You've got me interested I've never seen a setup like this before. What temperature do you have your tank at? Better yet what are the specs of your setup?

I keep the water a balmy 48-52 degrees. What do you mean by specs? Its a pretty basic setup. No fancy tricks here, just a hack job of plumbing.

Matt

Wow that's cold. By specs I meant the size of your tank, sump, skimmer, lighting...

I was at the Vancouver aquarium a couple of weeks ago and I spent as much time in the Pacific section as my 3 y/o would let me and I snapped this photo of what I'm guessing is a variation of strawberry anemone. Usually all of the corals have an ID tag with an accompanying picture but I could not find one for this orange beauty.

MANY of the pacific tanks had these guys all over the exposed rock so I'm wondering if perhaps they were a nuisance species? Anyway they looked a lot like my tropical Dendrophylia so I snapped a quick picture.

http://snaz.com/marine/003.JPG

The tank is 112 gallons and the sump is a measly 33. I know I should go bigger but the bottom of the stand had to be filed out so the plastic rim protector of the 33 could fit. I use an overworked 1/4 horsepower Pacific Coast Chiller powered by a Quiet One 4000. No complaints with the chiller yet. For lighting I use just your standard run of the mill fluorescent lighting. If your a diver here you know that stuff at depth doesnt require light to thrive. Its only for your enjoyment. I also have a Cascade 1500 filter. Might buy another one. My return pump is a Quiet (HA) One 6000. The skimmer is one I found in the Buy/Sell/Trade and the logos have long worn off. Buddy said it was a Deltek or something like that. Im proabably forgeting something.

Snaz, those look to me like Orange Cup Corals but a different colour variation. I may be wrong. I have a few in my tank and their pretty cool. Havent been to the Aquarium in almost a year. I need to go soon.

Matt

I'm guessing this tank is a coldwater biotope. Did you do alot of research to find what to put in your tank and where to get the livestock?

Indeed. Ive always been fasciated with local life here so I had an idea of what was what and if its good to go. Although there has been some learning curve like with the Pygmy Rock Crab going after the swimming scallops. All the live stock is from one single place over on the other side of the island.

Matt

Do you have any condensation issues?

Sadly yes. During the more humid times in the summer it would literaly look like the glass was sweating. I had towels wrapped all around the tank and sump. I went out and bought a used dehumidifier. If anyone were to have a cold tank I humbly suggest making it acrylic.

Matt

1/2" acrylic was recommended by Steve Weast in an article I read. I was interested in doing a coldwater tank before I started my reef but couldn't find a source for any livestock.