The one thing I would do differently is?

[digital-audiophile]

As goofy as it sounds, I would have bought a different house that had the proper space for a large tank. Buying a house with a finished basement really only allowed me the space for a display tank of 90 gallons. IMHO anthing bigger than that and you need a proper fish room for all the goodies that go along with a large tank.

In our next house I want a walk out basement that is unfinished so I could do a 300+ gallon in wall tank with a proper fish room (I think we are still 10 years away from a new house though lol)

[bassman]

I would build the fish/sump room first allowing lots of room for expansion and make sure ALL the water that was put in the system was treated via RODI and chemically balanced first. i.e. Ca, PO4, Alk etc...