Hazara Posted June 20, 2013 Report Share Posted June 20, 2013 Hi peeps, I've started losing interest in my warm water amazon tank, and after not replacing any fish for a while - they could all fit happily in a 100 liter tank instead of the 200. The bristlenose & koolies must be 9-10 years old. I have been toying the idea of a coldwater salty tank but have no idea what is necessary. Can anyone point me in the direction of whats needed to keep one running, max temps etc? Was thinking of tidal pool type animals, hermit crabs, bivalves if poss, shrimp, some algae. What really got me more interested was the other weekend when the kids found a new different fish I had never seen before, got home and checked Powells and its a clingfish - cute as! Cheers 'n Beers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted June 20, 2013 Report Share Posted June 20, 2013 Rockpools are great. Your biggest problem will be keeping it cold enough in summer. I would not recommend you setting one up without a chiller (hard to think about now I know :-? ) I had a 3ft running for a couple of years (until I got sick of trying to keep the temp down. Hard to keep it below 15C when the room sat at 28+C) and it was very interesting. I just had the tank, an AquaClear filter and nothing else. I gathered all the rocks, water and critters from the coast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hazara Posted June 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2013 Cheers Caryl - google turned up this thread too so I'm digesting it now... In summer the tank would probably average 20 degrees at a guess and I'm not sure if I want to go the chiller route - I have a 50w TEC that may help... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chopper Posted August 5, 2013 Report Share Posted August 5, 2013 Get an olive rockfish these things are bullet proof. They can cope with a wide range of conditions and I quote ; this species is tolerant of a wide range of environmental conditions. It is found at the upper tide level in conditions of extreme temperature, oxygen and salinity variation, and it can tolerate stagnant and fresh water ... and is the only species of rockfish that ranges into estuarine areas, quoted from The RockpoolFishes Of New Zealand. No need for chiller with these things as you can read from the quote above. I have kept them in the past with not a problem. They are very ferocious though and very predatory and will wipe out most species in your tank. Mine even bred in the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted August 5, 2013 Report Share Posted August 5, 2013 if it only climbs to 20 degrees in summer you could go the route of hardy tough fish, you will have trouble with just about all inverts though. but many triplefins, Favinogobius, Olive rockfish etc.... would do ok, much above 20 degrees and you will have trouble, thats what forced me to close down my 20L mudflat tank, new house, un insulated garage, summer.... then again, I had a heap of clams in there that did well for over a year until that happened Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilwis Posted August 5, 2013 Report Share Posted August 5, 2013 when i was much much younger (like 10?) i may have had a tank i kept shrimp, flounder, crabs, baby rock cod, black snapper fry, sea slugs(really cool shoots ink if you poke it!), kinna, few types of starfish, a few other things i found at the beach just had a little filter in it and a air stone did a water changer of about 50% from the sea each week and i kept that for the summer in winter i got bored and let them all go then did the same the next year a had some sprats in one year and a black mau-mau too (that was super cool biggest fish i ever owned must of been about 10 cm) anyway my point it i never had a problem and i lost only 1 fish (crab got it) all the fish seemed to love mince and whatever was for my dinner if you keep to the fish and no ammonites and pick your plants shouldn't have a problem (tho i don't know if you want to get a chilli bin of water from the beach or not) also now I'm a bit older I've found out some of those fish are not really recommended (by law) to take from the sea (something to do with undersize?) but i let them go (also apparently not recommended?) so just pick your fish wisely oh and Walkworth is quite a warm place and rock pools can get quite warm during the day please don't shoot me for any of the things i may have done here i was only little and didn't know that it was wrong i wouldn't do it again id pick my fish also turns out it apparently is a mission and takes a long time to cycle a cold water salt water tank (like 6 months) tho like i always say water changes are good please note this is a i may have done this scenario it could be totally fabricated so cant be used in a court of law as any kinda factual events Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted August 5, 2013 Report Share Posted August 5, 2013 if you are going to subject local marines to an enclosed system please do it right Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilwis Posted August 5, 2013 Report Share Posted August 5, 2013 if you are going to subject local marines to an enclosed system please do it right totally agree the point of my post was about the temperature for rock pool fishes may be a topic of interest from a tank example and no im not saying not to be sensible about it i would never have it anywhere near sunlight for example i don't indorse curtly in any way and best to make the fish as happy and comfortable as possible but its best to remember how we look after our tanks is a guideline.. a very good guide but not the only way example of this is water from the ocean vs tap water with some marine salt and all the other additives to make it like the sea water from the ocean can contain many different harmful things to the fish (worms desiese etc) but contains many minerals bacterias and good stuff (the taste of the ocean) vs water from the tap treated to remove chlorine (or make inert) the taste of copper, pvc, the local possim's muddy foot who went for a swim in the dam to clean between his toes, then all the additives to remove or add elements and marine salt, to us it all tastes salty but to a fish im sure they can taste the current im not saying either way is better than the other (tho i would go for the tap water myself) not everyone can go to the beach and pick up 200L of ocean most people who want to set up a local tank look at it as the fish is right there for free i don't want to (or can't) afford all these skimmers, chillers, heaters, filters, living rocks, salts, test kits, uv lights, special spectrum lights etc basically all the things for a tropical marine tank but making it colder for our fish (btw that's what ideally you would need so please be aware of that) overall im saying make the fish as happy as you can the best way you can but there is more than one way to keep a fishes house free of dirty dishes if you cant keep them in a way the water will be stable and healthy for the fish don't do it after all kelly taltins takes their water from the sea... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted August 6, 2013 Report Share Posted August 6, 2013 Most inhabitants in rock pools have the water changed twice daily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted August 6, 2013 Report Share Posted August 6, 2013 ilwis, you had a problem with ammonites? I wish i had a problem ammonites, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted August 6, 2013 Report Share Posted August 6, 2013 mine have all gone hard :dno: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilwis Posted August 6, 2013 Report Share Posted August 6, 2013 lol yea they didn't move much :dunno: :rolfl: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reuben.a Posted August 6, 2013 Report Share Posted August 6, 2013 you could always try a diy chiller?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted August 6, 2013 Report Share Posted August 6, 2013 Or you could put sump under house, lag all the plumbing and put polystyrene around tank, T5's or LED's for lighting and keep sump pump out of the water. May keep heat down a bit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hazara Posted August 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 6, 2013 I have a 50w tec that I was thinking of hooking up to it to give it a bit of help. Definately Led lighting - currently have a couple of $6 bulbs lighting my main tank and they are working well - have been for a year or so since the HID's failed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hovmoller Posted August 6, 2013 Report Share Posted August 6, 2013 I have a 50w tec that I was thinking of hooking up to it to give it a bit of help. That would do absolutely diddley squat to a 200L tank. If you insulate back and sides of your tank and get a 200W chinese chiller online for around $400 then you can keep temp under 18-20deg during summer which is what the critters need. Do it right or don't do it I say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hazara Posted August 7, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2013 Yeah, I thought about that a little more - am going to scale this experiment down a little. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted August 8, 2013 Report Share Posted August 8, 2013 unfortunately going salt is going to be more expensive due to the nature of the ocean. have you thought about a NZ Native tank, you could still get the kids out collecting and they are really cool fish once they settle in, expecially the bullies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted August 8, 2013 Report Share Posted August 8, 2013 unfortunately going salt is going to be more expensive due to the nature of the ocean. have you thought about a NZ Native tank, you could still get the kids out collecting and they are really cool fish once they settle in, expecially the bullies. still need to chill it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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