Hands down this is the best thing you have ever done for your aquarium! AH HA!!!

[Neoalchemist]

For me it was probably adding the Inkbird temperature controller with a small clip on fan for cooling purposes. I was struggling with temperature fluctuations this summer going from 77 to upwards of 82 at times. Once I added the Inkbird and the fan, it has kept my tank between 76.5 and 77.5 at all times. It's also nice knowing that I have a backup shutoff for my heater in case it gets stuck in the on position. The temperature stability made a world of difference for the corals.

A close second would probably be the small refugium I added in the second chamber with the inTank fuge basket and IM Chaetomax fuge light. I was struggling with high nitrates (30ppm+) and the fuge has brought them down and kept them stable at around 5ppm.

That little Cheatomax is a powerhouse, isn't it? I have 1 suppoting a 100 gallon system and I need to harvest cheato every other week.

 

[playapixie]

Apex & Dos dosing pump. Successfully enjoying a completely grown out mixed reef with lots of SPS in a 34 gallon. Couldn’t grow SPS prior to dosing pumps, and had two complete crashes prior to APEX. Now I know when things go wrong in time to fix it. Game changer.

 

[Pennywise the Clown]

Auto doser. I really don't know how I went over a year without one.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

For water quality RODI, Calcium Reactor, Alkatronic, AWC.

For coral growth Radions, Vortechs and daily bacteria dosing.

 

[APX90]

properly sized UV sterilizer, i had serious reservations but i took the dive and will never look back. Crystal clear water and noticeably less algae growth if tuned correctly

 

[SammieT]

sell 3 of my tanks and stuck with one only ;Bookworm

 

[Mike N]

For those without controllers, these things come in VERY handy for feeding time:

 

[Snoopy 67]

Keeping my Alkalinity where it should be.

 

[Seanislav]

Yes...I automated. I added an Apex and ato...and doses. I'm not home enough or available enough to remember to water, dose, and test nearly as often as I should. These have been instrumental to keeping my system as stable as possible.

 

[Mountainraised]

Switching from a Black box to my AI Prime after three years. Within 3 hours my coral opened up like I had never seen.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

For me adding a diy DE filtration onto return discharge.


1 of 33 carnation corals, dendronephthya sp

 

[Murica]

Going bare bottom, without a doubt

 

[JLynn]

Well, I've sure learned what the absolute worst thing I can do for any aquarium is: put it in a place I rarely spend time.

It's true what they say: out of sight, out of mind. When I had my aquarium on the counter by my desk, or in my bedroom, I was always on top of the maintenance. Never missed a water change. Now that's its out of my sight for most of the day, my maintenance schedule has gone completely down the drain, and the tank has suffered immensely for it.

 

[Dierks]

A simple Grounding Probe! I couldn't get past step one until I figured out my tank was killing everything by electricity.

 

[Tim Olson]

I've learned a lot over the last few years and expect to be learning for many more years. One of most significant improvements was moving from what I thought was a good refugium light to the Kessil H380. Wow did it ever make a difference. My refugium is 10 gallons and it gets packed so thick it pushes the chaeto out of the water ... obviously I need to take some out. Before the chaeto would barely grow at all.

 

[Brew12]

Getting away from random chaotic flow. I couldn't do it with the base controllers my Maxspect gyres came with. Once I put them on my controller and was able to get nice long alternating gyres established, my coral growth took off.

 

[Earl Karl]

Getting away from random chaotic flow. I couldn't do it with the base controllers my Maxspect gyres came with. Once I put them on my controller and was able to get nice long alternating gyres established, my coral growth took off.

What are your gyre settings?

 

[Proteus Meep]

For me my A-ha moments were threefold

ATO
A doser for keeping ALK stable
And last but certainly not least ...Polyfilter, instead of messing about with nano skimmers

 

[RussiReef]

I live in SO CA and my chiller kicks on pretty often. So, relocated it from my living room to outside of the house.

 

[Dom]

Standard Operating Procedure for me is the addition of a Hang On Back filter to every build.

It is a great way to add flow to a build without cluttering the tank with power heads or other devices.​

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It provides a location where you can easily drop a bag of carbon or some other product and then remove it as necessary.​

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It serves as a great way to feed the tank as you are adding food to the flow and get a even disbursement of food.​

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