Starting a backyard tank

[saltcreepette]

I saw the recent thread on here about this. I'm not looking to do something large or in ground. I simply want to have a tank on my back porch. It would be protected on three sides and the top (but not enclosed) and getsmostly indirect light with two hours of direct light in the am. I'm thinking ten gallon mushroom/softy tank, nothing fancy. The main issues I'm concerned with:

will 2 hours direct light in the morning heat the tank too much? cause an algae bloom?

with the remaining hours being indirect light will it be adequate for the corals?

In the coldest months, How could I provide adequate insulation against cold? I was thinking wrapping it and just viewing it from the top.

I remember Tim Marvin used to have a large-ish rubbermaid tank in his backyard greenhouse and the inhabitants seemed to do okay. I'd like to know what the water temps were at. I remember being surprised at it and wanting to do something similar.

Input is welcome!

[Andrew v.s wild]

Thats sounds cool!!
Good Luck

[saltcreepette]

too bad I didnt just fill the tank this summer and monitor the temps, that would have been useful data. I will do that this week and see how the temperature fluctuates and keep a log, for informational purposes.

I think I'll keep this tank bare bottomed, just use what I have lying around; old resin fish tank decorations, holey rock, add a few pieces of LR....
I think it'd be fun to have a few shrooms and a damsel outside to look at when I'm outside with the kids playing! :D

[saltcreepette]

hmmm. this am it was 72, this afternoon it got up to 85, and at 8:45 it's at 83. so that's quite a fluctuation. I hadn't put a heater in yet. I will plug it in tonite and see what the temp is at in the morning.

I'm questioning the wisdom of doing this (it's okay, those of you who just said, "Duh!" I understand where you're coming from); maybe I could use a different (slightly larger) container that would insulate a little better (and guard a little better against wide temp fluctuations)...like a rubber trough, although it wouldnt be as viewable. Another thing I wondered about was the necessity for some sort of lid or cover, to keep particulate matter flying around in the air from landing in the tank (leaves, pollen, bugs etc.) but then of course I don't want to block too much light, and there should be some way of viewing. Just thinking aloud.

In any case, I'm not going to add any actual livestock till I get things stable.

[rotti71]

That sounds really cool but w/ the drastic temp changes in Texas....it seems that it would be very hard to keep the water at any regulated temp. It would take a huge chiller in the summer and lots of heat dec-feb....

Best of luck though! Keep us posted...

[alton]

Check with pond people and see what pond water temps are through out the seasons? Inground might help you stabilize temps with a 4' depth and shaded in the mid day. Winter I would think you would need a natural gas heater.

[captexas]

You said a 10g tank? A small tank is going to show signs of temp fluctuation much more so than a larger tank/pond with higher water volume. Put a small plastic pool with water in it next to a lake during the summer time and that pool water is going to get much hotter than the lake water. Also, as stated by Alton, having a tank/pond in the ground helps keep the temp down as the ground temp stays lower than the ambient air temp.

[saltcreepette]

captexas, yeah i know. its looking like a worse and worse idea the more time passes!
maybe if I had a greenhouse type situation plus it being larger AND inground AND heated, it could maybe work in the winter, plus a greenhouse situation would be beneficial to keep large particulate out and enable me to attach shade in the summer......


Well for kicks and grins I will do this temperature project throughout the fall and into the winter just to see how stable I can keep it but like I said, having a little less faith at this point!

After adding the heater yesterday, the temp in the afternoon was near 85 and this am when I checked, it was 78 (instead of 72 the other day). So a little less temp fluctuation. Of course it's only 70 degrees out this morning. In the dead of winter when it gets down in the thirties it may be more challenging...

I had thought of putting the ten gallon inside a cooler to insulate it!
Ridiculous, huh. Why have the tank if you can't see it?

The spot I picked on the patio apparently does not get any direct sun. any thoughts as to whether strictly indirect light would be enough for mushrooms?

[Entropy]

The only tanks I have seen run successfully outside where large setups (200+ gallons) with even bigger resevoirs in the ground. And this was also in SoCal where there basically isn't any weather.

[RayAllen]

Agree, for this to work you must either live in a place such as Hawaii with hardly any temp changes or as you mentioned have the aquarium in a Green House with a temp control system.

[LoneStar]

Check this out:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1095596

Although it started as a in-ground tank, he did switch setups to a greenhouse tank.