I want to get started building my nano reef and was thinking of using the ViaAqua 18G but have heard mixed comments on them as far as faulty lighting/ballasts..
Hey there Gad, sorry for the delay in response. Hope we have caught you during the decision-making phase and not after! I have seen the via-aqua's at my LFS, and they looked perfectly fine as a nano reef. I am also seeing the boom of the JBJ nano-cube and this is a viable alternative as well--the Via-Aqua is a taller/less wide setup and the nano-cube is very square and deep. I think ballast/light reliability can go either way between the two depending on your Murphy's luck and the given unit you buy; for the most part the supplied lighting will do well. The ViaAqua light looks neat to me, it's on a stand-up bracket that keeps the light a few inches away from the water's surface which means you can do light feeding and dosing without raising a lid or moving the light (provided these models haven't changed much since I last saw one)
Let us know what you pic, and include some digital pictures if you can so we can see how you've started off.
