My Gulf of Mexico local tank. 13.5gl Evo, and my first salt tank ever.

CousinLarry · Mar 14, 2019

Reposting from another sub so I can document this tank
Hello! I have always wanted to do a local tank in FL and just finally took the plunge. Got an Evo XII 13.5gl off Amazon and off I went.

Did one live rock, bag of live sand, and some decorative Coral pieces I had already.

Let it cycle for a couple weeks and things looked good so I went to the beach and got some inhabitants.

Right now there's a few hermit crabs, a couple assorted small crabs - mud crab and not sure what else. An Arrow Crab that I caught in a cast net turns out he likes to decorate himself. A star fish, A Couple tiny shrimp and one little fish that I think is a juvenile Pinfish.

Here's a few pics - I am going to be doing some night hunts soon. All the small weird stuff comes out at night. I'll post updates as new stuff is added.

Biocube32 · Mar 14, 2019

Really cool!

Devaji · Mar 14, 2019

are you going to use NSW and only stuff you collect? just be findfull of the laws ( not sure what there are down there but when i lived in Hawaii I had to jump through some hopes to collect small stuff like that.)

I think it a great idea! all ways liked those evos tanks.

CousinLarry · Mar 14, 2019

Devaji said:
are you going to use NSW and only stuff you collect? just be findfull of the laws ( not sure what there are down there but when i lived in Hawaii I had to jump through some hopes to collect small stuff like that.)

I think it a great idea! all ways liked those evos tanks.

Not sure what NSW is!

Almost everything in there is stuff I collected. I bought a tiny horse shoe crab but they are local so sticking with theme.

I have already checked laws and you are allowed to collect almost anything with just fishing license. There are a few restricted species but not a lot. There is a number to total organisms per day, and you must have some sort of aerated tank to transport them in. I use a 5gl bucket with an aerator.

Grabbed 9 more shrimp today. The tank is buzzing with life now.

SliceGolfer · Mar 14, 2019

NSW = natural sea water

sfin52 · Mar 14, 2019

looks good

be very careful if you are collection g your self

CousinLarry · Mar 14, 2019

I keep meaning to take some sea water home to test it. I will check it out.
I have a LFS about 15 mins away and they sell premixed salt water for $1.50/gl. I've just been buying that.

I went to Bach today with my daughter and managed to get 9 more little clear shrimp. They're all dancing around the tank [emoji23]