Cold Water Corals (alaska reefing)

[nskains]

So i recently moved to kodiak, ak, and like all addicts i decided to bring my tank lol. Yes i know im living on an island on the alleutian chain, but i still miss my tank. So i have been doing some reseach on cold water corals. Has anyone tried to setup or attempt to play in this regoin. The closet LFS is in anchorage, aka 12hr ferry ride or plane ride.. Here is some info ive been reading about.

-Nate

http://www.alaskascienceoutreach.com/coralsite/corals.html

 

[Letmegrow]

Most of the corals there are deep sea.

If you can afford to have a chiller running 24/7 and have alot of micro foods to feed then go for it.

I think tropical photosynthetics are alot easier to deal with.

 

[atrox]

Semeper Paratus. I was stationed in St. Paul for a year and quickly realized the salt water hobby and Alaska dont mix. Logistics make saltwater tanks impossible trust me it just aint worth the trouble. Take up bird watching and or painting by numbers.

 

[Aqua Keepers]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1393082

 

[nskains]

Yes, i am slowly realizing that lol. It sucks. I setup a 75gal at my brothers house in atlanta, transfered all my livestock to there from my 210, now realizing that its prob gonna have to stay there till i leave in 2 years. Talking to the local dive shop, there is actual coral areas along the kodiak border and made me think about doing a cold water tank. I dunno, hard to just up and leave a hobby you have so much passion and lover for. Not to mention so much cash dumped into it lol. I have 3 tanks lol..

-Nate

 

[JaredWaites]

Have new stuff shipped in overnight.

 

[backfish]

I bet overnight isnt really overnight there- alot of remote places just dont get reliable O/N service- make sure you triple check with the carrier so the animals lives are not jepordized by multi day shipping! BTW DHL is the worst at saying O/N, which to them means fastest possible method but not nessicarily one night

 

[nskains]

You can get air-frieght over night.. but its extremely expensive. Not really worth it imo. 200 Dollar order, 300 dollars in shipping. I wanted to buy a 40$ bucket of salt, shipping was going to be over 100 dollars. Looking at the natrual resources on the island, there is tons of unique fish, sea aneomias and other life. I have been doing some reasearch on the laws of harvesting. I know most people will not like it lol. So flame on!
-Nate

 

[tcmfish]

Its still saltwater why not use the water and just heat it up a little?

 

[atrox]

Does the exchange at ISC Kodiak still have all those guns for sale? You work on Hercs or helos?

 

[nskains]

I am going to go down to the bay and take some water, check the quality of it. Hard to tell what type of chemicals are in it, but honestly, it cant be that bad, were in alaska lol. Just need to find a remote beach where there isnt much traffic. Anyways, yes the exchange still sells guns, they have a wide assortment up stairs and can special order anything u want. I work on 60's, night shift avionics.

-Nate

 

[Dale Carlisle]

Hi Nate,
If you have access to electricity and invest in a chiller there is no reason you can't have a locally stocked cold water tank.
There are fewer corals in CW but there are many colorful anemones, macroalgaes, starfish, sponges etc...

I haven't had much in the way of problems in regards to collecting. It's really just common sense. I've talked to our DFO (department of fisheries and oceans) and have even met officers on the beach. They weren't really interested in someone occasionally collecting individual specimens and I imagine it is pretty well the same up there as long as...

You are not over harvesting
You are not collecting for commercial purposes
You are not collecting endangered or threatened species
You do not reintroduce collected specimens back into the ocean

I have a different approach than some (I suppose). Instead of rushing out and filling my tank to make a pretty picture I have added some species and just watched how they do over the long run. My tank is like one long experiment. My goal is to run a 60* F max. tank rather than a 50 - 55*. Doing so does a couple of things like reducing the amount of condensation on the glass and working the chiller too hard in the summer.
I've had Ochre and sun stars thriving for a year as well as surf anemones, tide pools sculpins, sticklebacks, pricklebacks, hermits, limpets and various shrimps. I initially collected specimens from the inter tidal zone by beach combing and now dive to collect as well (nothing like two expensive hobbies).

There was a big thread on coldwater systems somewhere here. I'll try to edit in a link if I can find it.

Here it is: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=890751

 

[coolwaves]

get a chiller and go for it, there are lots of beautiful and hardy creatures right there, even the salt is free. look into it a bit, and you'll find that some of the nicest anemones, sea stars, chitons, etc. come from your area.

 

[canelita]

Yeah, sound cool.

 

[lilmonkey]

good luck.