Oregon Coast Temperate Setups.

Quick and dirty, horrible lighting......you'll have to wait to see what the big tank is gonna look like

When are you going to set that big tank up? Nice shot by the way.

Hopefully I will get it set up between the 15th and the 21st of this month, I have some time off.

I also picked up a tank on craigslist for $35 that measures 18x26x18 and is made of 1" acrylic. Has a coast to coast overflow already and 2 schedule 80 bulkheads installed Funny thing is, it turns out that this is Steve Weasts old sump from his first coldwater setups, lol.

Heres the quick pics that were posted on CL





I'm planning on making it viewable from the long side that doesn't have bulkheads, and the short side, then using the spray foam to make a background that incorporates lots of empty barnicles for my Grunt Sculpin. Should be pretty sweet, and its the perfect size for inside the house.

I'm having a tank setup party this weekend with a couple friends. We should be able to get everything plumbed up onto the new small tank, and my friend is going to weld up a custom sized stand for it.

Then we are going to do the spray foam backgrounds on the tanks.

I've never heard of a tank setup part . Sounds fun though. Is the foam going to be like that concrete background stuff people do for cichlid tanks?

Pufferfreak wrote:I've never heard of a tank setup part . Sounds fun though. Is the foam going to be like that concrete background stuff people do for cichlid tanks?

Kind of, but there is no "cure" time like there is with concrete based backgrounds. Also, the foam sets up pretty hard, but its still soft enough that you could push a frag plug or somthing into it. I'm going to put some acrylic rods into the background to hang some of the barnicles covered in corynactis on.

Sounds interesting. I'm sure the barnacles will also naturally settle there if there is a good enough current.

Pufferfreak wrote:Sounds interesting. I'm sure the barnacles will also naturally settle there if there is a good enough current.

I actually used large barnacle clusters to hide my returns from the closed loop that are in the rock wall. I'm planning on harvesting some live barnacles to attach onto the wall around the dead shells I used already. I'm sure the strawberry anemones will take over the entire wall in little time.

Pics of some of the livestock that was out and ready to be photographed today

Grunt Sculpin looking like a barnacle, couple corynactis.


Orange Plumose


Striped sunflower star


Larger of my Snailfish, of course its the ugly brown one not the cool yellow one that comes out.


Northern Kelp Crab


Fringed Tube Worm Colonie - Dodecaceria fewkesi

Does the Kelp Crab fare well in your tank? Nice pictures by the way .

Pufferfreak wrote:Does the Kelp Crab fare well in your tank?

He's doing great He has molted twice since I brought him home, and is chowing down on Nori as fast as I can feed him. He actually hangs out on the overflow grate because the algae would always collect there when I fed the tank. Now he just waits patiently in the same spot for me to feed him chunks of it.

Nice to know he's adapted well to tank life .

Those grunt sculpins are really cool!

Unfortunately they don' t live on this side of the pond.

huig wrote:Those grunt sculpins are really cool!

Unfortunately they don' t live on this side of the pond.

If you want one stay in touch, I'll be able to hook you up as of January 1st 2012



In other news.......



More plumbing done today, built another auto feeder.

I just have to paint a couple things, move it into place, level it out, then its ready to be filled and start cycling. Last pic shows the new auto feeder I had to make since the plumbing on the other one didn't work with this setup, plus side is the old auto feeder will fit perfect under my small indside coldwater tank

AquaticEngineer wrote:

I can't wait to see this filled up!

I water tested it yesterday, but only filled it as high as the closed loop bulkheads though.



I'm hoping to have it up and running by next weekend for the grand opening of the.....
" Damascus Oregon Aquarium"

Sounds fancy. A possible rival to the Monterey Bay Aquarium?

I'm assuming it passed the filling test.

Yup



Only leak I had was at a union that was tighened down all the way.



I did decide to eliminate all the spa-flex tubing that you see coming off the pumps. I was just to hap hazard and cluttered for me. I'll be able to replace it with a couple dollars of hard plumbing and about 10 minutes, then it will take up much less room as well.



I got bored last night and painted the mini fridge auto feeder semi gloss black and then painted the press board on the stand the same color gray that I used on the rocks. Then I cleaned up the garage and got the area that the tank will be going into ready for it.



I don't know if I can rival the Monterey Aquarium, but I definitely want the local aquariums to know who I am

That's good. I would hate for you to have put all that work into the tank only to have it leak everywhere. I think you made a good choice with the tubing.

Sounds like your almost ready to let people know about your "aquarium!"

Great read Ive enjoyed the progress of this thread...Have you had any luck making the chiller motor quieter ?

Have you tried altering the mounting blocks and replacing the fan blades to plastic .have you considered floating mounts rather than fixed.?

Have you got any idea how much electricity your using ? per unit.

Havn't bothered trying to make them any quieter since they are in the garage. But those are really good ideas, I may try those out thanks



As for electricity, its less than when I was running my small reef with dual 70w halides for 12 hours a day. But I dont know specifcally how much I'm using. My dad is an electrician and is going to help me install individual 20 amp breakers for each tank at the end of the month, I'll ask him to help me figure it when he's here.

Just waiting for the concrete to dry, then I'll have a nice level spot in the garage for the tank

Also got everything painted and mocked up and cleaned up the plumbing a little bit. Still gotta paint a few pieces but thats it, then water.

Awesome .

Aggregating Anemone (Anthopleura elegantissima) Dividing by itself, in my tank and almost seperated. Looks like they are starting a little colony of their own awwwww.

It would seem everything's happy in your tank.