Ok what would you have done different

[Buccaneer]

Well ....

for starters I would have made the tank bigger ( 3 ft deep ... 3 ft tall & 8 ft long is still OK )

I have 2 x 2" bulkheads with small overflow box on one end ( would do 2 overflow boxes with a 2" bulkhead in each instead ... that way the " surface skimming " would only have to be for 4 ft of surface each as opposed to 8 ft as I have now )

I would have spent a couple extra bucks for starfire glass for front viewing ( did not know it even existed when I built mine )

Would still have built the rest of tank in wood/epoxy as I did this time ... dont have to rely on anyone else/expense for drilling closed loops etc

If I were to build a larger tank then more closed loops would be a must ... even if they were no used immediately at least you can " upgrade " your circulation later on

plan for sump/refugium and any other tanks you want to share the water supply/heaters/calcium reactor/skimmer with ( ie fish only or species only tanks tied into the reef water supply ) ... on the last part some will say that it is a risk but this IMO is ALL a risk so " why not " ?

as mentioned above room " behind the scenes " is important ... the more the better ... I currently squeeze behind my tank in 2 ft x 12 ft area ... not enough room in hindsight

If I think of anything else I will follow up but I hope that helped some

Cheers