I'm not new to animal husbandry, I have a 30 year old corn snake and have had fresh water aquariums for years. I've also had a few saltwater tanks now and again.
I've recently cleared out a tank that had a fresh water turtle and some koi in it for about 10 years. I donated the turtle to an organization that does animal education and the koi to a friends pond. Now I'm left with a tank and felt like doing some experiments.
I have a 40 gallon breeder with a massive fluval (enough to keep a filthy turtle tank clean). I changed all of the filter media and filled it with about 30 gallons of water. I'm in the process of adding reef salt to the tank (it takes a lot of salt lol) and getting it set to the right hydro reading (I'm setting it up to the same salinity as the beach down the street; I live on the north shore of the east coast). I also have a 5 gallon bucket full of beach sand from the same said beach ... I collected the dry sand not the wet sand.
My goal is to add some rocks with barnacles and some local sea life (periwinkles, tiny rock crabs, hermit crabs, maybe anemones if I find any, or some star fish. I will not be adding any fish nor will I be heating the tank (it will be room temp 60-74 degree's).
So what can I expect? Are barnacle rocks a bad idea (I'm wondering if they won't spread all over the tank or clog up the filter ... the barnacles not the rocks)? What will grow out of the sea sand? I assume that I can put living rock and or store bought anemones in there if I want to ... or perhaps other crustaceans? Any thoughts?
This is more of an experiment ... I only paid for some reef salt ... and lugging a 5 gallon bucket of sand up the beach (ouch) so if things don't work out I i can drain the tank and rinse everything down. if any of you have any experience with this sort of thing let me know.
Thanks in advance for any input ... but if you're just going to have some mental breakdown on me for some tardo-reason please save it for someone else.
I've recently cleared out a tank that had a fresh water turtle and some koi in it for about 10 years. I donated the turtle to an organization that does animal education and the koi to a friends pond. Now I'm left with a tank and felt like doing some experiments.
I have a 40 gallon breeder with a massive fluval (enough to keep a filthy turtle tank clean). I changed all of the filter media and filled it with about 30 gallons of water. I'm in the process of adding reef salt to the tank (it takes a lot of salt lol) and getting it set to the right hydro reading (I'm setting it up to the same salinity as the beach down the street; I live on the north shore of the east coast). I also have a 5 gallon bucket full of beach sand from the same said beach ... I collected the dry sand not the wet sand.
My goal is to add some rocks with barnacles and some local sea life (periwinkles, tiny rock crabs, hermit crabs, maybe anemones if I find any, or some star fish. I will not be adding any fish nor will I be heating the tank (it will be room temp 60-74 degree's).
So what can I expect? Are barnacle rocks a bad idea (I'm wondering if they won't spread all over the tank or clog up the filter ... the barnacles not the rocks)? What will grow out of the sea sand? I assume that I can put living rock and or store bought anemones in there if I want to ... or perhaps other crustaceans? Any thoughts?
This is more of an experiment ... I only paid for some reef salt ... and lugging a 5 gallon bucket of sand up the beach (ouch) so if things don't work out I i can drain the tank and rinse everything down. if any of you have any experience with this sort of thing let me know.
Thanks in advance for any input ... but if you're just going to have some mental breakdown on me for some tardo-reason please save it for someone else.
