Yoshii's Old School 2.5g Hawaiian Pico 🌴

[yoshii]

13 hours ago, seabass said:

Love the pics from your new camera!  Your tank looks very nice right now.  And that cotton candy Galaxaura really stands out.

Thank you! Hopefully I don't slack off and I can keep it looking nice

The Galaxaura is definitely my favorite, I found it in less than a foot of water on my last collecting trip 

13 hours ago, Tigahboy said:

Beautiful.  You are so lucky you get to pluck all of that macroalgae right out of the ocean.  Have to get mine mailed to me. 

Haha yes but I have to hunt for them

9 hours ago, Tempestas said:

Wow! That is a seriously beautiful collection of macro.

Hope the temperature swings settle down and they get growing.

Thank you!

 

They seem to be handling the huge swings (70-88 lately 😱) just fine. But I am looking into potential chiller options

[yoshii]

9 hours ago, Felicia said:

This is looking amazing and just like a signature Christina tank!  How are you liking the TG-6?  I bought a TG-5 a few months back to use as my new underwater camera when diving and I love it!  I hadn't thought to use it for aquarium photos though!  Did you actually stick the camera in the tank to take the macro photos?  What a neat idea and seems like it should be so obvious.  I will definitely have to start doing that!

Thanks Felicia! I actually haven't used it in water yet, I just wanted to play around with it and see how it work for tank pics. The tank is a little too small to stick the camera inside without blocking all the light haha but I've done it in other tanks before, it works pretty well.

 

I'm going to take the TG-6 on my next snorkel and dive trips, as long as I stay above 50ft! But your dive photos always turn out great so I hope the TG-6 performs similarly!

[yoshii]

9 hours ago, Tamberav said:

Gorgeous tank! Macro tanks are my absolute favorite!

Thank you!

7 hours ago, Dirté Sanchez said:

It looks like a flower arrangement! So pretty!!

Thanks! I tried to go for contrasting colors

6 hours ago, growsomething said:

That coloration is exactly what i hope to have, just one or 2 touches of green, with pink, red, purple, yellow. Beautiful.  Except the dead man's fingers.  It washes up in masses here after every cold front.  You sure it's all going in the tank? 😉

https://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20070326/News/605206558

Haha yummy! I've tried Gracilaria and some other algae, but I haven't tried codium yet. Maybe I'll have to make that codium salad

[Felicia]

On 2/22/2020 at 11:24 AM, yoshii said:

Thanks Felicia! I actually haven't used it in water yet, I just wanted to play around with it and see how it work for tank pics. The tank is a little too small to stick the camera inside without blocking all the light haha but I've done it in other tanks before, it works pretty well.

 

I'm going to take the TG-6 on my next snorkel and dive trips, as long as I stay above 50ft! But your dive photos always turn out great so I hope the TG-6 performs similarly!

Well it took some nice tank pics, even from outside the water!  I usually just use my iPhone for tank photos, but I should use my nice camera.  😀I know quite a few divers who have the TG-6 and I believe its very similar to the TG-5.  I just went with the older model because we use that model at work and I was already familiar with it.  The microscope mode on those cameras is amazing and its great that they're waterproof to 50 feet without a case.  I have the Olympus housing for diving and it works great as well.

[yoshii]

On 2/23/2020 at 4:24 PM, Felicia said:

Well it took some nice tank pics, even from outside the water!  I usually just use my iPhone for tank photos, but I should use my nice camera.  😀I know quite a few divers who have the TG-6 and I believe its very similar to the TG-5.  I just went with the older model because we use that model at work and I was already familiar with it.  The microscope mode on those cameras is amazing and its great that they're waterproof to 50 feet without a case.  I have the Olympus housing for diving and it works great as well.

I am planning a dive trip in CA later this month so I'll get to test it out diving soon!

[yoshii]

Brief tank update, everything looks the same except my Cotton Candy Galaxaura all of a sudden started dying last week. I moved it more to the center of the tank and added some fertilizer, so far I don't think it's getting worse 🤞

[Felicia]

On 3/6/2020 at 12:02 AM, yoshii said:

I am planning a dive trip in CA later this month so I'll get to test it out diving soon!

Where are you planning to go diving?  Somewhere in Monterey?

[billygoat]

Well, we're here on page 17 and I am just now getting on board with this pico... but I've been lurking for quite some time and I have to say I love everything that's going on here! What kind of home aquarist collects their own livestock?! It's unique and incredible and I hope it never stops. Excellent job. I'll be following along from here for sure.

 

Your 10g macro tank in the TOTM archive was one of the systems that really caught my eye when I was getting into the hobby about a year and a half ago. So thanks for everything you've taught me without even knowing it! 😂

[yoshii]

On 3/10/2020 at 3:49 PM, Felicia said:

Where are you planning to go diving?  Somewhere in Monterey?

Catalina and San Diego! I was planning on going to Monterey last December, but got a cold.

On 3/10/2020 at 3:58 PM, billygoat said:

Well, we're here on page 17 and I am just now getting on board with this pico... but I've been lurking for quite some time and I have to say I love everything that's going on here! What kind of home aquarist collects their own livestock?! It's unique and incredible and I hope it never stops. Excellent job. I'll be following along from here for sure.

 

Your 10g macro tank in the TOTM archive was one of the systems that really caught my eye when I was getting into the hobby about a year and a half ago. So thanks for everything you've taught me without even knowing it! 😂

Thank you for the kind words!!

