super cheap salt tank...*or* has anyone tried this?

theres lots of tropical salt tanks out there..but living within miniutes of Puget sound...home of plenty of bivalves, anenomes, sand dollars, crabs, and whatnot...has anyone set up a locally gathered tank? done a tide pool theme? wouldn't even have to mix up water, just go down to the sound and get saltwater free..yea I know its not clean, but its what these animals are living in...cycle time would be non existant as the substrate would likely already have all the naturally occurring bacteria needed. I can see lights and a chiller being pretty much the only equipment needed, although on a big enough tank the ability to pump water in and out of a holding sump to simulate tidal changes would be interesting although an added expense.

thoughts?

I believe removing any creatures from the water is illegal. But dont know this for sure.

madness wrote:I believe removing any creatures from the water is illegal.  But dont know this for sure.

I think you are correct. Removing anything dead or alive from ocean shores is illegal. Even sand dollars when I was there this summer i watched someone get arrested for taking sea stars.

I wonder if this applies to all waters, or just state&federal parks? what about private beachfront property? private marinas?

as for it being illegal to take anything dead, any shell collector & beach comber is a criminal.

as for taking live specimins...I guess that's more a question for the game warden

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this would imply that my idea *might* be legal, under certain circumstances...
otherwise, in the tide pool tips box, point number two would read "don't take crap, dead or alive, cuz its illegal"

it does violate LNT ethics, but a good many specimins grow in such abundance that a few aquarists will hardly make a dent in population.

most bivalves and some crabs seem to be regulated,,,however, the crabs considered aren't exactly ones id want in an aquarium. doing it on the cheap includes going small, and Dungeness aren't exactly for small tanks..

It is illegal to collect from Washington waters. It is legal with a permit in oregon.

There is a coldwater reefers club in the area.
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you would be surprised at the animals. check out the threads in that link. I know this guy and have thought about setting up a coldwater tank. his animals are beautful.

nick_76 wrote:I wonder if this applies to all waters, or just state&federal parks? what about private beachfront property? private marinas?

as for it being illegal to take anything dead, any shell collector & beach comber is a criminal.

when i said dead or alive i meant dead seastars or crabs but you can't take alive sand dollars either

I haven't seen any cheap Chillers out there, room temp would be too warm for most of our local critters.

ive seen chillers with prices all over the place on CL....if that's too expensive, I considered a mini fridge with a low flow thermostatically controlled powerhead pumping water across the chiller plate...in coiled hose suspended in gel of course.

the tanks on that forum are exactly what I want eventually!!! theres a lot of local marine beauty and once past getting the water cold enough it would be easy to have a really pretty tank full of stuff you don't normally don't see in home aquaria

Just get a commercial lobster tank. A few months ago there was one for $300

Nemcrazy is the one to talk to on Reef Frontiers, I spent quite a bit of time at the Reef Frontier's BBQ back in June talking to him after everything died down, he definitely knows his stuff. I believe he also has a permit to collect in Oregon.

Nemcrazy does have some pretty cool tanks

im gonna do an experiment sometime in the next few weeks before I decide if im gonna get serious about this sometime soon or put it off indefinitely. gonna try to make a heat exchanger out of aquarium hose coiled in a wine chiller and packed in cool-pak gel. if that can keep a 10-15 gal. tank cold, ill consider a small tank on my end table. a fluval chi or something. if I do have to buy a real chiller (which tend to be made for larger tanks) then all bets are off

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this is what I have in mind. shouldn't take much to keep a small tank cool

We have a "Red Lobster" tank for sale. 110 gallons from a Red Lobster Restaurant. Chiller works. We were going to do a Puget Sound theme, but didn't get around to it. Anybody interested? Taking offers now..... Will throw in some Repashy to sweeten the deal!

hmmm...tempting, for sure...although my intention is to do this on the cheap

wow that is very tempting. every time I walk into red lobster I tell my husband, I want that tank.

do you have the fish for it?