Cold water tank filtering

[tdool]

Hey all, I live in Port Alberni, BC, canada and would love to run a cold water tank with live stock from my local area. Just wonder what filtration to use. Do I collect rock from my area as normal LR will die in the cold water?

[K9]

LR from down here experiences cold water as well. Not as cold as yours surely does, but way below the comfy 80*F we usually keep our tanks at. If it's legal to collect in your area, I'd try that idea since the critters on it would be more used to the colder temperatures. HTH

-K9

[photobarry]

Originally posted by tdool
Hey all, I live in Port Alberni, BC, canada and would love to run a cold water tank with live stock from my local area. Just wonder what filtration to use. Do I collect rock from my area as normal LR will die in the cold water?

Pretty much. Just remember that biological processes take longer at lower temps so you can't stock it as densely as you would a reef tank. There are a lot of local tanks set up where I work but they are all open systems (constantly flowing NSW).

[cutting]

contact your local fish and game dept or your equivelant, and ask. They should be able to provide you with info, even at the least let you know about any licenses or permits you may need to collect from local waters. hope it helps.

[psiico]

I'm not too sure about the rock in BC but I grew up in Nfld, mostly basalt type rocks out there. Not very porous, if I were doing a "local" tank down there I'd use a bio wheel or wet/dry or something, I wouldn't expect the rock to do much of the work.

[cutting]

If you have a local aquarium or college based on marine biology you could always ask them how they filter their tanks. If nothing else you can get some basic filtration ideas for cold water, and perhaps come up with a compact method that they employ.

[tdool]

Originally posted by cutting
If you have a local aquarium or college based on marine biology you could always ask them how they filter their tanks. If nothing else you can get some basic filtration ideas for cold water, and perhaps come up with a compact method that they employ.

Banfield Marine station is only a few hours away. You have to drive threw my town (Port Alberni) to get to it, or take the Lady Rose ferry. I haven't been there since I worked on the Live TV show form Discovery Channel "Safary '94" were I was a camera operator on a dive barge. Might have to make another visit to there.