The Volcano Tank - Konolua

[xurifle06]

wow. 3 pairs of clowns. i only noticed 2. i watched the time lapse video and thought i was funny seeing the ocellaris swim towards the nem with the two blacks only to be chased away (Multiple times lol). Again sweet looking tank!

Rich

 

[spamreefnew]

i have been watching this tank with envy for months now! love it! its like 2-d vs 3-d!!

 

[Konolua]

Very unique; as if that hasn't already been pointed out. what and how do you feed the crabs? Are they learning to "know" you and do they anticipate being fed?

You bet they are used to me! Man, it is nuts...I can barely move coral around or scrub algae without them running all over my hand! Think of it this way....pretend you have a really cool cleaner shrimp. Everytime your hand goes in the water, the thing comes swimming over and runs up and down your hand. Now, sometimes that nice light pretty cleaner shrimp picks on your skin and every now and then it gets under your cuticle on your fingers....that happened to you? Remember how that hurts like hell and it comes out of nowhere? Yeah.....

.....so, now imagine that shrimp can't swim but is instead 10 times the size, and 20 times the weight, with 20 times the size of the claws, and everytime you put your hand in, 8 or so of them run at you. But, it is not like the cleaner shrimp where you can see it...no, these dudes are stealth ninjas that drop like spiders...or come out of holes, or blend in with the rock you are moving! And, they are not mean...and in fact they are more interested in what is going on than "attacking" but if they get the side of your finger, or your pinky...man IT KILLS!!

So, anyway, just a side affect. I know how to pick them up and handle them, but it's the routine stuff that they get me on since I am not expecting it......

Oh, and I feed them shrimp, krill, squid, and lettuce.

 

[Konolua]

wow. 3 pairs of clowns. i only noticed 2. i watched the time lapse video and thought i was funny seeing the ocellaris swim towards the nem with the two blacks only to be chased away (Multiple times lol). Again sweet looking tank!

Rich

Pair of black ocellaris too....in the time lapse, you can see one very clearly in the back left, and the other stays smack in the middle back of the tank (rad).

 

[buffalo123]

Great set up; wonder what other plant life could be placed on the rock other than the mangrove.

 

[pech29]

That's really different! Great idea! I would be worried my cat would jump on the volcano, lol...

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Beautiful tank! I love the uniqueness of it.

 

[jason2459]

...Most people don't build big reef tanks for crabs.....


:jester:

Those crabs are one of my favorite parts of this setup. Love all the pictures. Thanks for sharing.

 

[biecacka]

guess ill have to have you ship me some of those crabs....

 

[timdam]

seriously though, those crabs are colorful.

 

[sg1838]

Wow...Way to think outside the box (pun intended). Love the fact that the crabs can go in and out of the water. Fantastic job...

 

[jbird69]

just curious. Is your system quiet enough to hear your crabs "clicking" when theyre out of water? That would be a cool sensory addition to a tank...see, smell, hear....lol

 

[ReeferGladness]

Very original. I love the rock pool and the expanse of sand with no rocks beyond the volcano. Would like to see more pics of equipment and corals if you get a chance.

Thanks.

 

[hul kogan]

Wow, what an extraordinarily unique tank! Excellent job, it looks great.

I am currently working on my shallow reef project and have considered allowing some of the rocks to break the surface, so it is very interesting to see how someone else approached the concept. I'm not sure I will end up doing this sort of thing with my build but it great to see someone who successfully executed the concept in a unique manner.

Kudos to your sir!

 

[RobbyVonAwesome]

I love this tank! It's one of the most original ideas I've ever seen.

TOTM! TOTM!! TOTM!!!

 

[Konolua]

just curious. Is your system quiet enough to hear your crabs "clicking" when theyre out of water? That would be a cool sensory addition to a tank...see, smell, hear....lol

Here's a question from a guy that knows his crabs!

And, yes, big time. Since they large, it is very noticeable, but even more so is the fact that they are mostly terrestrial, they have very large sacs, which makes them even louder. Very interesting dynamic.

