Temperate Reef
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To go or not to go?

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Post by Rapide June 30th 2013, 4:31 pm

I mean all coldwater: THAT is the question...

Recently I have fallen deeper and deeper in the depths of cold salty waters... This illness has gone so bad that I have started to dream about changing my 11' (330cm) long reef tank into a coldwater aquarium! 
I really need someone to stop me from doing it because of all the money and effort I have put in that tank... And the fishes I have are not small and cheap lil' Nemos either. We are talking about 10" angels and stuff!

Now is there any chance getting that size of a tank to actually work as a coldwater tank?
The problem is that the tank is inside of our house (well DUH!) and it's made of 1/2" glass. All the tech is in my basement excluding streams, lights (again, DUH!) and an UPS that is connected to one stream pump.

The basement sump room is really Busy 
I have IMO all the best equipment there was available when I got them... ProfiLux, ATB skimmer, heavy duty ATS, Deltec ATO with Tunze RO-water controller... Deltec UV and calsium reactor, Sander ozonizer, biopellet & carbon reactors... You name it!
Basically all I'd have to get is some hardcore chillers, a few of them... Embarassed 

If I was to go coldwater the main problem would probably be fogging, right? Ambient temperature is usually around 20-22°C in our house, and in the sump room usually less than that. At winter time I put the floor heating on in the sump room and keep the temp higher than in the rest of the garage, where it is around 13°C. 

I read from Steve Weast's page that his friend had a tank made of 1/2" acrylic and he only had fogging when the room temperature exceeded 26°C and full sweating in 32°C... Well we seldom have even 26° here and if we do (like right now!) then can put the air conditioning on love 
Also, a friend of mine said he could come and put a thin "film" on the tank and that should stop the fogging...

As you can see I'm really trying to convince myself (and the significant other) that this might actually be a good idea... I would really like to have a shark, and the spouse would too and if the tank was actually coldwater the I could get one or two Small-spotted catsharks from the SeaLife Helsinki (they breed them there), how cool would that be?

Please, help me out with this...
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Post by AquaticEngineer July 3rd 2013, 3:20 am

The biggest issue would be maintaining that perfect temperature difference between the room temp and the tank temp. If you are able to always keep your house temp between 65-70F and you only want to keep your tank temp between say 58-60 then you don't have to battle much to chill it and if you have the means to control your internal humidity to keep it below 30% then you should never see any fogging.

Keep in mind though that with a glass tank you will have NO insulation factor and your chillers will likely be running almost all the time, granted it wouldn't be chilling a very big temperature difference if you can control all the other environmental factors.
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Post by ZROGST July 10th 2013, 11:30 pm

Keep this big tropical tank - get a big temperate system to complement it! Nice thick acrylic sumped system. You don't need to go 11' again, but what's wrong with a relatively shallow 6' system?? Do it! Do it!
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Post by Rapide July 19th 2013, 1:01 am

"To go or not to go?" 
Well, I went! The tank is going cold... And believe you me, it'll be one sweet tank! It will be a shark tank with two species of cat sharks. And a whole lotta nems! Gotta have nems... The style will be Iwagumi, and I will do the whole interior myself with two good friends of mine: styrofoam and epoxy. Some of the rocks are already done, and they look great!
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Post by naturenz July 20th 2013, 8:03 pm

ZROGST wrote:Keep this big tropical tank - get a big temperate system to complement it! Nice thick acrylic sumped system. You don't need to go 11' again, but what's wrong with a relatively shallow 6' system?? Do it! Do it!

 +1:bounce:
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Post by snapperhead July 27th 2013, 9:23 pm

Sounds to me like your more into Making Aquariums than keep Fish. 
I have to agree keep the tropical and build a new system for the temperate. 
I look at it this way atm you have dogs you have had since puppies ,your going to give these the flick ,free to good home etc so you can keep cats instead. 
BTW if its a shark tank all you can have is sharks and not to many either so it wont look that sweet at all. Have fun
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Post by Rapide July 29th 2013, 12:01 am

Umm... Ok...
At the end of the day it's still my tank, and as long as it looks good to me, then it's all that matters. Others opinions about the appeaerance of my aquarium are not registered, nor are their attemps of judgement when they don't know a thing about me or the way I keep my animals.
But you are entitled to your opinion, even though it does not matter to me.

I would also like to advise one to educate one's self about the particular species of sharks in question here - S.canicula and S.torazame
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Post by snapperhead July 31st 2013, 8:58 am

I think you have miss understood BUT in reply to the attitude and your smart#### education advise which is not welcome here ..

You have no idea about me either, I couldnt give to hoots about you or your Tank.. I will happily keep any advise in future to myself and in my best Australian lingo say... Stick you tanks where the sun dont shine DH... Have a nice life
Heterodontus portusjacksoni is my education and many years worth .
And dont bother with a reply, its not worth the effort to open any post of yours in the future.
Bridge Burnt.
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Post by Rapide July 31st 2013, 11:22 am

Wow... Looks like someone is in need for some serious anger management Shocked 




...and english grammar lessons...
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Post by naturenz August 21st 2013, 3:00 am

To go or not to go? Qm_zps77fad13d
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Post by Rapide August 21st 2013, 8:31 am

LOL! Yeah sometimes that happens...
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Post by naturenz August 22nd 2013, 5:57 am

Temperate is a good word, 

tem·per·ate  
adj.
1. Exercising moderation and self-restraint. 
2. Moderate in degree or quality; restrained.
3. Characterized by moderate temperatures, weather, or climate; neither hot nor cold.
4. Biology Of or relating to a virus that infects bacterial cells but rarely causes lysis: temperate bacteriophages.
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Post by Rapide August 22nd 2013, 6:19 am

Pointing Hahahhaa!!

Btw, the project is coming along nicely. The tank has been cleaned from all the coralline algae, and it looks like it was never even used!

I just got all the needed goods from my wood guy, and we will start to build the leather coated panels today.

Just a few weeks ago I got a new 46 litre Fluval Edge. I was planning to set it up as a temperate nano, but decided to create a tropical nano instead...
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Post by thherste September 12th 2013, 11:54 am

I can't wait to see pics of this tank when its done!
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Post by Mike Savage September 12th 2013, 7:36 pm

thherste wrote:I can't wait to see pics of this tank when its done!
Me too!
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Post by Rapide September 12th 2013, 11:51 pm

Thanks guys! Embarassed 

The synthetic cliffs or rocks have been in the tank for a week now. I'm eyeing them before I glue them in the bottom.
I think they look nice... This is how they looked right after making https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=298486480293394&id=256149381193771&set=a.259664897508886.1073741829.256149381193771&source=46&refid=17


This weekend I will finish the painting of the sumproom, put all equipment back and in theory the tank would be ready for water!
But not yet, I won't fill it up until everything is ready!


I have some new fishes also acclimated and well in my Atlantic tank waiting to go in the big tank!
There are 8 Gobius nigers there. I'm gonna give a couple to a friend today and get some crayfish in return.
I will breed the crayfish and feed the small ones to my sharks, rays and other predators.
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Post by thherste September 13th 2013, 11:14 am

Oh wow those rocks you made look really really sweet! i'd be interested to know how you did it!
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Post by Rapide September 17th 2013, 12:07 am

I think they look pretty good for a temperate tank. 
We went to Norway this summer to collect some new species, and that is pretty much how the rocks look in the Northern Atlantic Smile
Also, those rocks are 100% "reef safe"! All materials are safe to use in sea water...
I already promised AquaticEngineer to tell how I made them. Maybe I should do that later today when I get home from work. We'll see...
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