Coldwater marine tanks?

[AlmightyJoshaeus]

Hi everyone! For a long time I have desired a small coldwater tank with a Catalina goby. While the time for me to have one is still a ways off, I wanted to know some specifics on how to set up a 5 or 10 gallon coldwater. Here we go 🙂

 

1 - What would be a good chiller for such a small tank?

2 - I am not sure I would have money for a thick acrylic tank, so I was thinking of taking a normal tank and putting insulation on three of the sides. Would this work? What kind of insulation would I use?

3 - Where would I get flora and fauna (other than the readily sourced Catalina goby)? Coldwater marine aquatics seems to be down.

4 - How does cycling work in a coldwater? Do you still use live rock?

5 - Anything else I should know?

 

Thanks 🙂

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

On 10/22/2018 at 2:03 PM, AlmightyJoshaeus said:

Hi everyone! For a long time I have desired a small coldwater tank with a Catalina goby. While the time for me to have one is still a ways off, I wanted to know some specifics on how to set up a 5 or 10 gallon coldwater. Here we go 🙂

 

1 - What would be a good chiller for such a small tank?

2 - I am not sure I would have money for a thick acrylic tank, so I was thinking of taking a normal tank and putting insulation on three of the sides. Would this work? What kind of insulation would I use?

3 - Where would I get flora and fauna (other than the readily sourced Catalina goby)? Coldwater marine aquatics seems to be down.

4 - How does cycling work in a coldwater? Do you still use live rock?

5 - Anything else I should know?

 

Thanks 🙂

85% of your money should go to the chiller or thermoelectric chiller if you are only going to do a budget cold water system.  The reason I say this is because you mention wanting to keep a Catalina Goby, this guy needs constant water temp at say 65F degrees year around.  You can get buy purchasing a used 10 gallon acrylic tank with the rest of the money and a simple HOB filter.  Cheap lights 2nd hand compacts will be all you need.  You can also contact Stu Wobbe and he can ship you from his home collection that he is still selling.

 

Being that I design cold water systems, I can tell you that a cheap system can be done, but you cannot cut corners in the cooling of the system, you just can't!  The organisms in this temperate world require the correct water temp to live and not die!

 

If you wait, in Summer 2020 will be huge for the rebirth of cold water systems!

 

Nuff said... 🙂

[Tired]

Helpful, but this post is from last year.

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

2 hours ago, Tired said:

Helpful, but this post is from last year.

Yeah I know, feel bad that nobody replied to him one year ago, having so many knowledgeable reefers here...

 

So hopefully it helps others thinking about doing a coldwater system....

[Tamberav]

Hmm we need a way to sort by unanswered posts 

 

[Tired]

Only if it didn't include vendors' posts, because otherwise it would be permanently clogged up with posts that nobody responds to because it's just "we put more things online" or the like.

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

On 12/10/2019 at 12:36 AM, Tired said:

Only if it didn't include vendors' posts, because otherwise it would be permanently clogged up with posts that nobody responds to because it's just "we put more things online" or the like.

I have learned that if you really want your thread answered you post more than once, he might have gotten answers from friends that have a cold water system, so he found no need to repeat his post.

 

I by the other hand as a hobbyist posted too many questions as I was or still am addicted to reading. 😆

[MainelyReefer]

On 12/9/2019 at 7:39 PM, mikeguerrero said:

If you wait, in Summer 2020 will be huge for the rebirth of cold water systems!

 

Nuff said... 🙂

If your hinting you have something cool in the works that has me excited.

A local science center keeps some cold water tanks and even has some local livestock and it has me interested in looking into coldwater

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

11 hours ago, GraniteReefer said:

If your hinting you have something cool in the works that has me excited.

A local science center keeps some cold water tanks and even has some local livestock and it has me interested in looking into coldwater

I was exposed to the wonderful world of temperate systems Aquariums in 2012, and just fell in love with the ecosystem!  I became a certified diver in Monterey, CA in 2007 and this just made move love grow deeper.  I have been dormant for a very long time since leaving California for Florida.

 

I plan to make an announcement for reefers to follow my small posts on Instagram and Twitter + Face Book.

 

It's been 3 years since arriving to Florida and finally 2020 summer will be a grand opening for the support of Cold Water Systems!  :)