What would you do differently if you started over?

[Made4water]

Hindsight is always 20/20 especially in a hobby as intricate as ours. If you were to start a new system tomorrow, Based off of your experience with your current setup, what would you do differently this time around?

 

[Made4water]

I'll start... I would go with a much wider tank. Mine is 72x18x29.5 which makes it challenging to aqua scape.

 

[JR719]

I'm doing that right now. No more skimping! Using all dry rock, powerwashed. Hopefully will help with all kinds of different algae problems I'm sick of dealing with. LED's, lower cost in the long run. Refugium, sump just does not cut it anymore. There are just so many to list.

 

[alanbates12]

Married a woman with lots of money............

 

[JR719]

Oh yea, like alan said.... I'd marry a woman with loads of cash.

 

[Made4water]

Married a woman with lots of money............

Wouldn't we all! Lol.

 

[fjr_wertheimber]

Hey, I married a woman with loads of cash. Then we divorced, and she took it all. OH, you mean you'd marry a woman who HERSELF had loads of cash. Nevermind.

I got a better one now, at least. Hell, she even tells me to get a bigger tank! w00t!!

 

[jdhuyvetter]

Buy a bigger house!

 

[mx36]

Made the equipment room bigger

 

[reefermad619]

Go big from start. I went with a 40 long and bought all equipment new. Then went to a 80gal. I built the stand and canopy. But still spent a crapload on other stuff for the tank. Now doing a 180 and building the stand and canopy for that too. Most of the time you're lucky to recoup half of what you spent on equipment. If I added up all I've spend on all tanks, I could've have done my 180 with no DIY stuff and still have cash left over.

 

[trigger gta]

bigger tank
bean drain
QT new fish better

 

[lemmy_k]

Change to acrylic sump and different lighting. Would have saved longer for a better skimmer. I would have started with the black sand rather than white sand. I would have done a better job of building the shelving underneath so as to use the space I have better.
And most importantly, would NOT use a scrubber pad to get the coralline off of the glass so I wouldn't have a TON of scratches on the glass.

 

[Chuongj510]

And probably beat up my friend that got me into this hobby.

 

[Chuongj510]

Would have gone bigger. Not even done with my current tank and already thinking about going bigger.

 

[geaux xman]

wish i had went with an 84x33x28" tank. i really dont want to break this tank down and i've only had it running for about 9 months.

 

[RParker]

Much better sump design and I wouldnt use Darts again.

 

[Nizz]

On my new set up I want to use kalk and Ca Rx instead of dosing like last time on my 75 gal and I might not do a deep sand bed. I will go with a 2" sand bed.

 

[unhandleable]

Save money, buy quality also, plan out every detail, have patience, slower is always better than faster when adding livestock.

 

[miwoodar]

Using all dry rock, powerwashed.

This. It's a tough decision but probably worth it. Pests suck.

 

[mc-cro]

I would make sure I fully understood what my goals are. Dont try and mix different environments in one tank or system. If you want SPS to thrive, you have to gear your entire set up towards that. If you want LPS, then you would need to go a slightly different direction as far as flow and nutrient control.

I took me the entire last year to upgrade my system. Now that it is done, the only thing that I second guess myself on is the returns coming over the back of the tank instead of through the back wall. Everything was very well thought out, from the plumbing, to controls, to fail safe's and seperate circuits.

buy quality equipment the first time. You cant afford to have cheap equipment fail, take out all your corals, then buy the right equipment a second time around.