Local temperate tanks

[NYPDFrogman]

Haven't been posting much, dealing with some health issues. I have lurking on occasion, I think with warm weather Gulf stream approaching makes this thread appropriate.

As some know, I spent a large portion of my professional career as a Diver in and about NYC some 16 or so years ago I decided I wanted a local tank I had a 125 laying around, I had just moved into my new house so

I set up the tank, filled it with local sea water(off shore)
visited a couple of local reefs and collected some rock
after a week or so I caught a Blennie in flushing bay across from LGA
and about 6 very small glass shrimp
thank and fish were doing well this was early spring

I was pretty pleased until the summer rolled in
I had spoken to some friends at the NY aquarium and they had advised me to keep the tank around 65- 70 degrees so I made a chiller out of a small refrigerator. the chiller worked fine but I dealt with condensation on glass

to combat that I added a dehumidifier in the room
needless to say that did work so well and my electric bill grew


while diving on the Manhattan beach reef I came across a rock about the size of a softball covered with anemones white and pink

they did well for a while and slowly died off
it seemed the only animals that really thrived was hermit crabs and a spider crab


Temperate tanks are doable but they are work. not many people keep these tanks ( at least when I did mine) so there isnt alot of "tech Support"

after everything died off I decide to go back to tropical reefs a lot more pleasing to the eye
looking for pictures I had taken ( no such thing a digital cameras back than)

 

[NYPDFrogman]

The system consisted of:
AGA 125 gallon tank
wet dry filter with Bio balls
lighting consisted of hamilton fixture 2 175 w bulbs and 2 actinic florescent
I had a 3' down draft skimmer with dual wooden air diffusers

substrate was 2" of local sand collected around a wreck off Rockaway
about 100lbs of rock( not much rock stuff around here is heavy)

 

[jrobbins]

kind of a dumb question but how did you get 125 gallons of seawater back to your house?

 

[rgun2515]

I always wanted to set up a local tank to learn more about the creatures I have been swimming with my whole life. I have seen really cool creatures in Eastchester bay and never knew where I could learn more about them. Would not want to set up a tank without some knowledge first. Do you (or anyone) know of any sites dedicated to our areas waters?

 

[NYPDFrogman]

kind of a dumb question but how did you get 125 gallons of seawater back to your house?

actually more like 150 gallons
I had 2 food grade barrels 50 gallons each made a couple of trips
owned a Van at the time
took a couple of days

 

[jrobbins]

how much did the chiropractor charge?

 

[e.muehlbauer]

A lot of temperate local organisms will do well in a tank, with no need for a chiller....spider crabs, mud crabs, mud snails are all practically indestructable. Killies and sheepshead minnows will do well, and if you have a large enough system to handle all the wastes, puffers.