valoraquatics
New Member
Hi all, Our Magus Curve 7 Elite went out on our 120G this morning, and we need a good replacement. After searching high and low on these forums and Google in general, I decided it was probably easier to just post here what exactly I'm looking for.
Hard Requirements:
- Heavy bioload for 120G (going off what seems to be a lite, medium, heavy rating on BRS)
- Height isn't an issue, but width no bigger than 8"-9"
- Durable
Like To Have Requirements:
- Integrates with Apex or Red Sea
- Cup sensor
- Easy maintenance
Price Point: I want to say as low a price point as we can get, but we are currently looking at around $450 or less...maybe flex up to $500. Obviously, this thread is to determine if we are even in the right range, so we understand we may have to flex even further above that, but we want to start within our range first.
Previous Research:
- We looked at the Red Sea, and there were a lot of comments about it feeling flimsy or cheaply made. Not to mention, it also seems to require an additional controller to use it. It would've been nice since we have the Dose4...that was the only reason because we run an Ecotech Vectra return pump
- Bubble Magus: This was a used one, but it seems many people have the same issue we have. After a week of running it, it started throwing our breaker every time we plugged it in.
- Octo: We like the Octo, but the price point was too high for us to align both the width and bioload requirements.
- Tunze: We have the Tunze ATO, so we figured, "Why not?" but width and bioload requirements kept pushing us out of the brand.
- Royal: Just way too pricey
Ultra Reef, Maxspect, Nyos, Simplicity, IceCap: We saw these on the BRS website but couldn't determine their quality (brand quality). As such, we didn't examine the options that might meet our requirements and what price point they fell into because those things pale in comparison if we get a bad brand.
In short, we understand it might be better to spend $700 now vs $400 now and another $400 in a short time because we bought a crap brand that goes out on us.
Hard Requirements:
- Heavy bioload for 120G (going off what seems to be a lite, medium, heavy rating on BRS)
- Height isn't an issue, but width no bigger than 8"-9"
- Durable
Like To Have Requirements:
- Integrates with Apex or Red Sea
- Cup sensor
- Easy maintenance
Price Point: I want to say as low a price point as we can get, but we are currently looking at around $450 or less...maybe flex up to $500. Obviously, this thread is to determine if we are even in the right range, so we understand we may have to flex even further above that, but we want to start within our range first.
Previous Research:
- We looked at the Red Sea, and there were a lot of comments about it feeling flimsy or cheaply made. Not to mention, it also seems to require an additional controller to use it. It would've been nice since we have the Dose4...that was the only reason because we run an Ecotech Vectra return pump
- Bubble Magus: This was a used one, but it seems many people have the same issue we have. After a week of running it, it started throwing our breaker every time we plugged it in.
- Octo: We like the Octo, but the price point was too high for us to align both the width and bioload requirements.
- Tunze: We have the Tunze ATO, so we figured, "Why not?" but width and bioload requirements kept pushing us out of the brand.
- Royal: Just way too pricey
Ultra Reef, Maxspect, Nyos, Simplicity, IceCap: We saw these on the BRS website but couldn't determine their quality (brand quality). As such, we didn't examine the options that might meet our requirements and what price point they fell into because those things pale in comparison if we get a bad brand.
In short, we understand it might be better to spend $700 now vs $400 now and another $400 in a short time because we bought a crap brand that goes out on us.
