The cold water reef tank of Steve Weast is Azoox with stealth water flow

By on Feb 06, 2011

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Cold water marine aquariums are few and far between, and cold water reef tanks are an even rarer breed. While most reefers spend their efforts running tropical reef tanks with warm water and high powered lights, after building a few of these standard-issue reefs to masterpiece proportions, Steve Weast turned his attention to designing and building this fantastic 400 gallon cold water reef tank.

Steve Weast’s stunning coldwater reef is also non-photosynthetic, filled with beautiful thriving colonies of Oregon-collected Corynactis anemones, Balanophyllia elegans, and a whole suite or medium to large coldwater anemones from Puget Sound.Only the boxfish, eastern hulafish and catalina gobies were collected elsewhere even if they are quite at home in the frigid waters of this cold water reef.

Of course these tidal animals need a ton of water flow, the likes of which our colored sticks could probably never bear. To that end Mr. Oregon Reef has incorporated a completely hidden gyre flow system using Tunze Stream pumps which together move 25,000 gallons of water every hour. By looking at the flapping fins and tentacles and the wide open polyps it’s pretty clear that the residents of this 55 degree cold water reef probably aren’t aware that they ever left the sound.

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  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_YZSNG2KISWNNWZUZ4FV7KFGEEI amit

    i wonder why there is no FTS…
    would also like to know the feeding ‘regime’ …

  • Anonymous

    That tank is absolutely beautiful!

  • Anonymous

    I’m not surprised, I still have his old reef tank FTS as my wall paper, some 10 years ago!

  • Anonymous

    There is a FTS….really a camera pan from right to left….at the 2:20 mark. The opening scene is also a FTS….but, from the end. The tank is viewable from two sides.

    The feeding is performed automatically via a motorized three-way ball valve and a dosing pump inside of a refrigerator. The food is primarily the Reef Nutrition line of foods.

  • http://www.facebook.com/doran.figart Doran Figart

    Steve,

    I see those white sea slugs everytime I dive in Puget Sound. What are they?

  • Anonymous

    Its Dirona albolineata……a dirona nudibranch

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Frode-Numan/659084887 Frode Numan

    Great tank. I’m planning a new tank, after 6 years of tropical reeftank, thinking of a local temperate (cold) tank; Western Europe. I was in doubt, but your project shows it can be very beautifull.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Chris-Ordeneaux/8342406 Chris Ordeneaux

    I have friends that work at a major aquarium, and their cold water tanks don’t look this good. Great job and keep it up! Showing off native species is something I wish people could promote, and this tank shows that native doesn’t mean dirty, and can be quite beautiful.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000315587040 Christian Vye

    What sort of nutrient control? Biopellets?

  • Anonymous

    a common local fish called a Pacific Grunt Sculpin (Rhamphocottus richardsonii)

  • Anonymous

    Heavy skimming, carbon, GFO, and a vodka fed Nitrate reactor. I tried biopellets for 8 months…..and they didn’t perform very well at 55 F. They worked….but, just couldn’t keep up with the load even when 4X the recommended amounts were used.

  • Anonymous

    Magnificent! I love biotope (well, almost!) displays and wish they were more popular. Seems like jam-packed SPS tanks still rule the hobby, but there are some incredibly skilled, creative aquarists out there doing some amazing things. The level of research and innovation that can go into creating a truly unique SW setup is one of the major reasons why I’m so addicted to this hobby.

  • Anonymous

    Magnificent! I love biotope (well, almost!) displays and wish they were more popular. Seems like jam-packed SPS tanks still rule the hobby, but there are some incredibly skilled, creative aquarists out there doing some amazing things. The level of research and innovation that can go into creating a truly unique SW setup is one of the major reasons why I’m so addicted to this hobby.

  • http://twitter.com/NewAgeReefs Skipper

    Wow, very nice! Everything looks so natural in the tank, it looks like the video could have been filmed out in the ocean!

  • http://www.facebook.com/Fishbrains.net Brett Hendricks

    Fantastic! Steve do you have a build thread anywhere?

  • Anonymous

    How do you keep the water temperature so low and stable?

  • Anonymous

    How do you keep your temperature so low and stable?

  • Anonymous

    nope

  • Anonymous

    a 1 hp Teco chiller and a tank and sump constructed from 1″ thick acrylic

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1003011279 Matt Wandell

    I was lucky enough to visit this tank while it was being built courtesy of Steve himself. The tremendous amount of care and planning that went into it obviously is reflected in how amazing the tank looks. Congrats Steve on another great looking tank to inspire reefers all over the world.