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Introduction and my tank!

75 gallon reef tank with half reused rock and half bleach cured rock. Current livestock is low, but fish were upgraded from a 40 breeder.
Introduction
Hello, I’m Kenji! I’ve been fishkeeping for about 5 years, but only started reefing about 1.5 years ago. I still have a lot to learn, and am excited to get advice as needed.
75 gallon reef tank with half reused rock and half bleach cured rock. Current livestock is low, but fish were upgraded from a 40 breeder.

Aquarium Profile and Equipment

What type of saltwater aquarium is this?
Mixed Reef
Total Water Volume
75
When did you start this tank?
Jan 15, 2026
What is your aquarium made of?
Glass
Aquarium Length (inches)
48
Aquarium Width (inches)
18
Aquarium Height (inches)
21
Aquarium Overflow/Drain
No Overflow
Aquarium Sump
NO Sump
Aquarium Stand
It’s a DIY wood stand that I built myself.
Aquarium Controller
NO
Protein Skimmer
YES
Protein Skimmer Make and Model
Instant Ocean Seaclone 100
Aquarium Reactors
  1. None
What types of equipment are you using for water flow and circulation?
  1. Wavemaker
Water Flow and Circulation Equipment List
Freesea wavemaker dual head and 1 Fluval wavemaker
Aquarium Lighting
  1. LED
Lighting Equipment List
Currently only one Wills black box saltwater led light
Auto Top Off or ATO
NO
Aquarium Heating and Cooling
  1. I am using a heater or heaters
Water Temperature
78

Aquarium Water Chemistry and Parameters

Specific Gravity
1.025
Salt Brand
Instant Ocean Reef Crystals

Aquarium Natural and Mechanical Filtration

Substrate
Crushed Coral
Substrate Level
Other
Live Rock
100
Live Rock Type
Mixed
Nutrient Export
  1. Macro Algae
  2. Protein Skimmer
Water Changes
YES
Water Change Details
I have not yet, as this tank is relatively new with some old material, but I will perform monthly water changes of at least 20% water volume ≈ 15 gallons

Aquarium Tank Inhabitants (fish, coral, invert etc.)

Fish List
  1. Clownfish
  2. Damselfish
  3. Goby
Total Fish
I currently have 4 fish, a pair of frostbite clownfish, 1 blue damselfish, and 1 yellow watchman goby paired with a tiger pistol shrimp.
Coral List
  1. Soft Coral
  2. Mushroom Coral
Total Corals
2
Invert List
  1. Crabs
  2. Starfish
  3. Shrimp
  4. Snails
Total Inverts
20
Livestock Detail
I don’t have nearly the amount of inverts I’d like to have, but I’m slowly building them up. Most of my inverts are the cleanup crew, including hermit crabs, Nassarius, margarita, astrea, and 1 Trochus snail. I also have 1 tiger conch, 1 peppermint shrimp, and 1 tiger pistol shrimp. I plan to add more over time.
Livestock Quarantine
  1. No Quarantine
Favorite Fish
My current favorites are my clownfish.
Favorite Coral
I don’t have one yet.
Favorite Invert
My favorite invert so far is my tiger pistol shrimp.
Never Livestock
Tangs and puffers because they will limit my stocking due to their bioload.

Aquarium Nutrition (fish, coral, invert etc. feeding)

Fish Feeding Frequency
One Daily Feeding
Coral Feeding Frequency
Do Not Feed Coral Directly
Fish and Coral Feeding
  1. Pellet
  2. Frozen
What brands of foods are you feeding?
San Francisco Bay frozen food, and currently omega one pellets by ocean nutrition.
Auto Feeder
NO

Additional Aquarium Information

What do you think are the keys to your success in reefing?
Keeping up with maintenance and watching water parameters as I add more livestock. Because this is a low tech tank, I will be careful to not overstock the tank with fish, which is also why I’m avoiding tangs and pufferfish as well as anything that can “technically” fit in it. I’d rather have a lot of nano fish instead of limiting my stock with larger fish.

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God, Bouldering, and Reefing
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Nice looking tank! What are your plans for the tank regarding livestock?
 
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Spidermonkey_reefer

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Nice looking tank! What are your plans for the tank regarding livestock?
Thank you! For fish livestock:, I’m still planning or thinking. However definite additions down the line will be: aiptasia-eating filefish (first priority for prevention), mandarin goby, 2 banggai cardinals. Some that I’m debating are: purple dottyback, clown goby, diamond/orange-spotted sand-sifting goby, lawnmower blenny/scooter blenny/midas blenny, longnose hawkfish, or firefish.
I won’t add all of these obviously, because that would be very overstocked for my comfortability and some of these fish will fight with others, but they’re the options I’m choosing from. All of these will be added in no particular order, except with making the more aggressive fish last in order of addition over time, and waiting for an established copepod population for the mandarin goby although I’ll attempt to train it.

CUC/inverts future stock list: more snails and hermits of various types, lettuce nudibranch (maybe), skunk cleaner shrimp, another peppermint shrimp, emerald crab, coral banded shrimp, featherdusters, 1 urchin (either a rock-boring that I have in another tank or a new pincushion), and some other crab.

Corals: whatever appeals to me, although it will mostly be soft and lps dominated.
 

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