Lurking danger 75g Dragon Lair

[vlangel]

Sumpless 75g Mixed Reef​

11-17-25

AQUARIUM PROFILE & EQUIPMENT
1. What type of saltwater aquarium is this?: mixed reef
2. Total water volume: 75 gallons
3. When did you start this tank?: September 2025, but all the rock, sand and inhabitants were transferred from a 9 year old 56g aquarium
4. What is your aquarium made of?: glass Aqueon
5. Aquarium Stand: Aqueon 48" x 18"
6. Aquarium filtration: only a canister prefilter sponge from an Oase BioMaster 800 and natural biological from rock, sand, macroalgae. The canister filter is acting as a cryptic sump where pods, worms and other life can live and reproduce unmolested by fish. Hopefully this will provide a continuous supply of pods and worms for a natural food source for fish and coral.
7. Controller: Inkbird temperature
8. Protein skimmer: no
9. Reactor: no
10. Sump: no
11. Equipment for flow & circulation:
A. Oase BioMaster 800 canister filter,
with spraybar output
B. Tunze nanostream 6045
C. Ecotech mp 40
12. Aquarium Lighting: ReefBreeder
Photon V-24
13. ATO: no
14. Aquarium Heating: heater that is
made to be integrated in the
BioMaster 800 canister filter. The beauty of this is the heater is in the canister and not in the tank cluttering the display. Also none of the inhabitants can be injured by it.
PH: 8.0
Specific Gravity: 1.024
NO3: 10ppm
PO4: .5ppm
Calcium, Alkalinity, and Magnesium are not monitored as these are naturally regulated with water changes and AFR dosing
Salt Brand: Instant Ocean
Trace Element dosing: Flourish (1 capful weekly), AFR ( 5-10 ML weekly), and 1 capful Seachem Stability weekly
Water Chemistry Details: 10% water change weekly
Aquarium Aquascape:
Substrate: shallow and deep sand
Live rock: 80lbs of Carribean
Nutrient export: Macroalgae and coral

AQUARIUM INHABITANTS
Fish: True Percula Clownfish, Yellow Watchman Goby, One Spot Foxface, Masked Goby and Pajama Cardinalfish, Solon fairy wrasse, Longnose hawkfish, Bridled goby, 2 yellow tail damsels, Coral Beauty dwarf angelfish and Neon cleaner goby


Coral: SPS- Scroll coral, War coral, 1 green and 1 orange monticap, lepto, poccilipora and green pectina
LPS- Green Hammers, Aqua Trumpets, Neon Green Trumpets, small green goni and an aqua green goni, Holy grail torch, NY Nicks torch and a shorter tentacled no name torch
SOFTIES- various Palys, various Zoas, Sinularia finger leather, Cabbage leather, Green Toadstool leather, Kenya tree finger leather and pulsing xenia
SPONGES- Yellow Ball Sponge,

Inverts: Rock Flower Anemones, 5 Feather Dusters, Emerald crabs, 6 Peppermint Shrimp, Nassarius snails and an Atlantic cucumber, astrea snails, and fight conch


Macroalgae: (Green) Codium, Shaving Brush, (Red) Pom Pom, Mermaid's fan

2 Mangroves

Aquarium Nutrition:
Auto Feeder 2Xs daily veggie flakes
1 Frozen Cube daily of various foods
5 ML of live Phyto
______________________________________

Hi R2R friends! I bought a 75g standard Aqueon rimmed aquarium to transfer my 56g natural nutrient tank into. My primary reasons are I wanted a little bigger footprint and a longer tank plus I wanted an aquarium that was not as tall for viewing and wiping the glass. My 56g aquarium is almost 9 years old and in a sweet spot so this is a nervous move.

However I am very excited about setting this tank up and have it tell a story. The ocean is a place of soothing, swaying coral in the current. It can give one a sense of peace. And yet, it is also a place where smaller fish are hunted and preyed upon by bigger, even menacing fish. So there is a tension between the serene and the anxious vigilance to stay alive. In our home aquariums we strive for the serene but we often battle the menacing; be it incompatibility, water parameters, disease or out of control algae. So that tension is a reality even in our little piece of the ocean. That dichotomy is what i hope to convey in this build, which is also why I changed the name of this thread.

For filtration I rely mostly based on biology. The 56g has a 30g sump refugium but the new 75g will be an AIO using an Aqua Clear 110 filter. I plan to keep rubble rock in it for a pod refuge, although I may use carbon and filter floss when I want to polish the water. I keep enough ornamental macroalgae, sponges along with a partial DSB and live rock that my display acts a lot like a fuge. And of course I will do water changes as needed, ( probably weekly for the first year or so).

For flow, I have 3 Carefree Fish wavemakers and an MP10. I am not sure yet just what combination I will use. I know that I want the display to have as minimal disruption of the natural beauty from equipment as possible. All these powerheads are fairly low profile so that should be pretty easy. I will use 2 smaller heaters so that they also are low profile. For lighting I will continue to use my ReefBreeder Photon V24. I know that on the ends of the tank the par will be much lower but I like palys and zoas so that will be a good place for them. If I find that I don't have enough light I can always add more.

