Dirty lazy 35. (Updates 1-27-2025)

[box of shards]

this is my 35 gallon system. It's my first saltwater, coming from my addiction to deep sandbed planted freshwater. I started the system in july, with now being the end of october. For better or worse, right or wrong, with zero experience in salt water, I decided to do things my way. I've had a ton of fun with this project, but it is not quite feeling like it's completed.

Aqueon 35 cube
100 watt aqueon pro heater set to 78
Sicce voyager nano powerhead (530 gph)
Useek ato
Glowrium a2 light

Currently no filter no sump.

Stocking:
Royal gramma
Green mandarinfish
About 14 pieces of soft coral including zoas, leathers, discos, and clavularia.

The cycle was very easy. I sparingly fed the royal gramma until the rock got settled. I was able to get through it without water changes without ever seeing waste show up in my testing.

The mandarin fish has been in there for less than a week. It has a strong feeding response, but is not quite as thick as I would like it to be. To this end, I have a separate ten gallon setup purely for farming bugs. I dumped half a jar of cultured and enriched pods into both systems. I plan on doing so once every couple of weeks until things are infested. Keeping her healthy is my primary goal with this hobby.

my maintenance is a 5 to 10 gallon water change whenever either the film on the top can survive the ripples or whenever the daisy polyps seem to bloom less. The water is filled with particles and algae, but I haven't been able to get a nitrate test to change color even once.

the tank is a thirty five, but there's only probably less than thirty gallons of water. I'm keeping the water level a bit low in order to prevent jumping and have better ventilation. The sand bed is also quite thick.

The back walls are green and covered in bugs. There are multiple different kinds of crustaceans ranging in size. The mandarin only seems to have successfully eaten the smaller ones. I saw an attempt to swallow one of the largest ones once. The constant pecking is so subtle that it is hard to see what it actually ate.

My goals with this system follow.
* get the mandarin round and fat on high nutrient foods.
* expand the rock scape. There is a ton of vertical space I could be using. The challenge is going to be incorporating it with my existing scape or replacing it.
* propagate a wide garden of daisy polyps. They are my favorite!
* add a maximum of two or three more small fish.
* keep things pleasantly dirty and buggy.
* find a filtration option that works for me.

That last goal is in part the reason why i'm making this thread. Filters have been a pain. I started with a coral life hang on back with a skimmer. I had nothing but problems with it. The skimmer didn't really work, it dumped foam and bubbles into the aquarium. It is one of those hobs that uses scam cartridges instead of a basket for media. It constantly sucked up microfauna. The biggest deal breaker was the flow pattern. I've been fiddling with my powerhead to try to achieve that sweet spot where the flow is pleasantly horizontal with gentle surface ripples. The massive waterfall hobs generate pierces the heart of my water flow. I haven't found a product that has flow good/ low enough for my system and will leave the bugs alone. Canisters are an option, but i'm avoiding them because easy access to a sponge has been a convenient way for me to remove solids. Having a filter at all would be nice in order to help fight the film that tries to grow on the top.

 

[MoshJosh]

As far as filtration it really depends on what you want to get out of it? If your current nutrient levels are under control are you looking for mechanical filtration for clarity or. . . ? Personally I might look into something like this: https://aquacave.com/cpr-aquatic-aq...MI5ILEp7-7iQMVkRqtBh1YWjU2EAQYAiABEgIJJ_D_BwE (not necissarrily that one, I think there are cheaper options, but something like that would be pretty versitile) or could just go with the classics: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/tidal-55-hob-power-filter-seachem.html or https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petco...VpzXUAR1-FjllEAQYAiABEgLIAfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds The latter is probably more versatile and has more modding potential.

Other equipment I would get. . . a wave maker. Having something with alternating flow will really add movement and life to those soft corals!!! I like these: https://www.chewy.com/jebao-sow-5-f...MIvpDNnMC7iQMVDyitBh0HVx93EAQYBiABEgJ3N_D_BwE

Keep in mind the equipment links I listed are just the first I found, you may need to select different models that are the appropriate size for your tank volume.

