What would you do different?

[Johnny G]

Hi everyone - I'm planning a new salt water build  and I'd like to get some advice and feedback on your tanks.

What would you do different? What do you hate about your tank? What do you love about your tank? (Besides the obvious?) What lessons have you learned that you'd like to share?

[Aquaticfinatic]

Not doing an external overflow is my biggest. Smallest is no polished and beveled edges. 

[Greatwhite]

There is a sticky thread with everything you need to know about to start.

The general rule that I like to tell people starting out - don't get cheap equipment, and plan purchases that you can take forward into a bigger tank later.

It is inevitable that if you buy a 50 to start, you'll surely want a 90 in a month after you realize that you can't keep a Tang in a 50. If you buy a 90, you'll want a 120...

Buy a good light fixture. LED if you can swing it...

The good news is, you don't have to break the bank on an expensive skimmer. There are good skimmers in the $200-$300 range with Reef Octopus and Bubble Magus.

The more you spend up front, the less you will have to replace later...

[robt18]

The best way to go about it is to figure out what you want, then build your tank around that. If you buy a 20gal tank with the intention of having loads of coral and big fish, you'll quickly realize you've wasted your money. I used to describe it as "buy the biggest tank/system you can afford because that's what you'll want in 6 months". If you think looking at a reef tank is fun, you'll have 10x the fun owning one.

My other motto to live by: "Don't do saltwater to save money". It's an expensive hobby and you definitely get what you pay for. Again, if you buy entry level equipment, you'll get entry level results and be able to keep easy, basic things. With coral you can spend $500 on a good light and $500 on really nice coral, or $100 on an ok light and $900 in coral that dies because it hasn't been properly cared for. Same investment, one looks way nicer. 

Buy attractive live rock. It's going to be in your tank forever, it's not going to move much, buying cool looking pieces tends to make your tank look more interesting (I think at least).

And lastly, buy a GREAT light. What's the point of doing all this if it isn't going to look good? Not only will it keep your coral healthy, but everything looks so much better when you do lighting right. Lighting technology has come SO far in the last 5 years for SW tanks, it does your tank injustice when you don't take advantage of the new systems out there. Also, nice LED systems use a lot less energy than the older halide ones, so even though its a big *gulp* when you buy them, they pay themselves off in no time. I love lights.

Happy reef keeping!

[Greatwhite]

Also, don't get suckered into buying one of those Marineland Reef Ready Kits... I didn't know what I was after when I started, and thought "oh cool - everything I need is in this box!".. 55G tank, light, filter...  "Just add sand" --  ok!!!  Well, this was when the kits came with a bad 1 bulb fluorescent (T8?) fixture and a Penguin bio-wheel filter.  Both are not appropriate for a salt tank, and the kit was $300.

Out of the kit, I used the tank only...  Money was NOT well spent there.

I bought a Coralife power compact fixture with LED moonlights for $450 and a Seaclone 120 (as recommended by the guy at the store)...  I don't remember what that cost me, but after 2 months I found myself ordering a Deltec MCE 600 for $500 and two Tunze powerheads.

You can see money going into this system fast, right?  Oh, I didn't mention the 60lbs of live rock that I bought at the start at $12/lb...  And then the fish can be expensive on top of all that.

So now, 8+ years later - out of the original setup, I have my live rock and substrate.  Everything else has been upgraded (at least once).  Fortunately you can (usually) sell your old stuff to recuperate some of the loss.  I gave away most of the stuff from my original kit.

Most people will have a similar story, I'm sure.  And it's completely avoidable by planning ahead (far ahead) at the start.  Like Rob said - look at what you want to keep (fish/corals) and plan around that.  Fish will dictate how big of a system you need, and corals will tell you how much lighting.

[Nienna]

If you're just getting started, this would be my number one tip:

Figure out what you want in the tank, then check compatabilities (I guarentee there will be conflicts between the fish so you have to pick and choose), then work backwards from there to your tank specs.

