35 Gallon Mixed Reef II

[ArowanaLover1902]

Having moved my tank 3 hours away, rescaped it (well thats in the process, most of the rocks are just sitting there in the tank atm, but it will be), and lost my favorite fish in it (a lawnmower blenny) I think I will make a new build thread for what I hope will be a better tank than the last (fingers crossed for no bubble algae and cyano for years to come). I hadn't updated the previous build thread in a long time so I'll go through the specs of my tank:
Equipment
- 35 gallon shallow and long tank
- Custom stand and canopy (canopy not in use atm)
- Custom sump/refugium with deep sandbed - I run seagel and chemipure elite along with cheato and a mangrove, often I use a polypad but not always
- 24" reefbreeders photon 2 with custom lighting cycle
- 2 current usa 640gph wavemakers (I mean to replace these very soon)
- 2 current usa loop led lights on the sump/refugium (I had them lying around and I get awesome chaeto growth)

Stocking
- 1 barnacle blenny (haven't seen him since move but he is elusive)
- 2 yellow watchman gobies (a mated pair where one actually changed gender)
- 1 False Percula clownfish
- 1 pistol shrimp (he has yet to pair with the gobies)
- 1 emerald crab (he was banished to sump but will likely come back out to patrol for any algae)
- several hermits and snails
- 5 nassarius snails
- 1 feather duster
- 1 sad bubble tip anemone (I wish I could make him happy but he is always deflated and small)

Coral
- 1 duncan coral
- 1 frogspawn
- 1 montipora
- 2 acropora
- 1 stylophora
- 1 unknown sps
- 1 birdsnest
- 1 brain coral
- 2 acans
- Some mushrooms (they don't do great in my tank for some reason)
- numerous zoanthids (about 11 frags and 2 colonies) (magician, radioactive, candy apple, etc, nothing too fancy)
- 1 green star polyp colony (I really like it and hope it takes the whole rock its on) (after viewing some threads on here I've decided to seclude it)
- I'm sure there a few I'm forgetting

My Goals For The Tank
- I had been planning on adding a wrasse or something to complete the fish stocking, but since the lawnmower's death I'll also need to add another, maybe another lawnmower but not sure
- I'd love to get some more zoanthids and maybe some more sps, mine have done great
- I'd like to have higher flow in this tank
- I'd love to add an awesome plate coral
- I'd like for my green star to really take off
- I'm considering dosing this year, but may not because of cost
- I'd like to maybe add a mandarin later in the year, I have such a high pod count I rarely feed my fish and they are always fat
- I'd like to raise my nitrates a bit by feeding more often, they are almost always at zero

Here is a link to my previous build thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/35-gallon-mixed-reef.365636/

 

[Retro Reefer]

Sounds good, I have moved twice and only like 30 minutes away and it was a nightmare can only imagine 3 hours.. You know we love pictures

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

Pictures as requested...sorry they aren’t the best and for there only being a few. I use the iPhone stock camera app and many corals are still angry.

News:
- bubble tip was found melting so I promptly removed him
- filter is up and running
- dosed prime
- got my parrot moved today, he’s happy to be here
- many of the corals are peeking up, sps are grumpy but softies are definitely perking up, lps are too but not as fast
- there is definitely some poop on the ground from the sand, I wasn’t able to wash it as I didn’t have enough water, the snails seem to be taking care of it though, I run heavy on biomedia too

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

How do you guys like the aquascape?

 

[NY_Caveman]

How do you guys like the aquascape?

Nice! For a long tank I think the crescent shape works. It seems like a lot of rock, but maybe because I tend more minimalistic (just my opinion). Only thing is it appears in the picture to go right to the edge making cleaning glass difficult. That all said, where the pumps are should give you good flow. Do you find they pump well enough in the long tank?

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

Cleaning is difficult, no I’m really not very happy with the flow, I find my front left corner is always lacking in flow.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

I will say that I actually don’t really mind that little side of algae and that I actually never clean the sides or back of my aquarium because I think it looks more natural. I’ve now seen one of the watchman gobies, still waiting to see the other, the pistol shrimp, and the barnacle blenny

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

Saw both gobies today and somehow boosted both my pumps by about 400% (I may have been using the wrong transformer for my current USA lights and pumps, I switched both and my lights are working the same but my pumps are awesome now. Waiting for visual on barnacle blenny.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

I visited a local lfs yesterday called oceans floor, it was about an hour away, much farther than others but well worth it. Picked up some ro and prime. Tank is looking great and zoas are even looking better than ever.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

Having a bit of sps bleaching but I think they will be ok. Today I was at lfs planning to buy a six line wrasse, however while I was there I saw a carpenters flasher wrasse and went with that instead. He’s hiding a bit right now so no pictures yet but I’m very pleased with him.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

Sps are back to normal and didn’t lose any. The wrasse is eating with everyone else and doing great. I’ll try to post pictures soon.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

Forgot I took these last night. It’s nice picture of the goby pair. I’m not sure if they’re spawning or not because if they did it would be in their cave

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

Any suggestions on next addition? I’m thinking I want to add a mandarin by the end of the year (want to build up my pods) and don’t want to add something that takes from him.

 

[Chef Tommy]

Really inspiring aquascape!

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

Thanks I’m always happy to get compliments on the tank. I’m considering a big coral order to really fill the tank but don’t know where I’d put it plus I’m a college student now and kinda on a budget. Still, I think I see some places where a gorgonian would look amazing.

I see some turf algae popping up on a rock and if it isn’t gone by tomorrow I’ll manually remove it. It’s only a small thing but still. I’ve also given up on the barnacle blenny as I still haven’t seen him. What do you guys think of adding a sailfin blenny?

Any reefers in upstate SC with some good cheap (again, college budget) frags for sale feel free to contact me

 

[Chef Tommy]

Maybe look at WWC Coral Club. I purchased the $99 per month plus $19.95 shipping package and have been more than pleased with the selection they send along. 5 different frags each month has assisted me in filling out a 75. You pick 3 kinds to narrow down selection and they stay within that category. I selected acro, zoa, and lps. Each month they sent out corals valued around $350 should I have selected individually. Chris S. At WWC was my salesman and I had the opportunity to chat with him last month which was cool because he got some types selected I was really hoping for.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

Not sure I have quite enough for $120 a month. Maybe after college though because those corals look awesome. Thanks for the recommendation.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

I messed around with the sump today and moved all biomedia to the first chamber of the sump. I then moved a frag of fire and ice zoas down to the old biomedia chamber to see if they will grow well down there. I’m considering removing all hermit crabs. I also did a bit of maintenance and removed that bit of turf algae. Saw this little guy hanging out amongst the copepods.

 

[Joshua2598]

Very nice tank.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

Thanks, I’m pleased with it too. I’m going to move the big green leather in the right. He’s not looking very happy there and I don’t think he has enough flow.