Puget Sound Cold Saltwater Tank Design

[pan-d-man]

Pictures

any pics of your setup?

I looked around for a way of downloading into my profile but could not find anything. Here is another batch of pictures...

 

[pan-d-man]

Pictures

any pics of your setup?

This is the last batch for now...

 

[beoks]

dude that is rad

 

[Curtswearing]

Steve has a lot of cool pictures on this thread.

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11453

 

[epiphanus]

I really like this tank, the set-up is cool, the critters are cool. Is your Zostera growing?

 

[lfiedler]

Finally got my tank up and running. I ended up having to plumb the chiller outside due to the noise. Now I just need to get some sand, rocks and critters.

 

[pan-d-man]

Zostera

I really like this tank, the set-up is cool, the critters are cool. Is your Zostera growing?

Thanks Epiphanus,

Yes, the eel grass is growing. Many of the existing fronds that had tattered ends are not, but as they decompose, they provide food for many of the inhabitants. Nothing goes to waste. I have many new starts and some of the original shorter starts are growing. It took a month or so for the root system to establish itself but if you can keep them in the substrate (some inhabitants like to pull stuff out), they will grow. I did notice that they will not grow unless they have good water movement over them, similar to what they would find in tidal flats or shallow shores. The barnacles will also not feed much unless they get fairly healthy water movement directly on them. It seems that water movement plays a larger role in the ecosystem than I originally thought.

 

[pan-d-man]

Setup

Finally got my tank up and running. I ended up having to plumb the chiller outside due to the noise. Now I just need to get some sand, rocks and critters.

One suggestion is to put some type of protection down in the bottom prior to placing the rocks. The rocks we get around here are much heavier than coral and will do a good job of scratching the bottom when trying to position or re-position them. I also found that the cold water critters do alot of serious excavating under rocks so make sure that your rocks are stable enough to handle the substrate being totally removed. My aquarium is glass and so I am a bit more concerned about scratches causing weak spots.

One of the biggest advantages to having this type of set-up is if you don't like something, you just put it back. The only cost involved is the hunting and collecting. All of my inhabitants came from beachcombing and tidepool wading. I have yet to get anything from down deeper. I wanted to stay with the more resilient tide pool species before moving on to those that are not as sensitive to water temperature and purity. Pretty much anything you collect out of tidepools can deal with pretty bad conditions, for a while. Many will survive fine on water that is warmer than the sound, but will just not thrive.

 

[epiphanus]

One suggestion is to put some type of protection down in the bottom prior to placing the rocks. The rocks we get around here are much heavier than coral and will do a good job of scratching the bottom when trying to position or re-position them. I also found that the cold water critters do alot of serious excavating under rocks so make sure that your rocks are stable enough to handle the substrate being totally removed. My aquarium is glass and so I am a bit more concerned about scratches causing weak spots.

One of the biggest advantages to having this type of set-up is if you don't like something, you just put it back. The only cost involved is the hunting and collecting. All of my inhabitants came from beachcombing and tidepool wading. I have yet to get anything from down deeper. I wanted to stay with the more resilient tide pool species before moving on to those that are not as sensitive to water temperature and purity. Pretty much anything you collect out of tidepools can deal with pretty bad conditions, for a while. Many will survive fine on water that is warmer than the sound, but will just not thrive.

You can get some awesome looking and practical substrate from some of the cobblestone beaches there. Nice big round smooth (but somewhat flattened) chunks. More like small stones than big gravel. There is some jet black granite up there that looks just great for aquascaping.

More pics? How is this tank coming along?

 

[pan-d-man]

Cold Water Update

You can get some awesome looking and practical substrate from some of the cobblestone beaches there. Nice big round smooth (but somewhat flattened) chunks. More like small stones than big gravel. There is some jet black granite up there that looks just great for aquascaping.

More pics? How is this tank coming along?

I know what granite you are talking about. Some day I am going to pack some out. It is stunning.

The tank is doing well. Caught barnacles reproducing. I also found a clump of unhatched eggs. They look like herring or candlefish. We shall see it looks like soon. I think I am going to cut back on the number of urchins. They eat alot of eel grass and pull up large clumps at a time.

I will be posting some more pics soon...

 

[pan-d-man]

Night Time Shots

You can get some awesome looking and practical substrate from some of the cobblestone beaches there. Nice big round smooth (but somewhat flattened) chunks. More like small stones than big gravel. There is some jet black granite up there that looks just great for aquascaping.

More pics? How is this tank coming along?

I just added a couple more pictures. One is of the mating barnacles.

