Coldwater Reef

[matt295]

i have been looking at biotopes recently and saw a nice reef tank, "thereef.info" and went to the resources section and then "other resources" and went down to the "oregon reef" page and at the top of the site, it talks about his coldwater tank that is really interesting. he has really cool inverts and fish thought you guys might want to take a look

here is the link (dont know if it will work though)


[URL="http/www.oregonreef.com/sub_coldwater.htm"]http/www.oregonreef.com/sub_coldwater.htm[/URL]


there is also some stuff his really cool, over 800 gallon reef tank that is magnificent

 

[SkiFletch]

Wow, cool lookin reef

 

[matt295]

i thought so too i thought the boxfish were really interesting. did you look at his other monstorous tank?

 

[andywg]

Wow, cool lookin reef

Aaaargh the pun! It burns my eyes!


If memory serves correct the main reef had a huge collapse last year resulting in the loss of almost all the livestock. Wasn't there a thread in Reef Central on it?

 

[matt295]

i dont know, i hope not because that is one nice tank. i loved his aquascaping

 

[steelhealr]

In time, I would like to try a coldwater North Atlantic....a biotope of where I live. The key...you need a chiller. Water temps would have to be kept in the high 50's low 60's and collection is the key re: doing it legally. SH

 

[matt295]

yeah, thats what i though, you wouldnt have to pay so much for lighting and all that stuff for corals but the chiller costs a ton! What fish are you planning on keeping and when do you plan to start? Would love to see a coldwater tank that you made

 

[WayneVT08]

Yeah Steve Weast's tank did crash, his skimmer overflowed and it sucked his sump dry and in turn had no water in the sump, so he dumped in about 200 gallons of tap water into the tank and everything either died or was harmed badly. So that tank is still up and running and it looks just as good if not better now. Check RC and find it. You'll see, new pictures from last August are on the second to last page on it.

 

[matt295]

what is RC?

 

[Lynden]

Reef central. They used to be nothing but a (large) bunch of "tang police" but now when I browse around there I see nothing but good. To be honest I do have an account there but I haven't yet made any posts in the year it's been registered.

On a similar note, looks like the tang police fad is starting to die down, just like I thought it would.

 

[SkiFletch]

A ton of immature sods over there. Too bad, cause there are a few really nice, really smart reefers there, but they get drowned out easily

 

[Lynden]

Agreed completely. Some highly useful threads; but as many or more to be found at the other end of the spectrum.

 

[thefirethief]

i have been looking at biotopes recently and saw a nice reef tank, "thereef.info" and went to the resources section and then "other resources" and went down to the "oregon reef" page and at the top of the site, it talks about his coldwater tank that is really interesting. he has really cool inverts and fish thought you guys might want to take a look

here is the link (dont know if it will work though)


<a href="http/www.oregonreef.com/sub_coldwater.htm" target="_blank">http/www.oregonreef.com/sub_coldwater.htm</a>


there is also some stuff his really cool, over 800 gallon reef tank that is magnificent

Thanks for that link, definately worth a read. I'm in the process of setting up a 20Gal temperate seahorse tank (Hippocampus Breviceps) and that information will come in handy.

"For those who think that they can run this type of system employing “natural” filtration methods (e.g. no skimmer and nutrient export through a refugium), you’re sorely mistaken. These tanks have huge nutrient inputs..…and consequently, need huge mechanical nutrient exports to be successful."

How true can that be? I understand biological processes will be slower at lower temperatures surely thats still heavily dictated by the bioload? My plan was to use an algal scrubber and keep low bioload for nutrient control but that comment has thrown my plans a bit off track.

Any opinions?


Oh and if anyone want's to see another fascinating DIY temperate marine project check out [URL="http/www.jonolavsakvarium.com/blog/index.html"]http/www.jonolavsakvarium.com/blog/index.html[/URL].

 

[SkiFletch]

I would agree with that statement. Remember, since these corals are non-photosynthetic, all feeding has to be via phytoplankton. And phyto really fouls up water quality QUICK. Couple that with slow biological nutrient export and you could have quite the challenge on your hands. Perhaps growing giant kelp in a refugium might help?

 

[thefirethief]

Ahh, I understand. I thought he was referring to temperate aquariums in general, not his own system with that specific livestock. A giant kelp refugium, now that would be bizarre. There is every chance the cold water Macroalgaes I hope to get hold of will be sufficient. I've heard of people using chaeto too which is always an option.