If you could start over with your system what would you do different and why?

[CastAway]

In hindsight, I wish I would have thought through my initial purchases more, with respect to needs-over-time. For example I wish I'd bought more lighting right off the bat rather than a calcium reactor. I also wish I would have incorporated an extra overflow, as a fail-safe.

 

[Dmmz]

Every time I say I'm going to take it slow and do it perfectly but then get done and wonder why I didn't do things differently not that what I did was bad just always second guess what I do

 

[wrfreeman]

That's a great idea David! Never considered the value of keeping the rocks off the bottom. Better circulation and detritus can't hide. There are probably other better reasons but those are the first that come to mind.

What I would change about my system is either not having it built in or making sure I have access to the front of the tank. My built in design completely seals off access to the front of the tank which makes it physically impossible to reach certain areas of the front of the glass from the back of the tank due to rock work. I'm bringing in some custom cabinet guys after the first to try and rectify the situation.

 

[IdahoFledgling]

Subscribing. Gotta love learning from other people's mistakes!

 

[hatfielj]

I would of course get a bigger tank. But, the main things I would change is, I would have not added any real live rock or any frag plugs from other people. That would help me avoid some of the pests I've picked up (bubble algae, bryopsis, etc). I would have also set up a quarantine tank from day one. That would have saved me a lot of money. I ended up getting AEFW which took out a bunch of very nice SPS frags (I have since successfully treated and I am AEFW free thankfully). I also ended up getting ich from not quarantining fish and I lost a couple of really nice fish (achilles tang was the most heart breaking one).

 

[nitrox36]

I wish I would have made my fish room bigger, and 2x the size tank volume:Cry:

 

[salty fish]

I wouldn't have put bahama oolite as my substrate, it is hard to have decent water flow without the sand going everywhere

 

[PESMO]

I recently lost my entire system to a fire because I bought a $12 led light for my sump at Walmart. So biggest lesson is definitely don't be cheap and quality pays off. Another $10 out of my pocket would have saved me over $10,000.

 

[MattL22]

I would have def done plumbing better

 

[Ole Man]

Sorry to hear about your fire,we had one of our club members thats going thru the samething right now.

 

[fishmommy]

Oops....

 

[dustinw]

Subscribing. Gotta love learning from other people's mistakes!

That's why we do this. people learning from other people's mistakes is how we become better and better the hobby.

 

[Bad Company]

1. Bigger tank
2. I wish I'd known more about lighting... My lighting progression> Ecoxotic stunner strips in a piece of driftwood> Kessil A350 > Reef Radiance DM-155e > Kessil 360WE with spectral controller which I love.
3. Taller stand. A 36" tall stand would be so nice.
4. Love the rimless, but I hate the screen to prevent carpet surfing... next time a taller rimless and I'll run the water level 3" below the edge instead.
5. I hate the internal overflow compartment, it's 6" by 9" in my tank... which takes up a ton of real estate.. next time ghost overflow or equivalent
6. Plan more for electrical:
- switched outlet for return pump
- switched outlets for circulation pumps
- switched outlet for skimmer
- outlet for light controller
- outlet(s) for lights
- outlet for heater
- timered outlets for algae scrubber lights
- outlet for 12V ATO relay
- outlet for relay controlled ATO pump
etc. etc.

 

[Robink]

Bigger tank, better aquascaping, getting the right equipment from the beginning...

 

[LeighannW]

I agree better aquascape and had I known I would've started with a bigger tank. Better equipment too

 

[JMSKI333]

I would have put my sump in the basement from the get go. I was listening to the racket for 5 years before I finally moved it to the basement.

 

[wrfreeman]

Get's dang cold in my basement! I like the idea of putting the sump down there (I made quite a mess cleaning the sump yesterday), but I'd have to add a heater to the sump.