Anyone cold water reef?

[leahfiish]

Any pictures?

 

[McGarnicle]

The Borbonius Anthias I think is supposed to be cold water

 

[Triggreef]

 

[Maximizer]

Awesome! What temp do you keep it at?

 

[Mari]

Seahorses

 

[cpbartak]

I have a cold water reef. You should consider joining the Coldwater Marine Aquarium Owners group on FB. That's where I've found the most like-minded people.

 

[Triggreef]

Awesome! What temp do you keep it at?

Seems to be holding at 69 degrees

 

[Triggreef]

I have a cold water reef. You should consider joining the Coldwater Marine Aquarium Owners group on FB. That's where I've found the most like-minded people.

Thanks, another spot for me to spend money. Lol

 

[Tautog]

Thanks, another spot for me to spend money. Lol

Hey, I’ve been running a cold water local saltwater tank for two + yrs here on Long Island. It started when I collected a Black Seahorse, shrimp, crabs, conch, and other fish. This tank is by far the cheapest saltwater running tank ever! No heater, temp. range - 55 - 80 degrees. 2 basic freshwater filters. I do monthly 20 gal WC’s for a 60 gal tank. I collect the water from the bay, high tide.
Collecting is fun, but be careful what you add. Single species fish is best. Fish grow fast. Collect mostly in the summer, but all extra bait fish and shrimp can be frozen for winter feedings. The only money I spend on this tank is to replace the filter pads, but only every 4-5 months, and then only one at a time.

 

[Triggreef]

Hey, I’ve been running a cold water local saltwater tank for two + yrs here on Long Island. It started when I collected a Black Seahorse, shrimp, crabs, conch, and other fish. This tank is by far the cheapest saltwater running tank ever! No heater, temp. range - 55 - 80 degrees. 2 basic freshwater filters. I do monthly 20 gal WC’s for a 60 gal tank. I collect the water from the bay, high tide.
Collecting is fun, but be careful what you add. Single species fish is best. Fish grow fast. Collect mostly in the summer, but all extra bait fish and shrimp can be frozen for winter feedings. The only money I spend on this tank is to replace the filter pads, but only every 4-5 months, and then only one at a time.

Thats awesome I used to collect some shrimp and hermits from the sound but most of them ended up snacks to my fish so I don't anymore. I think the grass shrimp from the sound might actually be pretty good algae eaters. When I first got back into the hobby I caught a burrfish puffer from the sound but that was prior to my QT days and I lost most of the tank to brook. Apparently they come north in the current around the end of August. He was a cool fish, and never ate anything in my reef tank that he wasn't supposed to for the 6 months or so that I had him.

For this one though I don't plan to add anything from local waters. Don't plan on adding anything else for fish either unless I can find a cool water fairy wrasse.

I'm really liking my blue spot jawfish. He has a crazy personality.

 

[cpbartak]

Katoi is the coolest water fairy wrasse. Good down to 68 or so. What temp range are you looking for? Most of us in the cold water marine aquarium owners group keep our tanks in the 55-60 degree range, but most of the temps being thrown around in here are more subtropical. If you're shooting for upper 60s, look into the wrought iron butterfly, Japanese pygmy angel, and conspicuous angel. There are some nice temperate gobies from Japan from the pterogobius genus, such as the white girdled goby. For blennys, I like the omobranchus anolius, omobranchus elegans, and salaria pavo. ORA breeds three temperate fish, white spotted filefish, kamohara bennies, and hulafish. Also, look into southern Australian boxfish like white barred boxfish and ornate boxfish. Potbelly seahorses, too. If going down to the true cold water range, look into yellowfin fringeheads and spiny lumpsuckers. Also, grunt sculpins although I can't seem to find a source. There are a few nice cold water anthias like cherry anthias and splendid sea perch. Best source for Aussie stuff is Steve McLeod on fb. For US stuff, Matsu collections. For Portuguese stuff, flying sharks

 

[Triggreef]

Katoi is the coolest water fairy wrasse. Good down to 68 or so. What temp range are you looking for? Most of us in the cold water marine aquarium owners group keep our tanks in the 55-60 degree range, but most of the temps being thrown around in here are more subtropical. If you're shooting for upper 60s, look into the wrought iron butterfly, Japanese pygmy angel, and conspicuous angel. There are some nice temperate gobies from Japan from the pterogobius genus, such as the white girdled goby. For blennys, I like the omobranchus anolius, omobranchus elegans, and salaria pavo. ORA breeds three temperate fish, white spotted filefish, kamohara bennies, and hulafish. Also, look into southern Australian boxfish like white barred boxfish and ornate boxfish. Potbelly seahorses, too. If going down to the true cold water range, look into yellowfin fringeheads and spiny lumpsuckers. Also, grunt sculpins although I can't seem to find a source. There are a few nice cold water anthias like cherry anthias and splendid sea perch. Best source for Aussie stuff is Steve McLeod on fb. For US stuff, Matsu collections. For Portuguese stuff, flying sharks

Wow lots of good info in there. Thanks for the wrasse suggestion. My tank should stay in the 60's I'm not too interested in getting it colder than that.