So for example if you definately want some of the really nice big angel fish then your corals are probably going to be plastics (not that there's anything wrong with that - there's some really nice ones you can get that are customizable).

You also don't want your corals to be eating your rare prize specimen small fish.

Good luck - let us know what you're thinking of!

[Johnny G]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

What about the height of the stand, in terms of easy access, cleaning, etc?

My current tank is 18" wide, so the next one will be 24"...

Also, I'm thinking about a closed loop and have heard good things and bad things.

Opinions please!

[Aquaticfinatic]

Stand hight is best around the 32" mark I find. It's good for viewing and just need a small step to work on. I prefer power heads to do the water movement instead of a closed loop.

[Greatwhite]

Stand height is not just cosmetic, but that is something to consider. You want it to look good in the room...  BUT remember that the idea of the stand is to also give you room for a nice big sump.

My stand has 28" of vertical space from the bottom of my sump to the bottom of my tank. I have plenty of room to get at my skimmer cup without having to curse at it until it comes out. I can even pull my skimmer out for a good cleaning.

The stand I built originally was tight. I had 1/2" to get my skimmer cup...  To do a skimmer cleaning, I had to empty my sump and slide it out the door part way. I hated it.

[Greatwhite]

Oh, and in regards to closed loop systems, I have been told that they are not worthwhile in a salt system. I honestly don't know WHY they are no good, because the source of my info here was an elitist jerk who would just "yell" if someone asked about something that he didn't like.

The preferred flow method is "low flow through the sump" and make up the water movement with power heads in the tank.

[groupie02]

I had a closed look on my 65g in-wall tank. It worked just awesome with some "random" flow coming from one of the 4 return outlets. I did not require powerheads in that tank.
I decided against using one in my newer tanks. It just depends on what you want to do and see.

[ramblnpony]

I would pre-drill the rockwork to accept plugs so that adding frags and corals as well as moving them if they don't like their location would be a breeze. I moved a bunch today and I hate using coral cement putty. (PITA) Sometimes it works, sometimes not, and it always makes your skimmer go crazy for awhile.

[Feivel]

My tank stand was custom built, i have it at 36" from the ground, i like the extra height. and prefer it over the standard big als" stand on my other tank, mind you i have both tanks on the one sump in the custom stand.

I would have done a coast-to-coast on my tank before i filled it, aswell as probably add a few baffles in the sump to seperate it a bit, (Keep the cheatos out of the skimmer inlet !!!! AAAGH)

I enjoy BOTH my front facing and Pininsula style tank. (3side viewable) They both have advantages/disadvantages. I would have like to have a 24" wide tank instead of the 75 i am using for the pininsula tank, as the extra width would have made lots of nice tables and allow me to build slightly higher rockwork without impeeding too much on the natural look i was after and not making it look like a vertical rock tower.

There are several different ways to setup your tank and rock work. Some people like the dual island vertical stack rockwork, others like bridges and some like pirate ships, but please dont go plastic reef

For the tank itself, i would go as big as you can afford, if i could suggest the perfect starter size it would be a 120g. 90g MINIMUM (75 is "ok" too as its only 2" shorter than the 90g)

Get a larger rated pump for the sump, run all your reactors etc off one pump, And hook up a hose at the end of the line for easy water changes. each line should have a shut off, I have 2 tanks running the same sump off one pump as-well as bio pellets reactor, gfo and carbon.

Get a ReekKeeper

Try and keep the tank out of the sunlight to help repvent unwanted nuisance algaes,

And most of all Enjoy the many learning curves and experiences you will have
Trust me, theres many, I have been keeping for 4 years now and im still elarning as much today as i was when i started, so never stop researching. Its very interesting stuff actually

Cheers

P.S. http://ovas.ca/forum/index.php?topic=56348.0  <--- A lot of helpfull links that helped me learn on the way aswell as a breif "what your getting into" Article i wrote