Happy New Year Everyone!
So for the past few months I have been smitten with the idea of building a reef tank. I keep going back and forth about how I want to put this tank together, but I have come up with a plan. I rent right now so my tank needs to be smaller as I cannot/don'twant to modify the house at all and it will ultimately result in moving the tank and I want no part in moving a large tank. I also want to keep it smaller so that I can somewhat limit how much money I can sink into this project lol. This has led me to the popular IM 25 lagoon. I like the depth to the tank and getting that top down view as well. I definitely want an Apex on the tank, I've watched hours of CJ's Aquariums, Mr. Saltwater Tank, BRStv, and CoralFish12g and they all speak glowingly of the controller, so if it's a big deal for them I guess it should be for me as well. This is about as far as I can go until I have some questions:
I am new to the hobby, obviously, and seeing all the different options for equipment, naturally my eye is drawn to all the fancy and high priced items. For the IM 25 lagoon where do I draw the line for overkill in lighting? I have been reading about the kessil ap700 as well as the radion xr30 pro gen 4, are these just too much light for a small tank? I don't want to be limited in the future for what I can grow, but if I can avoid shelling out a few hundred on lights that are too much it would help.
My ultimate goal is to create a 25 gallon "dream tank". I want it as reasonably low maintenance as possible, and I like all the bells and whistles, I just don't want to go too far into the deep end. So besides my lighting question above, what would you put into an IM 25 lagoon to give someone the best shot of seeing success as a beginner while giving them room to grow?
So for the past few months I have been smitten with the idea of building a reef tank. I keep going back and forth about how I want to put this tank together, but I have come up with a plan. I rent right now so my tank needs to be smaller as I cannot/don'twant to modify the house at all and it will ultimately result in moving the tank and I want no part in moving a large tank. I also want to keep it smaller so that I can somewhat limit how much money I can sink into this project lol. This has led me to the popular IM 25 lagoon. I like the depth to the tank and getting that top down view as well. I definitely want an Apex on the tank, I've watched hours of CJ's Aquariums, Mr. Saltwater Tank, BRStv, and CoralFish12g and they all speak glowingly of the controller, so if it's a big deal for them I guess it should be for me as well. This is about as far as I can go until I have some questions:
I am new to the hobby, obviously, and seeing all the different options for equipment, naturally my eye is drawn to all the fancy and high priced items. For the IM 25 lagoon where do I draw the line for overkill in lighting? I have been reading about the kessil ap700 as well as the radion xr30 pro gen 4, are these just too much light for a small tank? I don't want to be limited in the future for what I can grow, but if I can avoid shelling out a few hundred on lights that are too much it would help.
My ultimate goal is to create a 25 gallon "dream tank". I want it as reasonably low maintenance as possible, and I like all the bells and whistles, I just don't want to go too far into the deep end. So besides my lighting question above, what would you put into an IM 25 lagoon to give someone the best shot of seeing success as a beginner while giving them room to grow?