• Looking to buy a cephalopod? Check out Tomh's Cephs Forum, and this post in particular shares important info about our policies as it relates to responsible ceph-keeping.

Hi, I'm new

So what else can I tell you?

First, try to get a black hood, because black duct tape doesn't show up as much since it's the same color, and you may need to duct tape your aquarium hood to keep the octopus from climbing out and exploring your living room :razz:

Second, give the octopus lots of hiding places. Go to Home Depot and pickup some ABS/PVC tubing joints (3-ways, 90-degree angles, 4-ways, etc). Make sure you get the kind that says "for potable water use", this is the kind used to transport drinking water (i.e. it won't leach anything into your aquarium). He/She will love to hang out in those and explore them all at night. This is also smoother than live rock (which you should also have because it's helpful for biological reasons as well and looks nicer), and it won't hurt his/her delicate suckers.

Third, try as often as possible to feed it live food - shrimp, crab, crayfish, baby clams, etc.

Fourth, give it different items to play with (that are saltwater safe...i.e. no metal items!) on different days to keep him/her from getting bored. You'll soon learn what his/her favorite toy is.

Lastly, if you're getting a Bimac or similiar temperate (i.e. cold) water species, make sure you keep the temps at room temperature (70 degrees) or lower, if possible. Remember, the lower the temp, the more oxygen the water will hold, the less metabolism the Octo will have, and ultimately the longer it will live.

All these are very important to keeping an Octopus, ESPECIALLY if you're going for a smaller than recommended tank.

Sure, you could spend big bucks on a snazzy setup for yourself, however there are many people that have done this and failed (multiple times) at keeping an Octopus, because they don't understand the nature of the animal and what water conditions really matter.

Hope this helps...
 
The Eclipse system incorporates a filter into the hood, so it is both...and has proven several times to be a failure in trying to manage a reef type setup...can it be done? Of course...but the negatives far outweigh the advantages.
As to the statement regarding water quality and octos...it is true that you can keep an animal alive in poor conditions, but it is equally true that it will certainly not thrive under those conditions...and it seems to me that we are trying to do what is best, not what you can "get away with".
Every Eclipse reef tank I have seen set up has crashed, killing all of the inhabitants...it is designed for freshwater use, not saltwater, no matter what they say on the side of the carton.
greg
 
cthulhu77 said:
The Eclipse system incorporates a filter into the hood, so it is both...and has proven several times to be a failure in trying to manage a reef type setup...can it be done? Of course...but the negatives far outweigh the advantages.
As to the statement regarding water quality and octos...it is true that you can keep an animal alive in poor conditions, but it is equally true that it will certainly not thrive under those conditions...and it seems to me that we are trying to do what is best, not what you can "get away with".
Every Eclipse reef tank I have seen set up has crashed, killing all of the inhabitants...it is designed for freshwater use, not saltwater, no matter what they say on the side of the carton.
greg

Greg, do you have any first-hand experience using an Eclipse system?

I've been keeping marine aquariums since the mid-80's (including Octos in the late 80's, early 90's until I moved away from San Diego), and have used the Eclipse both currently and in the past.

The bio-wheel can handle a massive amount of biological filtration. The constant aeration and exposure of the filter media to constant wet/dry states is why.

I generally test the water every two weeks after the tanks have cycled, and I've never seen even a detectable level of Ammonia or Nitrite, it's always at 0ppm. Now Nitrates do tend to rise, as they do in all closed systems, however as I mentioned, regular water changes take care of that.

So your statement of keeping the animal in poor conditions is completely untrue (plus, I would never do that to so intelligent a creature).

triggerhappytuna, in answer to your questions, yes, the clear thing is the protein skimmer. Generally they are in a sump or outside of the aquarium, this just makes it more convenient maintenance-wise (everything is under the lid).
 
ceph_dude said:
So, then what kind of filter would you suggest??? I'm so confused!!!!!!!

The preferred method is to get a 55 gallon tank, add a sump, skimmer, powerhead (with mesh covering so the octo can't stick his tentacle inside)...ad infinitum. Keep in mind this still does not guarantee success.

It all depends on your particular situation. That was just my example of what I'm doing. Since you stated you could only use a 30 gallon, then you'll just have to be extra watchful of water conditions, regardless of what you get =o).
 
