skulls_and_sparrows
Active Member
Cold water aka Temperate is the new black!!!! My cold water is up and running with water in it! This is going to be epic! I am so stoked to be setting up a cold water and honestly, had no idea, what kind of cool stuff is actually possible with cold water, some AMAZING creatures and colors...they will blow your mind.
This kind of happened, haphazardly...I convinced my wife, to allow a pico out in the family room, BUT it had to be very, very clean and esthetically pleasing to the eye...So that meant a rimless AIO tank...but it sat empty, as I did other other things, just thinking what I might put in there...and it kind of fell below the way side as I tried to figure it out...Then a few guys (Stu & Josh) local to me have started a coldwater business, Coldwater Marine Aquatics and I stopped by to see what I could potentially have and it blew my mind and got me stoked...The one thing I was worried about was the acrylic not being thick enough and it would condensate (think cold glass of water on a hot summers day), but after talking with Stu... 3/4" think acrylic was fine, unless I do not run my ac in the summer and inside temps get around 100 degress...which wont happen here.
Other things were taken into account on why cold water would be a stellar way to go, its different, no one is really do it right now or have done it...there are a few but very few, there will be virtually no evap with this, so I do not need to worry about putting a top off somewhere (again, the wife wanting it to be clean and as little as possible), there is no coral and largely non-photosynthetic inverts, so lighting does not need to be extreme and I do not have to maintain perfect water in order to keep corals growing...I could get away with not having a skimmer, with regular weekly water changes (which I do currently on my main reef tank)...but I will be adding a skimmer just for piece of mind and so I can feed a bit heavier.
The tank is an envision built tank (and the ONLY pico James has ever built
), its 3/4" acrylic, rimless with false wall in the back, edges are flame polished and this tank is flawless and super beautiful. The tank outside dimensions are 13.25"x11"x11" the actual viewing area is 11.75"x7"x10.25" - 3.6 gallons.
The stand is a bathroom cabinet from bed, bath and beyond and works perfectly and really sets off the tank, as the tank just fits on it and becomes more of a piece of furniture accent, then a purpose added focal point...it adds to the appeal of it all...since it does not look like a typical stand.
The light is a par30 (3 blue, 2 white) with a drafting light holding it over the tank, to keep with the appeal of simplicity and just straight up cleanliness of it all.
Chiller is a 1/10th hp chiller, that will cool this thing in 3-4 mins time and hardly run, so I will not have to hear it at all...
Skimmer is still TBD, the tank was originally built with a tunze 9002 in mind, but the width of the cup will not let it fall down enough behind...so I am still working on that currently.
I will also be creating a little media basket out of egg crate, so I can run, carbon, gfo, purigen and a sponge.
The rock work, I can not take credit for, that is all Stu and his amazing ability with foam and rock salt...this route was chosen, because its cheap, lol...also the options are limitless in what it can be shaped too and in such a small area, I would have found it really hard to do a good looking rock set up, with out just having a pile of rocks. He was able to do exactly what I envisioned, of having the best of both worlds, tide pool stuff (which I love to look at and poke around at, I spent hours doing this as a child and still do when I am at the beach) on the top, since this will be top down viewable - and with low flow, I can view the stuff easily, and also deeper stuff...which tends be really cool and super colorful...plus I love over hangs!!!! You will also notice a barnacle on the right side...yeah, thats the return, how sick is that...you see nothing that is tank related from the front (still keep with that clean look).
The chiller is not hooked up yet and the tank sits empty as I need to get the chiller hooked up, before I add stuff...but I wanted to snap some pics, so the progression can be seen. I also need to add a bit of sand to the bottom.
The tank will heavily be dominated by anemones of many different colors (pun intended) and types, some barnacles, probably Catalina gobies (this tank is the type of tank they need to be in), some sponge, a sculpin of some sort and what ever kind of cool stuff I do...
Here are the pics...stay tuned for the updates (I recommend subscribing, your going to see some sweet stuff)
Comments and questions are welcome, so please do not hesitate to be heard
Full back shot, to see what the set up looks like...
A little closer...
