Since it appears others are in the same boat as me about an all-in-one tank selection, I thought I'd share some of the +/- of the tanks I've been comparing (lots of wasted life on the internet
). The 3 I really considered were the Red Sea Max, the Current Solana, and the JBJ Nanocube 29 HQI. I'm likely to choose the JBJ.
Red Sea MAX Reef (Best price I found $739 for tank and stand internet)
+ Has heater included and place for chiller in back housing
+ Has 24-hour timer
+ Good stand
+ 5 gallon filter volume (aquarium itself is only 29)
- Pricey
- Only 110 watts of PC/T5 lighting (roughly 3.9 w/gal)
- In my area LFS's, Red Sea not supported as much as the other brands
Current Solana (Best price $799 for tank and stand internet)
+ Most attractive tank IMO
+ 150 Halide pendant lighting (but my local LFS doesn't really like it, 5.2 w/gal)
+ Pendant lighting keeps temps lower
+ Water recharge system (but bottles very small)
- Pricey
- No hood
- No built in heater location or chiller location
- No night light system
JBJ Nanocube 29 HQI (Best price $500 tank and stand at a store)
+ Cheapest of the 3 I like
+ 150 Halide lighting (5.2 w/gal)
+ Supported at every LFS I visited
+ Available stand designed for add-on chiller
+ I can get it reasonable at my local LFS instead of online. I feel it's better to support the little guy if possible since they provide most of the info I will need down the road.
- The hooded lighting system has some heat issues to some owners
- I will likely need the chiller so add significant $$$
Again, I can't vouch for the 100% accuracy of my list but it's close at least. Since I can get the JBJ local and it's halide lighting, I'm 99% sure it's my choice. I'm not sure I want hard corals yet, but if I decide I do I won't be limited due to lighting.