Check out this cold marine reef tank

kcress said:

Have you ever run a tropical reef?

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Hi Kcress,
I had a tropical reef for 25 years!....can't believe I didn't bother with a cold marine,but never realised there was so much colour under the sea on my doorstep....and it's free!

Amphiprion said:

Looks incredible. I really like how it has progressed. How long have you had the vortech? How do the animals react to it for you?

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The vortech has made a big difference.....the jewel anemones come from a very high water movement area,where a huge tidal surge comes and goes twice a day,(I have to be careful with my timing on a dive as the surge can rip me out to sea)....

AquatiCreations said:

Once again, the tank is looking fabulous! How largely does the chiller effect your electric bill, I am thinking of starting small, and would like to know how much money it cost for operation. and how did you insulate the tank?

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There's no point having a coldwater marine reef without a chiller....the cost is probably no more than running heaters etc. on a tropical marine tank,although I haven't actually sussed the true cost....it's also necessary to oversize the chiller,(I have a 1 horsepower unit on mine,when a half horsepower would probably be OK....the room the tank is located in reaches the high 20's celsius in the summer,and it fires-up regularly to keep the tank at around 15/16 celsius).
The tank sits on a 2 inch slab of polystyrene,and I lag the pipes from the chiller with plumbers insulating poly.I hope this info helps.

AquatiCreations said:

Thanks Coldmarine, In the summer room temperature is often 80F(26C),are the sides of the tank also covered in polystyrene? Also is there "coldwater live rock" or do you just use base rock? I was thinking of something small like a 20g high to start with,With corals and Invertabrates such as shrimps,snails,crabs etc.

Ah i just realized you said 15 degrees you mean Celsius correct? thats around 59F which isnt that bad ... I thought you meant 15F which is -9.4C lol!

Thanks-
Mark

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We use celsius down here in New Zealand!!...other than the base there's no other insulation.
Jewel anemones can thrive in temps between 10-17 degrees celsius.....anything under 8 degrees and they start to suffer,so the temps aren't THAT cold!
All my specimens are attached to the live rock I collect them on....they then slowly self propogate in the tank...I use my old pieces of dead coral as supports for the new live rock to enable me to build the walls,they then start to show new growth.

kcress said:

Thanks(tropical).

So is all that lovely stuff collected as-is or has it propagated? (The root of my tropical question.) If it does propagate, how fast as compared to tropical?

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All the specimens you see are collected on the rocks they have colonised....they do begin to spread once they are used to the tank conditions,but this is a very slow process.

some inverts from my cold marine tank

Just thought I'd add a few invert shots from my jewel anemone tank.Do keep the questions coming if you'd like some more info on this unusual side of the hobby....