Actually,was out yesterday,with the water temperature around 10 degrees celsius(it's winter down here in the Sth.Pacific),,but with my 7mm wetsuit I was TOO WARM! Found a few more colour variations,and added a few more to the tank,together with some bright red sponges,and put a couple of starfish back,(munching on the sponges)....great to be able to stock my tank with local stuff after years of buying tropicals ....at huge expense....should have done this years ago,but never realised just how beautiful a coldwater marine tank could be!!
Check out this cold marine reef tank
- Thread starter coldmarine007
- Start date
Hi Corrina,
Coldwater marine links are few and far between I'm afraid....if you google Steve Weast,a guy living in the States,he has stuff on his Oregonreef web site,that's really interesting.He imports his really colourful fish from Tasmania,which is NZ's next door neighbour,with similar water temps.They are very different to our fish though.
My chiller is on less now that the room temp.has dropped,(we're into winter down here),but it certainly kept cranking during the summer!
I have found a protein skimmer ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL...it sucks out so much gunk,and keeps the water sparkling,despite the fact that I have to regularly feed the jewel anemones with brine shrimp and a clam/seaweed liquid.I actually find the tank much easier to maintain than my countless tropical marine tanks I've had over the years.
Hi journey 0820...
I was out diving yesterday in water temps of 10 degrees celsius,and with my 7mm wetsuit,I was as warm as toast...no problemo!
It's great to be able to collect all your own stuff,something I always wanted to do,but never could until I ended up living down here in the Sth Pacific by the sea,(none of this stuff in London!).
Cleaning the tank,and placing the rocks can be a bit chilly...but that means the chiller is doing it's job!
Hi noodles,
Funnily enough,most of the colours seem to be in the pink/white spectrum,but recently I've been finding a lot of mauve and violet colours...probably,something to do with their position on the reef.
wow, can't wait to see those babies. i love corynactis and had no idea that there were so many different color morphs. but, they otherwise look exactly like c. californica. any pics from their natural habitat (where you snorkel)?
Do you have any problems with condensation on the tank? Also,do you think it is essential that you add the seaweed part into the mixture of blended up clams? I would think that the anemones were more carnivores. I've heard that intense lighting is less important on coldwater reefs. Supposedly it is because that very few things are photosynthetic, and if they are, they depend on it very little. Is that true?
The color of the corals are neat. I noticed you didnt have any pics of fish, are there any in the tank?
Hi JJ21,
You're probably correct re-the seaweed addition...they are of course carnivores,but I'm sure adding a little doesn't hurt,and all the catseyes and hermit crabs enjoy the particles in the water column!
I'm unsure about the lighting....the UV/sun is very strong down here in the Sth Pacific,and I find most of the corralimorphs are either near the surface on the vertical, or facing the surface,so in their natural habitat they do get strong light.I have mentioned the tank lighting in an earlier comment....they are certainly not photosynthetic.
I have read that an acrylic tank of around 1/3 to 1/2 inch is necessary,but mine is a glass 1/2 inch,and I don't have any problems.
