If You Were To Start Over What Would You Change?
- Thread starter irishmarine
- Start date
SonoranReefer
New member
Of course the obvious just go with a larger display tank from the start 
.
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irishmarine
New member
What’s the perfect size though?
BjornTurok
New member
I thought I was smart by saving money and designing and building my own sump. While I did save money and was able to have the largest possible Refugium I could which I really wanted, thinking I could design it myself without the input of experienced reefers was a bad idea. The aquarium is a small 20x20x20 cube, so the space under the stand is small which is why the sump options weren’t the best. The overflow empties directly into the filter sock, which is fine but the sock holder is level with the top of the sump. Now if the sock plugs it overflows directly over the side of the sump and into the stand and onto the floor. Major fail. It’s happened many times. I would replace it but I’m building a new tank soon so I just have to keep an eye on it.
Definitely back-up power.
We had an ice storm (Canada) and had no power for days. Lost everything. Stomach sick and broken hearted at the loss of stock I'd raised from babies, I sold everything and walked away. I've been in fresh for a while now and think I'm ready for marine again. It's been a long time and a lot has changed so I'm trying to learn the latest requirements and avoid wasting funds which are scarce. For that reason, it'll be a predator fish only tank
We had an ice storm (Canada) and had no power for days. Lost everything. Stomach sick and broken hearted at the loss of stock I'd raised from babies, I sold everything and walked away. I've been in fresh for a while now and think I'm ready for marine again. It's been a long time and a lot has changed so I'm trying to learn the latest requirements and avoid wasting funds which are scarce. For that reason, it'll be a predator fish only tank
swiftvision
New member
I'd go with an Apex system.
Not much else I'd change yet....learning as I go is the best part.
Not much else I'd change yet....learning as I go is the best part.
hbrochs
New member
Start over improvements
Start over improvements
I'd definitely drill through the floor and I'd have a large sump at waist height so I could work in it without laying on the floor. Slop sink and drain in the basement right under the tank. I'd consider a system for daily auto water changes, but also I'd like a system where I could suction the gravel manually and have the syphon tube connected so that it drains to the basement. Did that make sense?
You might consider placing your new salt water container on a stand to reduce the head pressure and allow you to use a smaller pump that won't have to work as hard. If you are really ambitious, You could put drains in the floor around the upstairs tank to save your office in the event of something catastrophic.
Consider sizing your saltwater container to match the size bag your salt comes in. If you use 50 gallon bags of salt, get a 50 gallon container so you don't have to measure. T5's work great and have a high range of forgiveness, plug and play, but they lack some of the pop that leds and kessils have. I'd go with mainly T5s and a bit of led supplement.
A workbench near the sump would be nice for water testing, making frags, repairs or whatever.
Think about the longest vacation you typically take and put some thought into how the tank will survive without you. The two significant problems I've had with my tank both happened while I was away on vacation. Luckily I had people checking in that saved the tank both times, but more the failsafes the better.
Good luck!
Howard
Start over improvements
I'd definitely drill through the floor and I'd have a large sump at waist height so I could work in it without laying on the floor. Slop sink and drain in the basement right under the tank. I'd consider a system for daily auto water changes, but also I'd like a system where I could suction the gravel manually and have the syphon tube connected so that it drains to the basement. Did that make sense?
You might consider placing your new salt water container on a stand to reduce the head pressure and allow you to use a smaller pump that won't have to work as hard. If you are really ambitious, You could put drains in the floor around the upstairs tank to save your office in the event of something catastrophic.
Consider sizing your saltwater container to match the size bag your salt comes in. If you use 50 gallon bags of salt, get a 50 gallon container so you don't have to measure. T5's work great and have a high range of forgiveness, plug and play, but they lack some of the pop that leds and kessils have. I'd go with mainly T5s and a bit of led supplement.
A workbench near the sump would be nice for water testing, making frags, repairs or whatever.
Think about the longest vacation you typically take and put some thought into how the tank will survive without you. The two significant problems I've had with my tank both happened while I was away on vacation. Luckily I had people checking in that saved the tank both times, but more the failsafes the better.
Good luck!
Howard
azsoccerpop
New member
Not cut corners or do things on the cheap only to end up replacing them 3-6 months down the road. Worst mistake I ever made was $25.00 of live sand off craigslist.Smartest thing I ever did was buy oversized where it made sense. I have a 90 gallon tank with a skimmer and return pump rated for up to 250 gallons. They will go to my current 150 build, still be well within the workload and save me money.
Jesterrace
New member
Let's see:
1) Never ever use goo gone to clean a sloppy sealant job on a new tank
2) Never purchase a tank kit from Petco/Petsmart (since you will rebuy just about every piece of equipment in the kit)
3) Aqua Vitro Seed is about worthless
4) Buy a larger tank and/or going cheap and simple on the first tank
1) Never ever use goo gone to clean a sloppy sealant job on a new tank
2) Never purchase a tank kit from Petco/Petsmart (since you will rebuy just about every piece of equipment in the kit)
3) Aqua Vitro Seed is about worthless
4) Buy a larger tank and/or going cheap and simple on the first tank
natanitelite
New member
I am actually in the middle of doing just that right now. Starting over. My job took me to another state for 3 years, so my husband and I decided to sell everything but the tanks themselves and start over when we got home. And here we are!
