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110 Gal Marineland Commercial System, coldwater setup.


AquaticEngineer

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I went ahead and decided to put bioballs in the back, and made part of the filter into a trickle filter. All it took was a bunch of holes with the drill and a bucket of bioballs I had laying around.

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Also got almost all of the live rock to fit in the false bottom.

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There was some debris left on the live rock so I now know how well my skimmer works :)

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  • 2 months later...
is there anyway to remove the caster wheels? that way you can settle the tank completely on the floor?

 

I'd get under the house and check your bracing, talk to Steve(Saltfinsax), he might even be willin to come out an check for you for the proper enticements LOL

 

there is a live load and dead load rating on flooring and roofing. you may be able to do a search for this information. most construction in this area is post and beam with 1.5"board decking. i have a construction design book somewhere but since moving 2 in 6 years(900 mile the 1st time, 3000 miles the second time) i do not have a clue wheree it might be. again, i sugest doing a search online for "flooring live load and dead load" (dead load may not be the industries term but basicly mean the weight of the furniture/equipment that will be 8inside the home) these spects are per sq foot of floor space.

 

 

oops. i did not go past the first page of this thread...

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I am so jealous... I have had dreams of an oregon coast tank for years(before I ever had salt tanks). I decided to go tropical due to lack of information locally. If you ever run across a source to get another tank like that i would love to put it in my hotrod shop office. GREAT TANK KEEP UP THE WORK!!!

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I am so jealous... I have had dreams of an oregon coast tank for years(before I ever had salt tanks). I decided to go tropical due to lack of information locally. If you ever run across a source to get another tank like that i would love to put it in my hotrod shop office. GREAT TANK KEEP UP THE WORK!!!

 

There is one for sale in Cottage Grove on Craigslist for $300 right now ;) My wife already shot me down on getting another one(wife)

 

http://eugene.craigslist.org/hsh/1914659522.html

 

Let me know if u decide to get it, you'll need either a flatbed trailer w/ a ramp or just rent a u haul to move it. Curb weight w/o water is around 650lbs. They are on heavy duty caster wheels so u can move it and it is just the right size to fit up a uhaul truck ramp :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I picked up one of these guys for $1 yesterday at a local market, also got 15 temperate water snails for .70 cents! Apparently the season for spot prawns is only like 80 days during the summer so I was lucky to even see one in a store right now. He's about 5 inches long, hopefully he'll take to the silver sides I have been feeding the nems, or the snails that I can get by the pound :) Also got all the native rock substrate for the tank last sunday, looks much nicer now :D

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That is cool' date=' do u hit up the Asian seafood markets? I've seen some clams in the 6-7" range. Also have u done any costal collecting yet?[/quote']

 

Yeah the Asian Seafood markets down near Powell and 82nd is where I went to get the spot prawn. There is like 3-4 within a 2 mile radius down that way. On one of their websites they advertise that they get in live rockfish and tigerfish but all they had was some 2ft Cabezons :eek: Little big, even for a 110 (laugh)

 

All the clams they had at the markets where sand burrowing type clams and my tank is setup with a false bottom to house the coolant coil so I cant use any small substrate. I will probably try some oysters and mussels though once I get my refridgerated auto feeding unit made.

 

Since I got the tank running I've only had a chance to go collecting twice. First time I took the wife and kid, so locations were a bit limited. I managed to net a couple small sculpins but that was all. My brother and I went this last sunday to Newport but the weather was horrible and we finally got to there around high tide. We checked the jettys and the docks, but only found a couple really large starfish which we left. We really only went to collect the substrate for the tank anyways, but we did find some really good collecting spots for the future.

 

If you ever want to get together for a collecting trip let me know :D

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I totally want to do one of these!!! I had a line on one a while back that a friend was selling for $600, with all new equipment underneath and a new pump still in the box. My funds were too slim at the time though and I had to pass. I really wanted that tank. I want to do something I can keep Catalina Gobies in...people keep them in tropical tanks, but they don't last long since the reality is they prefer temperatures around 50-60 degrees F.

