think other fish are a lot more interesting than clowns. My favorites are a royal grama, spotted hawk, marine beta and various species of gobies.
 

Wmacintosh

New Member
If your new to reef systems, sps corals are probably not a good choice. They are much more demanding of water quality than most other corals. Yes, they can look fantastic, but they also can die off very easily if everything is not just right.

I recommend that you start off with soft corals and mayby some lps corals, both of which are much more forgiving.

As for clowns, they are a good fish, provided you can get high quality stock. Many today seem to be in fairly poor condition. What ever you do, avoid getting an anemone until your tank is well established and stable. This means a year with the tank running and no serious issues for about 6 months.

Don't be afraid to look into the many other fish available. Personally I think other fish are a lot more interesting than clowns. My favorites are a royal grama, spotted hawk, marine beta and various species of gobies.
My apologies, I meant soft corals haha. Wasn’t planning an anemone unless paternities down the road I get better at keeping, the same thing goes for mandarin gobies (my fav) the clowns are just because I like black and white ones. Gobies are def a good choice. I just wasn’t sure the longevity of the Red Sea tank as it’s already dated. The IM is brand new with stand and seems easier to add a refuge (for the mandarin much later down the road)
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
If your going to add a refugium, make sure you add something large enough to really do some good. Most of these small, 5 gal or less, hang on the tank, refugiums fall more into the category of toys, and don't really do much in the way of pod production, or nitrate removal by growing macro algae.

Consider something about 1/4 to 1/3 the size of the main display tank for ideal results, although something a bit smaller would work.

That being said, the tank size your planning, even without a refugium, should be large enough to support a mandarin, provided you don't have any other heavy pod feeders such as wrasses.
 

Wmacintosh

New Member
If your going to add a refugium, make sure you add something large enough to really do some good. Most of these small, 5 gal or less, hang on the tank, refugiums fall more into the category of toys, and don't really do much in the way of pod production, or nitrate removal by growing macro algae.

Consider something about 1/4 to 1/3 the size of the main display tank for ideal results, although something a bit smaller would work.

That being said, the tank size your planning, even without a refugium, should be large enough to support a mandarin, provided you don't have any other heavy pod feeders such as wrasses.
No wrasse planned. I’ve seen a few refugium setups with the RSM. Def something I plan on doing
 
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