Here's what I'm doing differently:
-buying the right equipment. I started my first tank in 2000, I was a poor college student, and I skimped/bought used, etc. Totally fine, but not what I'm doing this time.
-Quarantine. Duh. Only learn that the hard way once.
-Easier water changes. I am setting the RO/DI units, saltwater storage, and freshwater storage directly under the tank in the basement, and plumbing right up through the floor so I can just turn on a valve under the tank to refill/top off.
-Protecting my wood floors from salt creep.
-Be very choosy on stocking, and start with the end in mind. No impulses. (I say that now...)
-Controller
-Spend a little extra to get quiet pumps. Since I'm placing this right in the entry to my home, worth it.
-Go slower than slow.
-actually participate in RC and not just lurk (see my join date and post count? haha)
Here's what I'm doing differently:
-buying the right equipment. I started my first tank in 2000, I was a poor college student, and I skimped/bought used, etc. Totally fine, but not what I'm doing this time.
-Quarantine. Duh. Only learn that the hard way once.
-Easier water changes. I am setting the RO/DI units, saltwater storage, and freshwater storage directly under the tank in the basement, and plumbing right up through the floor so I can just turn on a valve under the tank to refill/top off.
-Protecting my wood floors from salt creep.
-Be very choosy on stocking, and start with the end in mind. No impulses. (I say that now...)
-Controller
-Spend a little extra to get quiet pumps. Since I'm placing this right in the entry to my home, worth it.
-Go slower than slow.
-actually participate in RC and not just lurk (see my join date and post count? haha)
Dsekula
Member
I auctually know the answer to this question
Due to some input from the hubby (he hates clutter and pump noises. And he informed me he wants the floor in the room the tanks in refinished. I am in the process of redoing and upgrading my system. I always wanted a saltwater system and we moved to a house with a private well where I have complete control over water quality so I took the plunge. I took a year and researched reef tanks and charted my influent water. I built my tanks , stand, sump layout etc. I am very aware of how decisions I made in design impacted the tank. The first thing I did was move from a 40 gal under tank sump to a roughly 120gal basement sump room. Everything under the tank was convient but everything in the basement is built with ease of access and maintenance in mind. I like portions of my original design so I still have multiple containers instead of one big partitioned sump. I have a 40gal stock tank, a 15gal stock tank, and a 55gal standard glass aquarium plumbed together such that any portion can be bypassed and drained or run as an independent tank if I was in a pinch for a large qt area. The drain lines on each are connected right to a drain making wc easy. The exception is to this is the 55 which gets pumped to the drain instead of gravity fed but the end result is the same. My sink is positioned under my in line filters for carbon, gfo, etc (not in continual use) for ease of maintenance. I plan on implementing an ato but right now (like my original design) my top off water is added via me turning the valve, no buckets etc. I put much more thought in nutrients export and upgraded my 10 gal chato fuge to an ats (still using my simplicity skimmer which was oversized purposely to begin with) and55 gal pod farm/fuge (this hosts my chato untill the ats out competes, making the switch seamless). I'm implimenting auto dosing and positioned all the pumps near the sink for ease of cleaning and mixing in finished water. I put the sump in the middle of my basement work area so I have room to work on gear or frag. The entire set up was left open as much as plausable so I could walk around and access anything I need to. I've always had my new salt water mixed and pumped directly into the tank for wc so I kept this and couldn't imaging hauling water around in buckets. I used two 40w uv units plumbed in series insyed of one 80watt unit so when I stager maintenance I always have one operating at full potential one will get maintained in spring and fall the other will be summer and winter. I'm the planning stages of the display but I plan on turning my three tanks into one large partitioned tank allowing for increased flow across the display. Right now my turn over is limited due to using an overflow box between two of the tanks so this is definitely beeing changed. One change that's specific to my build is that my 45gal was built as an 'L' shaped tank so I could stand inside the reef. While this is cool and I like the footprint, this causes a huge blind spot right in the middle of that tank and I find it very annoying when a fish your watching swims into it and half disappears, so this shape is getting changed. I guess my over all improvement on the sump side was lots of space to work and the ability to make changes if I had to. No matter what tank you display if you don't have enough filter capacity everything else becomes an up hill battle. For a system at my office I would also be looking more into alarms and automation like some of the other posters suggested. As a business owner I'll say this too. Anything you put in the office will reflect on how a client views your company if they see it. I would make sure this system is astheticly appeasing as possible and enable what ever methods you can to keep it looking clean 24/7 with all the yuck stuff out of sight. This might mean out of sight hospital an qt tanks etc. It sounds funny but I'd hate to lose a potential client because they think I'm irresponsible, killing fish in a small tank not realizing it's a qt or hospital or something equally as silly. As far as size is always go for the largest possible volume for the space but such that I don't need excess tools to reach the bottom or far side of the tank, that's just too inconvenient for me.
