What would you do different if you could?

[KSzegi]

Well, at long last I'm in the final stages of upgrading my 180 to a 300dd, filling it now. Having the 180 as my first reef tank, I learned a few things that I want to do the same .... and a few things that I want to do differently.

Some changes that I'm making ......

1) Stand is much taller and therefore a lot easier to work with, plus making it with much larger door openings and panels on the ends for access also.

2) Doing away with the large size substrate and using tropic eden this time, seeding with some 'real' live sand.

3) Going with a dsb - I know it is controversial but I have been very happy with it in my 90.

4) Using an 'almost' coast to coast with a bean animal system - wow what a difference vs the standard aga overflows! When running my leak test I was so happy to hear .... nothing!!

5) Removing damsel and any rocks with xenia upon transfer!!

So, as I move forward with this upgrade and transfer ..... I'm curious to hear others ideas about things to think about before it is too late!! Given the chance, what would you all do differently in your next tank or during a transfer?

 

[jaytizzle]

A lot of the same... taller stand with doors on the front AND end, tropic eden reeflakes FTW!!!, wide overflow box (or C2C is better!), no xenia or star polyps or cloves.

 

[macawmagic]

If I could do it all over again...get a tank at least 20x the size I thought I wanted. LOL

 

[KSzegi]

If I could do it all over again...get a tank at least 20x the size I thought I wanted. LOL

Oh for sure, if the size of the house and/or budget would allow it ...... I'd go bigger yet!!:bigsmile:

 

[KSzegi]

A lot of the same... taller stand with doors on the front AND end, tropic eden reeflakes FTW!!!, wide overflow box (or C2C is better!), no xenia or star polyps or cloves.

Well, glad to know I'm not the only one who has apparently made the same mistakes at least!! If I'd have only known then what I know now ..... LOL

I just hope I can avoid too many more "oops" moments with this tank since I'll have to buy a bigger house to upgrade from this one!

This is the tank/stand in progress ...... Stand frame should be plenty sturdy enough and plan on finishing it with black walnut. Do you have a canopy..... and if so, what would you change about that?

 

[jaytizzle]

I hate canopies but they are a requirement to keep my wife. Sometimes I think I'd rather get rid of them both... lol.

I am in the process of building out a small (20") cube tank that is plumbed in with my 120 and am fixing a lot of the things that I don't like about my 120 with this build. Top notch woodworking, very carefully detailed canopy, coast to coast overflow, etc.

One thing that I learned about canopies is that it's nice to have some "hidden" compartments on the back side for hiding driver boxes or power supplies or ballasts. I'm incorporating this kind of trick into the canopy for my cube since it will have a DIY LED fixture over it.

 

[lawnman]

Things I wish I would of done differntly would be not start with a nano. Go alot bigger than I started with but sumps scared me and I was to scared to ask for help. Next take my time and research before I purchased things. Planning a nice cube build now and you better believe I am doing my research and taking my time.

 

[Troylee]

Since I change tanks every 4 months I think I'm good now and worked all the issues I had with the next tank and so on.... I'm actually completely happy with my system "minus the heat from a dart on closed loop" and would do it all over the same way if I had to...

 

[ThaBeast]

extra doors, no canopy, quieter overflow, planned space for electronics, ato reservoir in stand, better planning on plumbing