Pick what goes in my new Micro-Reefs Coldwater nano!

[AquaticEngineer]

Mike from Micro-Reefs was awesome enough to send me a 7.2 gallon AIO tank to do another coldwater build on!

 

So I'll have dualing 7.2 AIO setups in my dining room now

 

One of things I noticed with my last build was that being a coldwater livestock collector I had WAY too many options for it and I kept continuously adding livestock and inevitably selling the livestock from the tank. I've had everything in my existing nano from lumpfish, catalina gobies, european anemones, even jellyfish for a while.

 

Mike did some super nice rounded corners on the front of this one! My other system is only viewable from the front because of the stand design I chose to use. This time I'll be using a regular stand so that I can see the tank on all three sides. Turns out the stand is actually Islandoftiki's old stand from his Pest tank build

 

So with this build I want to get it up and cycled from scratch and then slowly add livestock with a very bio-typical end goal.

 

Lighting hasn't been decided yet.

 

Chiller will be a 1/13th HP chiller ran on a Reef Keeper Lite

 

Tank is the Micro-Reefs 7.2 Gallon AIO

 

I would love to get any and all input on livestock selections from people who have kept, are currently keeping, or are thinking about keeping a coldwater tank. So please put your full 2 cents into it and post pics of what you want to see in the tank or pictures of other coldwater tanks that with stuff you liked in them and vote in the poll

 

Pics of everything to come soon, I should be getting this system wet by Saturday afternoon after I pick up the stand.

 

Cheers!

 

[AquaticEngineer]

I'm moving so slow on this build, but pretty much everything is in place now Just gotta figure out what lighting to use after I pick the livestock.

 

More pics to come as it really gets going.

 

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

Really liking that stand, as you already know I am into concealing all the hardware! Only like to showcase the actual beauty of what is captured inside the tank!

 

Can't wait to see how this thread opens up and beauty commences.....

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

Any updates?

[Dr.Brain Coral]

+1 for updates

[AquaticEngineer]

Tank is finally up and running at 58F Added salt today.

 

Still trying to decide on what substrate to use though.

 

I'm fighting the urge to use established sand and water to cycle it faster because I'd like to do it all from the standpoint of someone who is just starting a coldwater nano and doesn't have access to any of that.

[AquaticEngineer]

Added in some tigriopus and a hermit crab since the salinity and temp are good.

 

I think this system is destined to have a bunch of European coldwater livestock here soon

 

I think maybe I'll switch my existing 7.2 over to house some of the pipefish I have right now.

[ndrobey]

The Spanish Shawl nudibranch, Flabellina iodine, preys selectively on the orange polyps of the athecate hydroid Eudendrium ramosum. If you have access to a source of that hydroid, a Spanish Shawl is a spectacular specimen.

[TheElysia]

I have a few ideas, in case you're interested.

 

I would love to see a display of sea lemons or other nudibranchs. Those, maybe culture some breadcrumb sponge in another tank, feed occasionally? I would love to see it. Macro, mussels, tunicates, barnacles to decorate.

 

Kelp forest - get some nice pieces of as large kelp as possible, plant them in the tank, add a little starfish and maybe a couple sculpins and Metridium senile?

 

Also, how do you care for the medusas without kreisel? Are they okay with bumping around and/or swimming on their own?

[AquaticEngineer]

The Spanish Shawl nudibranch, Flabellina iodine, preys selectively on the orange polyps of the athecate hydroid Eudendrium ramosum. If you have access to a source of that hydroid, a Spanish Shawl is a spectacular specimen.

 

I do have access to Spanish shawls out of Calofornia Don't know that I have access to enough of their food though

 

I have a few ideas, in case you're interested.

 

I would love to see a display of sea lemons or other nudibranchs. Those, maybe culture some breadcrumb sponge in another tank, feed occasionally? I would love to see it. Macro, mussels, tunicates, barnacles to decorate.

 

Kelp forest - get some nice pieces of as large kelp as possible, plant them in the tank, add a little starfish and maybe a couple sculpins and Metridium senile?

