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Yoshii's Old School 2.5g Hawaiian Pico 🌴


yoshii

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Snow_Phoenix
1 hour ago, seabass said:

I had some, but it seemed to die off; however, then it sprouted all over on a number of rocks.  I proceeded to make it wither to almost nothing with low nutrient levels.  As nutrients increased, it has taken off again.  I'm not saying that I have any secret method, but I've been keeping it since before the last pico contest.

I've tried sargassum twice before and twice it died on me. But the algae I received was already in poor condition, so I'm not sure if that contributed to its early demise. I find them beautiful otherwise. It's a shame I don't live near the beach - to my knowledge, we have strict laws against the collection of corals and animals in protected reef zones (especially areas ringing islands) but anything from the tidepools or close to the shoreline can be collected. I used to collect these tiny white crabs whenever I went on vacation in Port Dickson. They were filter feeders and very unique, but hopeless CUC though. But they were still very attractive. 

 

Our tidepools are mostly fill with algae, tiny gobies and tiny blennies - but you'll need a small net or scoop to catch them. And there's no law against collecting any macro. 

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2 hours ago, seabass said:

I had some, but it seemed to die off; however, then it sprouted all over on a number of rocks.  I proceeded to make it wither to almost nothing with low nutrient levels.  As nutrients increased, it has taken off again.  I'm not saying that I have any secret method, but I've been keeping it since before the last pico contest.

Wow, thanks for sharing seabass.  That is very encouraging and maybe just what I needed to hear to consider getting some.

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On 4/1/2019 at 1:11 AM, vlangel said:

I can see why you like the turbinaria ornata.  Its very attractive and I hope you can keep it in the pico.  It has that same nice color as sargassum which I have always wanted to try.  Sargassum also needs high light and fairly good flow.  I have never met an aquarist that has had success with it however.

 

On 4/1/2019 at 2:57 AM, seabass said:

I had some, but it seemed to die off; however, then it sprouted all over on a number of rocks.  I proceeded to make it wither to almost nothing with low nutrient levels.  As nutrients increased, it has taken off again.  I'm not saying that I have any secret method, but I've been keeping it since before the last pico contest.

I think it really depends on the species. And the life stage. If you get an adult plant (especially a piece without a holdfast) I think it's harder to keep alive. I've had some smaller pieces survive, although they didn't grow very fast, I think at the time my lighting wasn't intense enough

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Today I was slightly tempted to keep this little guy for the pico 😂 better than an tang! Yellow-margin morays get 7.5ft, so maybe at 7ft I'd get a bigger tank 😛

 

IMG_20190402_180234921.jpg

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Wow thats pretty crazy on the restrictions.  I lived at Hickam from 8 weeks old to 4 years old.  I dont have many memories from Hawaii but my mom misses it so much.  She said base housing sucked (shocker) but we were rarely inside. we mainly lived on the beach 😂

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I love the idea collecting from tidepools.  I might have to do that for fun.  I have accidentally caught shrimp in the surf (saw them getting pulled out and won on a blind grab, yay me!). But I haven't looked at any tide pools.  There are supposedly some good ones about 30 min. south of me.

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4 hours ago, lkoechle said:

I love the idea collecting from tidepools.  I might have to do that for fun.  I have accidentally caught shrimp in the surf (saw them getting pulled out and won on a blind grab, yay me!). But I haven't looked at any tide pools.  There are supposedly some good ones about 30 min. south of me.

I was surprised of the variety of fish that are in the tidepools here. I'm used to CA tidepools with the occasional sculpin or some opaleye. Here, there's lot of the little gobies and blennies, but also butterflies, tangs, squirrelfish, wrasses, etc. Stuff you don't expect to find in a tidepool. Especially at night, when they are all sleeping, I've been surprised seeing a big Naso sleeping on bed of algae in a tiny pool

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6 hours ago, yoshii said:

I was surprised of the variety of fish that are in the tidepools here. I'm used to CA tidepools with the occasional sculpin or some opaleye. Here, there's lot of the little gobies and blennies, but also butterflies, tangs, squirrelfish, wrasses, etc. Stuff you don't expect to find in a tidepool. Especially at night, when they are all sleeping, I've been surprised seeing a big Naso sleeping on bed of algae in a tiny pool

That is so stinking cool!

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Hm so I looked up some more info about the Hawaii aquarium fishing ban and I think it bans all fine mesh nets, no matter the size, for recreational and commercial. I need to find the legal language, but I may have to avoid nets for now. I think I'll need to call DOCARE (enforcement) to ask if it would be ok to use my hands or a plastic cup or something.

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1 minute ago, Tigahboy said:

Bummer.  I see little kids with nets all the time at Ala Moana (just pay one of those little kids to get one for you).  

Haha, nah there's nothing that interesting at Ala Moana. Most interesting thing I saw there was an ugly mantis shrimp and some sand-colored gobies.

