Coryd55

Is there a difference in price or quality of a aquapod and a normal 12 gal tank. I was thinking about starting a SW nano in mid 2008 and just wanted to look up some stuff.

Cody

im not a saltwater person but i know what your taking about..well i think some of it is that its that there somewhat of a starter kit for saltwater..where most other tank kits are arent focused on the saltwater needs. like protien skimmers and what not..the lighting is most likly different..im not sure im just guessing..from what i know

atmmachine816

I'm not sure which brand/model aquapod is, I've looked at most of them but don't remember the exact one off the top of my head. Most like Cody said are sort of starter kits or for a first to the hobby, but others are fine to use. You really have to know what you want because they come with lighting and some you can not change the lighting in them, some you can. Most come with decent lighting for beginner corals and some leather or soft corals. Advantages of cubes or pre-setup tanks like aquapod are they come with most of the equipment needed all in a nice little box, equipment is already pretty well concealed, and the tank looks kinda cool. Advantages of setting up your own tank is YOU choose everything you want, you don't have to work around what is already given to you, it is easier to upgrade down the road among others. Those are a few advantages of both I can list more if you'd like. There is no real right or wrong between those types of setups you mention. It could be cheaper either way you buy it, depending where and how you buy it. You may like a cube better or you may like another type of tank better. You may like buying things all in one or buying things separating and setting it up yourself the way you want it. It all really depends on personal preference.

Cody

well me and atm layed a nice start down for you.. mike and aganasso or somthing like that..are pretty good iwth the saltwater stuff and they should see this soon and check it out and maybe give you some advice either that or pm them askingthem to look at the post

Mike

I think the aquapods are made by current usa. There are nano-cubes too, some are made by JBJ and other manufacturers.

The primary benefits of the cubes/aquapods are the built in sumps/filter areas with overflows on the back wall. It lets you hide most of the equipment in the sump area. And the fitted hoods make them look nicer than standard tanks in my opinion. Also, I really like the curved glass corners on the JBJ nano-cube.

It's probably cheaper to buy a regular tank kit and then upgrade the parts needing upgrades (lights and skimmer). I'm not sure though. Some of the cubes come with really good lighting like HQI metal halides but, as I've found out, you most likely will need a mini chiller with the hqi bulbs or a dedicated fan blowing across the sump area of the nano-cube. I have a jbj 28 gallon nano cube with the 150 HQI metal halide that I'm setting up and I upgraded the skimmer and had to get a chiller. The temps were reaching around 86 degrees F by mid-day and dropping back down to around 77 in the middle of the night. That was just too much of a temperature swing for my sanity on a day to day basis.