Do I really need to buy?

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by jazzywashbuckler

Lol them LFS guy eh . I mean what maintenance is a must every month, because people are saying u need to does this dose that, add this add that. This is a very confusing hobby lol.

Yes, you may have to dose this and that, depending on lots of things. You can dose manually, or buy a doser, or a Ca reactor, or a kalk reactor.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by jazzywashbuckler

Are hang on overflows safe?

Mostly

[gobytron]

Originally Posted by jazzywashbuckler

Are hang on overflows safe?

Good ones are.

Lifereef are the cream of the crop.

DO NOT get a cpr or anything that relies on a pump to restart siphon.

With proper design, set up and flow, hang on overflows are just as reliable as drilled aquarium overflows are.

[The Codfather]

Originally Posted by jazzywashbuckler

Are hang on overflows safe?

I used one for years, this however requires a maintainance schedule. If it fails, a potentially bad thing can happen.

[gobytron]

Originally Posted by jazzywashbuckler

Lol them LFS guy eh . I mean what maintenance is a must every month, because people are saying u need to does this dose that, add this add that. This is a very confusing hobby lol.

To start, water changes should really be it.

if you start to keep some corals, you may find you need to start dosing this or that.

Lots of beautiful tanks out there with no dosing what so ever.

[The Codfather]

I might add that there are several nice tanks that are skimmerless as well.

[Animal-Chin]

If all you are going to have is fish and some soft coral you don't need any type of dosing or reacting at all. Out of that list the only thin I wouldn't live without is and auto top off. They are $100 and you don't have to worry about evaporation. My 125 gallon tank goes through 2 gallons of water a day, I don't want to have to worry about that. I go away a lot too, its nice to put down 15 gallons of fresh water and take off and not have to worry.

[Ginu]

I honestly think it depends on husbandry and time invested...

In Alberta I would strongly suggest using RO/DI water as the water is not the greatest over there... In Vancouver the water is actually quite good although you never know when the city cleans the water and with what.

Ato - is it necessary? Not really but then that adds to the husbandry of the tank (manual topoffs). For example, I hated doing water changes so I added a Apex DoS pump and it automatically changes 10g of water per week..

Apex - is it necessary? not really but then you need to manually monitor turn on/off when needed. BRS has a really good vid on controllers and why you want one; watch it and if any of it is relevant to what you need, then you need a controller of some sort. I killed all the fish in a tank due to a heater failure before, so a controller became mandatory after that...

Do you need media reactors? - depends on how you plan on removing Nitrates/Phosphates

Do you need a dosing pump - not really but then be prepared to dose Alk/CA every day to keep the parameters up all depending on what you stock in the tank and the growth of coraline algae... Also its not recommended dosing Alk buffers all at once as it can cause major swings and precipitation... for example my system is 6 months old now and I dose 82ml of Alk and Ca solution every day... I'd be killing the tank if i dosed 80ml of soda ash all at once...

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by Animal-Chin

If all you are going to have is fish and some soft coral you don't need any type of dosing or reacting at all. Out of that list the only thin I wouldn't live without is and auto top off. They are $100 and you don't have to worry about evaporation. My 125 gallon tank goes through 2 gallons of water a day, I don't want to have to worry about that. I go away a lot too, its nice to put down 15 gallons of fresh water and take off and not have to worry.

I would argue that , coraline algae if enough of it can drop a dKH a day or more it consumes as much as hard corals do , and alot of people run carbon or gfo in a softie tank while yes you can certainly be more sparse on it you still don't want nutrient problems , a fowlr should be treated the same as a reef it's needs are pretty much identical

[Ginu]

Also I totally forgot to add, but the most important factor is what are you looking to stock the tank with?

Fish and rock only?
Softie tank
LPS tank
Mixed reef
SPS tank

Depending on what you stock the tank with, you will need a very constant level of stability, especially for SPS