75G Reef - no skimmer, dosing, wc! Not necessary here

[VintageReefer]

Tank is 75g drilled with a Trigger System sump. Primary filtration is Santa Monica algae turf scrubber. Rock was in one tank of mine for 6 years then pulled to build this tank 10 years ago. Went through several iterations of reefs in this particular tank but this is my favorite. 2+ years no water changes, no chasing numbers, minimal testing. It’s just thrives and needs nothing more than glass cleaning, emptying the scrubber once or twice a month, replacing chemi pure every few months, and weekly fw top offs with some All For Reef added in

Lighting is reef breeders photon 48 v2
Flow is a dc return, mp10 and a mp40

Trigger systems ruby 30 Sump houses heater, 3” sand, scrubber, chemi pure and lots of live rock. Possibly a gorilla crab haha. Nitrates are undetectable, phosphates are .05

Only fish are 3 cardinal fish and a purple fire fish.
Mexican turbos are the primary snail, few bumble bees and nassarius. And a fighting conch

Been in the reef game for 23 years, used to keep SPS mixed reef in this tank but due to life changes and less time, I had to adapt to stay in the hobby. this is where I’m at now and I am thrilled with this setup! I grew all this out from small frags

Any questions - I’m ready to answer

 

[VintageReefer]

put in the temp frag shelf because…I have some corals coming over the next week that I really think will be unique and vibrant. Anyone of them has the potential to become the showpiece of the tank

 

[LgTas]

Great tank! A good example of a low maintenance system.

I also dont buy into the gear hype but do enjoy a (NSW) water change

 

[JoeyBagadonuts]

Looks awesome! I am leaning towards either building or buying a turf scrubber. Seeing this definitely supports that idea.

 

[VintageReefer]

Thank you! I have bought into the gear hype and definitely see the need for things to be done differently in other situations, I’ve grown out sps colonies from 1” nubs and had dosers and other gear that was crucial for success. But the whole point of this was to have more time for myself and less stress from my hobby.

 

[VintageReefer]

Looks awesome! I am leaning towards either building or buying a turf scrubber. Seeing this definitely supports that idea.

I know there are plenty of options, but I can endorse what I run - this has been running for 10 years and I’ve only had minor issues. I had a early version that developed a leak in the led module in the first year - the company replaced it with the revised version at no charge.

I’ve had to replace air pumps probably 3 times. And most recently the power supply died after a storm, I got a replacement from the company for a minimal charge.

It’s a self enclosed model that floats in your sump or display. When my cabinet doors are shut its completely silent. I harvest and remove a handful or two every 2-3 weeks and throw it out

 

[VintageReefer]

a good tip to newer people - coral selection. I only buy coral that pops. I’ve been in this game a long time and learned it’s typically not worth buying something hoping it “colors up”. Sometimes it will. I get it. But typically people have bright colorful coral because they bought bright colorful healthy coral.

I try to select things based on the colors I need / desire. I look at tanks that inspire me and think how do I get like that? What makes this other tank look good? Then I see the corals or colors I’m missing, and go hunting for them. This tank needed yellow and orange as accents, so I went after them and found nice healthy frags and started growing them out.

That holy grail started as 1 head about 10 months ago, it was the most expensive coral I bought, but I viewed it as an investment in my tanks appearance and my happiness. And now it’s a 5 heads and dynamically changed the tank for the better.

My tank is limited real estate lol, I don’t have space to invest in boring or drab corals. If I take up a spot with something boring or repetitive, that could cost me down the line and keep me from having space for something awesome. There’s so much neon green coral. Don’t fill your tank with just green.

Find a reputable dealer, tell them what you want and let them find it for you

 

[VintageReefer]

This tank is a work in progress. As time and budget allow, I will move things to other systems to make room for new things.

I needed yellow on the right, and just added the small banana torch a few weeks ago. Can’t wait for that to grow in!

Also, I have three corals ordered, two arrive tomorrow and one next week. Trust me they are all going to be STUNNERS! Each one is a color variance / combination I’ve rarely…or even never seen before

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Tank is 75g drilled with a Trigger System sump. Primary filtration is Santa Monica algae turf scrubber. Rock was in one tank of mine for 6 years then pulled to build this tank 10 years ago. Went through several iterations of reefs in this particular tank but this is my favorite. 2+ years no water changes, no chasing numbers, minimal testing. It’s just thrives and needs nothing more than glass cleaning, emptying the scrubber once or twice a month, replacing chemi pure every few months, and weekly fw top offs with some All For Reef added in

Lighting is reef breeders photon 48 v2
Flow is a dc return, mp10 and a mp40

Trigger systems ruby 30 Sump houses heater, 3” sand, scrubber, chemi pure and lots of live rock. Possibly a gorilla crab haha. Nitrates are undetectable, phosphates are .05

