Coldwater rock pool tank

[SirMinion]

Anybody tried this?

Edible crabs, winkles, anenomies, starfish, shrimp, maybe even a weaver.

Anything you might find in a rockpool at low tide on a trip to the sea-side.

 

[jams.alaskan]

Wow! What a great idea... why not see if large aquariums wouldn't share some of their knowledge on this - I bet several have tidal pool type setups for viewing.

ALASKA

 

[bulldog188]

I knwo someone who set up a native estuary tank but this rockpool idea sounds like a really good project.. be interesting to see its developement if you do decide to go ahead..

 

[SirMinion]

Ok, good positive responses.

The reason I say a rock-pool setup is that creatures that are found in rock pools are happy with temperatures much higher and salinity variations much wider than those found in open water or reefs.

Thus doing away with needing a chiller (It will be kept in an unheated room)

Cockles,and mussels alive alive-o!

 

[ste2k3]

thats a good idea but I'm not sure on the laws about taking things from the wild. as long as you only take the odd thing and take care removing them, i don't see a problem but the enviroment agency may say otherwise. - what they don't know won't harm them applies here

the temperature may be a problem, even rock pools are very cold compared to indoor tanks. I'd set the tank up and measure the temp over a few weeks on hot days to see the max temp. also, measure the temp in rock pols an see what the difference is. its all about keeping it stable. you can get away with some animals keeping them at slightly higher temps but constantly.

ste

 

[bulldog188]

you won't have any trouble removing the sort of things you're thinking of keeping from the wild.. people collect these for food etc everyday of the week mate.

 

[SirMinion]

A bit of bacon on the end of a string dangled in the sea by a pier.. crabs galore!

 

[SirMinion]

I'd set the tank up and measure the temp over a few weeks on hot days to see the max temp.

Yes, I'll have plenty of time to do this while it's cycling. Rockpools get pretty hot in the summer, sometimes over 40c on black rock, obviously the tank won't be anything like this, even in the summer.

 

[the boy]

When I gave up my tanks and fish I was left with a 6foot x 2 feet x 2-foot tank trickle filter and Deltec skimmer. I put the whole lot in my office at my workshops (industrial unit) and filled it with estuary water (river Thames) and sand/shells etc.

The water was very murky but the skimmer was working overtime and required daily emptying for about a week (then the water was xtal clear) I stuck some shore crabs and a load of sand gobies (about 50)
I left it like this for a month then started adding fish (a friend of mine is a commercial eel fisherman and as such gets loads of by product in the form of little fishes!!)

First is was some tiny Bass (about 3" long) they were fine but the gobies disappeared real fast (within 1 week) then I put in two small Dabs and 3 small flounder, all fine. Then came a pair of dogfish and gem of a little thornback ray about the size of a CD. He became a real character feeding from your hand (it would even reach out of the water to get its dinner) I tried some small eels but they always escaped (survived out of the water but persistently escaped)

The tank was really exiting but a little noisy and smelly (read really smelly) and a weekend last summer my crude cooler (a chest freezer with 30 metres of aluminium 20mm tubing curled up inside which took the water from the sump to the tank) packed up and when I got in on the Monday morning it was a mess.

There were fish that looked in a real bad way and some were fine (the Bass and flatfish looked OK)

I hooked them all out and put them in buckets and put them in the Thames (I live on an island and the Thames is 40 yards from my unit)

Some swam away but the others were unknown as the water is so murky you could not see 4" under.

Got to say, although not the most colourful of systems it was fun, and the anenamies from the local marinas were bullet proof.

Dave

 

[bulldog188]

Some good info there Dave should help him out a lot.

 

[ste2k3]

you won't have any trouble removing the sort of things you're thinking of keeping from the wild.. people collect these for food etc everyday of the week mate

there shouldn't be a problem but some things are rare like some specese of nudi's and anenomy's. There may be some law that says that you need a licence etc etc etc, the chances of being caught doing anything like this are slim but its best to be aware.

ste

BTW- there may not be a law, I'm not sure but may be worth loking into.