skulls_and_sparrows Posted April 20, 2012 Share Posted April 20, 2012 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...I saw that Stu & Josh, from Cold Water Marine Aquatics was starting to offer cold water stuff...So, 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 :-P), 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, LMAO...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!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bored808 Posted April 20, 2012 Share Posted April 20, 2012 [language filter], nice build so far cant wait for livestock. subscribed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burningbaal Posted April 20, 2012 Share Posted April 20, 2012 super awesome...I thought about doing a pico...never thought about a coldwater pico... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islandoftiki Posted April 20, 2012 Share Posted April 20, 2012 Excellent, I'll be following along! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnkrcklives Posted April 20, 2012 Share Posted April 20, 2012 Oh so you are the owner of the tank. He was finishing up when I was out there last weekend. Gonna be a sweet little tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skulls_and_sparrows Posted April 20, 2012 Author Share Posted April 20, 2012 [language filter], nice build so far cant wait for livestock. subscribed Thank you!!! I can't either...some is going to be added tonight: -) Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skulls_and_sparrows Posted April 20, 2012 Author Share Posted April 20, 2012 super awesome...I thought about doing a pico...never thought about a coldwater pico... Thanks...either did I really...I think picos are a good way to get into coldwater...don't have to fully commit, instead get your feet a bit wet;-) Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skulls_and_sparrows Posted April 20, 2012 Author Share Posted April 20, 2012 Excellent' date=' I'll be following along![/quote'] Awesome...thank you. Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skulls_and_sparrows Posted April 20, 2012 Author Share Posted April 20, 2012 Oh so you are the owner of the tank. He was finishing up when I was out there last weekend. Gonna be a sweet little tank. Yup its me: -)...thank you, I think it will be as well!!! Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drunkreefer Posted April 21, 2012 Share Posted April 21, 2012 Cant wait to see that purple moon glow after you add sand! Oh and fyi, Rudarius ercodes, Whitespotted pygmy filefish come in on Tuesday!!! Max size is 3 inches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skulls_and_sparrows Posted April 24, 2012 Author Share Posted April 24, 2012 So an update...sand is in the bottom, chiller is online and a gnome skimmer is on the way!!! The pump for the chiller is a bit small, so I have a bigger one on the way...it gets the job done, but not much flow at all...that needs to change. We had a few days here, were it was 82 degrees outside and I would guess with my window ac on, about 76 in the apartment and the chiller is reading 55 degrees (with the low flow, I am willing to bet the tank is more around the 58 degree range)..NO sweating on the glass or the chiller lines, which are just braided line from HD...also I have had ZERO evap, thats just amazing to me. Now onto the good stuff...While the tank is not ready, and I need to move some stuff around and add more stuff, when it comes in...I had to snap a few photos of the super, beautiful insanely couple of pieces in the tank right now... First up, I call them the Green Mouthed Twins...they are a pair of moon glow anemones that are stunning!!! While its hard to tell from the pictures, they both have crazy green mouths! The purple twin (still trying to get adjusted to life in the new tank, its currently working its way into the sand to attach itself to the acrylic.), but you'll still get the idea ;-) The pink twin (as you can see it has nestled itself into the sand very well...the purple one will follow) Now the the more common known anemone...the strawberry's...These will cover this barnacle in no time and it will just be a wall of these things...they are truly stellar (I have a close cousin of these that will be added to the tank...so stay tuned for that)... Alright, so a fun shot...to give you an idea of how it is all coming together... (photos are taken on a par30, 3 blue 2 white led...white balance has been adjusted and small tweaks have been made in order to give an accurate representation of the actual colors...something that needs to be done, with LED lighting and the massive white balance adjustment..but I can assure you that the colors are accurate and a 100% exact representation of what they look like in person.) Other live stock in the tank...that will have future pictures Aggregating Anemones (on the top of the shelf :-D) Green Anemone Shrimp Killer 8 legged starfish Stuff to be added to the tank... Jewel Anemone (the "cousin" of the strawberry's above) Solid Blue Anemone Red Waratah Anemone Yellow and White Beadlet Anemones Green or White Spot (hopefully green) pygmy filefish Catalina gobys Spiny Lumpsucker Fluffy Sculpin I am sure some other stuff...but thats what is for sure is going in...I will of course update with photos and more photos once the tank is set the way I like it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vis Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 That is looking lovely. Can't wait to see the progress! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skulls_and_sparrows Posted April 25, 2012 Author Share Posted April 25, 2012 That is looking lovely. Can't wait to see the progress! Thank you! Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandinga Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 Sweet little pico. Any updated shots? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skulls_and_sparrows Posted August 9, 2012 Author Share Posted August 9, 2012 Sweet little pico. Any updated shots? Thx but no...im.looking at selling it. Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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