40 Gallon to 75 Gallon Build

drmor22 · Feb 14, 2026

I have attached images of my 40 gallon startup to my now 75 gallon. I had a tank with a sump for over 30 years. I developed a hair algae breakout and could never recover. I broke down the tank and sold everything. 10 years later I started again. I was going to do a cichlid tank but could not go through with it and went salt again. I had already purchased items for the freshwater including a canister filter. I know, I know what people will say, but it has worked out nicely for me. I have a lot of lights and sometimes struggle with the different types of corals I have added. I do a 10 gallon water change per week with filtered water and reef crystals. I have lost some corals, fish, and invertebrate along the way. I know I will get the Tang police on me. The yellow tang I received from Biota has grown so fast. It was almost white when I got him. My "tank" is now three years old. Here is a list of hardware and creatures. I know this is a lot.

Aqueon - 75 Gallon Tank
AWP Eco Stand
Oase 350 Canister Filter
- Seachem Matrix Bio
- Activated Carbon
- Chemi-Pure Elite
- Chemi-Pure Blue
- Phosguard
- Purigen
- Change Qty (5) - Carbon prefilters once a month
- Built-in Heater
Oase 250 for my Chaeto Algae Reactor
- Lights run opposite my main lights
- Plant Grow LED Light, OUEVA 16.4ft/5M 5050 SMD Waterproof Full Spectrum Red Blue 5:1
- Only run prefilters
- Built-in Heater
- Change Qty (4) - Carbon prefilters every other month
- Pull Chaeto out as needed and give to local Fish store
OASE CrystalSkim 350 Surface Skimmer (aggravating piece of equipment)
Coralife Turbo-Twist 6x 18-Watt UV Sterilizer
Jebao SLW Wave Maker Flow Pump, SLW-20
Jebao TW Series Wavemaker (TW-10)
Aquaready Hang on back protein skimmer, HOB-1.5
Aquamaxx Fluidized GFO Media reactor for Chaeto growing
Vevor Aquarium Chiller, 1/10 HP
- Eheim 1200 Universal Aquarium Pump
- Pump Runs 24-7 through the chiller for added circulation
Inkbird Wi-Fi ITC-308 Digital Temperature Controller Thermostat Remote Monitoring
- Chiller and Heater controls
Danoplus - 2-in-1 Combo pH & Temperature Meter
Lights (Probably too many)
- Fluval Sea Marine 3.0 59 Watts 48-60” (Qty 2)
- Fluval Sea Marine 4.0 59 Watts 48-60” (Qty 1)
- ReefBrite - Actinic Blue XHO LED Strip Light 48” (Qty 2)
Tunze Magnet Scraper
GEZIEKID Wi-Fi Automatic Fish Feeder
Useek - Auto Top Off for Saltwater Aquarium Water
Aoycocr - Smart Plugs- Bluetooth Wi-Fi Smart Outlet
Aquatic Life - 4-Stage RO/DI Aquarium Water Filter System – Reverse Osmosis Filtration with Sediment, Carbon, Membrane & DI Resin – 75 GPD
Reef Crystals Salt
- 10 Gallon Water Change once per week
Food (I feed a variety)
- Red Sea Reef Energy Plus 500ml (AB+) All in One Coral Food
- Hikari - Coralific Delite Coral Food
- Benereef – Powder Reef Food
- Hikari Pellet Food
  - Marine-S Pellets
  - Marine Herbivore Medium Sinking Pellets
  - Marine Carnivore Medium Sinking Pellets
  - Seaweed Extreme
- BlueZone Aquatics Custom Blue Zoo Mix
- Hikari – Frozen Spirulina Mysis Shrimp
- Hikari – Frozen Spirulina Brine Shrimp
- San Francisco Bay – Frozen Fish Eggs
- Sera Marine – Veggie Flakes
- Seachem – Zooplankton
- Seachem - Phytoplankton
Seachem – Fusion 1 and 2 for alkalinity and calcium
- Added mid-week between water changes
Coralife – Added to auto top off water
- Liquid Calcium
- Coral Vite

List of Creatures

Fish
- Yellow Biota Tang
- Blue Hippo Tang
- Royal Gramma
- Clown Fish (2)
- Aptasia File Fish
- Blue Spotted Puffer
- Golden Midas Blennie
- Lyretail Anthias (2)
- Azure Damselfish (Oldest)

Corals

LPS
- Hammer
- Cotton Candy Torch
- Sun Polyp Coral
- Candy Cane Coral
- Acan Brain
- Lobophyllia
- Favia War Coral
- Golden Eye Red Chalice
SPS
- Pink Acropora
- Green Montipora
- Green Bird’s Nest
Soft
- Zoanthid (4 types)
- Fuzzy Mushrooms
- Green star polyps (I must remove some every month and wish I never added it)
- Leather Coral (I cut it back and wait for it to grow again)
Invertebrates
- Hermit crabs
  - Halloween leg (My favorite)
  - Red leg
  - Blue leg
- Emerald Crab
- Feather Dusters (2)
- Tiger Sand Conch
- Serpent Starfish
- Coral Banded Shrimp
- Fire Shrimp
- Cleaner Shrimp (2)
- Gorgonian
- Green bubble tip anenome
- All kinds of snails
  - Olive Snails (My favorite and best for the sandbed.)
  - Nassarius
  - Turbo
  - Astrea
  - Trochus
- Blue Maxima Clam
- Copepods
  - Tigriopus, Tisbe, Apocyclops and Oithona
    - I add periodically
- All kinds of things running around at night.