I bought glass tops to stop carpet surfers and to cut down on evaporation. I will make sure there is good surface agitation for oxygen exchange.

Finally I plan to paint a mural of a leafy seadragon in a kelp forest on the back glass. I am very excited about this unique aspect of my tank. I love seadragons, pipefish and seahorses. (I kept and raised seahorses in the 56g) so its an acknowledgment to that season in my aquaria experience. This will be a fun tank to set up and I am excited to start! The first pic is my current 56g natural nutrient tank.

 

[Ruben's Reef]

Thats a great size to make a nice aquascape. Keep posting progress of your new project.

 

[exnisstech]

I run an AC 110 on a 40g breeder. If you ever feel the need for a surface skimmer there are people making them but I used the inside half of an old hob overflow and it works surprisingly well.

 

[vlangel]

Thats a great size to make a nice aquascape. Keep posting progress of your new project.

I am really excited about the aquascape. I have to do the mural first and I don't want to rush that so it might be a little bit before I have anything else to post but I will keep you all updated.

 

[Ruben's Reef]

Patience is the Key to make it right. Take your time and choose carefully what your want on your reef.

 

[vlangel]

I run an AC 110 on a 40g breeder. If you ever feel the need for a surface skimmer there are people making them but I used the inside half of an old hob overflow and it works surprisingly well.

Thanks for the tip. I will keep that in mind. I also have 2 old HOB Prism skimmers but I don't expect to need them and they definitely do not fit in my definition of low profile equipment, LOL.

 

[vlangel]

Patience is the Key to make it right. Take your time and choose carefully what your want on your reef.

Amen to that sir! This is my 4th reef in 25 years and I developed more patience with each one. Likely this will be my last tank that is bigger than a nano, so I really need to be deliberate about every detail, (even though this is a simple reef.)

 

[Ruben's Reef]

Right now I'm planning a full reboot of my reef tank. Been reefing since 2016 and already upgrade 2 times. I started with a 40 breeder, then a 75 gallons and now a Waterbox 145.5 but during this time I learn a lot to a point that will start from 0 again but knowing what I want and how I want it.
Keep posting the outcome on your project.

 

[vlangel]

Right now I'm planning a full reboot of my reef tank. Been reefing since 2016 and already upgrade 2 times. I started with a 40 breeder, then a 75 gallons and now a Waterbox 145.5 but during this time I learn a lot to a point that will start from 0 again but knowing what I want and how I want it.
Keep posting the outcome on your project.

Do you have a build thread for your reboot? It would be fun to see what you do this time.
I am going to check out your profile to see if you have threads for your prior tanks.

 

[Ruben's Reef]

Do you have a build thread for your reboot? It would be fun to see what you do this time.
I am going to check out your profile to see if you have threads for your prior tanks.

No, not yet. I will going to start another build thread as soon I start the reboot. My Instagram as RubensReef has basically all pictures since I start making my first reef tank.

 

[Reefingmad1]

very nice size tank i hope the swap over gos well for you

 

[vlangel]

No, not yet. I will going to start another build thread as soon I start the reboot. My Instagram as RubensReef has basically all pictures since I start making my first reef tank.

I don't do Instagram, LOL (I'm too old to learn much social media. I barely look at FB). But I did browse your 7 pages of the 75 gallon wall tank. What you did was really cool, but I agree about wall tanks. They are really hard to aquascape from the back and maintenance is a pain. I used to maintenance tanks for a lfs and I did not enjoy the wall tanks. I will watch for the reboot.

 

[vlangel]

very nice size tank i hope the swap over gos well for you

Thanks! I have swap out tanks before and never had a problem, so I hope this isn't my first! LOL

 

[vlangel]

I am rethinking about using a sump after all. I would have to use a HOB overflow box but I actually have been using that on my current tank for the last 8 years. They work well if you match the flow with the drain capacity and I have never had a flood. (Its easy with the variable speed DC return pumps). One thing that has worried me is if the drain gets clogged, (which has never happened to me but with macroalgaes in my display, it could). However, I see Eshopps make a HOB overflow box with an emergency drain. So I think that's what I am going to do.

 

[vlangel]

I also started the artwork for the mural. I will do drawings of leafy seadragons that I will tape to the inside of the tank. Then I will paint on the outside of the glass using the drawings as a guide. Also I will draw each image separately so I can move them around to decide the best composition. I will probably draw 3 seadragons and some sort of kelp like seaweed.

 

[Calmwaters]

I love the idea of the mural on the back!

 

[vlangel]

I love the idea of the mural on the back!

Thank you! I went to the Art Institute of Pgh back in the day so I learned things that should hopefully help me pull this off. Also the 56g column tank I have now had my 1st attempt at a mural. It didn't quite measure up to the vision that I had for it but I learned a lot what not to do so that will be invaluable.

 

[vlangel]

Here is where we are.

 

[vlangel]

I was intimidated to start painting but there was no sense in putting it off. Once I began, I could see that it was working so that was a huge encouragement. My drawing style has always been a bit dramatic but seadragons kind of lend themselves to such a style.

 

[ZzyzxRiver]

I’ve never seen anything like that before—a total original! Can’t wait to see it wet!