Sent from my E6810 using Tapatalk
Due to some input from the hubby (he hates clutter and pump noises. And he informed me he wants the floor in the room the tanks in refinished. I am in the process of redoing and upgrading my system. I always wanted a saltwater system and we moved to a house with a private well where I have complete control over water quality so I took the plunge. I took a year and researched reef tanks and charted my influent water. I built my tanks , stand, sump layout etc. I am very aware of how decisions I made in design impacted the tank. The first thing I did was move from a 40 gal under tank sump to a roughly 120gal basement sump room. Everything under the tank was convient but everything in the basement is built with ease of access and maintenance in mind. I like portions of my original design so I still have multiple containers instead of one big partitioned sump. I have a 40gal stock tank, a 15gal stock tank, and a 55gal standard glass aquarium plumbed together such that any portion can be bypassed and drained or run as an independent tank if I was in a pinch for a large qt area. The drain lines on each are connected right to a drain making wc easy. The exception is to this is the 55 which gets pumped to the drain instead of gravity fed but the end result is the same. My sink is positioned under my in line filters for carbon, gfo, etc (not in continual use) for ease of maintenance. I plan on implementing an ato but right now (like my original design) my top off water is added via me turning the valve, no buckets etc. I put much more thought in nutrients export and upgraded my 10 gal chato fuge to an ats (still using my simplicity skimmer which was oversized purposely to begin with) and55 gal pod farm/fuge (this hosts my chato untill the ats out competes, making the switch seamless). I'm implimenting auto dosing and positioned all the pumps near the sink for ease of cleaning and mixing in finished water. I put the sump in the middle of my basement work area so I have room to work on gear or frag. The entire set up was left open as much as plausable so I could walk around and access anything I need to. I've always had my new salt water mixed and pumped directly into the tank for wc so I kept this and couldn't imaging hauling water around in buckets. I used two 40w uv units plumbed in series insyed of one 80watt unit so when I stager maintenance I always have one operating at full potential one will get maintained in spring and fall the other will be summer and winter. I'm the planning stages of the display but I plan on turning my three tanks into one large partitioned tank allowing for increased flow across the display. Right now my turn over is limited due to using an overflow box between two of the tanks so this is definitely beeing changed. One change that's specific to my build is that my 45gal was built as an 'L' shaped tank so I could stand inside the reef. While this is cool and I like the footprint, this causes a huge blind spot right in the middle of that tank and I find it very annoying when a fish your watching swims into it and half disappears, so this shape is getting changed. I guess my over all improvement on the sump side was lots of space to work and the ability to make changes if I had to. No matter what tank you display if you don't have enough filter capacity everything else becomes an up hill battle. For a system at my office I would also be looking more into alarms and automation like some of the other posters suggested. As a business owner I'll say this too. Anything you put in the office will reflect on how a client views your company if they see it. I would make sure this system is astheticly appeasing as possible and enable what ever methods you can to keep it looking clean 24/7 with all the yuck stuff out of sight. This might mean out of sight hospital an qt tanks etc. It sounds funny but I'd hate to lose a potential client because they think I'm irresponsible, killing fish in a small tank not realizing it's a qt or hospital or something equally as silly. As far as size is always go for the largest possible volume for the space but such that I don't need excess tools to reach the bottom or far side of the tank, that's just too inconvenient for me.
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homer1475
New member
You do realize that a lot of people view this hobby as cruel regardless of what you do? Keeping any fish in a glass box instead of roaming the ocean is cruel. This is why I would never put a tank in an office that will see clients.
Oh how the general public is so misinformed.
Dsekula
Member
[MENTION=333331]homer1475[/MENTION]
Sry just saw your comment, yes I realize this but I didn't know how much the op did. Usually with the largest tank, nicely kept, and few speciments you get the least criticism tho. You can't please everyone after all. I just know that even I would probably question a lone Tang in a 5gal tank hoping it was a qt but not assuming
I was just bringing up the point that people will judge the business by anything in the office, as unfair as it may be. So things that may fly fine in a personal setup might not in a corporate one. I would think an office tank would have the potential to be neglected easily as a busy season came about or emergency arose. You don't want to tell someone your too busy because your cleaning the corporate fish tank after all and then who wants to stay late to take care of it and miss the kids little league game? So these things need to be thought of up front so the tank doesn't look messy and reflect on the business.
Sent from my E6810 using Tapatalk
Sry just saw your comment, yes I realize this but I didn't know how much the op did. Usually with the largest tank, nicely kept, and few speciments you get the least criticism tho. You can't please everyone after all. I just know that even I would probably question a lone Tang in a 5gal tank hoping it was a qt but not assuming
I was just bringing up the point that people will judge the business by anything in the office, as unfair as it may be. So things that may fly fine in a personal setup might not in a corporate one. I would think an office tank would have the potential to be neglected easily as a busy season came about or emergency arose. You don't want to tell someone your too busy because your cleaning the corporate fish tank after all and then who wants to stay late to take care of it and miss the kids little league game? So these things need to be thought of up front so the tank doesn't look messy and reflect on the business.Sent from my E6810 using Tapatalk
