Islandoftiki's Nuvo 30 Peacock Mantis Tank

[Islandoftiki]

Nice build, enjoying the journey! Did you get your Razor? How do you like it?

 

It was supposed to be in last week, but got delayed with the holidays. I'm hoping it comes in this week. I still have the T5 HO fixture over the tank for the moment.

[Islandoftiki]

Wow, I haven't even put in the last dose of Tech M and the bryposis has disappeared.

[Acielot]

Wow, I haven't even put in the last dose of Tech M and the bryposis has disappeared.

Don't stop now! Kill it while it is weakened.

[Islandoftiki]

Don't stop now! Kill it while it is weakened.

 

Yep, one more dose tonight should put it really close to 1800ppm. I'll keep it there for a couple weeks by spiking the water change water to 1800 before letting it drop back to normal through weekly water changes with normal saltwater. I want to make sure the stuff is dead all the way down to the roots.

[Acielot]

The least glamorous pest in the hobby. At least majanos have something going for them and aiptasia are not as hard to eradicate.

[Islandoftiki]

The least glamorous pest in the hobby. At least majanos have something going for them and aiptasia are not as hard to eradicate.

 

Before it was discovered that spiking Mag with Tech M, I can imagine how much of a nightmare Bryposis was. It's even hard to kill with hydrogen peroxide.

[Islandoftiki]

So, we're up to 1800 ppm mag now using Tech M. I don't see any bryopsis anywhere now. I've spiked the mag up on some fresh saltwater for the next water change so I can keep the level up for a week or two.

 

My Alk has dropped from 7 to 6, and from what I've read, that's pretty normal when spiking mag, so I'll be bringing it back up to 7 over the next couple days and continue to keep a close eye on it.

[Islandoftiki]

Betty cleans up any fish pellets that Barney missed...

 

 

Here she pokes her head out and takes a good look at the camera.

 

[jedimasterben]

Tiki, your wife makes some badass stuff.

 

 

My grandma named it 'Luther' lol

[FlowerMama]

You have the best mantis home ever. Betty looks so incredibly comfortable - does she try to mess up the scape you made her at all? Does she decide she doesn't like anything?

[Islandoftiki]

The skimmer is starting to produce darker and darker skimmate.

 

 

Just some random pictures of Betty:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tiki, your wife makes some badass stuff.

 

My grandma named it 'Luther' lol

 

 

 

I'll give her the word that you like it! She'll be thrilled. Make sure to give her a nice review on Etsy! She's loading the kiln right now with a whole new batch of mantis mugs! Every one of them is completely different, so you can never have too many!

[jedimasterben]

I'll give her the word that you like it! She'll be thrilled. Make sure to give her a nice review on Etsy! She's loading the kiln right now with a whole new batch of mantis mugs! Every one of them is completely different, so you can never have too many!

Amen to that! I'll definitely do a write-up and I'll be purchasing at least a few more as time goes on (this one I got in the Secret Santa).

[Islandoftiki]

You have the best mantis home ever. Betty looks so incredibly comfortable - does she try to mess up the scape you made her at all? Does she decide she doesn't like anything?

 

She hasn't really moved much around except for the rubble pieces right at the entrances when she closes them off. She doesn't bother any of the corals. She's a good girl.

[FlowerMama]

She hasn't really moved much around except for the rubble pieces right at the entrances when she closes them off. She doesn't bother any of the corals. She's a good girl.

 

That's good. Mine are too small to move much of anything except food.

[Tamberav]

Tank looks sooo good and Betty is so pretty!

 

I have been patiently waiting until my husband graduates to upgrade my tanks and this thread is making it very difficult to remain patient.

[Islandoftiki]

We're in the process of firing the kiln today and if all goes well, we'll have a new batch of mantis mugs tomorrow.

 

We're a little over half-way through the process. The kiln is up to about 1400 degrees as of about 15 minutes ago.

 

[FlowerMama]

Awesome, I'll have to get myself one of those mugs.

[Islandoftiki]

Born from a metric crap-ton of heat and fire, the next batch of mantis mugs will be revealed late this evening! Stay tuned...

 

Here's what they have to survive to become coffee mugs:

 

 

We're excited to see how things came out once the kiln cools. This was only our second glaze firing in this kiln. We lost a bunch of pieces the first time due to a large temperature differential between the top and bottom of the kiln. Armed with dual pyrometers and a some new tricks, we managed to have less than a 20 degree temperature differential at 2200 degrees! Cross your fingers that the new glazes don't suck!

[FlowerMama]

Boy, that looks dangerous but awesome.

[Islandoftiki]

There are three new mantis mugs posted on my fiance's Etsy store!

 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/PeaDogStudios?section_id=14419254

 

Fortunately, we got extremely consistent firing temperatures! Unfortunately, a couple of the glazes didn't work out so well. The good news is that we can re-glaze those and re-fire them, but it'll be a few weeks before we glaze fire again. At least they aren't ruined!

 

So, that's most likely it before Christmas. There are some really sweet mugs available! Every one is hand made and completely different, so you can collect new ones as they come out!

 

I'm thinking a future project that would be cool would be mantis shrimp holiday tree ornaments!

[GHill762]

Those are awesome!

[FlowerMama]

nice!! I might just be purchasing one after the holidays for my birthday.

[Lawnman]

Awesome tank! Any pictures of your birds?

[Islandoftiki]

Awesome tank! Any pictures of your birds?

 

You mean like this?

 

This is Dory, our Congo African Grey. Some of her most famous phrases include, "I am your father!" "Who wants flapjacks?" "I'm going to take over the world." and in the most sinister of voices, "Goooooood Eeeeevening..." And at any given moment, she's probably asking you, "What are you doing? What are you doing? What are you? What are you? What are you doing?"

 

 

And this is Ahnie, he's a Timneh African Grey. He's extremely good at long sentences that are completely incomprehensible. He also says, "Ahnie Ahnie!" and "Dory Dory Dory!" Every so often, we get a "What are you doing?" and "Ahnie's a good boy!"

 

 

They're a wacky couple of birds.

[Islandoftiki]

Betty doesn't often see the little tiny magnetic cleaner that I use to get into the corners of the tank, so she's often very curious about it and wants to inspect it. She got bored after a bit and wandered off, found a little asterina starfish in a crevice on the rock. She whacks it a couple times and gives up. The little star lives to see another day. I didn't know they would eat those.