Pre-made "complete systems"

[msmith619]

I am thinking about my next tank. I am pretty sure it will be a seahorse/blennie/gobie/soft coral/zoas tank. I am considering some of the pre-made complete systems since this will be a smaller tank (30-60 gallons). I have read about Current's Solara system (34 gallon) , BioCube (34 gallon), and RedSea Max and have seen some flaming reviews from a few dissatisfied customers. Looking for better information. Long pre-amble for:
Who has one of these systems and how satisfied are you with it? Did you need to alter or modify it to fit your needs?
My alternative is to get a 55 gallon or a bow-front 45 gallon, drill it for reef-ready and build from scratch.
Mike

[Third Coast Tropical]

I dont think Biocube makes a 34 gal,it is a 29 gal......If you are only doing soft corals, the standard Biocube with no MH lights should work fine, and will be the least expensive.....good luck....

I have 3 biocubes, bought my 3rd just yesterday...I house my clown pairs in them...I love them all so far...the first one i have has my black saddlebacks in it and mushrooms, zoos, cup coral, cabbage coral, xenia, glove polyps..It is kicking b*utt!!!....I will probably pick-up a couple of Solanas (w/o stand or lights) in the near future for my larger species.....

Before i started getting the cubes (and actually I am still using it), i had a 75 gal standard partitioned into 3 sections keep my pairs separate.....while this worked, it wasnt designed that great, I need to re-vamp it...had water flow issues and never had spawns....so, i decided each paor was getting their own home....to me, amazingly, the maintenance on 3 cubes us far less than on one large system...Thats my 2 cents....good luck

[ACE]

Have you seen the Finnex?

[msmith619]

Have you seen the Finnex?

No. I didn't know about Finnex, will look it up.
Mike

[msmith619]

Looked it up and now it seems I have 4 choices: CAD signature, Finnex, RSM, and Biocube.
All have complete systems in the 29-39 gallon range.
Reviews seem to rate RSM as beautifull but needing to have it's innards replaced (protein skimmer, change the lights, add a power head)and the Finnex and CAD signature series being ugly but much better quality.
Anyone have these set ups and can give personal experience?
Mike

[Gseclipse02]

finnex build

http://maast.org/forums/showthread.php?t=34413

just ask sean he has had a million tanks it seems

[cbianco]

Anyone have these set ups and can give personal experience?

My Finnex 30

http://maast.org/forums/showthread.php?t=48448

[msmith619]

OK, Red Sea Max makes a 65 gallon now. I found one in San Antonio. Perfect size for a seahorse/softie/LPS tank. I have read some bad reviews of the RSM protein skimmer on hhr smaller model. Anyone have one or can tell me how good the 65 gallon system is? It has 6 T5 lights, good enough for LPS?
Mike

[Gseclipse02]

the lights wont be an issue ... we had a cheesey 6 bulb set up that had some crappy reflectors on 4 of the bulbs and 2 bulbs had real reflectors and sps was doing in good in my gf's 29g tank

[brewercm]

If I remember correctly it has a pretty basic reflector, I don't even rembember exactly but think it was straight without any kind of bends on it. If you wanted to look at one close up they had one Aquarium Designs off of 281 and Brook Hollow down here in San Antonio. Not too far of a drive for you, but be prepared for sticker shock on that thing.