Sumpless 75g Mixed Reef

[vlangel]

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. Carefree Fish wavemaker
C. Ecotech mp 10
D. 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: Coral Beauty Angelfish, Ocellaris Clownfish, Midas Blenny, Yellow Watchman Goby, Bi-color Blenny, Firefish Goby, Blue Eyed Kole Tang, One Spot Foxface, Masked Goby and 2 Pajama Cardinalfish
Future fish that I would like is a Long nose Hawkfish, a Royal Gramma, and maybe even a Sharpnose Puffer.

Coral: SPS- Scroll coral, War coral
LPS- Green Hammers, Aqua Trumpets, Neon Green Trumpets
SOFTIES- various Palys, various Zoas, Sinularia finger leather, Cabbage leather, Green Toadstool leather, Green Star Polyp
SPONGES- Yellow Ball Sponge, Red Tree Sponge, Purple Photosynthetic Sponge

Inverts: Rock Flower Anemones, 6 Feather Dusters, Emerald crabs, 6 Peppermint Shrimp, Nassarius snails and an Atlantic cucumber.
I feel I need a couple blue legged reef crabs and some nerite snails to help deal with the diatoms on the sandbed.

Macroalgae: (Green) Codium, Opuntia, Shaving Brush, Ulva, Moss Ball, (Red) Pom Pom, Gracilaria Hayi

2 Mangroves

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

 

[lapin]

Very kool

 

[vlangel]

I cleaned my glass yesterday so snapped a few quick pics! I have some pretty cute fish. I am still having some diatom issues but I am running a lot of white light for the macroalgae and mangrove.

 

[Tahoe61]

I love your tank. There's something for everyone. It appears to be a very active tank based the video.

 

[kevgib67]

Beautiful, well done!

 

[Idech]

You have a nice tank there. Maybe too small for a foxface though. Did you rinse your sand and was it 9 years old ?

 

[vlangel]

I love your tank. There's something for everyone. It appears to be a very active tank based the video.

Thank you Tahoe61. It is an active tank but they get more animated when I am near because I am the giver of good treats and these fish love to eat!

 

[vlangel]

Beautiful, well done!

Thank you!

 

[vlangel]

You have a nice tank there. Maybe too small for a foxface though. Did you rinse your sand and was it 9 years old ?

Thanks for the compliment. The foxface is a One Spot and from several sources a 75g that has a 4ft footprint is suppose to be ok. I will watch for aggression or stress but so far he's a very chill fish.

Actually the 56g was bare bottom its first year because I used it for a seahorse tank. When my seahorses lived out their natural lives of 7 yrs (they were only in the 56g at the end of their lives) I turned the tank into a mixed reef with sand. So the sand was only 8 years old but it was pretty yucky! I just had it in 5g buckets and ran a garden hose in the bucket swishing the sand and dumping the water until it was mostly clean. It took an entire afternoon but it was summer and I had the time.

 

[Idech]

The foxface is a One Spot and from several sources a 75g that has a 4ft footprint is suppose to be ok. I will watch for aggression or stress but so far he's a very chill fish.

It depends on the fish and your own criteria. I had mine in a 110 gallons (48 inches) and I didn’t think it was appropriate for my foxface so I rehomed him. He went into a 6 foot tank and was a lot happier.

I didn’t think they got so big, honestly.

 

[vlangel]

It depends on the fish and your own criteria. I had mine in a 110 gallons (48 inches) and I didn’t think it was appropriate for my foxface so I rehomed him. He went into a 6 foot tank and was a lot happier.

I didn’t think they got so big, honestly.

Mine still seems happy but if he's looking confined I will do right by him and rehome.

 

[vlangel]

Fridays are water change day. I do about 7-10 gallons. I dose Flourish on Fridays as well. I dose AFR on Mondays.

Today I decided to see where NO3 and PO4 were. Exactly the same as last time I checked: NO3 10ppm and PO4 .5ppm. I was going to rinse the prefilter even though the flow is good but now I am kind of hoping that some trapped food or fish waste is turning into NO3 since I would like to see that a bit closer to 20-25ppm, so I did not rinse the prefilter.

As far as how things look; the fish look amazing. They are so peaceful with one another. None of the fish are scratching or scraping themselves. They are all eating like pigs.
For the most part the coral look good too. One zoa frag is mostly closed but I am just leaving it be. There are zoas near it that seem to be thriving so I don't think its the location. The hammers that I did not expect to make it are continually improving. However my usually beautiful purple Photosynthetic Sponge has paled to a very pale purple. I guess they have expelled the algae in their tissue for some reason that I can't even guess at. I plan to just let them be and hope they right themselves. Most of my macroalgae are doing well, even with the Foxface and Tang trimming on them. The Shaving Brush and moss balls seem to be favorites. I am hoping their growth can keep up with the fish nibbles. The Codium is the nicest I've had. The reds are holding their own but still are not growing like what I had in the 56g. Who knows? Maybe too much white light. The mangrove looks good but growth is slow. So that's about it.

 

[KikoenaiW]

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. Carefree Fish wavemaker
C. Ecotech mp 10
D. 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: Coral Beauty Angelfish, Ocellaris Clownfish, Midas Blenny, Yellow Watchman Goby, Bi-color Blenny, Firefish Goby, Blue Eyed Kole Tang, One Spot Foxface, Masked Goby and 2 Pajama Cardinalfish
Future fish that I would like is a Long nose Hawkfish, a Royal Gramma, and maybe even a Sharpnose Puffer.