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Saw a bunch of these little cardinals hiding under ledges while diving today. Bay Cardinals, endemic to Hawaii. They weren't scared, just hung out under overhangs. As juvis they look clear like this pic, when they get older they become more of a mottled gray-brown. If they stayed clear, a few would be cool to put in the pico

 

 

cardinal.jpg

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That would be such a cool fish for your pico!  Now you just have to figure out how to catch it without a net.  Maybe a tiny pico-sized fishing pole. 

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1 minute ago, Tigahboy said:

That would be such a cool fish for your pico!  Now you just have to figure out how to catch it without a net.  Maybe a tiny pico-sized fishing pole. 

Lol with a tiny mysid shrimp as bait! :lol:

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Since they didn't dart into holes, it actually would have been easy to sweep them into a plastic bag or cup. I need to find time during the week to call to see if those would be legal...

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Snow_Phoenix
1 hour ago, yoshii said:

Since they didn't dart into holes, it actually would have been easy to sweep them into a plastic bag or cup. I need to find time during the week to call to see if those would be legal...

 Can you use mesh baskets? It's not made of mesh, per say, but simply plastic with mesh-like holes in them:

 

https://www.indiamart.com/proddetail/plastic-mesh-basket-4220800748.html

 

I use them to scoop up my more sensitive fish or spiky critters (eg. sea urchins etc.). It works, but you'll have to be quick if you're chasing after small fish. 

 

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On 4/3/2019 at 9:17 PM, Snow_Phoenix said:

 Can you use mesh baskets? It's not made of mesh, per say, but simply plastic with mesh-like holes in them:

 

https://www.indiamart.com/proddetail/plastic-mesh-basket-4220800748.html

 

I use them to scoop up my more sensitive fish or spiky critters (eg. sea urchins etc.). It works, but you'll have to be quick if you're chasing after small fish. 

 

I don't know, but that's a good idea, I will ask!

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I'm having a problem with temperature in the spot where I want the tank to sit. I want it to get enough light for the corals/macro, but not get too hot. I've been monitoring the temperature in that spot with a glass thermometer the past week. During the day (without direct sunlight, curtain drawn) it's a nice 78-80 degrees. However, at night if I have the window open (which I usually do) one night it dropped down to 70 eek! So I tried closing that bottom window portion (Hawaii windows are weird and don't close all the way, see below pic) and the temp only dropped to a more reasonable 74.

 

So with the sun (plus a HOB)...I'm worried the tank will boil. I think the glass thermometer got to 84 after being in the sun under 10min. Will this change with 2.5g of water? I hope so. I'm not exactly sure how much direct sun the tank will be exposed to during the day.

 

IMG_20190406_071644440.jpg

IMG_20190406_071717003.jpg

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Actually I just got an idea, I could borrow a PAR meter and compare lighting. I think I may have to end up keeping the curtain drawn. Then either just avoid high light species, or suck it up and try to find a PAR38 that isn't too blue.

 

We'll see!

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31 minutes ago, yoshii said:

I'm having a problem with temperature in the spot where I want the tank to sit. I want it to get enough light for the corals/macro, but not get too hot. I've been monitoring the temperature in that spot with a glass thermometer the past week. During the day (without direct sunlight, curtain drawn) it's a nice 78-80 degrees. However, at night if I have the window open (which I usually do) one night it dropped down to 70 eek! So I tried closing that bottom window portion (Hawaii windows are weird and don't close all the way, see below pic) and the temp only dropped to a more reasonable 74.

 

So with the sun (plus a HOB)...I'm worried the tank will boil. I think the glass thermometer got to 84 after being in the sun under 10min. Will this change with 2.5g of water? I hope so. I'm not exactly sure how much direct sun the tank will be exposed to during the day.

 

IMG_20190406_071644440.jpg

IMG_20190406_071717003.jpg

Tricky situation... 

 

large desk fan on timer when suns out 

And for night time you can get a pico blanket.. 😂 

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31 minutes ago, 748S911 said:

Tricky situation... 

 

large desk fan on timer when suns out 

And for night time you can get a pico blanket.. 😂 

I thought about the fan, although I watched the temp for another 20min this morning and it continued to climb close to 90. That's with the thermometer sitting in a tiny cup of water, but still.

 

I'll get some PAR readings today and try to brainstorm potential other ways of keeping the tank cool

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Collecting update: So I called the enforcement agency and the guy told me I can collect (non-commercial) as long as I don't use a fine mesh net. Yay! We'll see how hard it will be to catch some tidepool critters with a plastic cup/bag.

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2 minutes ago, yoshii said:

Collecting update: So I called the enforcement agency and the guy told me I can collect (non-commercial) as long as I don't use a fine mesh net. Yay! We'll see how hard it will be to catch some tidepool critters with a plastic cup/bag.

Could you use fish traps or anything like that? Weigh them down with fishing weights and bait them with shrimp or something? Sorry, this was the first pic I saw, lol

 

Related image

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