What if?

[Freakyyfort]

What if you had the knowledge you do now and started over with a new tank?

What are some of things you wish you had done right away?

I'm in the process of my (do over) with my 75g. Wanted some opinions as to what you wish you had done to maybe avoid something or gain anything from certain things.

I'm sure it's been discussed 100 times or more but became lazy of searching.

Happy reefing

 

[FishOfHex]

 

[Daniel@R2R]

I'm in the process of a new build myself. The biggest lessons I've learned from my previous builds are:

1) Begin with the end in mind. Think about what you want to do with your tank. Get an actual plan for what kind of livestock you want, what kind of equipment, etc. Then build to that.
2) Cheap stuff is expensive. You may not have to reach for top-dollar equipment, but the mainstays that all the other hobbyists swear by are the ones you should look at. Stay away from pumps, lights, heaters, etc. that won't be good enough to do what you need them to do. I went through a bunch of cheap equipment and still ended up buying higher end stuff...point learned is that every dollar spent trying to avoid buying the hobby standard equipment was money flushed down the drain.
3) Get a controller. :D A controller isn't a necessity...but I'll never have another tank without one. :D
4) Go SLOW. This isn't a race, so plan to take everything nice and slow. Get your tank fixed up into something you'll be proud of.
5) QT everything. I lost all my fish (well, 18 out of 20) to what I believe was marine velvet. All of my livestock was fine until I added the very last fish (a wrasse) that I had planned to add...then watched my fish die over the next 2 weeks. I felt horrible. I also had to deal with a bought of zoa-eating nudis as well as monti-eating nudis...now I QT everything that goes in the DT.

Hope those points are helpful...they may be more philosophical than what you're looking for. :D

 

[Diesel]

NAH........... if I would start over I buy a boat for the money I spend over the last 4 decades and explore the corals and fish in their own habitat.
I kinda sound like a Snorkel Bob or a Sea Sheppard member but it is the truth :)

 

[skim]

NAH........... if I would start over I buy a boat for the money I spend over the last 4 decades and explore the corals and fish in their own habitat.
I kinda sound like a Snorkel Bob or a Sea Sheppard member but it is the truth :)

Ya and probably a Truck to pull it too!

 

[Diesel]

Ya and probably a Truck to pull it too!

Oh I have the truck already, Secret Santa gave me one last year. ;)

 

[skim]

I don't know I mean part of the fun is the learning process. When I first read this post I kind of got angry think of ALL THE STUFF OVER ALL THE YEARS. I went through this awhile ago with a friend and I know some will be upset but I told him not to bother and just stay with his large Planted Aquarium which looks like a piece of the Amazon was cut out and drop into his tank. All he does is Add evaporated water and water changes and trims the plants every so often and feeds the Fishes.
I don't know if I did do it again I do not think I would try for a large tank with mixed Reef, I think I would do few Smaller systems like 2 to 4 30 gal Cubes with one that had maybe 2 to 4 different SPS and then one with Softies and one with Zoa's and one with a Clam and a SeaFan.

 

[Rick.45cal]

NAH........... if I would start over I buy a boat for the money I spend over the last 4 decades and explore the corals and fish in their own habitat.
I kinda sound like a Snorkel Bob or a Sea Sheppard member but it is the truth :)

Too me, having been fortunate enough to take a break from the hobby and dive some amazing reefs in this world, only made the itch worse... it certainly didn't scratch the itch in any way!

Boats are their own kind of money sink... :D:rolleyes::D

You know how it would have ended up, you just would have ended up with reef tanks and a big boat diesel!:p (I can think of worse things in life:D)