I read your makeover on the 380 gallon tank and came to this thread to see what you started with. Uhhhg, being an aquarium tech myself for 5 or so years that tank to maintain makes me cringe.
Most of my tanks were FOWLRs that my boss set up and he was the maintaining them before me, so they were maintenance friendly. However I inherited a few disasters set up by others and they were dreadful. I was at that time a woman in my late 40s and had to carry water up stairs since their was no water source near the tank. One tank had like 3 sumps with sensor switches when the water got low, which was a disaster waiting to happen. Eventually I got tired of dealing with problems that were not of my making and only kept the tanks that were well thought out.
Now I am retired and only take care of my own 2 tanks which are maintenance friendly.