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3/2/04 - If you could do it all over again...


Orange Crush

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Orange Crush

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?

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Orange Crush

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.

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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)

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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....

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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Originally posted by Orange Crush

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

 

 

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?

 

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.

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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.

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IllusionaryDreams

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".

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AReeferIsExpensive

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~ =)

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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.

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-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)

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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).

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SilverSpurs

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.

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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.

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DitchPlains

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:

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