Aqueon 8 gallon Temperate Marine Tank

[AquaticEngineer]

Originally Posted by aquaenthusiast

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

The opalescent nudibranchs eat anemones, hydroids, and will also scavenge on carrion. They were originally food for the Navanax, and then I was able to get the Navanax feeding on snails so it was much easier

Here's a couple shots of the tank as of recently. I ended up moving most of the inhabitants out and putting in all European anemones to propagate them

Like this sweet Orange Beadlet I forgot I had sitting in the holding tanks.



And the Actinia Fragaceas.

[AquaticEngineer]

Look what I got

[Fish_King_25]

Love the Catalina! Nice tank!! Beautiful

[AquaticEngineer]

Originally Posted by Fish_King_25

Love the Catalina! Nice tank!! Beautiful

Thanks These guys I just put in are the Zebra Gobies (Lypthrypnus zebra) I also have 2 of the Catalina Gobies (Lypthrypnus dalli) in there too

[AquaticEngineer]

Tank has been fluctuated between 59-68 over the summer, but it was slow changes. Lost alot of the deeper water stuff like the Corynactis when the temps got a bit on the higher end. So knowing the fluctuation range for this setup, I'm now only keeping animals that are found in waters above 60 in here since they all seem to be the species that did the best overall given the conditions.

Up to 4 Catalinas, 3 Zebras, 1 Blackeye Goby, and 2 Saddleback Gunnels.

Has Green Anemones (Anthopleura xanthogrammica), European Strawberry Anemones (Actinia Fragacea), and Australian Waratah Anemones (Actinia Tenebrosa)

Other Inverts inclucde:
3 Live Sand Dollars
1 Purple Urchin
10 micro hermit Crabs
3 Black Turban Snails
2 Jeweled Topsnails
1 Graceful Decorator Crab
1 Cryptic Kelp Crab
4 Brittle Stars

[AquaticEngineer]

Got a little snail vs snail going on I love the contrast between them.

[AquaticEngineer]

Decided I was tired of the poopy stock LED fixture, so I built myself a 50W 10K LED Cannon Total price.....$57.

Based on the PAR readings I got off of the old ones this should be right about the same as a 250W halide, but with no heat exchanged to the tank.

Basically a prettier, slimmed down version of my old LED projects I did in the past. Higher flow fan, lower profile heatsink, and a better quality LED, with a nice clean housing.



Then I made one to run 24/7 on my phyto-fuge project on the holding system

[AquaticEngineer]

Put a new housing and 60 degree lens on my DIY imitation kessil / ecoxotic cannon then hard mounted it off the above cabinet. Best part is this light only cost me just over $60 to make and puts out PAR equivalent of a 250w halide

The green anemones are really liking it now FTS at the end

[aquaenthusiast]

Looks very clean and nice, where did you source your led from?

[AquaticEngineer]

Originally Posted by aquaenthusiast

Looks very clean and nice, where did you source your led from?

Got the chip and waterproof driver off ebay for like $23 shipped, fan and heatsink I got locally for new for $10. Housing is a 4" PVC coupler and a 4" slotted drain insert. Power supply for the fan I had laying around. Solder, lume, then plug it in

I made up a half dozen of them for a friends tank and I had a few left over to play with. I can wire em up in about $20 minutes now start to finish as long as all the parts are laid out

[Skrilla]

Awesome little setup!

[AquaticEngineer]

Few more pics with the new colorations of Aggregating Anemones I found last trip out and one of a crazy big turban snail completely covered in corraline algae........yes from the oregon coast, lol.

[jarrod13]

Looking awesome Stu!! Love those anemones!

[saf1]

I'm from Northern Ca and dive frequently in the cold waters of Monterey I have to say some of those images look exactly like what I see on a typical dive minus the kelp forests, otters, and sea lions among other things (dolphins, tiger sharks, etc ).

Nice job. I have often thought about doing a cold water tank just because of the animals I could collect outside the parks. So much color people often don't really understand what is under the surface.

[AquaticEngineer]

Originally Posted by saf1

I'm from Northern Ca and dive frequently in the cold waters of Monterey I have to say some of those images look exactly like what I see on a typical dive minus the kelp forests, otters, and sea lions among other things (dolphins, tiger sharks, etc ).

Nice job. I have often thought about doing a cold water tank just because of the animals I could collect outside the parks. So much color people often don't really understand what is under the surface.

Thanks This tank slowly evolved into a tank of just anemones I really wanted to keep myself as opposed to when I started it as a tank to try new things constantly in a small system. There are enough people out there now doing small tanks that I can spread the research factor around a bit now and enjoy it more, lol.

There is a guy selling AIO 12x12x12 acrylic tanks made out of 1/2" acrylic on eBay right now for $149. Just add a chiller and you are done

[AquaticEngineer]

Check out this tank for a coldwater system drill an iceprobe in the back and done, or run a small compressor based chiller on a closed loop.

12x12x12 made of 1/2" acrylic for $149 plus $15 shipping wish I'd have done that instead of my Aqueon

http://www.ebay.com/itm/12x12x12-All...f7dbf#shpCntId

[JRR1285]

That's a really cool looking tank. I had no idea that stuff like that existed in the more temperate waters up north, I wonder what's over by me in the NY area.

How is that Led fixture you made doing? I am thinking of replacing the metal halide portion of my combo fixture with a setup like that.

[AquaticEngineer]

Originally Posted by JRR1285

That's a really cool looking tank. I had no idea that stuff like that existed in the more temperate waters up north, I wonder what's over by me in the NY area.

How is that Led fixture you made doing? I am thinking of replacing the metal halide portion of my combo fixture with a setup like that.

