The Volcano Tank - Konolua

[oceanluvr]

I absolutely LOVE your tank! Its beautiful and soooooo unique. I've never seen another like it. And I didn't even know you could do a tank like that wit out of water stuff. Stunning and Absolutely Gorgeous

[KafudaFish]

I remember seeing this great tank several months ago and wondered what happened with it. Thank you for sharing.

I may have missed this but have you thought about crashing waves onto the shoreline?
Say two hours per night to add to the sound effects?

Yeah I know, great tank but how about THIS?

[Montreal Ray]

wow, very nice! Different for sure!

[jbird69]

Im on board here. Just love the idea! I have seen those crabs in tidal areas all up and down the west coast. Nearly lost a finger to some as a kid! They actually get quite large. Im curious how well they acclimated to the warm water of a reef tank? Did you have 100% survival rate with introducing them?

I also saw in one of your earlier shots an anemone that looks a bit like a west coast tidal species.?

Great job! Extremely inspiring.

[Pcrain]

I love this build soo amazingly unique!
I love how you cant see any equipment, 2 environments 1 tank
what are you using for you return you seem to get plenty of flow from it along with waterfalls!

is evaporation extreme bc of the waterfalls?

im going to sum this up AWESOME BUILD GJ

[carolina reefer]

WOW! Great idea and execution. Definitely a different and unusual approach. That is something to look at all the time.

[Navyblue]

Certainly an inspiration for me! I had an impulse to make one myself, just that it would take an awful lot of rocks to pile through my 2' tall tank, and I'll have trouble finding animals that would crawl up the hill and at the same time won't eat all the wrong stuffs in my tank.

Btw, would the regular hermits and emerald crab crawl out of water if they could?

[hoffy02]

Originally Posted by mreye23

This is by far hands down the coolest tank i have ever seen.........i dont want my 180 any more lol

I dont want my tank or any other... All other tanks are now inferior to this one....


To the OP...... Simply, amazing....

if this doesnt win TOTM im sure TOTM is a rigged contest...

[lostintheocean]

nice look but that sail fin has to go, WAY to small and shallow its fins will be stickign out of the water in no time

[Konolua]

Originally Posted by jbird69

Im on board here. Just love the idea! I have seen those crabs in tidal areas all up and down the west coast. Nearly lost a finger to some as a kid! They actually get quite large. Im curious how well they acclimated to the warm water of a reef tank? Did you have 100% survival rate with introducing them?

I also saw in one of your earlier shots an anemone that looks a bit like a west coast tidal species.?

Great job! Extremely inspiring.

Acclimated well.....and a large part of that is because of the environment they come from; tidepools. Since they are used to temperature swings from 60* to 100*, they are very hardy to adapt. An interesting side-effect of the slightly warmer water (I run 76*, which is a touch below where other people tend to sit) is the algaes that normal attach to there shells are different. Very odd to see. They let the tangs pick the algae off their shells too.....which is fun to watch.

[Konolua]

Originally Posted by Pcrain

I love this build soo amazingly unique!
I love how you cant see any equipment, 2 environments 1 tank
what are you using for you return you seem to get plenty of flow from it along with waterfalls!

is evaporation extreme bc of the waterfalls?

im going to sum this up AWESOME BUILD GJ

Thanks! The main return pump from the sump is split in three ways (I explained this a touch on page 2 I think), but as such, it is a nice healthy flow. Personally, I would like to see a bit MORE flow on the right, but it is a 1/4" ID tube split 3 ways so what can I expect?!

Evaporation is a lot, but not extreme, as I lose almost no water at night nor until noon. But I do lose more than a normal open top tank would.

[Konolua]

Originally Posted by Navyblue

Certainly an inspiration for me! I had an impulse to make one myself, just that it would take an awful lot of rocks to pile through my 2' tall tank, and I'll have trouble finding animals that would crawl up the hill and at the same time won't eat all the wrong stuffs in my tank.

Btw, would the regular hermits and emerald crab crawl out of water if they could?

You may get a stray hermit, but certainly not out of habit. The emerald crabs (and many Mithrax crabs and Xanthidae crabs) do not have the "purging" requirements that the semi-terrestrial crabs need. Sally Light Foot crabs are an example of one that would occassionally leave for the open air, but they fear predation out of the water, where these big guys only really fear air threats. A Sally Light Foot would jump and do they ridiculous "running so fast I am swimming" thing if you were to walk by them while out of water.

Definitely need a typical shore crab.....

