Shoreliner11's 62 gal Temperate Reef Tank

Reef Frog said:
What a beautiful & unique tank! Great job.

Just curious: Does 52F keep your chiller running constantly? If it were to break & it took, say 5 days to install a replacement. Would the tank & inhabitants make it for that time at around 72F room temperature? How long could it go at that temperature if the failure happened during a week or two vacation?

In comparison to a conventional tropical reef, did you find it more difficult during the early stages...and what about as the tank matured? Are the anenomies & other invertebrates fussy? Thanks for any responses you can provide.
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This time of the year the chiller is running more than I'd like for sure. My house will often get above 80F in the room the tank is in. All my plumbing lines are insulated and the sump is also insulated to minimize heat exchange. If the chiller were to break this time of year it would definitely be a mad dash to get it fixed or get a new one with dropping ice bags in the mean time. I'm currently on a short vacation and I have my brother house sitting...but as you guys know, if there's a time when something will break, it'll be when I'm gone lol.

As far as tank maturation goes, mine is still in the process so I can only speak to where I am now. I essentially didn't have any significant cycle because I have used natural seawater from the start. With that said the tank has gone through some phases. I originally had some pretty fast diatom growth on all surfaces despite having my led's turned way down. This continued for probably 6 months. Then I also went through a phase where I got tons of black bacterial growth after dosing vodka. This has recently stopped and algae growth is remaining slow. As far as the livestock goes I haven't had too many issues with anything. Most of the anemones are all very hardy. Stu may be able to chime in with his own experiences as well. The corynactis anemones are great because they're hardy and don't move much. Some of the beadlet anemones from UK will move quite often in my tank. Even my tunicates and sponges are doing well, which is probably due mostly to the several daily dosings of phyto and the vodka which encourages bacterial growth. The only issues I've had are with one of the soft corals from the UK. One of the species wouldn't open for almost 2 months (the other has been doing great. But in the last week the one has started openin up slightly, so maybe its turning around :)
 
Do you think you could take tropical porous reef rock, and convert it to coldwater in order to try and get more biological filtration? The tank looks great btw :thumbsup:
 
aquaenthusiast said:
Do you think you could take tropical porous reef rock, and convert it to coldwater in order to try and get more biological filtration? The tank looks great btw :thumbsup:
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I definitely think you could. I thought about it in the beginning but wanted to make it look as realistic as possible with the local natural substrate which is mostly granite.
 
Shoreliner11, why not upgrade to a larger capacity chiller like the 1/3 or 1/2 or even a 1hp chiller for your temperate tank? A larger capacity chiller would have the horsepower for such low temperature requirement and the larger sized equipment would not be put through too much strain as an aptly sized chiller would.
 
BFG said:
Shoreliner11, why not upgrade to a larger capacity chiller like the 1/3 or 1/2 or even a 1hp chiller for your temperate tank? A larger capacity chiller would have the horsepower for such low temperature requirement and the larger sized equipment would not be put through too much strain as an aptly sized chiller would.
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The short answer, money! Chillers are spendy as you know, and upgrading would be a significant cost. However, I have been keeping my eye on craigslist for a good deal on a 1/4 hp chiller which shouldn't have any trouble keeping my tank at temp.
 
I have a couple of questions. I like the idea of a cold water tank. I checked out cold water marine aquatics and like the livestock. I would like to do a 10 gallon temperate tank. Questions
1. What type of chiller would I need? Temp in my house is usually 70 in summer
2. Which anemones are the most stationary and don't get to big?
3. Best tank for the money?
4. I would like all the inhabitants to be non photosynthetic any suggestions?
5. Where could I get some granite rock that I could put in the tank?substrate?
Any help would be great as I have been researching but just want to be sure I am covering all my bases.
 
Bmorereefer said:
I have a couple of questions. I like the idea of a cold water tank. I checked out cold water marine aquatics and like the livestock. I would like to do a 10 gallon temperate tank. Questions
1. What type of chiller would I need? Temp in my house is usually 70 in summer
1/10th hp chiller should be more than enough, you can go with a smaller one depending on the thickness of the acrylic you are able to use.
2. Which anemones are the most stationary and don't get to big?
Some of the most stationary ones I have seen are the urticina species, Corynactis also don't move much and will just multiply to fill in an area over time
3. Best tank for the money?
Thats a tough one, probably if you are able to build it yourself. Otherwise, if you know of a good customer tank manufacturer in your area I would talk to them. There is not a lot out there in the 10 gallon range with acrylic thick enough to work well. Try and go with at least 1/2" acrylic. If you are keeping the tank pretty basic it would not be hard to have a place like TAP plastics cut all the pieces to size that you need and then assemble it yourself.
4. I would like all the inhabitants to be non photosynthetic any suggestions?
About the only photosynthetic animals you will encounter in coldwater are the Green Anemones, and the aggregating anemones, both of which are only slightly photosynthetic. Theres a couple other temperate species from around the world that are photosynthetic that occur in shallow waters like the Snakelock Anemone (Anemonia Viridis)
5. Where could I get some granite rock that I could put in the tank?substrate?
Check with local rock quarries and landscape places. If you cant source any locally, let me know and I can help you out :D
Any help would be great as I have been researching but just want to be sure I am covering all my bases.
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Cheers!
Stu.
 
Here are a few photos of some of my fish I picked up yesterday from Stu at Coldwatermarineaquatics.

Unknown juvenile rockfish (I'm pretty sure it's a yellowtail rockfish)






Sailfin sculpin - I'll try to get some more of this guy. He's beautiful but wasn't cooperating for these photos





 
That sailfin sculpin looks awesome!! I think they are one of the best sculpins out there. How are the shiner perch? Do the school nice and tight, or do they mill around with eachother? I keep thinking a nice schooling fish would be nice to have? And as always stunning pics!
 
The shiner perch are great. They school relatively close unless I spook them by throwing my arm in the tank to spot feed the anemones. Not as close as say a chromis but they are a bit larger. They're very active and eat well (as does the rockfish). Unfortunately the sculpin isn't eating frozen food either is my rainbow scorpionfish. So I'm going to collect some beach hoppers (talitrid amphipods) from a local beach for them to munch on. Last time I went to collect the amphipods the rainbow scorpionfish went crazy for them :)
 
Very nice work !!!:inlove:
Congratulations !!!:inlove:
The fish also good looking. The whole project is very inspiry.....

Keep up the good job.

Are still keeping that crab i saw in the video. Does it make any destroys or damage in your fish or other things in the tank ???
 
Great tank!

Wish I lived near the coast! I lived in southern California till the 7th grade then my parents moved to Daytona Beach. I have lived in Tennessee for many years now, it is very nice but I do miss being near a coast. Really hate not being able to go collecting! Stu & Josh are the next best thing when you can't do your own though. I know you can't get every thing in any one location but I remember how much fun it was looking around in the tide pools.

Jim
 
Well, hello there

Well, hello there

fullmonti said:
Great tank!

I have lived in Tennessee for many years now...

Jim
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You are the first member I have came across that lives in TN. I haven't searched, but it's nice to see someone from this state on the forums.
I've been thinking of a reef club...
 
We did have a reef club for the Chattanooga area but it has just about died. A few of us would like to see it come back to life but so far no luck. Where in Tn are you?
 
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