Aqueon 8 gallon Temperate Marine Tank

[AquaticEngineer]

So I've had this tank in my peripherals for quite some time now. I would walk past it at Petco, even seen it used as a coldwater tank a couple times, and always wanted to try it out.

Finally went ahead and bought one the other day after I decided I wanted to do something different with my wall mounted tank. Since I had already had 2 of the Chillsolutions CSXC-1 chillers sitting here I figured I would finally try this idea out.

Livestock includes:
8x Sitka shrimp
2x Stout Shrimp
5x Hermit Crabs
4x Blue Porcelain Crabs
1x Smooth Bay Shrimp (sand burrower)
1x Blue Mud Shrimp (sand burrower, basically a coldwater pistol shrimp)
1x Juvenile Red Rock Crab
1x Ring Top Snail
2x Black Turban Snails
9x Painted Anemones
6x Moonglow Anemones
2x Fluffy Sculpins
1x Rockweed Gunnel
1x Pacific Sand dab (sand burrower)
Surf Grass
2 colors of Strawberry Anemones

Its definitely not a perfect coldwater solution, but it was a fast and easy one.

I had the chiller, the tank was cheap ($89) I collected all the livestock and know that everything in the tank can stand temperature fluctuations. Its been hanging in the 57-63F range while the house has been as hot as 78F with humidity as high as 45%.

Anyways, less talk more pictures right? Feel free to questions about anything

[AquaticEngineer]

[woganaga]

thats pretty cool. where did you collect the livestock?

[AquaticEngineer]

Originally Posted by woganaga

thats pretty cool. where did you collect the livestock?

Along the Oregon Coast, place just outside of Oceaside.

[AquaticEngineer]

Guess I should do a photo update


Some stalked tunicates


Surf Grass getting ready to flower






Red Rock Crab after molting

[AquaticEngineer]

Green Fluffy hiding in the grass


Sharp Nose Sculpin

[brian cummings]

Looking good Stu

[AquaticEngineer]

A couple new pics after a 3 day trip collecting

[NeilFox]

Pretty cool. Looks very natural.

[AquaticEngineer]

Originally Posted by NeilFox

Pretty cool. Looks very natural.

Thanks! Its a lot easier to do a landscape with animals like this when you get to see exactly how tightly packed they live together in the wild

[AquaticEngineer]

Cant forget the Navanax!

[AquaticEngineer]

Opalescent Nudibranch (Hermissenda crassicornis) Its whats for dinner

[rachelcb80]

I was born and mostly raised in the Olympia, WA area. I had no idea we had such neat creatures in those waters up there. I grew up on the beach but my creature knowledge ended for the most part at what was on the beach or in the lagoon (or what I caught on a fishing pole). That is a beautiful and unique tank and you've done a great job with it.

[AquaticEngineer]

Originally Posted by rachelcb80

I was born and mostly raised in the Olympia, WA area. I had no idea we had such neat creatures in those waters up there. I grew up on the beach but my creature knowledge ended for the most part at what was on the beach or in the lagoon (or what I caught on a fishing pole). That is a beautiful and unique tank and you've done a great job with it.

Thanks I hope someday that ever person who has a tropical tank will have a coldwater one along side it.

[AquaticEngineer]

Had an interesting idea today. I've always used mussels in my systems as a form of filtration since they are darn near indestructible and will filter out small particles (even toxins) like nothing else.

Today I'm using them for another property they exhibit. The threads they use to attach themselves to rocks, each other, glass, acrylic, etc...... I've seen them adhere to just about every surface I can think of and within hours in some cases.

Today I'm going to see how long it takes for a group of 4 mussels that are already attached to each other to filter the water in my 8 gallon tank and also adhere the 2 large pieces of granite that keep slipping apart to each other and make a stable rock formation.

If it works like I think it will then I would much rather use this technique than epoxy for joining rocks any day

[Marzy]

Wow that nudribranch looks awesome. Neat tank, very different.

[AquaticEngineer]

Originally Posted by Marzy

Wow that nudribranch looks awesome. Neat tank, very different.

Thanks

Grabbed one of this guy last weekend also. Very pretty coloration of juvenile Red Rock Crab. This is the same species as the white crab I previously posted, I'll post his picture up again here for comparison.

New colored one


One I already had

[crypteria]

Very nice! Great idea too.

Cheers,
Austin

[AquaticEngineer]

Originally Posted by crypteria

Very nice! Great idea too.

Cheers,
Austin

Thank you! I've been doing coldwater tanks for several years now, this is the first time I've tried an out of the box AIO tank and just added a chiller to it.

Working great so far, and it only cost me $256 for everything to get it going

[AquaticEngineer]

Caught my Cucumber out the feeding yesterday

[AquaticEngineer]

Some of the Moonglows I got


FTS as of today

[Kataro]

Nice looking tank! Wished mine look 1/10 as good hah!

[AquaticEngineer]

Smiling happy scallops, lol.

[AquaticEngineer]

Got 20 Blackeye Gobies showing up tonight Gonna pick myself out a trio for the nano and then sell the rest
*
They are so cool!!!! *

Couple Cool facts about the Blackeye Goby:

Each male usually maintains a harem of two to eight females.

They exhibit protogynous hermaphroditism, with all individuals being born females and turning into males once they reach a certain size under the correct conditions.

The males in such groups are usually larger than the female members, averaging 3.5 to 4.3" in length, while the females range in size from 1.3 to 3.2" in length.

Its the only known species of goby to be found in Alaskan waters.
*
Heres the wiki on them, really good info.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackeye_goby
*

[aquaenthusiast]

What do you feed the nudi's ? Tank looks awesome!