Petco's Aqueon8 into Coldwater Marine Aquarium

[AquaticEngineer]

So I've had this tank in my peripherals for quite some time now. I would walk past it at Petco, even seen it used as a coldwater tank a couple times, and always wanted to try it out.

Finally went ahead and bought one the other day after I decided I wanted to do something different with my wall mounted tank. Since I already had 2 of the Chillsolutions CSXC-1 chillers sitting here I figured I would finally try this idea out.

Livestock includes:
8x Sitka shrimp
2x Stout Shrimp
5x Hermit Crabs
4x Blue Porcelain Crabs
1x Smooth Bay Shrimp (sand burrower)
1x Blue Mud Shrimp (sand burrower, basically a coldwater pistol shrimp)
1x Juvenile Red Rock Crab
1x Ring Top Snail
2x Black Turban Snails
9x Painted Anemones
6x Moonglow Anemones
2x Fluffy Sculpins
1x Rockweed Gunnel
1x Pacific Sand dab (sand burrower)
Surf Grass
2 colors of Strawberry Anemones

Its definitely not a perfect coldwater solution, but it was a fast and easy one.

I had the chiller, the tank was cheap ($89) I collected all the livestock and know that everything in the tank can stand temperature fluctuations. Its been hanging in the 57-63F range while the house has been as hot as 78F with humidity as high as 45%.

Anyways, less talk more pictures right? Feel free to questions about anything :fun2:

 

[AquaticEngineer]

Added a few more shrimp, hermits, fluffy sculpins, turban snails, a couple small wavy top snails and 5 more sand dabs to the mix.

Tons of little stuff in there now, I love all the action. There is something going on in every inch of the tank it feels like

I'll try and upload a video here shortly.

 

[myindoorocean]

I gotta get me one of those. Too cool.

 

[AquaticEngineer]

I gotta get me one of those. Too cool.

Hit up the local petco while they are on sale Then all you need is either an Iceprobe and to drill the back, or a CSXC-1 chiller from Chill Solutions and a couple pieces of vinyl tubing.

 

[AquaticEngineer]

Here's a video of what I got going on

 

[AquaticEngineer]

Pic showing the stalked tunicates I added in.

 

[AquaticEngineer]

Check out who I caught molting

 

[NemCrazy]

Hey that tank looks so awesome. I love the diversity that can be found in Coldwater tanks. Even in a nano tank you are able to showcase that. I got the chill solutions chiller in the mail today and will hook it up tonight or tomorrow

 

[AquaticEngineer]

Hey that tank looks so awesome. I love the diversity that can be found in Coldwater tanks. Even in a nano tank you are able to showcase that. I got the chill solutions chiller in the mail today and will hook it up tonight or tomorrow

I almost feel like you can showcase it even more so in a nano tank than you can in a larger tank. The longer I have this tank the more I love it

I remember finding really cool tiny specimens when out collecting and then being disappointed when I never would see them again in my larger tanks. I'd almost rather have 4 or 5 of these than a big tank ever again!

 

[AquaticEngineer]

Photo update

 

[NemCrazy]

I know what you mean. My lobster tank crawls with life and is almost overwhelming how much stuff is in it. And it's so easy to lose stuff in it. I'm building that aqueon for my co worker but now I'm wanting to get one too. But my 20 downstairs is where I put the small stuff now.

 

[AquaticEngineer]

Video I took of feeding time



Put a nice looking orange calcified tubeworm into the tank today

 

[AquaticEngineer]

A couple new pics after a 3 day trip collecting

 

[NemCrazy]

I've now seen this tank in person and it's quite a bit more colorful in person. Such a great tank and so many things to watch. That sculpin is awesome along with the starfish! It was great collecting with you guys. It was nice to go collecting. We'll need to do it again soon. I was impressed with all the areas we hit. And it's always great talking Coldwater!

 

[AquaticEngineer]

Cant forget the Navanax!

 

[AquaticEngineer]

Caught my Cucumber out the feeding yesterday

 

[NemCrazy]

SWEEEEEET! I caught mine doing the same. But yours is Wide open

 

[AquaticEngineer]

Yeah, and those 2.5" cucumbers open up into 5" ones lol.

 

[AquaticEngineer]

Some of the Moonglows I got

FTS as of today

 

[AquaticEngineer]

Is it just me or do scallops always have a smile