Check out this cold marine reef tank

coldmarine007 said:
Some interesting thoughts there regarding filtration...my set-up goes against the grain in many ways and would both surprise and puzzle many experienced aquarists, most of whom would regard the way I do things as wrong! As far as I'm concerned the proof is in the pudding.
I have a shallow sand bed....no more than half inch max...I have no sump,but run 1 Eheim wet/dry and 3 Eheim large canisters...also a small Eheim full of seagel. These are cleaned every 3 months and do a fantastic job.This also means that when I'm away on business I have no worries regarding possible sump flooding etc. I feed the powdered food twice a day but NEVER turn off my filtration as the powder is quickly consumed (there are literally thousands of polyps, plus live shrimp/krill/hermits.etc). The skimmer is a hang-on Red Sea for up to 1000 litres,(my tank is 1000 litres) which I've had since my tropical marine days and does a fantastic job.
All my rock goes straight into the tank,although I do scrape off some sponges that I know won't do well..they are scraped carefully on collection and go back into the sea..some of the rock is volcanic, our harbour sits in an ancient volcanic crater so your idea of lavarock is a good one.
Don't forget though that I have all the advantages of being able to collect myself and can replicate conditions pretty accurately.
The bottom line is that we gain experience as the years go by...and know what works in terms of what we want from a tank...I kept a tropical marine system for many years before giving the temperate side a go and wasn't sure I'd succeed....the tank has really advanced my knowledge of what can be done and very much goes against the grain in many areas...particularly when it comes to filtration but it has exceeded all expectations and looks every bit as beautiful as a well stocked tropical marine tank.
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As always, simplest appears to be best. Your not using a sump is encouraging, I have been apprehensive about the flooding possibilities, there. UV is noticeable by its absence. Are you using some other sort of sterilizer or have you decided to forego that step altogether?

Thank you for your patience, I am very grateful for your commentary as you have clearly evolved a highly successful system.

Cheers,

Laurie
 
LMThomson said:
As always, simplest appears to be best. Your not using a sump is encouraging, I have been apprehensive about the flooding possibilities, there. UV is noticeable by its absence. Are you using some other sort of sterilizer or have you decided to forego that step altogether?

Thank you for your patience, I am very grateful for your commentary as you have clearly evolved a highly successful system.

Cheers,

Laurie
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Hi Laurie...I do use a uv, but infrequently.It is installed, but only switched on if the water starts looking slightly green ...always handy to have on stand-by!
Will be posting some new pics. soon.
 
coldmarine007 said:
Hi Laurie...I do use a uv, but infrequently.It is installed, but only switched on if the water starts looking slightly green ...always handy to have on stand-by!
Will be posting some new pics. soon.
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As always, your photos are magnificent! New Zealand's temperate waters carry an incredible diversity of species! The invertebrates we see on the BC coast are quite wonderful but nowhere near as diverse as what you show.

And, alas, most of our soft corals are deep water; well beyond snorkel range, even pushing the limit for scuba.

Your new tubular, green beastie is particularly interesting. What is it? Some sort of sponge with a symbiotic algal growth?

Your success in not using a sump with your setup has caught my interest. Do you do large, relatively frequent water changes? What media are you running in your three large Eheims? Are you doing anything in particular to manage the nitrogen cycle?

Thanks again for all of your wise council.

Cheers,

Laurie
 
LMThomson said:
As always, your photos are magnificent! New Zealand's temperate waters carry an incredible diversity of species! The invertebrates we see on the BC coast are quite wonderful but nowhere near as diverse as what you show.

And, alas, most of our soft corals are deep water; well beyond snorkel range, even pushing the limit for scuba.

Your new tubular, green beastie is particularly interesting. What is it? Some sort of sponge with a symbiotic algal growth?

Your success in not using a sump with your setup has caught my interest. Do you do large, relatively frequent water changes? What media are you running in your three large Eheims? Are you doing anything in particular to manage the nitrogen cycle?

Thanks again for all of your wise council.

Cheers,

Laurie
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Hi Laurie...The green plant is very common here..velvet finger weed that my angel fish and tangs used to love eating when I had my tropical marine tanks...they look beautiful and do well in the temperate tank. I change around 50 liters a week on average...all collected from the crystal clear waters where I collect.
The Eheims have the standard Eheim efhisynth and efhisub media...I wash it in tank water when I clean the filters which keeps the bacteria alive and kicking...my tank readings are always in the safe areas...also ph at around 8.1. I would definately recommend the use of Seagel..great phosphate remover!
 
coldmarine007 said:
Hi Laurie...The green plant is very common here..velvet finger weed that my angel fish and tangs used to love eating when I had my tropical marine tanks...they look beautiful and do well in the temperate tank. I change around 50 liters a week on average...all collected from the crystal clear waters where I collect.
The Eheims have the standard Eheim efhisynth and efhisub media...I wash it in tank water when I clean the filters which keeps the bacteria alive and kicking...my tank readings are always in the safe areas...also ph at around 8.1. I would definately recommend the use of Seagel..great phosphate remover!
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Hello, again.

Thank you for your further descriptions. I am surprised at the rather modest proportion of your tankwater changeout. 5% a week seems almost miniscule. Full credit to your large-capacity protein-skimmer and very effective Eheim arrangement!

You are controlling phosphate via the Seagel. How are you keeping a lid on the nitrogen balance? Your 5% pw water changeout seems like barely enough but, as you say, the proof is in your success! Is there some other factor I am missing?

Cheers,

Laurie
 
All my specimens live on seriously large amounts of live rock which goes straight into the tank....the amount of unseen microscopic life will be immense....the biotope of the tank will very closely mimic their reef environment...apart from the corallimorphs there are hermits/starfish/salps/striped anemones/whale krill/dancing shrimps/glass shrimps/sea lettuce/mussels/periwinkles.etc.etc plus anything else that takes a ride on the rock....as long as I keep the parameter numbers at a sensible level then the tank takes care of itself.
 
coldmarine007 said:
All my specimens live on seriously large amounts of live rock which goes straight into the tank....the amount of unseen microscopic life will be immense....the biotope of the tank will very closely mimic their reef environment...apart from the corallimorphs there are hermits/starfish/salps/striped anemones/whale krill/dancing shrimps/glass shrimps/sea lettuce/mussels/periwinkles.etc.etc plus anything else that takes a ride on the rock....as long as I keep the parameter numbers at a sensible level then the tank takes care of itself.
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My word! Those LED photos are fantastic!

I am looking forward to my own project unfolding. Would that I accomplish a fraction of your success!

I can see that I have much homework to do to get my setup right. Water volume, filtration capacity and a balanced biotope seem to be the essence.

How do you buffer the pH of your tank. Are you using a carbonate sand? Or????

Thanks, again.

Cheers,

Laurie
 
LMThomson said:
My word! Those LED photos are fantastic!

I am looking forward to my own project unfolding. Would that I accomplish a fraction of your success!

I can see that I have much homework to do to get my setup right. Water volume, filtration capacity and a balanced biotope seem to be the essence.

How do you buffer the pH of your tank. Are you using a carbonate sand? Or????

Thanks, again.

Cheers,

Laurie
Click to expand...
No buffer needed the ph rarely changes within the range 8.1 to 8.3....just a thin layer of coral sand as mentioned before.
 
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