Jamie Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 I finished building this tank about a month ago, and I had been posting pics in my other coldwater thread, but I think that this tank deserves a thread of it's own. So, introduction... The system holds approx. 15 gallons, and is made up of four tanks. The lower front tank is a tidepool/surge tank holding about 5.5 gallons. The front top tank is going to be an eelgrass biotope, approx 2.5 gal. The tank immediately behind that is the siphon tank (also 2.5 gal), that holds water temporarily before the surge device kicks in, emptying it's contents into the tidepool tank. Below that is the sump, approx 4 gals, where all pumps are located. There are two separate pumping systems. One pump (mj1200) pumps water straight up into the siphon tank. Once that tank fills, it empties (via carlson surge device) into the tidepool, and overflows back into the sump. The other pump pumps water to the chiller (1/10 hp) then up to the eelgrass tank. The water overflows out of the eelgrass tank into the siphon tank right behind it, and is siphoned down into the tidepool, along with the water from the frist pumping system. It's sort of hard to understand without pics, and i don't currently have any of the whole system, but i can get some if anyone wants them. Lighting: Currently vho (sorry, can't remember the wattage) 10000K but that will be changing soon. Chiller: 1/10 hp Pacific Coast imports Temp: 59 degrees salinity: 1.026 filtration: liverock, algae, waterchanges. No skimming or canister filter. Livestock: Like i said earlier, this is a double biotope setup, comprised of a tidepool-like biotope on bottom and an eelgrass biotope on the top. Tidepool inhabitants: Anthopleura sp. anemones Mussels Acorn/Goosesneck Barnacles Sculpin Surfgrass Kelp Encrusting intertidal sponges hope to get in the future: abalone purple urchin rock prickleback more sculpins (maybe) Eelgrass inhabitants: Have: Plumose anemones (these wouldn't normally be found in an eelgrass flat, but I have nowhere else to put them) Mud shrimp Want: Eelgrass (duh) some type of gunnel (Pholis sp.) Various isopods, shrimp, crabs, etc symbiotic with eelgrass Zebra leafslug (a type of sea hare) Proliferating anemones (Epiactis prolifera) I don't have much in the eelgrass tank, but there is a super low tide next weekend (lowest in 8 years!) and I'll be going to Netarts bay, which has great eelgrass flats, so I should be able to get some good stuff. The tidepool tank is already pretty full, as I have been accumulating tidepool life for quite a while. All it really needs now are some fish and motile invertebrates. I caught a cool porcelein crab last weekend, but I haven't seen it since it went in. I think the spend most of their time hiding under rocks, which is less than ideal for viewing, so I need some cool things that I can actually see. I also got a bunch of really cool snails, bright orange, but instead of eating algea, like I had hoped, it turns out the eat barnacles. Great! now I have a whole bunch of barnacle eating snails. Oh well, I'll have to take them back next time i go to the beach. Anyways, here is the good (I hope!) part, the pics: Tidepool FTS the lone sculpin Blurry, but I still like it. Notice the fish at the very bottom Gooseneck barnacles and kelp Encrusting intertidal sponge, hopefully this will do well A. elegantissma Wrinkled dogwinkle (not even making that up) hungry for a barnacle Another gooseneck Dogwinkle A. xanthogrammica Plumose anemones (Metridium senile) -Jamie Link to comment
jwalsh1 Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 I still think this is the coolest tank. Looks beautiful. Link to comment
clownfish1124 Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 Wow great setup! could you post a picture of your whole system? i would love to see what it looks like! Link to comment
jeremai Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 oomph Are you going to keep the dogwinkle in there? Those goosenecks are gorgeous. And I love how the tentacle tips on the Metridiums always seem to be glowing, like ET's finger, lol. psst... maybe you could send me a few anemones? Link to comment
HammyDavisJr Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 Very awesome! I'd love to see some other pics of the setup. Link to comment
Jamie Posted May 31, 2008 Author Share Posted May 31, 2008 ack! the tank started leaking today! fortunately it is a pretty slow leak, so my carpet didn't get very wet. I think it's in the sump, which fortunately can be drained without having to drain the other tanks. So right now the sump is dry, with water just circulating through the other three tanks. I re-siliconed around the area where I thought the leak was, so hopefully that will fix it. The leak stopped when I drained the sump, so that must be where that leak is. I'll try to get a pic of the full system soon, not the most picturesque time, since the pump had to be moved out of the sump into the front tank, but I guess that doesn't matter. jeremai- you have a coldwater tank up again?! Of course i'll send you some anemones, but I might need something in return. :cough: urticina :cough: Actually, any anemone not in the genus anthopleura would be a very welome addition. thanks everyone for the comments, I should get a full system shot up shortly. -Jamie Edit: oh, and I might keep one dogwinkle, but I brought at least five home, and I definitely don't have that many barnacles. Link to comment
Jamie Posted May 31, 2008 Author Share Posted May 31, 2008 full system pics (sorry about all the wires): it was hard to get a good pic of the back, since the tank is up against a wal, but here's what I got: I was also taking pictures of giant isopods, which are awsome, and despite they're somewhat frightening appearance, herbivores. The are commensal with various alga that grow intertidally. on surfgrass hermit, anemone, isopod new xantho: here is a bad picture of my stickleback. I put him in the eelgrass tank initially, but he went over the edge into he surge tank, got shot down into the tidepool by the siphon, and then went over that edge into the sump. When I drained it to fix the sump leak, I caught him nd moved him back up to the eelgrass tank; hopefully he will stay there this time! (sorry, bad pic) -Jamie Link to comment
jeremai Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 I don't have one set up currently, but it would only take a few minutes, lol. So if you want a trade, I have some nifty corals and algaes, but they're all tropical. Link to comment
Jamie Posted June 1, 2008 Author Share Posted June 1, 2008 pshh. tropical... Okay, I'll bite, whatcha got? (actually, pm me that answer) Also, where did you get the anemones you had in your old CW tank? -Jamie Link to comment
