Yup...

Happy New year Jacob!

I jst wateched the ball drop in NY on TV! Yay for 2010

Still 2009 for me lol

lol I thought so.

Anyway it's the 1st of January!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am taking the large starfish out, I still have a smaller one and this guy is knocking stuff over lol.

lol I guess they are just liek Halloween Hermits

What an awesome tank! I think i'll be starting up a jersey shore biotype as soon as I can afford a chiller

doesnt mtv already have one of those lol jk...nice tank jacob

lol yeah, i'll try to avoid collecting all those d*mn guidos, but thats the closest CWSW body of water to me, and its not that close either. however a guido might be an interesting addition to any tank, wonder how many gallons it needs, what to feed it? hmm a new frontier in saltwater aquaria?

cheese balls and fettuchini...they need no less than 3 gallons of hair gel lol jk...sorry to jack your thread jacob i need to come over and see it in person again lol

Haha it is fine guys.

Alright a little update. I have removed the large starfish (it was just too big, noob mistake on my part). I was not able to get the gunnel to eat , so he died, and from his death I lost 2 bullheads, the 3rd disappeared into my overflow alive, but now I think he is dead somewhere. I also lost the big nem. So that kinda sucks, on the plus side the macro algae has been growing, well at least the red one I have anyway. The other small Urtincia nem is also still alive. I will post some more pics but once again the tank is a little more barren, mostly because two of the largest inhabitants are gone. Either way I will update with some more pics eventually....

sorry about the troubles. How long was the dead gunnel in the tank before you found it?

Less than a day, buuut I had been wasting a lot of food trying to feed it and maybe all of that just kinda turned into my tanks downfall. I think I am just going to stick with small fish from now on, maybe a couple catalina gobies?


Also, it seems like anemones are a lot tougher in general than fish, and anemones are a lot tougher when you collect them with the rock they are on, rather than peel them off it seems.

Sorry about all the recent deaths Jacob

Well heres a current FTS, most of the nems are open because I haven't been feeding them that much, but that is changing as I type this. I actually really like the look of it now, and if you notice the red macro on the top right, and compare that to the last FTS, you can really see the amazing growth in about a month. It is all the way up to the surface of the water now

The tank looks great!

Thanks

Both very true statements, cw nems are super tough, especially when you compare them to their tropical counterparts (the clown-hosting varieties, at least). As far as catalina's, I think they tend to get eaten by things, especially in your case, since you have big anemones. You could try them, but I wouldn't start out with too many.

Maybe not then haha. I don't want my nems having an expensive snack lol.

By the way what do you feed your nems Jamie?

I am gonna take a few more pics, I have something I have been wondering about.

sorry to hear about your troubles Jacob. Tank still looks good though

Thanks

Here are some more pics. There are two questions I have, first what is the (or are, there are more than 1) the little purple thing in the center of the last pic? I think it is some sort of tunicate but I dunno. Second, what is this growth on my anemone? It is almost like it is forming another mouth. It has had this since I brought it back so it doesn't seem to be affecting it much I just don't know if it is a cut that has healed or it is budding.















What is the little purple thing?

Awesome Pix Jacob! Tank looks great!

That purple thing kinda looks like a tunicate

Thanks!

And yea that was my guess^^

I have things like that in my tropical tank, don't know what the hell they are though. really nice macros man.

I am hoping Jamie will chime in haha

Yea whatever they are, they are neat.

Thanks! The macros are fun and have shown a lot of growth over about a 1 month period.

those are some cool pics.. i love all of the different nems and such.. coldwater tanks are sooo cool!

Thanks!

Yea coldwater is very diverse, and you just don't see that many tanks for it. Which makes them special

Well I decided to take a few more pics because everything looked pretty happy. The urchin pic is terrible I know, but they look really neat in person haha. I need a macro lens. Oh well heres some updated pics

Such happy little nems. Are they harder to take care of than tropical species--say a BTA--or about the same, do you think?

This thread is making me want to snorkel/dive off the coast of the Pacific Northwest more than ever.

I love that nudi you have!

It's also really cool how the nems are on the glass!

I think they are easier in some senses. They are incredibly tough, the meditriums can survive basically a cycle, but they require feedings since they are non photosynthetic. It is really a trade off, I really like them though

You should! I really need to, maybe this summer, and a drysuit is a good idea.



Thanks, he eats tunicates though, but he is very pretty.

Yea they have been there for a while, it is pretty neat seeing the bottom of them in detail.

