Top 5..or 10... MUST haves for a reef tank

[Bloodasp]

Fish tank, salt, water, stand, pumps, skimmer, light, pvc pipes, refractometer.

[kien]

1. A tank. Preferably one that can hold water.
2. Water.
3. Salt.
4. Fish.
5. Corals.

[no_bs]

A loving spouse, that is also as addicted.

[no_bs]

Oh yeah, SKIMMER, CONTROLLER, REACTORS, PATIENCE, AND A DEEP POCKET.

[ReefOcean]

Originally Posted by no_bs

A loving spouse, that is also as addicted.

When you first meet the love of you life, light 1000 dollars on fire in front of them. Consider it an investment in the future. Anything you do after that with money will pale in comparison to that night.

[lastlight]

Originally Posted by ReefOcean

When you first meet the love of you life, light 1000 dollars on fire in front of them. Consider it an investment in the future. Anything you do after that with money will pale in comparison to that night.

No chance that 1000 is enough lol =) Maybe light 1000 and spend 5 - 10 on a nice rock!

[molotov]

When people say skimmer I'm assuming they mean "Protein Skimmer"??!?!

Also people are suggesting:
1. ATO
2. Controller

Can't you do ATO with a Controller such as Neptune Apex Controller?

I am also new to this so I'm watching this thread as well.

[amoreira]

>Can't you do ATO with a Controller such as Neptune Apex Controller?

Yeah you can, but the Ozmolator has an optical level sensor that is very accurate and reliable. You have to keep it clean of garbage, but it's pretty robust. I only clean it once a month at most. It doesn't interface in any way with a controller, so you can't get alarms from it on your controller.

One other thing that I'd say you need is some 2-part alk/calcium/magnesium dosing system or a calcium reactor. This is absolutely needed to keep your water chemistry stable. Your corals won't like big swings in alk or Ca/Mg. Another thing is a phosban/GFO reactor and an accurate phosphate test kit (the only one is the Hanna phosphate checker). The phosphate kit will tell you when to change your GFO. GFO can be expensive. If you want to cut that cost, look into regenerating (http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2010/10/chemistry). Keeping your phosphates near zero will save you a lot of headaches with algae.

[bignose]

Top 5
1. Skimmer
2. Lighting
3. Media reactors
4. Powerheads
5. Sump to hide the equipment

Nice to have.
Controller
Dosing pump
ATO
RO/DI