How would you start over in the reef hobby?

[Chiefmaster30]

I am trying to see how everyone would start over in this hobby? Would you start from scratch with live rock already seeded, start all from scratch, or what? I currently have a 125 gallon mixed reef but often think about starting over from scratch. There are always so many things that I think about doing different or that I would do different if I ever do start over so I was wandering what everyone else’s thoughts were? Or how you would start over?

 

[Phelipe's Ocean]

Similar to what your talking about I am starting from scratch. Too many mistakes and too many things I would have done differently. First mistake I got a big tank, its just didnt make sense to me to have such a large tank with frags scattered here and there so I found a biocube on craiglist and went with that for about a month now but still not happy. Now I am starting completly fresh. Going with a Nuvo 30long and upgrading as I fill in the tank. I am getting all my dream equipment and gadgets, supplements before I add water to the tank instead of “oh I will just get this later” Spending one week on the scape because I think its the most important part of the tank and we often overlook it. Everyday I tweak it a little more until the end of the week where I will fill it up. Secondly I chose a fish list that I spent weeks creating based on coloration, if they compliment eachother/corals, if they will do well in my system, and how the will coexist. Biggest mistake I did before was just walk into a fish store without a game plan and just get whatever I liked everytime without knowing anything about the fish and having them fight in my tank/ eat corals. Im super excited to see how this system turns out and how drammatically different the results will be with a game plan.

 

[Jason mack]

First you have a beautiful tank .. so I’m interested to know what you would change .. me I would go bigger but still start with dry rock .. I’d like a bigger selection of fish and more room for corals .. I have a 90 g

 

[Crabs McJones]

If I were to completely restart, I definitely would have gone bigger from the start. I have a 40 breeder, and i'm itching to move up to either a 75 or a 90. Don't think i'd ever go bigger than a 125 though. I will say I was very happy with the dry rock I got for this build so i'd definitely do that again. Would definitely do kessil lighting again

 

[Kenny Kirby]

Same here with me if I were to start over I would've went much bigger. I started with a 45 then upgraded to a 75 but it is still not big enough for the fish I want. So I would go much bigger and I would plan it out much more in advance instead of adding pieces of equipment as I went to combat things that were happening in the tank. I would use dry rock as well as it makes it easier to create the aquascape out of the water then just seed the tank with small pieces of live rock. And I would make sure all the equipment I'm getting is capable of keeping all the livestock I want so I won't have to waste any money upgrading pieces of equipment

 

[Zeal]

Honestly id do alittle more research on aquascape and flow around a tank. I wish I could redo my Aquascape completely with no water in the tank and buy a bunch of rocks and break them into pieces and make something creative.

Edit: Oh and drank a couple beers while doing it to get the creative juices flowing

 

[hdsoftail1065]

I didnt know R2R even existed when we got back into the hobby. I would spend more time researching EVERYTHING (equipment and livestock) and less time listening to the folks at the lfs'. I have gained more knowledge reading the articles and reading everyone's first hand experiences, what worked and what didn't. Not knocking the lfs', they are in it to make a dime but everyone here is trying to make it thrive!

I now find myself "not buying" something because it looks cool. I text myself pictures and the name of whatever it is and research the heck out of it when I get home!

I would also round up and set up a QT first thing and not after everything dies from those unwanted parasites!

 

[Chiefmaster30]

First you have a beautiful tank .. so I’m interested to know what you would change .. me I would go bigger but still start with dry rock .. I’d like a bigger selection of fish and more room for corals .. I have a 90 g

I would change the way I aquascaped my tank. I would put a lot more thought and time in it and I would never put Kenya tree or pulsing Xenia anywhere near anything in my tank. Right now I have Xenia in there and I absolutely hate it. I took a razor blade and scraped all of it off a month or 2 ago and it’s already coming right back. I hate that stuff! That’s what I would change about my tank.