The LED lights are doing great I'm making a pair of 100w ones that are the equivalent of the Kessil A350 for my big lobster tank. Just got the brackets done up for them yesterday






In NY you get some cool stuff There are lots of subtropical fish that have adapted over time from the Caribbean. But if you wanted to find really cool temperate water stuff, head out with a net anytime this month that the tide cooperates and see whats out there The water should be cool enough now that the tropicals that made their way up on the currents should be dissipating.

As the temps get even cooler out there I would look for the Atlantic Spiny Lumpsucker if it was me
http://www.fishbase.org/summary/4185

[JRR1285]

Originally Posted by AquaticEngineer

The LED lights are doing great I'm making a pair of 100w ones that are the equivalent of the Kessil A350 for my big lobster tank. Just got the brackets done up for them yesterday






In NY you get some cool stuff There are lots of subtropical fish that have adapted over time from the Caribbean. But if you wanted to find really cool temperate water stuff, head out with a net anytime this month that the tide cooperates and see whats out there The water should be cool enough now that the tropicals that made their way up on the currents should be dissipating.

As the temps get even cooler out there I would look for the Atlantic Spiny Lumpsucker if it was me
http://www.fishbase.org/summary/4185

Might have to look into doing a similar tank with what I have around here. That's a really cool fish and would work well for me since I always wanted an angler tank.

Do you mind divulging what you are using for those swing brackets? I like the idea and look of it. I am seriously considering trying it out on my 29G which is in serious need of decent lighting that doesn't boil the tank.

[AquaticEngineer]

I grabbed a couple LCD tv wall mount brackets off eBay and removed the piece that attaches to the back of the tv. Had to shorten the attachment screw by a bit with my dremel but that was it

[AquaticEngineer]

Some new pics to update
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I changed over my 50w LED to an RGB 50w setup, just liked the mixed color a little bit better.
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My little Yellowfin Fringehead poking out

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Jeweled Topsnails out for a cruise.

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FTS with the new RGB 50w light

[dkeller_nc]

Very cool. I've been thinking about making one of these (coldwater setups), mind if I ask a few questions?

The photo's you've posted on this thread look like the tank water is constantly hazy. Is that actually the case b/c of animals stirring up the sand, or does this tank sweat? I ask because I'd like to make a bigger coldwater tank in the 50 gallon range, but I'm going to make every effort to insulate for energy efficiency.

The ideal from the insulation aspect is to make the tank out of 3/4" acrylic, which would be cake because I have a woodworking shop. But in all honesty, I'd much rather have glass b/c of its scratch resistance. But if your tank sweats, it probably tells me to bite the bullet and make one out of acrylic.

What do you feed the animals, and how often? I'm thinking this will require some thought on my part, since feeding often means water quality concerns, and big honkin' skimmer is going to work against me on the energy efficiency aspect.

[AquaticEngineer]

Originally Posted by dkeller_nc

Very cool. I've been thinking about making one of these (coldwater setups), mind if I ask a few questions?

Always happy to chat coldwater

Originally Posted by dkeller_nc

The photo's you've posted on this thread look like the tank water is constantly hazy. Is that actually the case b/c of animals stirring up the sand, or does this tank sweat? I ask because I'd like to make a bigger coldwater tank in the 50 gallon range, but I'm going to make every effort to insulate for energy efficiency.

Most of the haze is from sure laziness and not wiping off the tank from my kids puting their fingers all over it or water that has dripped off and dried on the outside. You will occasionally get water haze though if the tank is over fed or if you introduce an over abundance of life at once. But it calms down pretty quickly (day or two at most) and none of the life is affected, biggest concern is consistantly high temperatures (68F+) over long periods. That will drop the oxygen content in the water which is something these critters do not fair well with. But a thick acrylic tank and a compressor based chiller will not have that issue.

Originally Posted by dkeller_nc

The ideal from the insulation aspect is to make the tank out of 3/4" acrylic, which would be cake because I have a woodworking shop. But in all honesty, I'd much rather have glass b/c of its scratch resistance. But if your tank sweats, it probably tells me to bite the bullet and make one out of acrylic.

I run my system just about 5 degrees below my room temp, so this tank is usually in the 60-65F range. Its only made of 1/4" acrylic but since there is little to no humidity ever in my house its just about impossible to get condensation on it. Glass will almost certainly get condensation unless it is dual paned, or the temperatures are ran close to or just below room temp.

Originally Posted by dkeller_nc

What do you feed the animals, and how often? I'm thinking this will require some thought on my part, since feeding often means water quality concerns, and big honkin' skimmer is going to work against me on the energy efficiency aspect.

I actually run this tank skimmerless, there is filter floss and carbon / GFO in a bag and thats it Water changes occasionally. I only have 2 fish in there right now but both are medium sized for the tank, 1 Black Eye Gobie and one Yellowfin Fringehead. I tend to swap fish in and out more than I should since I have a holding system in the garage. I feed mysis to them and the anemones that catch it and I also shoot phyto plankton and tigriopus (copepods) in for the smaller filter feeders. The lighting takes care of the few photosynthetic anemones and algae I have in there.

What size tank are you thinking of doing?

[AquaticEngineer]

Scored a deal on a boat load of chillers and happen to get a random little half finished nano skimmer with a tiny venturi pump in the deal as well.

I got a little crazy with the free upgrades so it feels a little cluttered to me now, so I may end up putting this hole thing on a stand and moving it off the desk.

Turned out okay visually, but the skimmer is kicking butt and the chiller is keeping the tank at a constant 56-57F while the inside house temps are between 65-70F.

Mostly just started screwing around with it because I anticipate swapping over all the hardware into the Micro-Reefs 12x12x12 AIO made out of 1/2" when Mike releases them

Anyways, more pics

[AquaticEngineer]

Couple new residents now that the tank is sitting steady at 57F

Little bitty Irish Lord


Little Rainbow Scorp