If you knew then what you know now, what would you do differently?

Different size tank?

Different lighting?

Different coral selection?

Salt?

There are so many things that I think many of us would change.

Also, does this show that we don't research enough when we start our tanks, or does it just mean that you learn more with a bit of experience than even the best books and experts could teach you?

Personally, I would have drilled my tank (7 gal minibow) and added a sump/refug. Mostly because I'm too lazy to keep up with regular water changes/topoff, and the extra volume would give me a bit of a buffer.

metal halides, i would've gone with the mh's (supplemented with actinics).

for my display tank i would've gone as big as i could not afford. X)

Bigger tank and more flow.

Also, does this show that we don't research enough when we start our tanks, or does it just mean that you learn more with a bit of experience than even the best books and experts could teach you?

you can read until your eyes bleed...but there's no substitute for first hand experience...

the one thing i'd do better...hide my receipts better so my fiance couldn't find 'em....

I always regret not having a bigger sump.

That, and I really wish I had gone for a shallower tank with more floor area (have a 29g standard now).

My first tank was a disaster. My second and current tank now represents everything that I wanted to do since I have learned to care for reef-tanks.

Shallower(maybe), longer, wider tank, drilled w/ sump and closed loop scwd. I'd also want it somwhere such that the two biggest panes of glass we're facing rooms so I could double the viewable area. Twice the tank that way.

1. a closed loop would be nice on the 1.5

2. an auto top-off would have been nice on the five...:x

3. more wood

I wouldn't have put those five mantis shrimp in.

would have used a better salt initially

would have never shopped at ******* OUTLET in L.A.

would definately have gone halide right away...

More garf grunge... Maybe all garf grunge for the substrate.

Different Live Rock. I'm setting up my third reef tank this year and I love the Kaelini LR we got for it from Dr. Mac's this week. Awesome.

Arago-crete is great but it develops so sloooooow. It's just now (3 months) getting to the point of growing thicker amounts of calcarious algae.

It could also be space and other limitations such as $$ and the amount of electricity you have available. Not a lot of people think about the amount of electricity that a tank consumes, but in the place I am in now, the circuit would have never handled 2 MH lamps so I decided to go with the 40 and use just one MH.

10 gallon long tank. not an aga ten gallon. i like the long tanks better. 10k maybe 20k MH plus atentic. 6500k to suplement. set the tank up to handle sps and clams from the start.

GET SMALLER ROCKS!!!

set up two ten gallon fuges plumbed in tandem.

do everything right the first time. instead of spending less money up fron then just getting the more expensive stuff later. i spent twice as much doint that as i would have if i just did i right the first time.

I wouldn't have bought the first live rock I found at a lfs. Should have looked around for a while first to see what live rock is suppose to look like when it's "Live".

i would have gone 20 gallon to ease my LR addiction

and i also REALLY wish i would have gotten a bowfront...

DEFINITELY with MH lighting and not PC.

also, the first 3 peices of LR i bought looked like rocks from the ground. (brown with nothing on them at ALL) i use them for support rocks now but they still take up room and i payed less price for purple rocks with featherdusters all over them.

I wish i would have found out about nano-reef.com sooner so i could have known that i was paying well over what i should for things. that prob means ordering everything all at once online, instead of 4000 trips to the LFS

i would have waited 3-4 months b4 any live stock besides hermits n snails as well.......

i guess instead of regretting this stuff, we should consider it a great advantage for the next tank set-up~ =)

Smaller rocks, even in a non-nano tank. the massive, $400 chunk of show rock that I bought was nice and all, but it was just too huge. Couldn't do anything with it in the tank. Also, smaller rocks give an impression of a greater volume inside the tank.

Hwarang, why didnt you take a hammer to it??

-i would have halides w/ actinics from day one.
-instead of a 25 tall i would have gotten a 20 long.
-never got the damsel or the coral babnded shrimp.
-finally... i wouldnt have let that hitchhiker crab slip out of my hands and back into my tank.( suspected of devouring a lovely patch of zoos)

Hmmmm.....

I wouldn't have grabbed that big nasty bristtle worm with my bare hands. Not only did I end up with a ton of bristles sticking out of my hand, but the damn thing bit me as well.

The thing is I REALLY should have known better since marine biology is my field, but it was a matter of I saw it out and away from the LR so I had to take advantage of the opportunity. He was about 3/4" wide and about 10" long (a little too large for a nano IMO). The bite kinda tells me that it ws a good thing to take him out (hurt like a SOB).

Next time I won't use a tupperware container (flipped upside down) on my LS to pour my water on when I set up the tank. This made it so my tank wasn't as cloudy as everyone elses... but I have issues with the fact that "dust" is always present and my tank has a constant haze....... It may take weeks for this to clear up.

I would have gotten a fuge right away so I wouldn't have to be waiting for it now.

added snails sooner so they don't have to be playing so much catch-up on the tank.

I would have gone big, huge 180 gallon if I could have afforded it, its easier to maintain something so big cause you can't f *(&& mess it up so easily. I would have gotten lots of xenia and green star polyps, anything that requires less work, my nano is a full time job for me..:ermm: :ermm: :ermm:

wouldnt have thrown a chocolate chip star in my tank...only got a very small frag of zoo's, but it still got em

first i would have went twenty plus gallons filled it up nicely with reef and came here to this topic and complained about wanting a smaller tank like i have now. its nice to wish we did it right the first time but think what we learned from our "newbie" mistakes!!!

This isnt my first tank, but i would have drilled holes in the back of my tank around the waterline for the drain to the refugium and the return from the pump, instead of drilling holes in the bottom and using pvc pipes sticking up from the bottom to the waterline..It wasnt as noticeable in my old larger tank, but it botheres me alot in this smaller one..besides that my tank is bulletproof for a 20 gallon..

Never added a dwarf angel which over time became a polyp picker.

Would not add a 70W MH to a 7 gallon again either.

Most importantly, Metal halides right away. Hands down.

Should've drilled my tanks too.

I would have a picked a cheaper ecosystem, maybe an ant farm or a flea circus.


Nah seriously, would have done my research on buffers and supps, dont need em, and oceans blend is the only 2 part youll ever use again, and if you change your water weekly, you dont need anything else, seriously people "oceansblend.com"

Would've read the directions on the ESV Oolitic Arogonite Reef Sand container and not dumped it into my new tank without rinsing it first.

Three days into the cycle and still too cloudy to see the live rock!

i would have bought a house and have gotten a 100 gallon tank.