If you had a chance to rebuild, what would you do differently?

V

vpaul79

Member
Suppose you had the chance to rebuild your tank from scratch. Knowing what you know now, what would you do differently on your new build compared to your existing?

For instance, I would of used an external pump for my return in my sump so I would gain more fuge space.

I have to opportunity of a rebuild in the coming weeks and I now I'm wondering how I would setup my new build differently to my existing.
 
I have the opportunity to upgrade, much like you. I'm starting off reef ready, as opposed to an overflow box. I'll be building a better, bigger sump so I can actually have a fuge area. Go as big as you can, not just as you can afford at the time, because you'll otherwise spend more in the long run.
 
Maybe tell us what you have now and we could throw some ideas at you to improve on.
when i rebuilt, i spent alot more time thinking about my ro/di setup specifically adding extra carbon and sediment stages/ refilling ro water chamber , no float driven ato or any other mechanism that can fail and add water to the tank../ water change setup (litermeter 3) / and traded in MH for LED. I dumped the computer altogether as my lights have a built in controller and have never had to adjust my calcium reactor in over 15 years, yea korralin, so no ph meter. and the litermeter eliminates ato concerns...most of computer was there to prevent tank destruction from 1600 watts of halides that have been replaced with led's which dont really heat up the water. Im running mostly Iwaki pumps on my tank and am slowly gonna change them out for energy conservative dc pumps but kinda waiting on the 2nd or 3rd generation as the current ones out are still a bit price imo.. I also went from big beckett to a needle wheel driven skimmer like 40 watts instead of 400 watts. Im still thinking that was a slightly negative trade off as the beckett has more horsepower, but its more of a trying to be energy efficient as well as a heck of a lot quieter and the needlewheels can run 24/7 quietly.
 
I have a 65g with a 20 long sump.

I would've had a bigger stand built so I could have room for a bigger sump, media reactor, auto-top off, etc.
 
a couple of things

a different fuge setup, right now my flow goes from fuge to sump to tank, I wish I had the setup where the tank feeds to the fuge, but doesn't have the full force going thorough it. would also like to have drilled for my external skimmer, versus plumbing over the top.

also, start off with BRS rock 100% or something similar.
 
I would never buy any "weed" coral like mushrooms, anthelia, GSP, xenia. I would even include most polyps and zoas in this category, but this is just me.

I would pay top dollar for a few pieces of pest free live rock and the rest would be base dry rock.

This is from my experience some successful and some unsuccessful eradication of coral run mad, aptasia, asterinas, ect.
 
I wish I would have been more diligent looking for pests going into my newest tank, aiptasia is ridiculous....

I also wish I would've started my QT program prior to losing my entire first tank to crypt....
 
Wish I would have bought a tank that wasn't gonna leak in 12 years......Wait, wish I would have stuck to FW...Thats better =).Cheaper to run 700g of FW then 250g of SW =).
 
I would have built alot bigger stand then the cheap one that came with my 90. It is too short, and wont hold a 48 inch fuge. It would be big enough to hold that big of a fuge plus all of my reactors and be tall enough to where I would be able to add a self cleaning head to my skimmer. I would put it further away from the wall so I can put an ATO behind the tank, as well as my drip doser. I would mount all of my power strips on the stand itself to keep all eletricity off of the ground.
 
Joking aside I did do it over and I enjoy smaller tanks now. I had a 220, 150, 125, and 2-75s. All but the 125 were reef tanks. 125 was fowlr.

I now have a 36bowed, 40b, 5gallon ric tank, 2gallon nps. Going to be starting 2 more 5g or less tanks. I enjoy small tanks because I can do specialty tanks for corals, fish, or invert specific.
 
One thing I am going to do is have a bigger stand. My current 100G is 18" wide but with the support legs of the stand, I can only fit a 11" wide sump, I was forced to get a compact designed skimmer that's bare minimum for the amount of water I have. My new tank is going to be 24" wide and the stand I will build for it will have enough room to easily fit a 40G breeder for a sump. I also think I would of gone with an external pump return so I have more fuge space. I also would of used some flex PVC to eliminate vibration with my current pumps. The last item I am pondering is to keep a DSB or go shallow.
 
7seas-bubble-wall-fish-bowl.jpg
 
One thing I would change is my overflows. I would use a "T" right out of the bulkhead, like I did, with a cap on the top, but would use spaflex to the sump instead of pvc and 90degree fittings. Why? Because of the tube worms that grow on the inside of my overflow pipes. After a few years, they are quite restricted. I would make it so I could "swab" the inside of the spaflex to clean all the crap out. Now, I'm stuck making a contraption to fill my overflows with vinegar, making each one a long project, risking spilling vinegar into the system. I have 5 overflows to clean, 3 are almost completely plugged. My other option is to take them all apart, but my bulkheads are all siliconed. Now, it's a real PITA. And, don't silicone your bulkheads....
 
I would never do a center overflow again

I would only make the tank 24" deep and not 30" deep

I would have gone 12 feet long and not 10. maybe even 14
 
I would change everything!

First, I would have made a sump and not bought a ADHI 60. For the money I could have built a lot better sump.

I would go with a glass DT and not acrylic

External skimmer vice a ASM G4XX internal

A totally redesigned stand. Since it was an in-wall build and I am no carpenter, I waaaaaaaaayyyyy over built the stand to the point I can't put much under it.

And last but not least, I would not have got the beginner coral like Green Star Polyps!
 
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