I've been reefing for a little over a year. Started out with a 35g bowfront, and just moved everything into a 75g - soooo much nicer for me, sooo much more room for goodies (but still enough open space so it all doesn't get/look too crowded IMO). I've dealt with plenty of issues (currently dealing with too much algae growth on the front of the tank glass), but the two best equipment moves I've made, fairly recently, (other than the usual suspects - skimmer, lighting, sump set-up, powerheads for flow) are an auto shut-off for the heater should it get stuck in the "on" position, and two auto-dosers for Alk and Calc.
Other than total power failure, seems to me the quickest way to lose lots or all of your livestock is if your heater sticks on and you don't find out until tank temp is way high, so I feel this is important. The other is the dosers (BRS 1.1 mL peristaltic dosing pumps). One pump for Alk and one for Calc, very easy to set up and very easy to adjust. I used to always be checking my parameters on an irregular basis, and just sort of dumping in Alk, Calc and Mag as my irregular testing dictated, without any real specific amounts going in (just sort of squirted out of a squeeze bottle what I thought was needed). Now, after about three weeks of dosing and checking parameters daily and making dosing adjustments with the BRS equipment, I am check parameters about every other day and they are spot on where I want them.
I am hoping that with proper lighting, flow, filtration and now stable parameters my corals will start to flourish.
Good luck, expect to make mistakes, study this board and others, and BE PATIENT! A member who goes by the handle "Saltyfilfolks" has the following as his tag, and I think it is perfect:
"Nothing good happens fast in this hobby only bad things happen overnight, if you think you go slow, slow down even more".
