Plug and Play?

[kribbman]

Im guessing I already know the answer to my own question but here goes anyway!

Are the "Red Sea" aquariums ready to go? Do they contain everything I need for a decent Salt water system or Is there more to it. So far all of the "cubes" ive seen are at my LFS. and they look realy great but those guys have everything they need at the store.

Im talking as far as lights and filtration go. Are they enough to have corals and fish?

They seem like prety decent stand alone kits. but after browsing around here for a while I see how much time effort and $$$ you guys spend on equipment like sumps, calcium reactors, MH lights etc etc. Im thinking that theres a catch somewhere.

 

[pat8you]

Some additional equipment you many need

Test kits
Refractometer/hydrometer
Heater and thermometer
Live rock ~ 1-2 lbs per gallon
Pair of buckets and a siphon tube
possibly a QT set up

I may be forgetting some things but those are the ones off of the top of my head. Most of it isn't that expensive. The live rock can add up fast though. It is usually in the ball park of around 5-6$ per pound. A cheaper solution that takes longer to cycle is to get dry base rock.
As far as keeping corals and fish thats a complicated question. The live rock will provide most of your filtration and you will be fine with fish. As for corals that depends on what kind of corals you want to keep. Soft corals mushrooms and LPS corals will probably be ok with the lighting in some of them. If you want to keep SPS corals they are generally high light corals and you will be required to upgrade to the MH hoods that some nano cube companies offer. I strongly suggest doing a bunch of research and figuring out what kind of corals you would like to take on and then figure out what tank lights to buy from there. You will have to do frequent water changes (1 every week or two) in order to keep your water conditions up to the quality that keeps corals happy. Most fish are a bit more forgiving. Lots of water changes are the curse of nanos.

 

[roka64]

The issue you can run into is that if something breaks, you will have to buy the specefic part for that cube. I like to start from scratch and "custom" configure my tank. I have seen the Red Seas and I can definitely see their appeal. I would compare prices of that set up and one that you start from scratch and depending on your money situation, go from there....The initial set up can be expensive but the monthly maint is very low.