 

[box of shards]

As far as filtration it really depends on what you want to get out of it? If your current nutrient levels are under control are you looking for mechanical filtration for clarity or. . . ?

Mechanical filtration for clarity is a plus. Rinsing the sponge is an easy export option. It also prevented bacteria from collecting a film on the surface. I might try a small aqua clear or tidal.

I haven't tried a wave maker before. It might be a really good fit for my system. I think I'll try to have one in my next update. Thank you for the recommendation.

******

That just leaves finding a way to expand the rockwork. That might be a bit of a project. So far I'm considering building up by putting together a foundation layer and setting the existing scape on top of it.

 

[box of shards]

Update!

I ended up ordering both a tidal 35 and a jebao wave pump. Redoing, the rockscape was going to be a challenge. I decided it would be less stressful to my leathers to let them sit for 20 minutes for a partial epoxy cure, rather than ripping them off. They were still very sad about the whole thing.

My original scape was built on day 1 of me starting salt water. I now knew the benefits of using vertical space, and how important it was for me to have more rock.

The end result added much more rock, while freeing up space on the sandbed. There is still a bit of work to be done. I need to glue some rubble to the seams. I'm also planning on attaching some of the corals to the rock. For now i'm letting things settle. They really did not enjoy this process.

The hardware was a dream come true. The tidal 35 was it almost everything I wanted in a hang on back. For some reason, the flow it makes doesn't generate that awful internal torrent that plants, fish, and corals seem to hate. Even the smaller model has plenty of space for media. I'm using activated carbon to remove any leftover particles from the epoxy, in addition to any toxins. Once things clear up, I will trade it out for another media.

The wave maker is ideal for my system. The old powerhead had some weird flow quirks. This one seems to gently wave the water around the whole tank.

As for stocking, the mandarin is starting to gain weight. She's going after progressively larger amphipods. I have a backup ten gallon system for culturing food just in case. The royal grandma has lost interest in prepared foods. I was concerned until I saw her yank an anphipod off the tank wall. She's probably thoroughly sated.

I added a fire fish. These three guys seem to greatly enjoy the expanded rock work.
At some point in the future, i intend to end my vertebrate stocking with adding two oscillaris. I am hoping that this stocking decision doesn't lead to much increased maintenance. I'm still scratching my head that in this system's entire life, i've never been able to get nitrates to show up in a dropper test. I don't change much of the water very often.

 

[MoshJosh]

Tank is looking really great and the new scape is pretty awesome!

 

[box of shards]

Been a while, update!

Current stocking
2 ocellaris
1 royal gramma
1 firefish
1 mandarinfish

Green, orange, red zoas
Purple palyzoa
Orange and blue discosoma
Juggernaut mushroom
Purple cabbage
Green finger leather
Kenya tree
Green toadstool
Long polyp Green toadstool
Green star polyp
Daisy polyp
Fireworks cloves
Green branching montipora

I bought a set of clip-on lenses from orphek to take the pictures to correct for the blue fog.

Everything seems to be happy for the most part. The only one that seems to be struggling a little is the gsp, weirdly enough.

The clavularias (gsp, daisy, cloves) are my favorites, so I'm going to try to propagate them. I mind end up making some minor modifications to the rock scape to open up some more sand bed real estate in front. I'm also going to have to eventually relocate the toadstools.

I picked up my first stony coral not too long ago. So far the monti seems fairly tolerant of my relaxed setup. I'm interested to see if it shows any growth.

Some of the larger leathers are getting to the point where I'm about to start donating the pieces of trading them for water at my lfs. I've been fortunate to be close to emerald bay, an lfs in middle tn. I've gotten a lot of value out of my coral purchases there.

 

[MoshJosh]

Looks awesome! Is that a happy acropora I see in the first picture? Nice work!

If you aren't familiar with fragging soft corals it is worth doing a bit of research. . . in part cause they can let loose some pretty nasty chemicals into the water!

But yeah keep up the good work!