 

Let me know if you run into another one for a steal.

 

Nice tank man.

 

Matt

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I'd be glad to go diving for some livestock for ya. =) Or for anybody with a cold water tank for that matter.......I'll be honest with you though, there is no real cool sea life in Oregon. Best place imo to go would be Puget Sound, preferably Hood Canal. I'm not sure if collecting is legal there though...............

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Let me know if you run into another one for a steal.

 

Nice tank man.

 

Matt

 

Here's one for sale down south, been on there for a while too.

http://eugene.craigslist.org/hsh/1914659522.html

 

Or if your really interested I might be persuaded to part with the smaller tank I have. Dont know if I'll have the time or money to set it up. Its about 50 ish gallons or so.

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I'd be glad to go diving for some livestock for ya. =) Or for anybody with a cold water tank for that matter.......I'll be honest with you though' date=' there is no real cool sea life in Oregon. Best place imo to go would be Puget Sound, preferably Hood Canal. I'm not sure if collecting is legal there though...............[/quote']

 

 

Actually...Hood Canal is mostly a waste of time and peppered with reserves. Hood Canal doesn't really have that many of the critters that we're interested in keeping......mostly due to the lack of flow and food that Hood Canal experiences. It is vastly better to dive spots that are more open to the ocean.....like the San Juans and in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Seiku is a great shore dive anytime of the year in the Strait....but, Neah Bay is the holy grail spot (but, you'll need a boat and a calm summer day). The San Juans and nearby Anacortes have many great shore and boat dive spots.

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Actually...Hood Canal is mostly a waste of time and peppered with reserves. Hood Canal doesn't really have that many of the critters that we're interested in keeping......mostly due to the lack of flow and food that Hood Canal experiences. It is vastly better to dive spots that are more open to the ocean.....like the San Juans and in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Seiku is a great shore dive anytime of the year in the Strait....but' date=' Neah Bay is the holy grail spot (but, you'll need a boat and a calm summer day). The San Juans and nearby Anacortes have many great shore and boat dive spots.[/quote']

 

 

I'm diving with Naknek in January...................... Hood Canal actually has a lot of the same life that you would find in the strait of juan de fuca. Matter of fact that entire area does, the only thing that affects hood canal is low O2 levels in late summer. Like if you went to say Sund Rock right now, you would find most of the life in 20-30fsw, even GPO and Wolf Eel. Not to mention the viz is usually bad this time of year as well........

 

 

Back to your regular scheduled program. (clap)

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The problem is..... those critters are not what we're looking to keep in our aquariums. I dive Sund Rock, Octopus hole, and Jordsted Creek frequently (for fun...not collecting). There's really only a few critters that are aquarium worthy in those areas.....mostly some starfish and some gunnels (and except for Jordsted, those sites are reserves). The real targets are Brooding anemones, Corynactis, Gorgonians, Strawberry soft coral, Orange Cup corals, Grunt sculpin, and Spiny lumpsuckers. These are not found in the Canal.

 

You really appreciate how little Hood Canal offers after diving Neah Bay, Seiku, or the San Juans (from an aquarium keeping perspective). The easiest and best year round site is Seiku (5 hours from Portland)......that site is incredible from an aquarium critter keeping perspective. But even though that site is only 60 miles into the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Neah Bay, it lacks the Corynactis, gorgonians, or soft corals that Neah Bay (and beyond like Tatoosh Island) has to offer.

 

Hood Canal is great for some stars, the occasional Metridium anemone, snails, gunnels, and maybe some oyster rock.....but, the real good stuff is where the flow and food are stronger. Nothing wrong with Hood Canal for general diving fun....but, if you're expending time and resources to collect aquarium critters, there are better spots.

