cold water reef pics

[steveweast]

I've been playing around with a cold water reef for the last 10 months....and I thought that I would show you all a few progress pics. I actually have two small cold water tanks.... one is about 120 gals and the other is about 40 gals. The tanks, and their common sump, are made from 1" thick acrylic to prevent sweating. The only equipment is a single seq 3000 gph return pump, a Deltec 701 skimmer, a PCI 1/2 hp chiller. Lighting is from a few T5's.

These tanks have been the easiest tanks to maintain that I've ever had. Minimal algae growth from the low lights.....no Ca additions required.....minimal power draw since, again, low lights (the chiller is the main draw).....and no fish disease. I keep the temperature between 58 - 60 F. These tanks are by no means finished....I'm still trying to locate a few specimens....especially strawberry anemones.....but, it's coming along.

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My male Shaws boxfish.........

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My male white bar boxfish.....

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My blue devil.......

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[LukFox]

That tank is just awesome . All that life and it's gorgeous!

 

[NewMariner]

Steve,

I do believe you have a green thumb....err hmm a wet thumb

Everything you touch is just beautiful...Im envious.

 

[marinelife]

That is cool, very very nice!!!

 

[d4a2n0k]

Those Boxfish are awesome!

I'm surprised a "run of the mill" chiller can bring the temp down that low. I figured you'd be running one of those restaurant lobster tank chillers or something.

You must have some connections with getting those fish I assume? Its not like a LFS can even hold them for you.

 

[BreadmanMike]

:thumbsup: Wow! That's beautiful Steve! Thanks for sharing.

I couldn't find any shots of this on your site. I use your aquascaping shots as a screensaver(hope you don't mind), and would love to add some of these cold water pics.

 

[Shawnts106]

WOW! totally awsome!

ok so explain some setup stuff... how much lighting on the 40 gallon and 120 gallon...

sand?
LR? where did you get it?
anemones?
starfish

give us lots of details.... this looks like my next project... I think Ill do this in my 29 gallon!


wouldnt catalina gobies do well in a tank like that???

 

[Lunchbucket]

Steve - i can't believe you have a cold water tank..well two! geeze what don't you do or don't you have??

impressive

Lunchbucket

 

[gman0526]

The wait for the pics is finally over, at least for me, honestly this has got to be one of the most anticipated threads in awhile . And as usual with Steve no dissapointment at all, great aquascaping, great fish selection, what else can I say? Just marvelous. And the simplicity of the support system makes it even more interesting, Great job!!!

PD I think I see a Catalina Goby in the full tank shot, right below the Whitebar Boxfix.

 

[wrott]

That is a beautiful setup. That Bat-star and anems get along well I assume. Do you feed the stars?
Rodney

 

[steveweast]

There are about 20 catalina gobies in there now....just not pictured. While these boxfish are seldom imported into this country, they occassionally appear on sites like rarefish or marine center.....but, they usually neglect to say that they come from southern Australian waters....namely, cold water.

When I update my site soon, I'll include a page for the cold systems. I've been delaying updating the site until the cold system actually developed into something worth looking at.

 

[h2joe]

that blue devil is off the chain. is it related to the marine betta beczuse it looks as though it has a similar body shape?

 

[steveweast]

sand....just a mix of black CaCo3 sand (that I use in my warm water reef's Ca reactor) and a regular CaCo3 sand that we all use in our warm reefs.

Critters.....stars have to be hand fed....actually, everything has to be hand fed since very few cold water critters are photosynthetic. I only keep critters with the ability to feed on cyclopese sized particles or bigger.

Lighting.....(4) 36" T5's on the 120....... (4) 24" T5's on the small tank.

Livestock.... some .imported from southern Austraila and some collected from the Washington coast.

 

[graveyardworm]

Awesome tank, I live on the seacoast in NH and have often thought of keeping a coldwater set up for native species. I even almost got my hands on a used lobster set up, but the deal fell through. I love the native species tanks at NE aquarium.

 

[steveweast]

The blue devil is related to our warm water Betta (comet).... and acts just like it too....he only comes out of his cave when food hits the water.

 

[Shawnts106]

How many watts are on the 40?


could you keep these creatures under 65 Watts of compacts in a 29 gallon???

the compact bulb is a half 6500K and half 10,000K

its a bulb I had for my freshwater planted tank...

BTW: where did the LR come from?

 

[steveweast]

Cold water critters don't require light...most are not photosynthetic....the only light that you need is for your own viewing pleasure. Rock came from the Washington coast.

 

[AIMFish]

Looks nice I was thinking of doing a search to see if anyone had cold/temperate water tanks. BTW is there a difference between the terms cold water and temperate, I assumed they were the same but now I'm wondering if one is colder?

 

[wetWolger]

AMAZING......that is a great tank. I would nominate this as tank of the month.....not stuffed but so well done

 

[jetaero]

amazing!

-Josh-