[Konolua]

Originally Posted by lostintheocean

nice look but that sail fin has to go, WAY to small and shallow its fins will be stickign out of the water in no time

I'm on board too! He's only got a couple months left here anyway. I love that guy, which is one reason why I couldn't bear him being trashed by the LFS and why I am trying to get him in a nice big tank!

Given the life style of the Purple Tang, he will most likely stay with me. He's as happy as a clam here. On the left, I have a little "tavern" kind of thing built under the sand and he actually spends quite some time there. It stretches from the left (under the staghorn) and connects back to under the left wall of the volcano. I have 2.5" black PVC piping under there (though the bottom is slightly cut along the length so it sits flat to the tank). A little highway system for the crabs. Never did I think the Purple Tang would spend so much time down there!!!

In fairness, a ton of algae grows there (It is lit from underneath by the sump light I keep on a timer).

But, I am on board with getting the Sailfin into a monstrous tank! I have had him for 3 years (aside from his 4 month stint at the LFS) so he's special to me!

[HHIreefer843]

this is the most incredible tank i have ever seen!!!! i am in LOVE.....you should def be up for TOTM!!! and if uve had the sailfin for 3 years hes obviously pretty happy in that amazing tank, so i wouldnt pay too much attention to that!!!! Congrats on such an amazing tank!!!

[harv1324]

Excellent Idea, nice to see something so original. Thanks for sharing.

[jbird69]

Originally Posted by Konolua

It stretches from the left (under the staghorn) and connects back to under the left wall of the volcano. I have 2.5" black PVC piping under there (though the bottom is slightly cut along the length so it sits flat to the tank). A little highway system for the crabs. Never did I think the Purple Tang would spend so much time down there!!!

In fairness, a ton of algae grows there (It is lit from underneath by the sump light I keep on a timer).

Stroke of genious!

[Konolua]

Originally Posted by jbird69

Stroke of genious!

Thanks. I don't think genius is the term, I think it is "insane" you are looking for. Most people don't build big reef tanks for crabs.....

[trmiv]

Man I keep checking this tank out. Coolest thing I've seen really. No offense to anyone on this site, but we get a lot of tanks that look pretty much the same. Cool equipment, beautiful layouts, awesome corals but really they are all pretty much the same. This is such a unique take on a reef tank, I just love it.

I like the video on your site where the crab walks in back of the anemone. He like knocks on the anemone and it moves making a little opening for him.

[grizwalt333]

Awesome Tank I love it. The sailfin should be fine in there, IMO. I just went to the Aquatic Zoo in TO last weekend got a piece on that Green Monti and a great sponge, I like that place. Keep it up

[hyperfocal]

Very cool idea, well done. Any problem with unpleasant smells?

[shermdawg]

Truly beautiful tank and the lapse video does the best job showing it off. Seeing those crabs go all over really makes you see how much they love your setup for them. This is the definition of good pet keeping. Kudos.

[Konolua]

Originally Posted by hyperfocal

Very cool idea, well done. Any problem with unpleasant smells?

You listed my number one "concern" when I started. I used dried lace rock to stem that potential and that worked. Since the waterfalls are consistent and steady, there is no die off. In fact, it gives off the pleasant sea smell or "ozone" smell we all adore. Almost sea-spray-ish. At any rate, even that is subdued. Now, I had a crab catch a jawfish (poor thing didn't last but a day, and it was because it swam straight into a crabs hidey-hole) and it left the half-eaten jawfish up on the Volcano. That took me a day to find and that did not smell ocean spray-y nor pleasant!

The protein skimmer skims a bit more than normal because the waterfall is technically skimming too....so the sump smells a bit more than a normal sump.

[Konolua]

Here are the video links again. I wish I could re-embed them in the original post. I can not seem to figure out how to do that....

(Everything is located at www.konolua.com/volcano)
Time Lapse Video
03.26.10
Volcano Tank Videos

[Konolua]

Originally Posted by shermdawg

Truly beautiful tank and the lapse video does the best job showing it off. Seeing those crabs go all over really makes you see how much they love your setup for them. This is the definition of good pet keeping. Kudos.

I agree with the time lapse video. Frankly, it was interesting for me to watch too, as I have never seen my tank in that light.

I know the crabs run around a lot, but didn't realize the extent of it!

[aaron1987]

Fantastic and unique tank. It's set the wheels turning all sorts of ways in my head for a tank upgrade I've been planning. Truly inspiring to see people do something so radically different and in impeccable form.