 

[Triggreef]

Really like this guy

 

[Bdrake]

Depends what you call "cold water", ie Sea of Cortez, San Diego, Chesapeake Bay, Monterrey Bay, Washington State, Alaska? (restricting ourselves only to the US).


The temperatures in each of these areas vary greatly. Googling only (presumably surface) water temperatures in San Diego, the temp varies from 60-70 fahrenheit from winter to summer. (Water below the first thermocline, at wbout 30ft, is probably in the low 60s consistently). Monterrey will be notably colder at the surface, to say nothing about WA.


Far and away your hardest job with such a tank would be getting livestock. I know there are some species from the Sea of Cortez which regularly are sold (eg the blue spot jawfish, though there are others). That might be a good start.

ETA: i'd imagine the cost/trouble of cooling a tank much below room temperature would far outweigh the cost/trouble of heating it to tropical temperatures.


As an alternative, if you wanted to keep your tank at room temperature (low 70s), a tampa bay area tank or even a deep reef tank would work. Both could be run off of from Gulf Coast aquacultured rock. Corals could include non-photosynthetic sps and gorgonians (there are some very common and hardy photosynthetic SPS's that can grow up to the Georgia coast, or in deeper indo- Pacific Waters, but they're not very common in the ornamental aquarium trade). Ironically, many popular species of fish in this hobby - angelfish, flasher wrasses, hawkfish - come from deeper parts of the reef.

I'm just an hour North of Tampa and was considering a local biotope in a tank recently broken down.

 

[VR28man]

I'm just an hour North of Tampa and was considering a local biotope in a tank recently broken down.

John Tullock's book "Natural Reef Aquariums" (available used) has a whole chapter on Tampa bay biotopes. Highly recommended.

Recommended local vendors include:

http://www.tampabaysaltwater.com [live rock]
https://www.live-plants.com [algae and other livestock]
http://www.gulfspecimen.org/ [even bigger selection of livestock; if you're local I'd imagine you can get around their $70 minimum]

 

[Nemcrazy]

Love this thread! I have kept several coldwater tanks in my time. Here is my latest tank. For most coldwater tanks it’s about the invertebrates. There isn’t much coral. Cup corals, corynactis, gorgonians comprise most that you will see. And here is another tank I had. I had this one running for 3 years and is still my favorite tank ever. Tons of diversity.

 

[gvalona]

Love this thread! I have kept several coldwater tanks in my time. Here is my latest tank. For most coldwater tanks it’s about the invertebrates. There isn’t much coral. Cup corals, corynactis, gorgonians comprise most that you will see. And here is another tank I had. I had this one running for 3 years and is still my favorite tank ever. Tons of diversity.

Hey! I live in Washington state and had the idea of trying to set up a cold water tank for aggreate anemones, cant find much info about how to set it up ? Would it be the same bacteria as we use for regular salt tanks ? Also what is the temp for "cold water "
Thanks

 

[VR28man]

For those considering such a reef tank, I might recommend a resources.

First, recently a documentary came out about a French group exploring mesophotic reefs in the Mediterreanean. I just saw it on CuriosityStream, and I highly recommend it. Lots of pictures of deep reefs to inspire folks. It’s true that they are not tropical mesophotic reefs, but it seems in general they are quite similar. (Execept that tropical mesophotic reefs are a bit warmer than the 13 degrees C med reefs, and can have Acropora enchinta, Leptos, and even what we call Monti caps in addition to all the gorgonians and other NPS)

 

[Sharir]

Love this thread! I have kept several coldwater tanks in my time. Here is my latest tank. For most coldwater tanks it’s about the invertebrates. There isn’t much coral. Cup corals, corynactis, gorgonians comprise most that you will see. And here is another tank I had. I had this one running for 3 years and is still my favorite tank ever. Tons of diversity.

Dude. That's amazing! Every aspect of this is golden

 

[ichthyogeek]

I know this thread is old, but anted to mention kelp and other macroalgae here. Bull kelp is pretty interesting, but you'd have to cut it fairly often. Would probably work great at reducing nitrates.

A lot of the deep water fish tend to need colder temperatures. And seahorses do well at that temperature (although you'd need to be careful about making sure they get enough to eat).

Coral... @Dr. Dendrostein ? NPS were mentioned earlier, but any specific ones that come to mind?

One could also look into some of the more coastal species, dependent on collection laws and such. Things like sea cucumbers are...interesting. They feel...interesting. and they look...interesting. I don't really know how else to describe them...sea stars are also a cool option. I've worked with Patiria miniata, and they make a fun breeding project once you actually get the eggs. They don't do the whole "pry open bivalves" thing that other stars do, but they will go fairly wild for squid. You'd probably need a fairly large tank for them though. But a single male female pair would net you a very large multitude of eggs.