Orange County Outside biotope? CA collection laws?

[wesleytf]

My wife and I just moved here from Minnesota. I'm setting up a 40br reef at the moment (soon to be another thread), but in the mean time I'm cycling my rock. I setup a big tub outside with a skimmer and a maxi-mod, and in doing so I realized I have 3+ hours of full sun. This seems like it'd be plenty to keep some photosynthetic animals, but the question is what can live through the temperature swings resulting from being outside? I'd also like this to be a simple setup, as all my effort will be going into my SPS heavy 40br. I'd like to do a gyre flow (circular tub with a maxi-mod) with my aqua-c remora on it.

 

I'll have plenty of extra LR, but I was hoping to get some input on animals. Is it legal to collect any of the animals around here? I remember seeing lots of cool anemones in the tidepools near San Luis Obispo, but I don't know about the requirements. Can anyone recommend me some reading material before I get my head in a tizzy? Would any of the common damsels be able to handle this kind of environment? I've had some before that I thought were tough as NAILS...

 

Any info would be appreciated.

 

Edit: FWIW, I did a search and haven't had much luck finding similar topics. If anyone's following one, feel free to post it.

[jeremai]

Most of the coast of California is protected and therefore illegal to collecting. Officially. I'll see if I can't find some pertinent links.

 

As for keeping the tub outside, the water in Southern California doesn't get much higher than 60 or 65 in the summer, but the water in that tub is bound to get much warmer than that. Even upper tidepool animals get a rush of fresh, cold seawater twice a day. I don't think a non-chilled OC biotope would work through most of the year outdoors, but set it up and check the temps during the hottest part of the day and the middle of the night to get an idea of the range and swing. Also, there's no exclusively photosynthetic inverts out there anyway so the sun is a moot point.

 

I think you have some research to do for a creative way of cooling that tub.

[wesleytf]

Most of the coast of California is protected and therefore illegal to collecting. Officially. I'll see if I can't find some pertinent links.

 

As for keeping the tub outside, the water in Southern California doesn't get much higher than 60 or 65 in the summer, but the water in that tub is bound to get much warmer than that. Even upper tidepool animals get a rush of fresh, cold seawater twice a day. I don't think a non-chilled OC biotope would work through most of the year outdoors, but set it up and check the temps during the hottest part of the day and the middle of the night to get an idea of the range and swing. Also, there's no exclusively photosynthetic inverts out there anyway so the sun is a moot point.

 

I think you have some research to do for a creative way of cooling that tub.

 

I did wind up finding a link on the california fish and game that said I'd need a scientific collection permit, so that's out.

 

as for cooling, I could just use a frozen water bottle or a fan for some evaporative cooling. I was also thinking about digging it in to keep it insulated. Today the temp went up to 90, which is quite toasty indeed.

 

It just seemed to me that some of the tidepools that get seperated would be subject to rather high heat at times, and of course the swing back down the the tide comes in. Are there any retailers around that specialize in this area?

[jeremai]

Nah - pretty much all the info we have is in the first post of the Coldwater Resource thread, lol.

 

And yes, some of the upper pools can get water temps in the 90s, but only for a few hours a day - and, since the ocean is the great equilizer, for most of the rest of the time they are bathed in cool, fresh water.

 

If you're looking for more of a temporary touch tank type thing the tub outside would work great. For a more permanent intsallation, I can't see it being feasable, especially with your budget focused on the SPS tank.