And just so you know there are plenty of people that have had success using an Eclipse system:

Eclipse 6 gallon reef:
Tank_Front.jpg


Eclipse 12 gallon reef:
MVC-161S.JPG


Eclipse 29 gallon reef:
tank.jpg


And further reading:
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/saltwater/Blumhagen_First_Reef.html (How to setup an Eclipse 6 gallon mini-reef)

http://www.aquaticcritter.com/Reef/livingreefaquarium.htm (Setting up a 29 gallon Eclipse mini-reef)

Quite honestly, as long as you have some live rock in the tank for additional filtration, I don't see how an Eclipse tank could "crash" and kill all the inhabitants, unless the person was grossly negligent? :confused:
 
This is one of the better places to get live rock from:

Live Rocks | Sports Festivals & Tournament Tours

Also, with enough live rock, you wouldn't even need a bio-wheel, or any biological filter for that matter, the live rock would take care of it all.

A lot of the more serious reefers go that route. In my case I'll be using only a few pieces of live rock but also PVC for the octo to hide/hang out in (and potentially hamster tunnels if I can find any that will sink :mrgreen: - maybe ferret tunnels are heavy enough? :mrgreen: ), so I'm keeping the bio-wheel running as an extra precaution and just making regular water changes to keep the nitrates down.
 
I would go with at least a 1-1 ratio (30 lbs), if not more. If you're short on funds, you can start with 10lbs, see how it looks and make sure there's enough room, and gradually add more from there, it's completely up to you!

Now if you're depending on the live rock for biological filtration (i.e. not going with a sump or bio-wheel) then you should start with 30lbs and go from there.

Also check out Reefs.org, specifically the Nano forum. A lot of people use the Eclipse 3 and 6 for nano-reefs, they even have articles on "modding" it to increase the lighting capability.

Keep in mind those guys are primarily interested in keeping corals alive and thriving, not octopuses, however the same principles apply, and technically Octopuses are more forgiving of Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate than some of the corals. And of course, corals aren't as dependent on the oxygen content of the water as an Octopus is:

http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=44659

And here's another nice pic of an Eclipse mini-reef:

5897_1075711366.jpg
 
i have a reef tank that is in a 39 gal eclipse and it has been setup for 3 years with no problems the only thing i dont like about it is that salt comes out the back of it but other than that every inhabitant does great i change the water biweekly and it is just fine.
 
Just how much are you getting paid by Eclipse exactly?

Okay, only joking, but that aside...

I am personally very uncomfortable with the bare minimum approach. I think that experience has shown us all here that 30gal tank just really don't cut the mustard when it comes to cephalopods. And whether we like it or not we have had a lot of new members get an octopus on a budget and lose them fairly quickly.

Myself, Nancy and Greg have seen a lot of newbies come and go. It's a shame that there haven't been more people have a go and succeed compared to those who got disillusioned and gave up.

Now, if in this hobby, we had a regular supply of properly identified and preferably captive bred dawrf octos like mercatoris, bocki, aculeatus etc then i would be happy to suggest 30gals as a minimum. As we are contending with Octopus bimaculoides as the most likely candidate for a first time cephalopoder then there is no way, under any circumstances that a 30 gal can properly support the needs of a bimac for its lifespan. It's a fact.

Please refer to pictures of Nancy's Ollie and others who have had bimacs live their entire natural lifespan, they get seriously big. And briareus, vulgaris and other get even bigger still. You only reffered to 'octopus' i dont think you mentioned a species?

Please allow me to reply to some earlier points, sorry it took so long for me to get to this thread in the first place...

There is a very good chance that your skimmer will never get to work properly bacause it is in the tank. I can well imagine the octo climbing in there and hopefully not ending up in the collection cup.

I also challenge the 'A lot of people are under the false impression that Octopuses require excellent water quality.' statement. Can you give me an example of when we dont want to provide the best water quality? In my experience they are not as settled in tanks with high nitrates and are much more skittish, therefore more prone to inking. I wouldnt like to see a 30 gal tank after a heavy inking session with such a small skimmer or worse, no skimmer.

Otherwise a I agree with a lot of what you are suggesting...

Have you not found that salt creep in an Eclipse eventually hjams the wheel? I frequent a few other forums where this has came up

Cheers
Colin
 

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