Tenecor reef ready?

[rgoryl]

I need help! My wife spent a fortune on furnature and will gladly allow a reef tank in the living room (we have a small house) if it "looks nice." I've been thinking of a Tenecor with a black acrylic hood stand. The reef ready model comes with an overflow, sump system (wet/dry with bio-media, return and external pump), life time warranty, etc. Have any of you bought or even seen one of these? I think I found a good price--$1069 delivered for tank, stand, hood and filter. Should I skip the reef ready and go with a hang on skimmer (Prizm) and power filter (AquaClear)? Thanks!

[Biomanjcs72]

Never heard of them, but how big is the tank? And if you could customize it to get them to leave the bioballs, media out of it and add you an in sump skimmer, that'd be great. You don't need external biofiltration with a properly assembled reef tank. (How big is the tank, that'll let folks know if it a good deal or a ripoff. HTH

[rgoryl]

It's a 55 gallon rectangular. I agree that the bio-ball's aren't necessary but, they're part of the package--can't hurt, can they?. I planned on adding my Prizm to the sump for skimming. What do you think?

[myreef]

Tenecor tanks are great. But IMHO, I would forgoe the built in sump and just get a true reef ready....which means get the overflow and the tank drilled. Buy the stand and canopy if you like it. I would get a sump from somewhere else and DO NOT put bio-balls in it. If you are going to spend that amount of money...do it right. Some hand on skimmers are OK, but if spending all that money, spend a few extra and get the equipment you will not only be happy with, but will be able to take with you to your next bigger tank. GOod luck HTH....after all this was just my opinion.

[gkrane]

I am in the planning process of getting a 180 from tenecor. From what i've seen you can't go wrong with this tank. I have the added bonus of living in phoenix where they manufacture so its fairly easy for to check things out. It doesn't hurt that they give a 20% local discount. I wouldn't go for the reef ready either. Too much $$ for things you can do yourself. Just like myreef said get the tank, stand, canopy, and the overflows with the returns. They will do just about anything you want but make sure you plan it properly and have them do drilling if necessary. I've heard from numerous people drilling your own tank voids the warranty.

[icemark]

The reef ready tanks have the sump setup like this: and the tanks are set up like this: (from their page at http://www.tenecor.com/aquar/simplicityrect.htm

The overflow is fine, but I wouldn't go for their sump and stuff. The $500+ dollar difference isn't worth it IMO.