[Chasmodes]

Well, time to get started. Planning is over. Here's an update:


I'm going to purchase the tank and begin setting it up this week... I'd like a quater cylinder tank. My biggest dilemma is should I get a 120g acrylic or a 90g glass. I have some concerns about getting the tank downstairs, so after measuring I will decide which size tank. I'd prefer the larger tank. I'm not expecting much coraline growth if any so I'm thinking that I'll be OK with the acrylic.

I wanted to get this set up over the summer but time got away from me, so I probably won't have any fish until late spring as it's beginning to get cold outside, so I'll have plenty of time to cycle the tank and get the aquascape just right.

Aquascape plan: I'm going to make a piling with mussel shell clusters (not live but glued shut), the piling will be a plastic creation with an outer layer of foam sculpted to look like wood and painted with epoxy paint. I'll add local live rock and maybe add a few chunks of tropical LR for the fuge to get the tank cycled, then the rest of the LR will be man made ala the Travis method, but I'll incorporate whole oyster shell to give it more hiding spots and give it that oyster reef look.

Since this tank will not require intense lighting (usually the bay is murky so it's nowhere near they coral reef needs for intense light) I won't need a chiller. I also hope to get some of the brown algae common in these waters to live in the fuge and maybe the display tank down the road. The tank will be downstairs where our room temperature is constant and cool. Water temperature should be 70 to 74 degrees. All of the fish that live in this environment can tolerate wide ranges of salinity and temperature as with most creatures that live in estuarine environments year round. In the summer, they can be found very shallow, right at the tide line where water temperatures exceed 80 degrees, in the winter they migrate to deeper water where water temperatures can approach 40 degrees. With the lighting I want to make sure that I can mimic day/night changes and maybe incorporate a lunar schedule as well for night time lighting. I'm fairly certain that if I can maintain good water quality and mimic the moon phases I can induce spawning. I may stick to one species of blenny though, probably the striped blenny.

I will try to collect some this fall, but my hopes aren't very high as I think that they are already migrating to deeper water. So my tank all winter long once cycled will be a Chesapeake Bay invertebrate tank more than likely, although I have caught some clingfish this time of year before. Once I get the tank set up I'll begin posting pictures in the next couple weeks. I'm excited about this!