Hello from Jersey

Hello, I take up residence in the eastern state of NJ and have been longing to setup a coldwater tank for some time with animals from my area. I have quite a bit of experience with local fish and tropical reefs.
The ocean where i live swings rapidly from tropic 74F degrees in august to Arctic 36F in the January. I have always kept marsh breeding reef dwellers which are brought up by the gulf stream to my shores in the 74F water, but i have always been fascinated by the abundance of macroalgae in the winter. With some price hunting i have finally acquired a large enough chiller to keep my tanks cool and i am wondering if there is anyone who can help me with info on cold water macroalgae. I am using T5's and i more specifically need to know the types of bulbs (ex. actinics, 6700k, 10k) that will be most beneficial to the macroalgae. I also wish to keep local anemones and sponges but the harsh environment caused by the temp swing and bat pollution in the height of the summer inhibits most life outside of mollusks and crustaceans, making corals extremely rare and anemones sparse. And before anyone suggests it, I have read Jon Olav's blog extensively.

Well welcome to the forum! Sorry you have to see it like this. Unfortunately the creators bandwidth keeps getting mess up. If you have any other questions check out our information encyclopedia and the resource thread.

Hello!!!!

Welcome to TR. Sorry but temperate tanks are more PF's field.

So you want to keep sponges and nems eh? Very facsinating. The only thing i would say about transportation is, you probably already know, keep the sponges in water for transport. A suggestion would be to bring home a couple of rocks that look relatively rich in life. However you can try any rock. Wait a couple of months and most if not all of them will bloom and explode with marine organisms.