 

Also, how do you care for the medusas without kreisel? Are they okay with bumping around and/or swimming on their own?

I've often thought about the sea lemons, just can't keep the sponges growing after harvesting them. I've thought about freezing the sponge and feeding pieces, but never tried it.....yet Macro, mussels, tunicates, and barnacles are how I just re-scaled my other nano with Gotta get out and get more now. I really want to do a barnacle spire in one of these tanks.

 

The medusas did great without a kreisel, they actually prefer almost stagnant water so they can slowly open their tentacles and drop to the bottom and eat copepods of off the sea grass and substrate as they float down. I just had to reduce the flow and provide a cover that bumped out away from the overflow, kinda made it into a pseudo-kreisel.

 

I am getting a couple of Navanx again soon and might try the hermisinda crassocornis (spelling? Lol) again since they did quite well just eating scrap foods.

 

I have a kelp holdfast that I am hoping to see growth out of, bit every piece of live kelp I've brought back has slowly withered away unfortunately. I may get synthetic kelp as a decoration for my 140 gallon tank soon.

[ndrobey]

A Garibaldi is a very beautiful fish for a large coldwater tank.

Maybe a purple urchin?

[AquaticEngineer]

A Garibaldi is a very beautiful fish for a large coldwater tank.

Maybe a purple urchin?

Even in the 140 a Garibaldi is just trouble, beuatiful, but just trouble lol. I've had a few of them over the years and every time I tried to introduce other fish it was a bad deal.

 

I am going to put a small school of Blacksmiths and Senorita Wrasses into the big tank soon

 

 

Here is a video of what I got going on in my other 7.2 gallon Micro-Reefs tank

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152713467221056&l=3580218606613491371

 

[ndrobey]

A coastal tidepool is too boring. There is nothing really spectacular in there.

Deepwater NPS can be colorful and interesting enough. But plain white anemones?

Seagrass and pipefish aren't colorful enough. Both tend to blend together.

Red eyed medusas are basically transparent and boring.

A California biotope would be very interesting, avoiding plain and brown species.

A Hula fish is colorful, but a filefish isn't.

Suggestions:

Bluefire jellyfish

Japanese sea nettle jellyfish

Lined chiton

Anthopleura elegantissima anemone

White-spotted Rose Anemone

Corallimorpharia - Corynactis

Eugorgia rubens

Purple Hydrocoral, Stylaster californicus

[ndrobey]

Yellow breadcrumb sponge and sea lemon nudibranch

Aplysina fistularis, Sulphur sponge

Hymenamphiastra cyanocrypta, Cobalt sponge

Red Volcano Sponge, Acarnus erithacus

Yellow Zoanthids, Epizoanthus scotinus

Red Gorgonian, Lophogorgia chilensis

Muricea californica, California Golden Gorgonian

Coenocyathus bowersi, colonial cup coral

Orange Cup Coral, Balanophyllia elegans

Astrangia lajollaensis, Colonial cup corals

Eudistylia polymorpha, Featherduster worms

Polychaetes - Glycera species

Sandcastle worm, Phragmatopoma californica

Serpellid worm, Serpula Columbiana

Polychaetes - Serpula species

Spirobranchus spinosus, Christmas tree worm

Polychaetes - Trypanosyllis species

Berthellina ilisima, "Orange blob"

Dendronotus iris nudibranch and Pachycerianthus fimbriatus anemone

Hypselodoris californiensis and dysideid sponges

Okenia rosacea and Integripelta bilabiata

Balanus nubilus, Giant acorn barnacle

Southern Kelp Crab - Taliepus nuttallii

Disporella species, Purple encrusting Bryozoan

Integripelta bilabiata, pink bryozoans

Blood Star, Henricia leviuscula

Sand dollars, Dendraster excentricus

Strongylocentrotus franciscanus, Red Sea Urchin

Blue-ring topsnail, Calliostoma annulatum

Ceratostoma foliatum or Pteropurpura trialata, Leafy Hornmouth

Delonovolva aequalis, Simnia Snail

Assorted tunicates