Great looking nems, and that nudi is gorgeous, do you think it will survive?

I've been planning my own CW setup, and have a few questions/ideas that i'd like some of your input on:

I've been thinking of getting a Peltier Cell instead of a legitimate chiller, do you think it'll work?

since i'm a big fan of biofiltration, I am considering attaching a fuge w/ macro for nutrient export, or an algae screen like on my current system. Do you think it would be a good way to remove nitrates and reduce water changes?

sorry to hijack

Thanks! Yea I don't expect it to live long, it has already been there for over a month though, and their natural life span in the wild really isn't much longer so I think I did a pretty good job care wise.

Right on.

Depends on tank size. I would personally go with a regular chiller unless you are doing a small aquarium.

Very cool idea. You should also consider having room for bio media. In warm water it is frowned on, but in CW tanks bioballs and what not are very important. As for the macros you could do display macros like I am and do basically the same thing. I will cut these back often and throw them or trade them to others.

It will probably be a 10 or 2 tens strung together and maybe a sump. so total water wouldn't exceed 30 gallons.

The bio media would be included I guess.
From what I read on steve weast's coldwater tank, nuisance algae was a problem for him with the increased lighting, what's your experience with this? What is your lighting regimen?

I was thinking of starting with an 16hr photoperiod on the macro part since thats what I use on my algae screen set up now, since its function is nutrient export and doesn't need to look good.

For that much water I would really think about getting a regular chiller, with all of that moving water going to a sump and being exposed to air in so many different spots I don't know if the peltier could handle it.

It is important to have it. He may be having the problem because his lights are brighter, had a lot of big fish, and maybe didn't do water changes as often. I dunno mine isn't too bad.

Right your going to be using a scrubber. Personally I would recommend a fuge, or display macros for more efficient nutrient export but it is up to you haha.

I see there needs to be much more planning done on my part, and many more variables to consider, to make certain I buy the proper equipment when the time comes. thanks for the info.

I think there are a lot of different ways to setup a CW tank, good luck

Feel free to ask any other questions

As far as peltiers go, for that size tank, the price of the number of peltier devices would probbly equal or exceed a reasonable sized refrigerant-based chiller. For example, Pacific Coast Imports makes a thermoelectric chiller that is rated for up to 10 gallons (and that's for cooling a few degrees, not the 15 or so you would need for coldwater) and it costs around 250 dollars. So my advice - a normal, factory made chiller will be more effective and cheaper for you needs.

Jacob, to your anemone question: I'm not really sure what's going on. This is what typical budding would look like.

http://www.oceaneyephoto.com/photo_2309095.html

It looks more like an injury/malformation to me, but I really don't know. You'll have to keep us updated on if it ever develops.

As far as the purple thing, I'd need a clearer picture to guarantee the tunicate ID. It looks kind of like a small colony, but it could be other things as well.

My thoughts as well on the chiller.

Yea I thought it looked different, but it just seems weird.

That would make sense I guess. Should I do anything or just keep feeding it like I have been?

I will try, but it tough, the thing is tiny, like pinhead size.

just keep doing what you've been doing, it looks happy.

+1
Also, peltiers use about 5 times more electricity as a traditional chiller for the same amount of cooling, so you will pay 5 times more to run it, and pump 5 times more hot air into your room. I think peltiers are only appropriate for very small tanks (< 5 gal?) where pump type chillers are overkill. I recommend that you get a used chiller on Craigslist. If you live in a big city you can easily find a 1/6th to 1/4th hp chiller for around $200 used.

Cool will do haha.



And a +1

I used two Ice Probes on my 5.5 Gal CW tank and it was not enough to bring it down to what I expected.
Even during chilly nights the coolest my tank got was about 58 degrees at best. Recommend a commercial
chiller.

Was thinking about an algae scrubber but was wondering if the lighting would bring up the heat. LEDS
might work. Maybe well placed macro algae balanced out with number of snails in the tank would help with nutrient export.

H

I guess i'll skip the peltier, found some chillers on craigslist for a decent price.

As for the scrubber, it does bring temps up on my tropical tank, a degree or two and causes a lot of evaporation, but I do run that light for 16hrs. Might not be ideal for CW, but i'll give it a try. keeps all the parameters at 0 efficiently.

Well good luck! Man the growth I am getting on this red macro is insane.

Thought this was interesting.

Very Cool!

Yea I thought so too, at the same time my mollusk eating friend was kind of weirding me out.

What?

What was your "mollusk eating friend" doing?