You can really see the "rock work" and the over hang, I was talking about...
And the top shelf, top down viewing...aka the tide pool area!!!!
This kind of happened, haphazardly...I convinced my wife, to allow a pico out in the family room, BUT it had to be very, very clean and esthetically pleasing to the eye...So that meant a rimless AIO tank...but it sat empty, as I did other other things, just thinking what I might put in there...and it kind of fell below the way side as I tried to figure it out...Then a few guys (Stu & Josh) local to me have started a coldwater business, Coldwater Marine Aquatics and I stopped by to see what I could potentially have and it blew my mind and got me stoked...The one thing I was worried about was the acrylic not being thick enough and it would condensate (think cold glass of water on a hot summers day), but after talking with Stu... 3/4" think acrylic was fine, unless I do not run my ac in the summer and inside temps get around 100 degress...which wont happen here.
Other things were taken into account on why cold water would be a stellar way to go, its different, no one is really do it right now or have done it...there are a few but very few, there will be virtually no evap with this, so I do not need to worry about putting a top off somewhere (again, the wife wanting it to be clean and as little as possible), there is no coral and largely non-photosynthetic inverts, so lighting does not need to be extreme and I do not have to maintain perfect water in order to keep corals growing...I could get away with not having a skimmer, with regular weekly water changes (which I do currently on my main reef tank)...but I will be adding a skimmer just for piece of mind and so I can feed a bit heavier.
The tank is an envision built tank (and the ONLY pico James has ever built
), its 3/4" acrylic, rimless with false wall in the back, edges are flame polished and this tank is flawless and super beautiful. The tank outside dimensions are 13.25"x11"x11" the actual viewing area is 11.75"x7"x10.25" - 3.6 gallons. The stand is a bathroom cabinet from bed, bath and beyond and works perfectly and really sets off the tank, as the tank just fits on it and becomes more of a piece of furniture accent, then a purpose added focal point...it adds to the appeal of it all...since it does not look like a typical stand.
The light is a par30 (3 blue, 2 white) with a drafting light holding it over the tank, to keep with the appeal of simplicity and just straight up cleanliness of it all.
Chiller is a 1/10th hp chiller, that will cool this thing in 3-4 mins time and hardly run, so I will not have to hear it at all...
Skimmer is still TBD, the tank was originally built with a tunze 9002 in mind, but the width of the cup will not let it fall down enough behind...so I am still working on that currently.
I will also be creating a little media basket out of egg crate, so I can run, carbon, gfo, purigen and a sponge.
The rock work, I can not take credit for, that is all Stu and his amazing ability with foam and rock salt...this route was chosen, because its cheap, lol...also the options are limitless in what it can be shaped too and in such a small area, I would have found it really hard to do a good looking rock set up, with out just having a pile of rocks. He was able to do exactly what I envisioned, of having the best of both worlds, tide pool stuff (which I love to look at and poke around at, I spent hours doing this as a child and still do when I am at the beach) on the top, since this will be top down viewable - and with low flow, I can view the stuff easily, and also deeper stuff...which tends be really cool and super colorful...plus I love over hangs!!!! You will also notice a barnacle on the right side...yeah, thats the return, how sick is that...you see nothing that is tank related from the front (still keep with that clean look).
The chiller is not hooked up yet and the tank sits empty as I need to get the chiller hooked up, before I add stuff...but I wanted to snap some pics, so the progression can be seen. I also need to add a bit of sand to the bottom.
The tank will heavily be dominated by anemones of many different colors (pun intended) and types, some barnacles, probably Catalina gobies (this tank is the type of tank they need to be in), some sponge, a sculpin of some sort and what ever kind of cool stuff I do...
Here are the pics...stay tuned for the updates (I recommend subscribing, your going to see some sweet stuff)
Comments and questions are welcome, so please do not hesitate to be heard Full back shot, to see what the set up looks like...
A little closer...
You can really see the "rock work" and the over hang, I was talking about...
And the top shelf, top down viewing...aka the tide pool area!!!!
Getting it setup with already cycled water and sand sure does make it go quicker 