Coral: SPS- Scroll coral, War coral
LPS- Green Hammers, Aqua Trumpets, Neon Green Trumpets
SOFTIES- various Palys, various Zoas, Sinularia finger leather, Cabbage leather, Green Toadstool leather, Green Star Polyp
SPONGES- Yellow Ball Sponge, Red Tree Sponge, Purple Photosynthetic Sponge

Inverts: Rock Flower Anemones, 6 Feather Dusters, Emerald crabs, 6 Peppermint Shrimp, Nassarius snails and an Atlantic cucumber.
I feel I need a couple blue legged reef crabs and some nerite snails to help deal with the diatoms on the sandbed.

Macroalgae: (Green) Codium, Opuntia, Shaving Brush, Ulva, Moss Ball, (Red) Pom Pom, Gracilaria Hayi

2 Mangroves

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

Hihi! This is an absolutely gorgeous tank. I’m brand new to the hobby, setting up my tank as we speak. Just about to start quarantining. Do you have an estimate of how many snails you have? I’m finding WILDLY varying answers on how many to get, everywhere from 10-50.
Thanks in advance!

 

[vlangel]

Hihi! This is an absolutely gorgeous tank. I’m brand new to the hobby, setting up my tank as we speak. Just about to start quarantining. Do you have an estimate of how many snails you have? I’m finding WILDLY varying answers on how many to get, everywhere from 10-50.
Thanks in advance!

Thank you for such kind words. Welcome to the reef world! Its a great hobby! What size tank are you setting up? Also are you using live rock or dead dry rock?

My tank has very old mature live rock in it that I bought in the late 1990s. Because of that I probably do not need as much of a clean up crew as a tank set up newly with dead dry rock that needs time to mature and develop diversity of life and biofilm.

To answer your question about my clean up crew; I have about 6 nassarius snails, I have an emerald crab, I have 6 peppermint shrimp and I have an Atlantic cucumber. Since I transferred this tank from my 56g in September, my sandbed has had a lot of diatoms. They don't hurt anything but look kind of ugly at the peak of the daylight phase. I just use my fingers and stir the top of the sandbed when it matters to me. I believe eventually the biome will take over and out compete the diatoms.

 

[KikoenaiW]

Hihi! This is an absolutely gorgeous tank. I’m brand new to the hobby, setting up my tank as we speak. Just about to start quarantining. Do you have an estimate of how many snails you have? I’m finding WILDLY varying answers on how many to get, everywhere from 10-50.
Thanks in advance!

Thank you for such kind words. Welcome to the reef world! Its a great hobby! What size tank are you setting up? Also are you using live rock or dead dry rock?

My tank has very old mature live rock in it that I bought in the late 1990s. Because of that I probably do not need as much of a clean up crew as a tank set up newly with dead dry rock that needs time to mature and develop diversity of life and biofilm.

To answer your question about my clean up crew; I have about 6 nassarius snails, I have an emerald crab, I have 6 peppermint shrimp and I have an Atlantic cucumber. Since I transferred this tank from my 56g in September, my sandbed has had a lot of diatoms. They don't hurt anything but look kind of ugly at the peak of the daylight phase. I just use my fingers and stir the top of the sandbed when it matters to me. I believe eventually the biome will take over and out compete the diatoms.

I see! And thank you! I’m setting up a 75g with live rock.

 

[vlangel]

I see! And thank you! I’m setting up a 75g with live rock.

With live rock, I would not go hog wild. If you have a sand substrate, nassarius snails are nice because they stir the sand some plus they eat meaty food that the fish miss. I would not get more than 3 however to start with. You can always add more if you need to. Its is nice to have some herbivores snails to keep the rockwork clean but I have macroalgae that I do not want devoured so I don't have any of those. A couple blue legged hermits crabs can help as can an emerald crab. Again in a new tank, I would not get too many. A lot of folks add way too many and the poor snails and crabs die of starvation in a newly set up tank. Less is more in the beginning. You can always add more. But dead cuc only fuel problems so you want to avoid that, not to mention that the snails and crabs will appreciate not starving to death, LOL.

 

[vlangel]

I did a water change today even though its early (I usually do WC on Fridays) because my son and family are coming in for Thanksgiving. (I got him into saltwater and he got me into coral, so naturally I want my tank looking good when he gets here, especially since he has not seen the 75g in person.)

This tank being only 20" high is so easy to clean the glass compared to my last tank. I ended up using a magnet cleaner on the old tank because I was too short to reach the bottom and I got scratches even though I tried to be very careful. I have never used a magnet cleaner on this new tank and there are no scratches so far and using an aquarium sponge is quick. It was my #1 reason for getting the 75g and it was well worth it. The sandbed still has what I presume are diatoms but they are getting less unsightly. Just part of the ugly phase so I stay the course. If it looks too bad I stir the sandbed so no big deal.

Not much else to report. Fish, coral and macros are all good.

 

[vlangel]

Today I removed the floss and carbon from the canister. I am hoping that most of the zoas/palys that closed right after the carbon was added will open again soon.
I also noticed the green film on the glass that showed up pretty bad every three days has still not been a problem since the carbon and floss addition. I will be anxious to see if that returns too. Its kind of nice not needing to clean the glass as often but I wonder if pods utilized that green film???

I changed out the wet side of the mp 40. I would have done the mp 10 too but I had forgotten to clean the old wet side last time. Anyway, both are being cleaned now. Wow, it is so nice to clean a powerhead and not fuss with unplugging anything! It makes maintenance so easy.

All else is good!