Only fish are 3 cardinal fish and a purple fire fish.
Mexican turbos are the primary snail, few bumble bees and nassarius. And a fighting conch

Been in the reef game for 23 years, used to keep SPS mixed reef in this tank but due to life changes and less time, I had to adapt to stay in the hobby. this is where I’m at now and I am thrilled with this setup! I grew all this out from small frags

Any questions - I’m ready to answer

looks amazing

 

[VintageReefer]

looks amazing

Thank you!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Tank is 75g drilled with a Trigger System sump. Primary filtration is Santa Monica algae turf scrubber. Rock was in one tank of mine for 6 years then pulled to build this tank 10 years ago. Went through several iterations of reefs in this particular tank but this is my favorite. 2+ years no water changes, no chasing numbers, minimal testing. It’s just thrives and needs nothing more than glass cleaning, emptying the scrubber once or twice a month, replacing chemi pure every few months, and weekly fw top offs with some All For Reef added in

Lighting is reef breeders photon 48 v2
Flow is a dc return, mp10 and a mp40

Trigger systems ruby 30 Sump houses heater, 3” sand, scrubber, chemi pure and lots of live rock. Possibly a gorilla crab haha. Nitrates are undetectable, phosphates are .05

Only fish are 3 cardinal fish and a purple fire fish.
Mexican turbos are the primary snail, few bumble bees and nassarius. And a fighting conch

Been in the reef game for 23 years, used to keep SPS mixed reef in this tank but due to life changes and less time, I had to adapt to stay in the hobby. this is where I’m at now and I am thrilled with this setup! I grew all this out from small frags

Any questions - I’m ready to answer

Some great looking coral!

 

[VintageReefer]

Dragon soul favia, grown from one head frag

50+ head Palythoa grandis colony grown from a 5 head frag and a gold wall hammer colony. These don’t photograph great but are beautiful in person. The mint hammer above it is the branching variety, started as 2 heads and now is 15+

Yellow mouth Cynarina

War paint scoly

 

[VintageReefer]

Lakers scroll coral…that doesn’t scroll
Started as a tiny piece on a 1” frag plug

Running out of space here buddy! Don’t ya think it’s time to start scrolling and grow upwards ?!

 

[VintageReefer]

Scroll coral and dragon soul favia 12/2020

 

[Someguyfromsc]

Looking good!

 

[kevgib67]

Wow, amazing! What are you using to take the pictures?

 

[VintageReefer]

Excluding the photos from 2020
I am using an IPhone SE with a Reefing Art lens kit. I’m using the included orange filter. With the exception of the sandbed, it corrects the coral colors to match real life viewing

 

[kevgib67]

Excluding the photos from 2020
I am using an IPhone SE with a Reefing Art lens kit. I’m using the included orange filter. With the exception of the sandbed, it corrects the coral colors to match real life viewing

Well done, far superior to the pictures I take with my phone!

 

[VintageReefer]

You need the filter if you don’t have one already. Game changer

Coral View Lens Professional Photography 10 in 1 Kit 2inch Large Reef Lenses https://a.co/d/dZHkWDd

 

[MnFish1]

Tank is 75g drilled with a Trigger System sump. Primary filtration is Santa Monica algae turf scrubber. Rock was in one tank of mine for 6 years then pulled to build this tank 10 years ago. Went through several iterations of reefs in this particular tank but this is my favorite. 2+ years no water changes, no chasing numbers, minimal testing. It’s just thrives and needs nothing more than glass cleaning, emptying the scrubber once or twice a month, replacing chemi pure every few months, and weekly fw top offs with some All For Reef added in

Lighting is reef breeders photon 48 v2
Flow is a dc return, mp10 and a mp40

Trigger systems ruby 30 Sump houses heater, 3” sand, scrubber, chemi pure and lots of live rock. Possibly a gorilla crab haha. Nitrates are undetectable, phosphates are .05

Only fish are 3 cardinal fish and a purple fire fish.
Mexican turbos are the primary snail, few bumble bees and nassarius. And a fighting conch

Been in the reef game for 23 years, used to keep SPS mixed reef in this tank but due to life changes and less time, I had to adapt to stay in the hobby. this is where I’m at now and I am thrilled with this setup! I grew all this out from small frags

Any questions - I’m ready to answer

Very nice tank - and it makes sense since you have such a low bio load and so many corals, it's likely that very little waste is produced. I am surprised, though, with the amount of stony corals you have that you don't have to replenish Ca/Alkalinity. It might be interesting to test them - with a nitrate and PO4.