updated cold water reef pics

[steveweast]

Well....it's been awhile since I posted pics of my two "experimental" cold water reefs.....so, here are a few pics that I recently took. The two tanks (one 120...one 45) seem to be doing well. I'm still trying to find/collect stock......it's a slow process. I did manage to acquire a few cold water seahorses though. Well, here they are....

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[Anonymous]

Nice!
_________________
Honda CB450DX-K

 

[Anonymous]

Very very "cool"

Nice job.

 

[Anonymous]

very neat! Pretty and colorful.

 

[Anonymous]

Very nice Steve. Do you have the specs for these on your web site?

 

[Diana]

VERY awesome. Living in Vancouver I've been tempted on several occations to start up a coldwater tank. I tried a room temperature tidepool tank last summer but I shut it down as fall approached. I would love to start one up again...

What are the tank specs?

Beautiful tanks, and very awesome ponies.
-Diana

 

[steveweast]

No....these tanks are not on my site....they will be when I get around to updating the site though.

The tanks are really quite simple...

1/2 hp chiller
ap600 Deltec skimmer
couple T5's over each tank
1 SEQ 2500gph pump from sump
sump/tanks made from 1" thick acrylic to prevent sweating
Temp 58 F
stock is from southern Australia and Puget Sound

 

[Gjinn]

Very cool idea and it looks fantastic. I love seeing people stretch out beyond the standard tropical reef setups you usually see. You have some beautiful fish there.

 

[gregx]

Wait until the tide goes out & check in the rock pools for shrimp & gobies.

 

[The_Big_Fish]

SIMPLY AMAZING! Good Job!

 

[ChrisRD]

Fantastic!

 

[Anonymous]

That is cool....

 

[fyrefysh]

8O That's very cool! (literaly) Sounds like it would be a pricier setup than a tropical reef setup. Are those filefish?

 

[steveweast]

Actually....I have found that the cold setups are easier to run....less expensive than sps reefs with all the 400 halides and reactors needed.....and more forgiving in water quality. The only thing that draws significant power is the chiller.....which in my case, pulls about 10amps...... which equates to about three halides on an sps system. It's kind of nice not having to worry about alk, Ca, Mg, circulation, high light, bulb age or fish disease.


The fish are boxfih aka trunkfish.

 

[Anonymous]

I know the costs on the fish, but what about the anemones & starfish?

Simply stunning! Is there a water temp 'range' or can it fluctuate a bit?

Peace,

Chip

 

[steveweast]

The temp should be as steady as possible......which is easy to do with a chiller. To run a cold tank without a chiller just isn't going to work unless you keep your house at 58F.The stock is the hard thing to get. I either collect my own in Puget Sound or order through a wholesale outfit in Tasmania that will sell to hobbiest. To be cost effective, I order several boxes at a time.

 

[fyrefysh]

Jeesh . . . again, this tank is so cool I can hardly stand it! I NEED one too! 8O :lol:

 

[Dante]

The temp should be as steady as possible......which is easy to do with a chiller. To run a cold tank without a chiller just isn't going to work unless you keep your house at 58F.The stock is the hard thing to get. I either collect my own in Puget Sound or order through a wholesale outfit in Tasmania that will sell to hobbiest. To be cost effective, I order several boxes at a time.

I've thought of doing the same thing. Lots of tide pools on the West Coast and you can dive for the rest. I thought the temps up here were cooler than 58F though?

 

[Anonymous]

Steve, those are the colonials you were talking about? 8O Those are pretty sick. The red ones I get, would compliment those quite nicely. Soon as it stops raining down here, I'll get the berries. I have some free time after next week, finally

 

[steveweast]

Dante....you are correct in the water temps up here being generally colder than 58.....but, I'm balancing Southern Australia temps with Puget Sound temps. Generally, when I dive the Sound, the temps range widely from the upper 30's in winter to the mid 50's in summer. The Australian temps range from the mid 50's to the mid 60's.....so, I'm trying to balance the two...making it summer for the Sound critters and winter for the Australian critters.

GreahamH....the red anemones are not corynactus....but rather another type of brooding anemone found here in the Sound.