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5.5 Pacific Coast coldwater tank


horusmachine

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Hello All,

 

Just wanted to share images of my coldwater tank. I base it on the tidepools found around the

California Pacific Coast. The tank itself is a 5.5 AGA filtered by an Aqua Clear 30. The lighting

consists of 2 50\50 20 watt power compacts on a timer. The water is chilled to average by of 57 to 63 degrees by 2 Coolworks Ice Probes mounted on the top of the tank. Additional Elite mini powerhead

was added for more water circulation. The tank has been up for 7 months and things have been going smooth. I have uploaded pictures, so please let me know what you think

 

Thanks, Horus

 

maintankpic.jpg

 

 

aggregate1.jpg

 

 

hermit.jpg

 

 

catalina.jpg

 

 

catalinas.jpg

 

 

green1.jpg

 

 

nems2.jpg

 

 

chiton.jpg

 

 

nemcloseup.jpg

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horusmachine
How big is the Chiton?

 

 

The Chiton is about an inch long. I got it from an asian fish market. The chiton was attached to an

oyster which is also in my tank. Asian fish markets have interesting critters that hichhick on the

shellfish. I have found small mussels and snails. What is really cool is collecting there is so

inexpensive.

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  • 1 month later...
lakshwadeep
this is propably a dumb question but what exactly is a coldwater tank?

 

That's kind of a trick question since technically coldwater means arctic/antarctic waters. A more specific term for what most of these types of tanks are would be a temperate aquarium, which generally refers to a location (i.e. between the tropics and and the arctic/antarctic circle).

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2009/3/aquarium

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  • 7 months later...
flying_dutchman

Where did you collect these? I think you mentioned you collected some anemones at pillar point halfmoon bay? I always thought collecting was illegal, if it's not... Halfmoon bay is pretty close...

Tagging along

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Where did you collect these? I think you mentioned you collected some anemones at pillar point halfmoon bay? I always thought collecting was illegal, if it's not... Halfmoon bay is pretty close...

Tagging along

It's a common misconception that collecting animals for a home aquarium is illegal in California. I've carefully studied the laws in California, and the bottom line is that if you have a sportfishing license, there are a few restrictions on where you may collect, and a few restrictions on what you may collect, and as long as you don't violate either of those restrictions, it is legal. (There are also bag limits and size limits on a couple of things)

 

What you may NOT collect and put in your tank:

1) No fish. You can take dead ones home, but not live ones.

2) The good news is that you can put almost anything else in your tank, provided that you don't collect it from a protected area (see below)

 

Where you may NOT collect:

1) Not in specifically defined "Marine Protected Areas" (MPA's) See the official list at http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa. they even give maps showing the exact boundaries (some of which I carry when I collect, to show if confronted)

click on the link in the left column under "Existing State Marine Protected Areas". Some MPAs allow you to collect some animals. See the table given in the dfg ocean sportfishing regulations booklet (available as a downloadable PDF at http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/pdfs/oceanfish2009.pdf)

2) You may not collect invertebrates from within 1000 feet of "shore" EXCEPT for the ones given in the list in the regulations booklet, section 29.05 (B) (1) :"red abalone, limpets, moon snails, turban snails, chiones, clams, cockles, mussels, rock scallops, native oysters, octopuses, squid, crabs, lobsters, shrimp, sand dollars, sea urchins and worms" (so all of those things are legal). "Shore" is defined as anything that is above the water line at mean low tide, so that includes exposed rocks, breakwaters, etc, so you need to be 1000 feet away from those things.

 

You'll notice that anemones are not on the list of things you can collect from within 1000 feet of shore. So if you can get 1000 feet or more away from "shore" you can collect anything you want, except fish, and put it in your tank. Within that 1000 feet, you can collect things that are on the list given above. Based on that, I would say that it is technically illegal to collect strawberry anemones from docks, but you can get a kayak (or an inner tube!) and paddle 1001 feet away from the dock. If you find a submerged rock there, it too will be covered with stuff you may legally put in your tank.

 

References:

California Sportfishing Regulations Booklet

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/pdfs/oceanfish2009.pdf

 

List, maps, and GPS coordinates of "Existing State MPA's" (Marine Protected Areas)

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mlpa

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Was wondering when you were going to chime in. LOL

I do remember how well versed you are on the regulations

of collecting. Thanks for shedding some light. Might

have to consider seriously becoming a certified diver

in the future.

 

H

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Very cool! How are those 2 iceprobes working out? I've use one on my 2.5 and I have an extra one that I don't use. I guess I wont have any problems with temps if I put 2 of those on my Minibow 7 when I set that up.

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Very cool! How are those 2 iceprobes working out? I've use one on my 2.5 and I have an extra one that I don't use. I guess I wont have any problems with temps if I put 2 of those on my Minibow 7 when I set that up.

 

Thanks. The 2 iceprobes did a good job for the cooler months. Kept my tank

just under 60 degrees. The summer months were a bit hard on the iceprobes, and

temperatures hovered around the 70's. Too warm in my opinion for a temperate

or coldwater tank. I have long since replaced the 2 iceprobes with a 1/13 hp

chiller. My temperatures stay at 55 degrees year round now. Iceprobes

will work to a point if you are keeping hardy tidepool anenomes which

can withstand significant temperature changes. Since this thread has been revived

I will update my tank info and post some new pictures. Stay tuned.

 

H

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This has been a long time coming. A long over due update. Some changes

and additions have been made since I started this tank a year and a half ago.

The biggest change was the chiller. Replaced the Iceprobes with a CL mini

1/13 hp chiller. My temperature is quite stable year round. I also added a ZooMed

mini cannister filter and a Taam Nano Skimmer. This enhanced my water quality

greatly. For a 5.5, that is a lot of filtering capacity. Here a few new pics of my 5.5

 

H

 

My 5.5

 

mytanknow.jpg

 

Various anenomes

 

mytank.jpg

 

Tidepool

 

CIMG1981.jpg

 

Metridium Senile and Actinia Tenebrosa (Waratah)

 

metridiums2.jpg

 

Aggregating Anenome

 

Anthro.jpg

 

Green at night

 

green.jpg

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Warehouse41Ant

Love this tank! Just thought I'd share that. Going to follow along for future updates.

 

Really wish I lived somewhere that I could obtain coldwater stuff. Here in Nebraska we get clownfish and common corals. That's about it. Hooray for being as far from an ocean as is possible in this country! -_-

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