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Journal 55L British Rockpool Biotope

NathanB

NathanB

Member
Joined
14 Apr 2023
Messages
27
Location
Kent, England
Hi all! Thought I'd share some pics of my British rockpool biotope tank!

A great way to keep a budget marine aquarium and learn about our native wildlife!
I have always been amazed by rockpools, the amount of life in each one can be incredible to see,
so this tank is really interesting to me, getting observe the behaviours and beauty of each species all from my own bedroom!

Equipment
Tank - Aqua One Aqua Nano 40 (55L)
Hardscape - Collected Locally!
Substrate - Hugo Kamishi Coral Sand
Lighting - Fluval Marine 3.0 Nano Bluetooth LED
Heating - No heater! This tank is kept at room temp, a chiller may be necessary at some point.
Filtration - A piece of filter floss, and a lottt of alfagrog in the back!
Pump - Oase OptiMax 1000 (replacing the 500lph pump included with the tank)

Livestock
  • Snakelocks Anemones (Anemonia viridis)
  • Beadlet Anemones (Actinia equina)
  • Strawberry Anemones (Actinia fragacea)
  • Gem Anemone (Aulactinia verrucosa)
  • Green Shore Crab (Carcinus maenas)
  • Furrowed Crabs (Xantho hydrophilus)
  • Hairy Crab (Pilumnus hirtellus)
  • Hermit Crabs (Unidentified, probably Pagurus bernhardus )
  • Common Prawns (Not yet examined their rostrums, but I believe them to be Palaemon serratus )
  • Cushion Starfish (Asterina gibbosa)
  • Netted Dog Whelk (Tritia reticulata)
  • Sting Winkles (Ocenebra erinacea)
  • Common Periwinkle (Littorina littorea)
  • Purple Topshells (Steromphala umbilicalis)
  • Painted Topshell (Calliostoma zizyphinum)
  • Common Limpets (Patella vulgata)
  • Chitons (Lepidochitona cinerea)


RockpoolTank2-1:7:24.jpg

55L British Rockpool Biotope (01/07/24)

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As always I'll keep trying my best to photograph all of the inhabitants, some don't like getting their picture taken!
i hope you guys like the tank, if you have any questions, ask away!
 
That looks really stunning!
 
Yes! This is something I’ve fancied doing for a while but time is the main obstacle. This looks beautiful and you’ve done a great job.

I’ll save this post in case I ever find myself with time to do something similar.
 
Thanks everyone for the replies!

richardcunliffe said:
Is there anything you need to do to as a substitute for the tidal nature, or are all these guys ok in more consistent conditions?
Click to expand...
Nope, that would be amazing though to make some sort of tidal setup. I've seen it done in an old youtube video, I think a guy did it for some sort of mudskipper mudflat biotope! But all of these guys are fine in more consistant conditions, they're all found close to the shoreline but not only limited to rockpools.

seedoubleyou said:
Really cool. Are you collecting water or mixing your own?

What are you feeding the nems?
Click to expand...
I first filled up the tank with natural sea water, much easier this way! And I am still currently using natural sea water but plan on transitioning to homemade. I can imagine a scenario where I need to do a water change, get to the beach and find that the water is murky brown!
 
richardcunliffe said:
Is there anything you need to do to as a substitute for the tidal nature, or are all these guys ok in more consistent conditions?
Click to expand...
I also don't use an ATO, so I guess the slightly inconsistent salinity and topping up with cold water would maybe help simulate some natural rockpool conditions. When the sun is focused on those pools all day it must get so warm, then the cold tide comes back and drastically changes the salinity and temperature rapidly, so rockpool dwellers are generally very tolerant of most conditions.
I'd like to take a thermometer and refractometer next time I go rockpooling to see for myself what kind of extreme conditions these guys can thrive in.
 
NathanB said:
Thanks everyone for the replies!


Nope, that would be amazing though to make some sort of tidal setup. I've seen it done in an old youtube video, I think a guy did it for some sort of mudskipper mudflat biotope! But all of these guys are fine in more consistant conditions, they're all found close to the shoreline but not only limited to rockpools.


I first filled up the tank with natural sea water, much easier this way! And I am still currently using natural sea water but plan on transitioning to homemade. I can imagine a scenario where I need to do a water change, get to the beach and find that the water is murky brown!
Click to expand...
You can actually order NSW and some LFS sell it too.
Aquaforest do a “perfect water” but it’s expensive.
I always liked ATI absolute ocean as it mixes so well.
 
NathanB said:
I also don't use an ATO, so I guess the slightly inconsistent salinity and topping up with cold water would maybe help simulate some natural rockpool conditions. When the sun is focused on those pools all day it must get so warm, then the cold tide comes back and drastically changes the salinity and temperature rapidly, so rockpool dwellers are generally very tolerant of most conditions.
I'd like to take a thermometer and refractometer next time I go rockpooling to see for myself what kind of extreme conditions these guys can thrive in.
Click to expand...
It’s not uncommon to find anemone completely out of the water and hiding in the shade of a rock. They really are tough inverts !!
 
seedoubleyou said:
It’s not uncommon to find anemone completely out of the water and hiding in the shade of a rock. They really are tough inverts !!
Click to expand...
I've even seen a snakelocks that was out of water in the hot sun and dusted with sand! They also can't close up to protect themselves like beadlets do, so they must be incredibly hardy
 
Really is a nice looking tank.

What type of rock is it? Where did you collect? (So I can get my geology on)
Why locally sourced rocks, but not use sand from the beach too?

Do you have to use a blue light for these? I ask, as native tanks I’ve seen have been under t5s and doing fine 👌 as for chiller, I think you may, iirc 19.5c is the max temp for a native anemones - but worth checking. They certainly don’t hang about on shore at 30c, the unlucky just die 😞
 
Awesome little tank! I always said if we ever moved to the coast (we almost moved to Barnstaple at one point), I'd have a little rockpool tank!

NathanB said:
Nope, that would be amazing though to make some sort of tidal setup.
Click to expand...

If you had a sump with a programmable pump it would be fairly easy to vary the pump flow rate and therefore the tank water level.

With the current set-up a programmable DC pump in combination with a little nano stream pump on a timer, could simulate the turbulent water associated with the incoming tide, and then be switched off to keep it still for the calmer 'tide-out' period.
 
If I collected sea water how long could I store this for? I would keep it aerated, and kept in darkness?
 
Fantastic, well done for promoting a rock pool tank.
I have run quite a few over the years, I found the half tide tanks (nothing collected from below half tide) can last for years with just weekly water change and no cooling.
To get the more interesting fish, sea weed and coral to thrive you really need a chiller, a double glazed tank with insulated sides and with the chiller situated outside, would make the ultimate display.
In the old Guernsey Aquarium, (now closed) they had lots of amazing tanks although they were fed directly with pumped sea water, some of the tanks were stunning. Like real living reef tanks with high and low tide and flow direction changes throughout the day. So much scoop to make amazing tanks but hardly anyone doing it!
 
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