What do you think about this tank?

d2mini

Reef enthusiast
Hi, I used to have a 150 gallon saltwater aquarium with the whole shebang. bio-sump, chiller, custom hood with metal halide and cf lighting, etc. I sold it all to fund some digital photography equipment. Now that that "hobby" is supporting itself I thought maybe I'd get my feet wet again with saltwater aquaria but at a much smaller scale, at least for now.

Back in early 2003 (or maybe even 2002), I won a door prize at my local shop. The prize was a ViaAqua AR-620 hood/pump on an Atman CR-620 tank. It's an acrylic tank with the integrated pump and bio-filter similar to those Eclipse systems you find in pet stores. I never did anything with it and it still has the shrinkwrap. I did a google search and any info on this tank is very hard to come by. Do you think I can do anything with this tank? I'd be interested in using it for live rock, live sand, some corals and a couple fish. More of a nano reef I guess. Anything I should be aware of? Should I run far far away? Not only am I not familiar with this tank, but I was used to a much larger system set up with higher end equipment. And this was several years ago so it's all a bit foggy to me. Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks!
 
First off,Welcome to the reef.
I'm not dont know anything about those ViaAqua systems,so cant be much help there.
 
Thanks for the welcome. :)

What can you tell me about using this TYPE of tank? I don't have any paperwork for it but it has the pump on one side, in the middle is a compartment that holds a thick piece of filter material and some plastic grates, the next compartment has some ceramic-like little noodles and a piece of thin filter material and then the water exit on the other end. This is all self contained behind the hood. It looks like a second hood behind the main hood. The main hood in front has two 20" compact florescent tubes.

I'm trying to figure out if this is worth using and if it might save me some cash and make it easier to get back into the hobby since I already have it and it was free. I thought about setting up a fresh water aquarium but I always liked how self sufficient my saltwater tank was. The thought of having to do all those water changes, vacuuming gravel, and looking at plastic plants is not appealing. lol

TIA!
 
It looks like a decent tank, the lighting unit that it came with sucks and will need to upgraded to be able to keep corals, but a T5 fixture or a Metal Halide pendant would take care of that. Pretty nice little system for a freebie, I like it. It looks like there are upgrades available from them so your on your way.
 
You can definitely work with that tank. It sounds to me like it's a pretty standard nano setup.

The ceramic filter noodles should be removed, as they can lead to high nitrates if you are not diligent about keeping them very clean (which most people aren't). In that section, you are better off putting live rock rubble instead.
 
I'm not familiar with T5 fixtures. Are those new over the past 5 years or so?
Would those let me keep a nice self contained look to the tank? I've never been a fan of those hanging mh pendants from an aesthetic point of view. My last tank had a nice tall custom hood that hid the mh's from view.

Oh, and I just found more info... a pdf instruction manual of the tank. It show's some diagrams of the setup.
http://www.aquaone.co.uk/documents/620620Tlowres30px.pdf
 
The ceramic filter noodles should be removed, as they can lead to high nitrates if you are not diligent about keeping them very clean (which most people aren't). In that section, you are better off putting live rock rubble instead.

Oh, great tip. Thanks so much. :Cheers:
 
The lights it came with will be okay for lower light corals like softies, leathers, zoanthids and mushrooms. Before exploring a lighting upgrade, you should probably decide what you want to keep in the tank. If all you want are the corals I mentioned above, you shouldn't have to upgrade lights.
 
ok, so I guess I could always start with what I have, spend a few months getting it set up with live sand, slowly adding live rock, and letting it cycle. And then if I need to I can always upgrade the lighting.

My only other concern is having the right amount of filtration.
Will the included filter system with the separate compartments act as a mini refugium?
What about a protein skimmer?
 
I would look into a skimmer of some sort. Are you thinking of running a sump or letting the tank stand alone?
 
I would look into a skimmer of some sort. Are you thinking of running a sump or letting the tank stand alone?

Well, that's part of what I'm trying to figure out. I really don't know.
As I mentioned earlier, the last time I did this I had the whole big setup. But this time around, I would be starting with a tank that's not really designed for such an elaborate setup. The filter system sitting on top is meant to make the tank an enclosed stand-alone system and doesn't allow for anything to hang off the tank of even for a hose to come over the top. I suppose the tank could be drilled on the bottom and an acrylic overflow added to the inside but I don't think that's something I want to get involved in. If I'm going to do that I'd probably just buy a regular tank and have it set up that way from the start, ya know?

So that's kinda where I am right now. Trying to figure out if I can make a successful nano reef tank out of this or if I would be better off doing in the right way (if this isn't the right way) from the start rather than going through all the time, money and hassle and then having to tear it all down and replace it with different equipment. When I set up my last system I plunked down the cash for all the right equipment up front and never had a problem. But 150 gallons was also a much bigger system and I don't know how much you can really compare the two.
 
If you are diligent in your tank maintenance and water changes you can get away with a filter and no skimmer. You just have to make sure to keep the filter cleaned. That is the challenge with nanos, pollution is a huge factor and good equiptment is hard to come by. It could be a very nice tank though. All depends on how you keep your reef.
 
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