 

[epiphanus]

I just added a couple more pictures. One is of the mating barnacles.

Cool... not only do male barnacles have the biggest stuff of the animal world, but it is prehensile... impressive.

I've got to say again, I really like this set-up. Have you posted any info or pics of this tank on Reef Central?

 

[lfiedler]

Have you noticed any animals not getting along with each other? I've got lots of little anemones now and was thinking about getting some starfish - but don't want the starfish to eat them

 

[epiphanus]

Have you noticed any animals not getting along with each other? I've got lots of little anemones now and was thinking about getting some starfish - but don't want the starfish to eat them

Depends upon the type of starfish. Henricia sp. would be good candidates... many others really are not worth it if not in special tanks (with fish, large anemones, crabs, etc.) because they are relentless predators. They'll even eat barnacles. Anemones are generally safe from predation, although there are one or two starfish species that feeds on them (sorry, can't remember which ones, though).

 

[pan-d-man]

I have yet to have a starfish attack an anemone. I have stuck with fairly small starfish though. I have several blood stars and a few mottled stars. I would stay away from the more common and much larger ochre star. Like epiphanus said, they eat lots. You should be safe with stars that are smaller than 2-3" across. I have had some nudibranches attack anemones though. The common lemon nudibranch feeds strickly on yellow sponge. The shaggy mouse nudibranch though will devour your anemones.

I would recommend dropping in 30-40 small hermit crabs and a handful of purple shore crabs. These do a tremendous job of cleaning up and provide great entertainment. It is great to get these at such a great price too! FREE! I have dropped in several of the more common tidepool sculpins and even a couple of rosylip sculpins. These guys, although considered common and quite plain, adapt almost immediately to the aquarium and are also fun to watch. Their ability to change color to match their background is amazing. Avoid the snailfish. They eat everything and anything and are almost strickly nocturnal. I hope to find some of the more colorful sculpins but they are much harder to find close to shore.

I have half a dozen various pricklebacks. They too adapt fairly quick and will even eat from your hand. I had a 4" true pacific cod for a time and he too was very friendly. He became a meal for one of the large anemones.

Snails and welks are a good addition. I have had good succes with goosneck and giant barnacles and even clams and mussels. Feather duster worms are common and also easy to find.

My two favorite books so far is Whelks to Whales by Rich M. Harbo and Coastal Fishes of the Pacific Northwest by Andy Lamb and Phil Edgell. It is tough to find good resources for advise as there really are very very few hobbyists.

I hope some of this helps. Feel free to shoot an questions or suggestions out there. I would love to keep mine going for many years to come.

 

[epiphanus]

I would recommend Dr. Roland Anderson's Aquarium Husbandry of Pacific Northwest Invertebrates (or some title like that). You can get a copy only through the Seattle Aquarium (or was it the Vancouver Aquarium), but it's only 10 bucks post-paid. A very good buy.

 

[pan-d-man]

Book to Read

I would recommend Dr. Roland Anderson's Aquarium Husbandry of Pacific Northwest Invertebrates (or some title like that). You can get a copy only through the Seattle Aquarium (or was it the Vancouver Aquarium), but it's only 10 bucks post-paid. A very good buy.

I searched around the web site for both of these aquariums and could not locate this book. If you have any other leads on how to get one, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[pan-d-man]

Pictures posted

Depends upon the type of starfish. Henricia sp. would be good candidates... many others really are not worth it if not in special tanks (with fish, large anemones, crabs, etc.) because they are relentless predators. They'll even eat barnacles. Anemones are generally safe from predation, although there are one or two starfish species that feeds on them (sorry, can't remember which ones, though).

lfielder, it's great to see you begin to post pictures in your gallery of your project. Keep em coming...

 

[epiphanus]

I searched around the web site for both of these aquariums and could not locate this book. If you have any other leads on how to get one, it would be greatly appreciated.

Guide to Marine Invertebrates: Alaska to Baja California by Daniel Gotshall is also really useful, at least for id'ing stuff. Aquarium Husbandry of Pacific Northwest Marine Invertebrates by Roland Anderson (2001) can only be acquired through the Seattle Aquarium Bookstore. They'll make the sale right over the phone... I don't have the number on me but it should be easy to get from their website.

 

[lfiedler]

I thought I'd update this thread on my progress. I recently added a bunch of large red and green anemones.

Current species list:
benny eel
tidepool sculpins
granular hermit crabs
hairy hermit crabs
red sea cucumber
coon shrimp
star fish
feather duster worm
whelks
limpits
red rock crabs
green shore crabs
purple rock crabs
painted anemones
red and green anemones