New England Atlantic tank???

[afboundguy]

I was walking on the beach today and saw a bunch of algae, barnacles, periwinkle snails and other neat stuff and it made me think how cool a tank modeled after our local ocean life? If you have please post some pictures that would be awesome!!!

 

[this is me]

If you can keep the water at below 60degrees, go for it.

 

[BiGGiePauls33]

If you can keep the water at below 60degrees, go for it.

I was going to say along those lines. Coldwater tanks around here.

 

[gobyvin]

You can keep many nearshore animals alive if you collect them when water temps are similar to what you can keep stable at home. We do this at my wife’s classroom all the time. A chiller gives you the option of more species, by allowing you cooler temps. 65-68 will support a lot of what lives off Massachusetts long term. I use aragonite sands as substrate to buffer these tanks successfully. Use your reef chemistry skills on a local tank. Same rules apply. Use local shell and rock to seed the tank with bacteria. Only twist, is keep the bioload light. Nitrification is much slower at lower temperatures. I wish there were rules of thumb on this but I have never found any published or online, and from professional aquarists at large aquariums either. Test the water and go slow!!!

 

[jcherepo]

I grew up on the East End of Long Island and my brother-in-law and I set up a 700 gallon tank about 20 years ago in a small museum. We had local fisherman help stock the tank with stripped bass, porgeys, black fish, sea robins, basically anything we could get our hands on. No need for heaters, just a really large chiller. The tank was pretty neat to see, but a bit overwhelming to maintain. Dimensions were not good as it was someplace in the ballpark of 6’ tall and way too narrow, but that was the dimensions the museum wanted.

 

[thespsguy]

If you can keep the water at below 60degrees, go for it.

So what you are saying all this animals die on summer time? Can them be acclimate for 76 temperature?

 

[GraniteReefer]

NH fish and game puts together a cold water tank with native species at the Hopkinton state fair, the sea coast science center at odiorne point has a bunch of local tanks, even a touch tank. The anemones are surprisingly cool all the pics are on my computer though and I’m on my phone. For the critters you can find on the beach they are likely capable of being temp acclimated to higher temps, but for the species like anemones that are in deep water they likely need the cold water environment

 

[absolutecarrot]

I catch lobsters and I have always wanted a tank for them. Also the Gloucester aquarium has very nice tanks that show the local ocean. If you get any bigger fish you will need a huge tank but you could probably keep minnows, small fish and invertebrates.

 

[absolutecarrot]

This is an awesome tank

 

[this is me]

So what you are saying all this animals die on summer time? Can them be acclimate for 76 temperature?

would you put your tropical reef in a 60degrees water?

 

[afboundguy]

My basement gets 72-74 degrees tops in the summer time and around 55-60 in the winter so it could be doable... Who knows what the future will hold?

 

[gobyvin]

That would be doable. Also, use an acrylic tank. No sweating and insulated if you run an iceprobe or small chiller.

 

[gobyvin]

That Jersey rig is something else!

 

[jacobnano]

I had a PNW biotope tank and have kept a number of cool intertidal creatures. Most tend to be pretty hardy because of the environment they come from -- I definitely recommend setting one up! Lighting is cheap, but the chiller is the big cost.

It is marine life from the northwest rather than the northeast, but I definitely recommend!

 

[afboundguy]

That would be doable. Also, use an acrylic tank. No sweating and insulated if you run an iceprobe or small chiller.

There's a business down the street that is closing and there an acrylic lobster tank set up that's been sitting in the parking lot for months. I should go snag that without afboundguy's better 1/2 noticing. It would need quite the buffing though...

I had a PNW biotope tank and have kept a number of cool intertidal creatures. Most tend to be pretty hardy because of the environment they come from -- I definitely recommend setting one up! Lighting is cheap, but the chiller is the big cost.


View attachment 138643

It is marine life from the northwest rather than the northeast, but I definitely recommend!

That's awesome thanks for sharing!

 

[gobyvin]

Grab it. Chillers can be fixed easily. Or you can junk it if it isn’t worth fixing. Those are typically thick acrylic!!!

 

[gobyvin]

Another High School teacher I know uses that type of retail lobster tank for a classroom.

 

[Nhgoalstop]

NH fish and game puts together a cold water tank with native species at the Hopkinton state fair, the sea coast science center at odiorne point has a bunch of local tanks, even a touch tank. The anemones are surprisingly cool all the pics are on my computer though and I’m on my phone. For the critters you can find on the beach they are likely capable of being temp acclimated to higher temps, but for the species like anemones that are in deep water they likely need the cold water environment

I have a bunch of pics of those odiorne point tanks. I often get the urge to order up a custom acrylic tank with thinker acrylic for insulation to make a tank like there's. Theyre so pretty with the types of nems they have.