 

I like macro algae and I like simple tanks haha

[Felicia]

1 hour ago, yoshii said:

Catalina and San Diego! I was planning on going to Monterey last December, but got a cold.

Nice!  I've been diving around Catalina, but not in San Diego.  Are you diving at the dive park in Avalon off of Catalina Island, or are you going out on one of the liveaboards?

[Christopher Marks]

That Cotton Candy Galaxaura is so cool @yoshii! I hope it can be sustained in there. What fertilizer are you using for the macro algae?

[yoshii]

On 3/12/2020 at 8:37 PM, Felicia said:

Nice!  I've been diving around Catalina, but not in San Diego.  Are you diving at the dive park in Avalon off of Catalina Island, or are you going out on one of the liveaboards?

I haven't been to Catalina before. Although it looks like I may have to cancel...they are cancelling a lot of flights 😕 But I was planning on going to the dive park.

13 hours ago, Christopher Marks said:

That Cotton Candy Galaxaura is so cool @yoshii! I hope it can be sustained in there. What fertilizer are you using for the macro algae?

Thanks CM! I added some f/2, which is actually for microalgae culture, but I had a little bit on hand so I wanted to see what would happen. I don't know if it made any difference

[yoshii]

While cleaning the tank today I found this teeny tiny nudi crawling on some Codium! Although I don't think it was eating the Codium since the nudi is not green.

Possibly Tenellia sp. or Eubranchus sp. is my best guess.

 

 

This one has a bobby pin for scale, it's a tiny nudi!

[Tempestas]

Wow. It's amazing that you are able to capture such a tiny creature on camera.

[yoshii]

On 3/14/2020 at 10:19 PM, Tempestas said:

Wow. It's amazing that you are able to capture such a tiny creature on camera.

I tried out the "microscope" mode feature on my new Olympus TG 6! It turned out nicely!

[yoshii]

Finally got around to deep cleaning the tank today and fixing some algae that had come off from the rock. Unfortunately the Cotton Candy Galaxaura continued to decline, I still have a few little pieces left but I don't expect they'll make it. Still not sure why it suddenly started dying.

 

On a positive note, I was given a ton of Halymenia today (Dragon's breath). I had so much, I stuck some in the tank and then blanched a few handfuls and put it in a salad 😂 I think it would go good in poke or other seafood but I don't have any rn. First time trying blanched seaweed, it was ok, not very flavorful, but still had a crunchy texture. I just drenched it in salad dressing and it was edible.

 

 

And of course, a quick pic of some in the tank

 

I'll get an updated FTS tomorrow when the dust settles.

[MainelyReefer]

3 hours ago, yoshii said:

it was ok, not very flavorful, but still had a crunchy texture. I just drenched it in salad dressing and it was edible

Perfect description of any salad

[debbeach13]

You are braver than I am. I have tried the rice and veggie sushi but just no desire to try raw fish or sea weed. Unless the veggie part was seaweed! Do you think now that you tasted it you will eat it again? 

[A.m.P]

Some macro's taste better than others, there's a reason why nori is so popular, it dries well, has a great texture, and a surprisingly-addictive flavor.

[yoshii]

17 hours ago, GraniteReefer said:

Perfect description of any salad

Haha so true!!

15 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

You are braver than I am. I have tried the rice and veggie sushi but just no desire to try raw fish or sea weed. Unless the veggie part was seaweed! Do you think now that you tasted it you will eat it again? 

I like raw fish, although it took me a few times to get used to the texture. I've mostly had raw seaweed (Ogo, Gracilaria) as a garnish or mixed in with with seafood like poke. Or I've had others like wakame in seaweed salad, which was delicious! I would eat this Halymenia again, but probably not so much of it, and I'd try it in a different kind of dish.

14 hours ago, Amphrites said:

Some macro's taste better than others, there's a reason why nori is so popular, it dries well, has a great texture, and a surprisingly-addictive flavor.

I've sampled quite a few different red macros along the CA coast. Some are quite flavorful! I forgot which species, but I remember some had a nice peppery flavor.

[Lypto]

Ulva is kind of rubbery raw for me but works well in a salad. Theres a slightly more tubular ulva that I think is used in seaweed salad, kelp can be crunchy and nice dried out. I get worried around algae near socal cities though (especially long beach) so I tend to avoid sampling 😁

[yoshii]

A quick FTS with the new Halymenia

 

[yoshii]

1 hour ago, Lypto said:

Ulva is kind of rubbery raw for me but works well in a salad. Theres a slightly more tubular ulva that I think is used in seaweed salad, kelp can be crunchy and nice dried out. I get worried around algae near socal cities though (especially long beach) so I tend to avoid sampling 😁

Hmm I haven't tried ulva or dried kelp yet! Do you know what kind of kelp is used?

[Lypto]

I think the type I tried was bullwhip kelp,I've also had a mushroom and bullwhip kelp soup that was amazing, but heres a good list of some commonly eaten species in cali: https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Marine/Kelp/Commonly-Harvested-Marine-Algae

I've had seaweed salad with chopped Ulva lactuca that was good with sushi but Japanese seaweed salad is made with Wakame seaweed or Undaria pinnatifida. Wakame seaweed had a very strange texture I'm not sure if I like. It felt like biting a softer nylon rope that kind of came apart and was too crunchy...... I wonder If you could grow some. I know another commonly used species is Caluerpa Lentillifera.

[debbeach13]

That FTS is so pretty.

I hope you don't get hungry LOL.