Cold water Marine Aquariums

[Falcone]

This is a long shot, but im wondering if anyone from the forum has ever had a cold water marine aquarium.

I have been doing a little research over the last few weeks about setting one up and what i could stock in it from my local beeches without it dieing on me.
Some information i found was on the beadlet anenome and what sort of water parameters it requires, since then i had made a visit to my local beach and got meself a few from the rocks and they seem to be thriving at the minute. My system is currently running at around 24-25 C and salinity is around 1.023. I do know that edible crabs can survive in these conditions and possibly velvets and shore crabs, but im unable to find any information on fish species, im most interested in flounders as they must be pretty hardy critters to be able to survive in esturine systems as well as the sea.
Any info is appreciated

[bazw]

24 is too hot for a cold water aquarium

to run one you need a chiller system made for it from a fridge

next time at the beach take a thermometer and see how cold it needs to be at this time of year

i would guess no more than 12 deg c at this time of year and this is what i would aim for for a tank all year round

salinity needs to be what it is in the sea where you intend to get your critters from in the sea not estuary

hth

[sless]

i had one a couple of years ago
i kept
crabs,lobsters,blenny's,butterfish,little dabs
starfish
i used to buy the salt water from a shop in hebburn
i did get it off the beach but it stunk after a few weeks
i had a fluvel 4 pump in it
and it was great
the lobster was called libby
hahaha

[Falcone]

24 is too hot for a cold water aquarium

to run one you need a chiller system made for it from a fridge

next time at the beach take a thermometer and see how cold it needs to be at this time of year

i would guess no more than 12 deg c at this time of year and this is what i would aim for for a tank all year round

salinity needs to be what it is in the sea where you intend to get your critters from in the sea not estuary

hth

The anenome that i have are tolerant from 2c to 28 , i realise that 24 is slightly on the high side for cold water marine, what im looking for is hardy specimens that can tolerate wide parameters, i did take my digital therm with me today and the sea was 17.6 c, i didnt take anything living today , as i would like to know what the creatures can handle.

Also just found this on shore crabs

Range:
All British coasts.
Natural distribution further afield: Norway to Mediterranean and tropical Atlantic coast of North Africa.
Naturalised: as expected for such a hardy crab, it has spread across the Atantic to the American side, and probably further afield. I would not be suprised to see it spread to the southern hemisphere as an unwelcome addition. It could displace native crabs in estuaries and the adjacent seas and coasts.
Temperature amplitude: 4 - 28° C (and greater).

[treeboa]

i keep a big tropical marine system, a lot is pertinant to both, temps as pointed out need to be kept below certain temps, biggest problem you willhave is the filtration, with tropical marines you use live rock to keep the water filtered, it wont work in temperate or cold water marine systems, anything that traps the muck, like foams bio balls or the like will over time become a nitrate factory, allthough fish only systems can handle higher nitrates than ones with inverts it still needs to be watched, you cant keep the same fishload as you can in fresh water, one advantage you have is if you can find a clean area for collecting seawater then it wont cost you for salt, lighting also needs to be lower than trop marines are kept under, the way i have in the past kept native marines is use a large coil denitatductor tube, still however you need a skimmer to take the wastes from the water

what are you using to check your salinity ?? if you are using a swing needle jb they are set to show s.g at tropical marine temps not lower temps, also they are very inacrurate, though if you want one i have at least one spare here you can have

if i can help you in any way feel free to give me a holler

[sfj21]

Hi Falcone. I work at Newcastle University and they have the Dove Marine research lab at Cullercoats Bay. I'm sure they'd be able to help you. Not sure of the direct number but the University switchboard is 0191 2226000 (9 - 5 Mon to Fri). They'll either put you through or give you the number.

Failing that you could try the Blue Reef in Tynemouth, again not sure of the number.

On a different note I keep tropical fish and you'd be amazed at just how hardy they are! I'd imagine it is pretty much the same for the coldwater species.

Good Luck.

PS Once you get up and running and I catch a tiddler, can I put it in your tank until it's big enough to eat?

[Falcone]

cheers for the info lads, my system will be running over 20 degrees so i can keep live rock no problem, ive allready contacted the fish shops about that and they said live rock can live in temps that im running. My anenomes are doing very well at 24c they look very healthy.

[brash1]

cheers for the info lads, my system will be running over 20 degrees so i can keep live rock no problem, ive allready contacted the fish shops about that and they said live rock can live in temps that im running. My anenomes are doing very well at 24c they look very healthy.

Try giving cyber aquatics on Team Valley a ring mate they have been very helpful to me, as i have a tropical marine tank too.

[5150]

There's a massive range of aquarium chillers available but they're quite pricey, you're probably looking at £200 upwards depending on the tank size. Lot of instructions out there aswell on how to make your own - but most people seem to comment that you might aswell just buy one given the materials and time involved!

[Falcone]

i took some pics, this is about the best one

ImageShack - Hosting :: picture020nk2.jpg

[treeboa]

beadlets in the right conditions can spread like hell, may be worth tying some of the supermarket `clams` in there bud, just take it slowly getting them isso they dont shock