If anyone thought a pistol shrimp was loud......:fun2:

 

[Konolua]

So, I get asked all the time on how the Volcano structure was formed, and I shall answer!
(I am cheating on this one though.....as I get asked this alot, I have a canned answer prepared.....sorry!)

:bounce3::bounce3::bounce3:


It is created from 5 pieces of large lace rock. I needed to service the overflow, so I thought I would take a couple of pictures with the top off. Here you go....

So, you can see the valve for the waterfalls, and the drain pipe. I had to cut egg crate to keep the crabs from venturing down. I also have a huge drain strainer on the intake as well incase they get through the egg crate (only happened once with a small guy, so I put the strainer in after that). There is a dead waterfall tube, which is the turquoise one in the middle, along with the blue one (I am not sure why I have not cut that....I just noticed it looking at the picture).

The main line is T’d on the left and feeds the upper waterfall that empties above the anemone, and the other end of the T is T’d again, to reduce water travel to another that empties on the anemone side, but above the zoanthid rock. Lastly, the one that is wrapped around and was pouring on the valve is the one that supplies the top of the volcano and then feeds the “basin” rock that now has the starting of a couple of zoanthids.

Of course, the elbow T right here in front is from the sump pump returning to the tank.

Hope some of this makes sense.....though it does look Mickey Mouse’d, it actually took a lot of thought. For instance, T’ing the waterfall line in a different order results in different water pressures....and I wanted the right waterfall to equal that of the left. The second waterfall on the right (that is behind the big one) is more to just keep the rock moist..which is perfect. That is where all the copepods and amphipods hang out. Ideal!

 

[Konolua]

Here is the sump under the tank....(this is current)


---------------
These pictures below are when I was getting the tank up and running to start. I had liverock in there for cycling purposes...it has since been removed. The protein skimmer since has been moved to the middle chamber. No need for a refugium due to the mangroves.

---------------

Here is the side access and the skimmer. Disregard the crooked drain line. I have to re-silcone a spot (used this huge drain line) and I didn't tighten it yet.

This is the front access, left side. The pickup drops and exits the side of the stand and elbows outside. The return for that same line is down there too, but not visible. The pump is the return through the overflow.

You can see the drilling, and I did not aimlessly put holes in the stand, the weird holes are the former needs of the previous reef tank. The chiller return line is visible in the back.

Here is a close up of that return. Not sure why I showed this. Oh well.

Here is the "shed" I mentioned. Rubbermaid. Waterproof. I drilled holes in it, attached screen and small water diverters for instances of rain or sprinklers. The attachment for the trash can for mixed water is on the left.




So, to explain the water change system a bit more.....

It's on a closed loop. The picture is almost directly from the top. The pump itself is outside in a small storage-shed thing.

So, the pump has two intake sources, split by a T-Valve. Normally, it is fed by the intake from the tank (that is the pipe that runs from the house (back right in the picture). The valve on the T (the closed valve with the the power cord on it), stays closed and is only used to connect to my trash can that I mix water in.

Then, returning from the pump, you see the union valve and then a T split there. The red handled valve off the T-split leads to the underground drain. It is currently shut in the picture. Otherwise, the grey valve (that is open) is business as usual and feeds the chiller and returns back into the house.

It's not the prettiest remote station I have ever set up, but it is funny when you use your own money, you tend not to buy the best materials! But hey, aside from cleaning and prepping the water, the change itself is less than 5 minutes and requires me to turn three valves! Can't beat that!

 

[RobbyVonAwesome]

How many gph is diverted from the return to the waterfall? How do you control how much water goes through the waterfall? Also, does it make a lot of noise?

Do you have any supplemental flow in the tank? I don't see any powerheads in the display.

Are the rocks secured in any way, or just stacked up?

 

[jbird69]

Wow! Ya know its funny, when someone shows up here, posts a great tank right out of the gate, its easy to think....this guys just a newb who did his research, did somethin crazy and got lucky. Thats so clearly not the case here. You have definitly raised the bar! Now that we see the inner workings and the attention to detail, its very obvious this was a very well planned build.

I cant help but think of the limitless possibilities of doing something like this with a fabricated rock structure.