Our mission

Michael's 35 gallon aio

H2OPlayar

Supporting Member
Hello,

I had been searching for a smaller tank to put some of my favorite soft corals in so my display can become more focused. I looked at a few systems from different reefers in the area, but the 35 gallon all in one tank from @Corallus was my favorite. It made by Advanced Acrylics, has 3/4" acrylic and is super sturdy. It even came with all the fixings needed to run it. I did have to get a little creative with the plumbing but luckily I was able to boil the old tubing enough to soften it and work it from its fittings. I then took lots of zip ties and new silicone tubing and hooked the Varios pump to the bulkheads. Two weeks prior, I did a bulk order of clean up crew for a few reefers and the Fiesta Vallarta tank's initial crew. Naturally, I needed a staging area to put these in so the reefers could come by to get what they ordered.

20210613_175903.jpg


This tank also prepared my girlfriend for the idea of a second saltwater tank in the house. After some discussion and planning, we decided the best place for the new tank would be my office. I like it because I can turn around and look at it all day at work (from home), and my girlfriend is happy that the guest room is still aquarium free.

20210621_200728.jpg


I got out the bench I used long ago as my freshwater stand, and it is a close enough fit for me. Inner dimensions are about 16" x 34" x 14" which calculates to 125 liters or ~35 gallons


20210621_221009.jpg


I took the old tank from the clean up crew staging area and it is now my top off container. I am currently using my Kessil A80 light, but I will get the appropriate hardware to mount the AP700 that came with the tank on the rim.


20210622_091313.jpg


In the morning, the tank gets some nice natural light. Since this is a north facing window, it won't see direct sunlight.



20210622_094215.jpg


This initial scape I call "pile of rocks from my sump with soft coral on the right"

I'll likely move more zoas and soft coral in here as I get more desire to clean up my main display.
 
Last edited:
20210622_163648.jpg


More rocks, and getting almost all of the zoas and mushrooms out of my main display. I will likely take the wavemaker on the right out after a couple days, but I want extra circulation while the zoas are getting acclimated as they like to emit mucous. I put a bag of carbon in the rear to help deal with this.

For fish, I am thinking of trying to find 4-5 small pajama cardinals, but I am open to suggestions.
 
Last edited:
maybe some fish that will punch a time clock and put in a days work, eating algae or pests. Cardinals are very cool fish though.
 
20210623_143318.jpg


Got some healthy Pajama Cardinal fish from Clearwater Aquarium!

20210623_143312.jpg


The Scooter Dragonette is poking its head out, and the tube anemone is happy and colorful

20210623_143444.jpg


Clearwater also had a very healthy looking Lieutenant Tang which is about the right size for my tank. The blue spot on the tail is a vibrant color.
 
20210804_133737.jpg


Some rescaping of the rocks to get the zoas on top and added the CSB split from @Danhsj . It stayed in the cup jail a couple days, then when I went on a 2 day vacation, decided to move and scared me. Nothing in the tank was unhappy so I was patient and 20 minutes later saw some tentacles poking out. I found it on the inside of a frag holder, so I moved it to the middle of the tank and it seems to be happy here after walking off the holder.


20210804_133745.jpg


The Lieutenant Tang is happy and has cool colors. The yellow and blue pop in the lights. The acrylic is not trivial to keep clean, and being the second tank, often stays a bit dirtier.



20210804_133814.jpg


The Bowser zoas that I bought as a single polyp have grown into a nice colony.


20210804_133807.jpg


The 3 heads of AOI zoa from @Danhsj have turned into 6!
 
3/4" thick...hopefully that thickness can withstand the tank hanging over the table.

No hoping, just calculate.

Acrylic has 3700- 9000 psi shear strength lets assume 4000 psi for simplicity. Take that over 3/4" thickness => 3000 lbs x 38" horozontal length = 114,000 pounds that can be held up in shear over the 38" length.

1 cubic inch of salt water weighs .037 lbs, multiplied by the volume of overhang ( 2" x 16" x 38") = 1216 cubic inches x .037 lbs/in3 = 45 lbs of water weight.

114,000 is much larger than 45, so I think I am ok. Any structure guys or gals here to double check my math?

That being said, the seams would likely break before this, but the order of magnitude difference tells us we are ok.

http://www.matweb.com/search/datasheet.aspx?bassnum=O1303&ckck=1 for my acrylic shear strength #

Beam bending is another calc, but this proves we are good in shear.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top