Islandoftiki

We need to have a happy hour or two before you leave too!

Yes. Yes we do. Figuring out my schedule for that this week.

No need' date=' just dig some hose under ground through everyone's property. When they complain explain the importance of your mantis research[/quote']

 

Oh, that would be interesting to try to dig out. LOL. Especially considering municipal water pipes are above ground in many places because it's too difficult to bury them in solid lava rock.

You need to pump straight from the ocean and let your overflow dump right back into the ocean. Eliminate the need for all the other equipment.

Wouldn't that be amazing. No water changes, no temperature or other parameter swings. Sadly, we're not getting enough from the sale of our house to buy oceanfront. Not sure I would want to be either after the last tsunami. We're just aiming for an ocean view.

You'll love it there. Maybe when you buy a house you can build a huge inwall setup and fill it with all the native species.

One of the exciting things is being able to collect your own livestock for free. How many different varieties of zoas and palys will I be able to find?

Ladies and Germs,

As I'm making plans to transfer my last remaining tank (the Nuvo 30 gallon peacock mantis tank) to it's new owner this weekend, I thought it was time to start a new thread to stay connected to all of my PNWMAS friends as Pamela and I embark upon the next chapter in our lives. The big island of Hawaii!

Our house is currently pending sale and we have our plane tickets in hand. My last day in Oregon will be November 6th. After that, we'll be calling the Kailua-Kona area our home for the foreseeable future.

We're getting rid of all of our furniture except for the sentimental stuff in hopes of cramming everything into a 20 foot container.

I'm bringing with me my 2 gallon pest tank, my 10 gallon Micro-Reefs tank, my 25 gallon Micro-Reefs tank and a brand new Nuvo Fusion 30L that I hope will house a O. brevirostris mantis shrimp if I can find one. Initially we'll be renting until we can find a place to buy, so the first tank to get set up will likely be the 2 gallon pico tank with some unusual and interesting endemic tidepool creatures and Hawaiian zoas.

I'll keep everybody posted on our progress on this thread and start new tank threads as they come online when we get settled in Hawaii.

Wish us luck and stay tuned...

In the meantime, here's a picture of one of the local beaches from our last trip:

Coming for her dinner like a runaway freight train!

No clip-on ties for Jackson. He's all about style.

This afternoon, I did the airline mod for the Tunze 9002 and I'm testing it out in the temporary 7.5 gallon tank. Looks a little out of place, but Chuck doesn't care that it's in there.

I also got the two Koralia Nano 425's today, so I threw them in to make sure they work and the water flow is good. It is.

Must be getting ready to molt soon' date=' hes awesome though love the blue on him[/quote']

 

He's just getting comfortable and building a den to his liking. He hasn't closed himself in or anything like that. About the time he gets completely comfortable, the 25 gallon tank will be cycled and then he will get moved into that tank.

 

My little G. Viridis just came out from a two week molt sequestration. A long time for such a small mantis. Second time he's closed himself up for that long. I guess that's just his deal.

 

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Here's a quick picture of Chuck and his mad building skills.

These guys could get a job building stone retaining walls if they were larger... and terrestrial.

He built that entire wall all by himself. Note the creative use of a dwarf cerith shell as a finial. Brilliant.

I haven't been able to find mine since I moved. I'll do a little digging tonight.

Grats man, that's awesome! It's always fun to win things. I won an Xbox many years ago playing an obscure online game. Didn't even know I was entered in the contest!

Good grief. I can't even comprehend the complexity of that system... or the cost.

They can be tricky little buggers. I'm already starting to contemplate how to get my mantis into his new home, and I'm probably a month away from having the tank running and cycled...

This makes me want to build my own tank now... Ok, first I need to complete my current project.

I really like how your tank is coming along. I don't think you're going to see a cycle if you're using fully cured rock. I never had a detectable cycle in my 2 gallon tank that used fully cured rock.

I'm probably still a month out from having my mantis/mushroom tank up and cycled, but if you still have any, these are exactly what I'll be looking for then.

It's all good' date=' no worries. I'm going with the little yellow guys, a cleaner shrimp, and a super small clown. Zoa garden [/quote']

 

Excellent!

 

Good call on the cleaner shrimp. They are total hams. I have two in my 10 gallon and they are always the stars of the show. Always front and center, begging for attention, food, or the opportunity to clean your hand.

Fascinating! They really do freak out with the red color. I wonder what triggers that or why that would be an advantage in the wild.

The chiller is because most AIO tanks tend to run on the warm side. When you throw in a couple powerheads, the pump for the filtration and toss in some lighting on top of that, they often run warm, especially in the summer... just like my AIO pico tank (which needs a chiller). Heck, even my 10 gallon needs a fan in the summer to keep it cool and we have A/C that we set to 78. I only have one powerhead in that tank; the other is an MP10. I'm going to put a peltier chiller on it next spring.

I don't think heat is as much of an issue with most sumped tanks because you get more evaporation.

Ok, we're wet with tap water! Pumps are running; chiller/heater is doing it's thing.

I'll let it hum away for a couple days while I sort out the details of where it's going to reside in the house.

I want to get a feel for what level of evaporation to expect, how effective the heater part of the chiller is (will it need a supplemental heater), and make sure there are no leaks.

So far, so good. Everything is happy. I might stuff the skimmer into the 7.5 gallon tank in the next day or two, fire it up and see what it can produce.

The jellyfish tank at Epcot Center had tons of pods in it. It there were so many it looked like stars in the sky against the black background. Very cool.

Those are really cool. What do you feed them?

Ooooh, neato!

Hey, what do you guys think about elevating the live rock to the level of the substrate with acrylic rods? Has anyone done this? I've seen it recommended in a couple places but I've always just put the live rock on the sand bed.

This picture is circulating on Facebook. Made me smile.