- Make sure the overflow on your flood table is at least the capacity of your inlet . If the overflow is too small you may as well not have it at all.
- If it looks wrong, it is wrong, regardless of what you've read. I still do this all the time. Getting better though. Hydro just isn't intuitive for me.
- Keep the electrical off the floor. Sounds basic but so does everything once you know it. And if the wire runs below anything that ever has water in it, put a dip in the run of wire (a distinct low spot in the middle) so should a bad thing happen it drips onto the floor off the insulation instead of running along the wire into your box.
- When it floods all over the floor, what are you going to do? Murphy's law is very applicable in our hobby.
- Murphy's law especially applies to pumps when you go away for the weekend.
- Rubbermaid containers are tough but they're not that tough. Double up!
- When you're setting up for the first time in a new place always consider how much of a pain it'd be to fix or change anything, then choose the way that will be easier to fuck with tomorrow even if it's harder to build today.
- Make a workspace you can actually work in. A bit cramped now becomes unworkable tomorrow.
- The guys at the hydro store aren't real mentors but they're real salesmen.
Essentially, most of my mistakes were about water being where it shouldn't and spending too much money. So damn.