 

[Chiefmaster30]

First you have a beautiful tank .. so I’m interested to know what you would change .. me I would go bigger but still start with dry rock .. I’d like a bigger selection of fish and more room for corals .. I have a 90 g

You have a nice looking tank also!

 

[Dennis McGrath]

If I were going to start over, I'd ask for your tank the way it is. That is beautiful !!!

 

[Jason mack]

You have a nice looking tank also!

Thankyou ,but it Needs more rock !!!!

 

[Msteven1]

I will start over when I can get a tank that size and then copy everything you’ve done chiefmaster!!!!!
;Bookworm

 

[Jesterrace]

There are a number of things I would've done different

1) Instead of purchasing my 36 gallon bowfront tank kit, I would've built a 20 gallon long from scratch and gone FOWLR to start or would've purchased more equipment used. I found out the hard way how useless a standard Petco, Petsmart, etc. tank kit is for saltwater as I ended up replacing everything but the hood/cover and the tank itself.
2) Avoided a big newbie oops that cost me a couple of hundred and lots of wasted time
3) Keeping my first tank as simple as possible (ie no skimmer, basic LED for FOWLR, etc.) and then spending the money on the larger setup
4) Skipping all the experimentation with food and just going with Reef Frenzy from the get go
5) Not attempting to turn a small internal powerfilter into a copepod 'fuge
6) Avoiding every aggressive fish i've dealt with and removed (ie Flame Angel, Solar Fairy Wrasse, Snowflake Occ clownfish) and I would've skipped out on the firefish/dartfish

 

[NoWaiAma]

Just finishing my first cycle ever but already regretting not starting larger. .

Things I’d change- research all cycling methods before torture. I thought I did enough research in the months leading to purchase .. I didn’t research the right things.

Tank size, sump with refugium, would of planned better for essential add ons( nice lights. Skimmer. All of the doo dads and testing)

Basically I would of joined this community months beforehand instead of after.

 

[FindingNem0]

I just bought my 40g tank and after reading everyone's comment, I instantly started regretting not going bigger LOL [emoji23]. This will be my first reef tank after being with freshwater for about 6years.

 

[NoWaiAma]

I just bought my 40g tank and after reading everyone's comment, I instantly started regretting not going bigger LOL [emoji23]. This will be my first reef tank after being with freshwater for about 6years.

I’m telling you! I’m struggling with “how long do I wait to go 70? Or do I go 150?”

 

[DylanE]

I just reentered the hobby after a few years out, but I always kept low budget nanos (as in no ATOs, homemade LEDs, HOB filters). For this build I finally went large enough for a few fish I've always wanted with a 50g cube. I also decided to go ahead and spend the money and time to do things right from the start, which wasn't an option during high school, undergrad and med school. It took me a month to do the plumbing/scaping/sump layout/apex programming, but man, it's already so much more enjoyable than before.

 

[andrewkw]

I don't know if I'd want to start from scratch scratch again...

I've corrected most of the mistakes I can correct over the years. The one thing I would like to do and somehow still don't do despite having multiple tanks is to do less mixed reefs and more either sps, lps or softy dominated tanks. Problem for me is I like almost every coral and can not settle on a direction to take my tank. We are talking well over a decade and still haven't decided..

 

[jda]

I have also learned a lot along the way. Main lessons are that bacteria can do wonderful things if you let them do their job. ...and that new-to-market stuff is too risky to try for the first few years.

My next tank will have 3" of sand, about 2000 lbs of real live rock, 3 or 4 skimmers (these will outwork a single larger one), AC return pumps and Metal Halide still. No controller. Tank will be 12'x4'x32" - or about 950 gallons. 120 gallon fuge. Most of the rock and some of the corals will come from my existing tanks, but it will take a year or more to fully move them.

 

[James butchart]

Hi I just read your thread about you hating your xenia coral before I read it I looked at your picture and taught they well with everything else. I'm still new to this hobby that's probably why I like it . Good luck with the start over if you decide to go for it.