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BTW Joe Blow...I think it's fantastic that you're open to helping out the local temperate aquarium keepers who don't have the ability to dive. I know Puget Sound quite well and I know where to find individual critters. I can always point you in the right direction for a particular specimen. Do you have access to a dive boat ???

 

Here's a partial list of where some of the more desirable critters can be found:

 

Corynactis....only two places....Neah Bay and West.....and South end of the San Juans (Lopez Island). Both sites will need a boat, tide coordination, and perfect weather.....basically summer only. Both are Expert dive sites.

 

Orange cup coral......generally can be found anywhere in the Sound (even Hood Canal)....but, the larger concentrations are found in the San Juans. A good spot is off Burrows Island near Skyline marina in Anacortes. This can be a shore dive (but, boat is better).

 

Gorgonians, soft corals......only found in Neah Bay and West.

 

Grunt Sculpin......found in higher nutrient areas....but, easily accessible around the Anacortes, Deception Pass areas from a shore dive.

 

Brooding anemones.....fields of them are found throughout the Deception Pass area. Tough diving though....extreme flow....must be done at slack with a chase boat.

 

Lumpsuckers....can be found in late Fall in the eel grass beds around the 3 tree dive site in Burien.....only 3 hours from Portland.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Got the LED lights setup on the smaller tank, still need to waterproof a few connections and get them glued into place, but they work :D

 

Best part with the way this tank is set up, I can view everything from above with the lights on and still get into the tank no problem.

 

Also got all the plumbing I needed to finish up the auto feeder. Still gotta drill the mini fridge, glue the plombing together and get it plumbed into the system.

 

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  • 1 month later...

Thought I would give you guys a little taste of my collecting trip in Lincoln City.

 

Pic from the room we stayed in

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Here's a pic of the rocks near 15th st, you can drive your car right down onto the beach and walk 50 ft to the rocks during low tide.

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More of the rocks

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There is literally thousands of these nems.

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And a nice shot of the sunset from the rocks outside of the hotel, I was still collecting but I had to stop and grab a shot of this :D

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Some of the most gorgeous strawberry anemones I have ever seen were in the touch tanks at the Hatfield Marine Science Center, sorry for the crappy pic of these.

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And finally my setups at home with everything acclimating.

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Heres a quick peek at some of the new stuff, these guys are from the group buy.

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More to come tomorrow once everything is feeling comfy and ready to come out and say hi :D

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Pretty cool Stew' date=' nice beach shots. Did you collect some anemones, how did you get them off the rocks?. What else did you get and what do you have in the tanks so far[/quote']

 

I didn't collect any of the anemones that were photosynthetic, so none of the green ones.

 

I did collect:

one purple starfish

one orange starfish

tidal sulpins

hermit crabs

porcelain looking crabs

eel grass

glasswort

Chitons

Limpets

1 large mussel that had a few strange anemones on it and a hitch hiker sea cucumber.

 

A lot of small rocks and gravel and I gathered some really cool large rocks, one of which my wife pointed out to me as being "kinda cool" so I grabbed it and when I got it home and in the tank out pops like 10 anemones that were buried inside of old clam holes dug into the rock. I'll have to get some pics of them but they are very cool looking, alot like a curly cue anemone.

 

And my shipment of stuff from a group buy showed up on saturday morning, so that was 2 medium sized gorgonians and 3 large bat stars. One orange, one red, and one gray mottled.

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The gorgs look great. They require a lot of flow and food or they will recede quickly from the tips down. watch them carefully. I didn't know that gorgs were available through that group buy or I would have joined...oh well..maybe next time.

 

As for the eel grass....I grew eel grass for about a year before I tired of it. It is fairly easy to grow...but, the problem is....that the conditions necessary to grow the eel grass also are the conditions necessary for nuisance algae. I was constantly battling nuisance algae growing on the eel grass (same with kelp) and killing it off. Perhaps I should try again since my current system is much more capable of nutrient control. The eel grass is very attractive.

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