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[Dale]

I wanted to give the tank a west coast look so using the usual coral based substrate was out. Here's what I did.

Experiment #1:
I thought I'd try washed and screened playsand from H.D. (ha ha). I rinsed and rinsed for an hour and figured that had to be good enough so into the tank it went... oops!
The water turned into a solid chocolate cloud. I mixed in some salt with hopes that the skimmer would take out the silt and I hoped it would settle. Three days later it was a little less cloudy but my wife pointed out that as soon as a future fish stirred the bottom it would cloud up again. Dang.
I wound up siphoning the tank and removing all the playsand. Experiment #1 = disaster.
I then thought "the hell with it" and decided to go with plain old white silica sand. Lordco was out so they offered to ship some in from another store. When I returned they had shipped the wrong stuff. It turned out to be a Target product called Blue diamond 20-50 grit and I took it anyways.

Experiment #2:
Washed the 20-50 grit and only a little dust came out. In the tank it went. No cloudiness and the bottom closely resembles the ocean floor off our coast. Yahoo.

Experiment #3:
I must have been working a little too much with the PVC cement because I decided that I needed to run some carbon on my new set up. That wasn't so bad but I decided to utilize the flow from my display drainline. I loaded a sock with carbon and secured it to the drainpipe... oops!
The flow pulverized the carbon and my tank was back to a smoky cloud again.
This time the fix was less drastic than draining the tank. I ran an AC500 with some filter floss for a couple of days and the water cleared up.

No more experiments for me.

[Ruth]

Very "cool" (gag on the pun) thread and I look forward to tagging along. I remember reading about this on the Steve Weast site when he set up his coldwater tank and it was so interesting. I also think someone else on this board tried it a year or more ago and may have some interesting information to share.

[niloc16]

this is turning out really cool. good job so far

[Pan]

what do you put in a coldwater tank btw?

[Gujustud]

very very cool. keep up the great work!

[reefsurfer]

I too will be tagging along. I lived in tofino for a few years and spent alot of time in the tide pools, where I would colect water for my tropical system. There are alot of tank worthy specimens in those pools which hopefully I will get to see in your thread soon

OH, and of course, love the cheap aproach your taking. Man, people spend WAYYYYYY too much money on this hobby! Do it up!!

[Dale]

Thanks all.
Temperate water tanks can be split into two sub sections I think:

Cold water. These tanks house flora and fauna found at depth in the ocean and require stable, cool temps. Steve Weast of "Oregonreef" keeps such a tank and maintains a constant 55*F.

Tidal or transitional zone tanks. This is what I'm after. These tanks house flora and fauna found on the margins of the ocean (tidal pools, mud flats etc...). While the overall temperatures are much cooler than tropical systems they do vary from season to season and from tide to tide. Some examples of these species are: Sculpins, Tubesnouts, Gunnels, various crabs and snails, Barnicles, Limpets, various shellfish, Pacific anemones, Starfish, various seaweeds and macro algaes etc...
Few people keep coldwater tanks and fewer, tidal zone tanks so this really is a bit of an experiment. My plans are modest for this tank; a few rocks with macro algae, some eel grass and some wildlife. I mainly want to see how all the mechanical components work together and gain an understanding of climate and feeding requirements while I construct a larger tank to replace the 135G.

Here is a sketch of the current plan



and the tank after cycling for two weeks



Here's the backside (no surge tanks yet). I've removed the workbench for more room. I also need (choke choke gasp gasp) about three more gallons of bio balls!



Here's a close up of the current sump



Notice how it sits on the 2X4's. In my quest to lower the tank temps passively I've decided that the sump should sit directly on the concrete to make use of its (the concrete) natural cooling effect. This sump won't fit between the 2X4's so I've put out my request to the hobo gods and soon expect a 55G. long to magically appear. When it does I will get rid of the temporary submersible return pump as it is adding heat to the system. The permanent return pump will be in line, not submersible. I will also do away with the small skimmer feed pump as it too is adding heat to the system. It will be fed by a line tee'd off of the main return line. Actually, everything will be driven off of one main pump with no additional powerheads etc... I want to reduce my heat input as much as possible to either avoid a chiller or, if neccisary, to use the smallest HP possible.