cold water reef pics

[NewMariner]

Steve,

You stated that some of the inhabitants came from austrailia...how did you find the place to order from austrailia, or did you go through a wholesaler? If it was direct to you, how did they fair shipping? I assume with a cold water species you wouldnt need heat packs for shipping, but just how cold could they actually hold up against?

 

[fishinbuc]

That's awesome. Very cool.(no pun...)

 

[steveweast]

That is, IMO, a type of coralline algae that's native to the Washington coast.....but, it's a little different from the warm water variety. It's thicker and more pimply......and grows alot slower than what we're used too. I have yet to see a dot of coralline on the glass.....which is a good thing.

 

[steveweast]

There is a collection/wholesale outfit in Tasmania that is willing to ship to the general public. They usually ship to public aquariums.....I think that I was their first hobbiest. They notified me when my boxes left "Tassie".....they then went to LA and cleared customs through a broker.....who then put them on a domestic flight to me.....total time in the box was about 24 hrs. The cost of shipping was no more than what is paid for our warm water stuff....but, putting together a few boxes lessens the blow. It was kind of different seeing all the boxes with "keep cool" markings on them though.

 

[Apparition]

Excellent. It's great to see the diversity in the ocean. It comes to a point that the only way to become more impressive in a tropical tank is to go larger because we've seen mostly everything time and again, but this is something no one else is doing. Can't wait for the site to get updated. Will it be updated with the conditions of the 850g reef too? I'd love to see a livestock update on that and see how the canyon has filled in with all of those SPS colonies.

Thanks, as always for sharing your tremendous work.

 

[steveweast]

It will include an update on the 850....but, it looks very different these days. There are two canyons and an island.....and a much more open aquascape with MUCH less rock and fewer corals. I dislike a tight, crowded look which is what is was becoming.

 

[Lordhelmet]

I've been waiting a while to see some pictures of this tank. it looks like a display tank at the monterey bay aquarium.
I've always kicked around the idea of a cold water reef since i could collect a lot of the livestock myself. I'm glad that it is you that is pioneering into this field. keep up the good work.
and more pictures would be appriciated.

 

[toonces]

wow, steve, that was worth the wait. awesome tank!

 

[brad23]

How cold is cold?

 

[MyMonkey]

Awesome. Just Awesome.

 

[TheCoralReef731]

SWEET. THAT IS SOOO COOL.

 

[Aquaguru]

Thats is just stunning, absolutly fantastic. I love it and its so cool to see somehting that you don't see all to much everyday.

 

[steveweast]

How cold is cold?

The tank is maintained between 58 -60 F

 

[scarletknight06]

very cool. so what are your future livestock additions if any?

 

[steveweast]

What I'm really looking for are strawberry anemones...
http://www.oceanlight.com/lightbox.php?sp=corynactis_californica

 

[Drakis]

Nice! Where on the WA coast did you get those? I think that there is an area near Depot Bay OR where you can collect stuff too.

 

[Micki]

Do you sue the same LR that you would get for the tropical reef?

How often do you do water changes?

 

[steveweast]

The rock is from Puget Sound. I've been looking in the Sound around Anacortes, but, I haven't found any strawberry anemones. I know they like strong current....so, maybe Deception Pass.

Water changes are no different than warm water....20%/month

 

[Micki]

What salinity do you keep the cold water at?

 

[steveweast]

all water parameters are the same as warm water....except temp of course.

I keep the salinity at 35ppt