Your ideal setup

[Kave_art_man]

Ok so after stepping into the aquascaping hooby / addiction at the start of the year, I’m now looking to get my next tank and was wondering if you could have your pick of gear what would your ideal setup be.

So for this I would like your suggestions in the form of (1) money no option, then (2) next level down so a decent amount and then a (3) budget one.

So if you could include
Tank
Cabinet
Filter
Light
Co2 regulator if any

Just using this to brainstorming my next purchases 😀

 

[Wolf6]

Tank and cabinet I splurged on a red sea reefer set and I love it. Silent sump, no visible plumbing, great build quality. Can definitely recommend. No idea about one step down.
With the sump I could fully customise everything and do the co2 injection in the sump as well.
Light I went medium budget with chihiros wrgb2 which is allright but would be a 2 option compared to other options I think.
Co2 regulator I went for the co2 art top model.

 

[Angus]

Personally? i'm going to answer the budget option question as that's the type of hobbyist i am...

Tank: 2nd hand Aquarist classifieds, ebay, gumtree.
Cabinet: DIY or get one with the 2nd hand tank.
Filter: Tetratec, Jbl or Eheim external, or hamburgmattenfilter with moss/rheophytes (still want to do one of these myself).
Light: NICREW programmable lights look good for how much they cost, i have used 2nd hand chihiros, couple generic light bars 30w LED spotlights, arcadia t5 luminaires and t5 compacts, all work.
Co2 regulator: Low Tech! surface agitation to increase gaseous exchange and promote a less exhaustible source of co2.
Fertilizer: Mix your own.

Hardscape: You get what you pay for.

Cheers

 

[MichaelJ]

Ok so after stepping into the aquascaping hooby / addiction at the start of the year, I’m now looking to get my next tank and was wondering if you could have your pick of gear what would your ideal setup be.

So for this I would like your suggestions in the form of (1) money no option, then (2) next level down so a decent amount and then a (3) budget one.

So if you could include
Tank
Cabinet
Filter
Light
Co2 regulator if any

Just using this to brainstorming my next purchases 😀

Hard to say The driving factor of cost is going to be the tank size... Decide on your tank size and make the calculation from there. You do not want to compromise on filtration and heating obviously - not to mention the cabinet you put the tank on. With light you don't have to spend a ton to get something decent with a build-in timer and dimmable (highly recommended, if not mandatory). And you want to plant big from the outset... Also, consider if you really need CO2 (assuming you haven't done it before...) - If you need very fast growth and a larger variety of more challenging plants to choose from CO2 is totally fine and often a must... If you go down the CO2 route, be prepared to spend some real money on regulators, extra circulation etc. High tech is much less forgiven in that respect. If you're fine with easy plants and slower growth, and dare I say it, a more robust and steady ecosystem, you can take the CO2 complexities and sometimes very steep learning curve out of the equation. When you master the low-tech you can always re-scape and take it to the next level if you want the aforementioned benefits of CO2... A lot of us around here never felt compelled to take that step.

Welcome to UKAPS!

Cheers,
Michael

 

[Djoko Sauza]

Hardscape: You get what you pay for.

Not true. If you collect your own you pay nothing but still have some hardscape??

On a more serious note, collecting the hardscape is not always easy but you inevitably end up with unique materials which can be quite refreshing.
Some very good examples from recent times.

And besides, it's free!

 

[Angus]

Not true. If you collect your own you pay nothing but still have some hardscape??

On a more serious note, collecting the hardscape is not always easy but you inevitably end up with unique materials which can be quite refreshing.
Some very good examples from recent times.

And besides, it's free!

Where i live... not great options to be honest... i can collect some nice wood and stuff but finding rocks with real structure and character that aren't reactive is definitely an art form in itself...

 

[PARAGUAY]

Everything is budget and besides paying for the best healthy plants, dont mind going more expensive there, as with fish. The part of the question money no object l go everything ADA , just to see what all the fuss is about🤣 End of the day you can have a successful planted aquarium with limited funds

 

[Angus]

Everything is budget and besides paying for the best healthy plants, dont mind going more expensive there, as with fish. The part of the question money no object l go everything ADA , just to see what all the fuss is about🤣 End of the day you can have a successful planted aquarium with limited funds

i have witnessed a few full ADA setups in person, nothing compares for clean simplicity and ergonomics, i would just have to save for a year or take out a new credit card to afford it though, like my friend Napoleon from here says.... if he didn't buy ADA, certain substances would be a cheaper hobby...

 

[Matti]

For me finding a cabinet is the biggest problem. This is a personal issue, but most of the cabinets on the market just look cheap, over designed, heavy or just ugly. The problem with aquariums are that they are heavy, even a small nano is easily 60kg or more and most cabinets on the market make them feel even more massive. And ordinary tables or IKEA-stands just cannot handle the weight. The ADA-style cabinets are ok, but not really my style been too sleek. The only cabinets that come close what I have in mind are the Woody -cabinets by Wio, they have the right feeling of an aquarium cabinet i like.

 

[Kave_art_man]

Thanks for all the replies so far
I’ll tell you a little bit about the tank and set up I have already at the moment.
First off it all started when visiting a garden centre in Enfield and they just so happened to have a Maidenhead aquatics inside the store. That’s when my girlfriend suggested we should get a tank, now at this time my knowledge was on everything aquatics was zero. Gave it a couple of months of research, mainly YouTube and forums, and here was a big help. Got to say I knew I was hooked after seeing my first few videos on aquascaping. Since getting into gardening a few years earlier the idea of having a garden inside my home appealed greatly, it actually wasn’t until later on I realised I enjoyed the fish as much as the aquascape aspect.

Ended up going with the oase style line 125 with oase thermo 200 external filter and no co2

 

[Kave_art_man]

For my next tank looking at getting a 90p
Been seduced by the dd aquauscaper but still open to other options
The thing with the dd aquascaper it seems to be a good deal for the size and quality.
Like the idea of a Ada tank but the cabinets seems too expensive for what it is

 

[Kave_art_man]

Here’s a photo of my scape at the moment