jeremai Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 Okie dokie on the PM. My anemones came from some guy on the Yahoo! Coldwater Fish group, for anyone who is interested in that gem of information. Link to comment
hijiwii Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 Gorgeous! Those giant isopods are insane. What are you feeding to keep the barnacles and sponges alive? Link to comment
Renegade545 Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 Beautiful tank, and interesting critters in it. Link to comment
jeremai Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 jamie, you may have said this in the other thread, but how did you go about cycling the tank the first time around? I had a method on my tank, but I was flying blind being one of the first and all, lol. Link to comment
Aquascapers Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 Wow, a truly impressive biotope. I look forward to the day when I can replicate a Maine tidepool biotope which was what I used to geek out on when I was a kid. You guys get some pretty radical anemones up there on the West coast. Are there any Corynactis sp. corallimorphs where you hail from? Keep it up, Cheers, Colin Coral Morphologic Link to comment
Jamie Posted June 2, 2008 Author Share Posted June 2, 2008 thanks all for the comments. jeremai - I never really cycled the tank. I brought the liverock home in buckets filled with water, so there was very little dieoff. Most everything has been fine since then, through all the various tank switches, and I think that since most of these animals are really hardy anyways, it's not a huge issue, just as long as you don't have any giant rotting animals in your tank. hijiwii - I typically feed mysis every other night, which the barnacles get some of. I also started feeding phytoplankton for the sponges, but i don't know that they'll make it. Over half of the purple one has "bleached" and the green one is just looking weird. I scraped them off a rock with a knife when I was collecting, and i doubt that was too good for them. Hopefully they'll pull through, but it doesnt' look like their doing too well right now. morphplogic- the anemones are better farther north, northern washington and canada, it's mostly just anthopleura sp. in oregon (at least intertidally). We have Corynactis californica here, but only subtidally, I've never seen them personally (not SCUBA certified yet). They do have them in the oregon coast aquarium though, along with many varieties of urticina, which would imply that they live here somewhere. -Jamie Link to comment
clownfish1124 Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 Jaime scuba certification is sooooooooooooo easy. i got it when i was 12! Link to comment
kingwintergreen Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 My anemones came from some guy on the Yahoo! Coldwater Fish group, for anyone who is interested in that gem of information. I am... what's the name of the group? Link to comment
jeremai Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 Yahoo! Coldwater Fish Group If that's not it I'll have to get back to you, they still have me on the email list, old-school style. edit - God I love the search function in Gmail: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/coldwaterfish/ Link to comment
kingwintergreen Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 Jeramai, wow, that was quick, thanks... Jamie, FYO... I simply don't want to see you get into some serious trouble-- If I am right about current OR law, collecting from or even just digging around in seagrass beds could land you a massive fine. Some of the critters you have or are seeking can only be harvested with a special permit (in the case of the urchins, for example) and some not at all-- the tunicate you have (or had) is invasive and even removing it is a huge violation of state law. You have a great set-up going and I applaud your creativity, but I suggest you check ODFW before further collection. Good luck... Link to comment
Jamie Posted June 2, 2008 Author Share Posted June 2, 2008 Thanks for the info kwg, but I was wondering where you found it. I'm not doubting you or anything, I just havn't been able to find much info on collecting CW livestock. I have both a fishing and a shellfish license, which I thought let me collect most things, unless they are endangered/prtected. I was able to find a few special cases like abalone (must be over 12 inches and only one per day), but most of the animals I had were classifed under "non-food invertebrates" in the guidelines I found, and the rule was ten per erson per day, but there were no specifications on exactly what you could or could not take. Also, the eelgrass beds I'm talking about are in netarts bay which is a pretty big clamming area, and the eelgrass is sort of randomly placed throughout the bay, so I find it hard to believe that it would be illegal to be takng things from the eelgrass flats, whe you in fact have to walk through them in many cases to get to the good clamming areas. I would love to see any info you have about this though, becuase I certainly don't want to get in trouble. -Jamie Link to comment
zhubbell Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 Hey man - sweet tank, i just came across this thread, and I thought i'd let you know that I'm starting a similar project, I'm taking it a bit farther - as inspired by an article I read recently in a fish magazine. I'm building a 14" tidepool refugium, but it will actually have a high tide and low tide pattern, with high tide being the only time that the water from the refuge is circulating with the rest of the tank water, this is awesome for functionability from what I've heard, as it most closesly mimics that process in nature, and the macro loves it, having the tank suddenly flooded with a ton of nurtrient rich water, plus you get some pretty awesome weird growth patterns with some of it being submerged only 1/2 the day or wahtever the cycle timing. Anyway - thought I'd throw that idea out there, it looks like you've created a pretty awesome tide pool - if you ever wanted to expand to something like what I'm describing, PM me or something - I'll have mine set up hopefully in like, 2 days... awesome creatures you got in there though Link to comment
Jamie Posted June 3, 2008 Author Share Posted June 3, 2008 Sounds really cool! yeah, mine's not a true tidepool, since there is no tide, more like just a surge tank. i have designed high/low alterenating tide tanks in the past, but I didn't try to incorporate those designs into this tank. I look forward to seeing how yours turns out! -Jamie Link to comment
Benji Posted June 4, 2008 Share Posted June 4, 2008 Did you find the Gooseneck barnacles and other livestock locally? Link to comment
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