Thoughts on tanks for nem/clown species tank

[bigbugoutfitters]

Just before my wife fell asleep about an hour ago she turned over to me and said “when we sell the reefer 250, instead of putting that money towards the new tank, i want a nem tank for the bedroom”. She naturally fell right asleep knowing all too well that i have a tank problem. I am sending joe at glass cages the final $ tomorrow for the new 150 that should he here in a week or so.
Anyways, naturally, for the last hour ive been looking at AIO tanks. Ive had a handful of tanks over the years, but have never been crazy for nems and clowns so ive always sorta steered clear of them. We do have a pair of clowns in the reefer250 right now and id be more than glad to move them to their own tank than move them to the new display.
For the AIO tanks my first thought was a biocube which i have had in the past. I liked that they had very little evaporation so there is no need to have a jug and ato on our dresser. Would that be good enough for a nem tank, or would it really just be the bare minimum? Would i be better off going with a IM AIO with a kessil?
A 32 gallon biocube would 480
An IM 25 gallon lagoon would be 200 and I figure with ato and a light it would be pretty comparable. Ive always be curious about kessils but am open to suggestions in that low mid 100$ range.
Open to tank and setup suggestions.
Happy wife happy…

 

[*GAREEF*]

Have you ever had a tank in your bedroom before? I ask because I tried that many years ago and even though it was pretty quite it was too much for the both us.

 

[*GAREEF*]

The biocube would be more quite than the lagoon.

 

[bigbugoutfitters]

Yep, we have. It turns into nice white noise.

 

[Dragen Fiend]

Biocube tank is just fine. I personally never liked the look of this tank but each their own.

As someone who owns the IM25...YES for sure. Clown nem tank would look amazing. And room for splits!

As for lighting, if you really love the shimmer look ( I do) then go for it. You can probably get away with the Kessil 160 or jump to 360. I'm getting a Kessil 360XE for mixed reef. If you don't care too much about the shimmer and just need good color but high par. The noop pro is also a good choice.

Cheap Amazon ATOs work fine. The cheap $50 ATO's have yet to fail me.

I would also think about doing live rock. I dropped a black widow and Rbta in my deskmate within a month. Both are thriving. Really jump starts your tank maturity.

 

[bigbugoutfitters]

Biocube tank is just fine. I personally never liked the look of this tank but each their own.

As someone who owns the IM25...YES for sure. Clown nem tank would look amazing. And room for splits!

As for lighting, if you really love the shimmer look ( I do) then go for it. You can probably get away with the Kessil 160 or jump to 360. I'm getting a Kessil 360XE for mixed reef. If you don't care too much about the shimmer and just need good color but high par. The noop pro is also a good choice.

Cheap Amazon ATOs work fine. The cheap $50 ATO's have yet to fail me.

I would also think about doing live rock. I dropped a black widow and Rbta in my deskmate within a month. Both are thriving. Really jump starts your tank maturity.

For the 150 ive got noops on em which i love but I thought the shimmer would be neat for a nem tank. I might just go with the 160, maybe put some shrooms around the low light edges.
As for live rock, if i go with this tank id put in an order with tampa bay for some of the good stuff.

 

[Dragen Fiend]

For the 150 ive got noops on em which i love but I thought the shimmer would be neat for a nem tank. I might just go with the 160, maybe put some shrooms around the low light edges.
As for live rock, if i go with this tank id put in an order with tampa bay for some of the good stuff.

I was a budget light user for a while. Until I tossed a A80 on a 4.8G deskmate nem tank. Now I'm a believer lol.
TBS is a good choice. Marcos live rock is also great as well if TBS is out of stock.