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My Hawaii trip

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by xroads, Jan 24, 2010.

  1. Jan 24, 2010 #1
    xroads La Porte City, IA

    xroads Veteran Reefkeeper Vendor

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    Just got back from 8 days in Hawaii, it felt like a month.
    A few observations while they are fresh in my mind.
    Tons of urchins, I bet there was at least 1 every square yard.  Also there wasnt any hippo tangs, anemones, clownfish.  I didnt see any shrimp, small snails or crabs.
    There was tons of LR on the beaches.  The waves would wash them up & then the locals would throw them up the beach so they wont stub their toes on them.  I bet I could fill my truck up 10 times within a mile.  I brought about 20 lbs home in my suitcases.
    Probably saw 250+ humpback whales.  The come there to mate & have their babies.  They dont eat while they are there (no food for them).  they just live off their blubber.  The calves drink 100 gallons of milk a day & gain 2lbs an hour for the first year.
    The Maui Ocean Center had a very impressive aquarium.
    Saw a guy free dive a shipwreck at 75 ft.
    Jet lag sucks.
    I will post some pics when the wife gets them downloaded
     
  2. Jan 24, 2010 #2
    Gered

    Gered Experienced Reefkeeper

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    Jealous!
     
  3. Jan 24, 2010 #3
    AJ

    AJ Inactive User

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    Wow...sounds awesome. Looking forward to the pics!

    --AJ
     
  4. Jan 24, 2010 #4
    jwess

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    I liked the yellow tangs the size of pie plates. Oooh and the wrasses.
     
  5. Jan 25, 2010 #5
    xroads La Porte City, IA

    xroads Veteran Reefkeeper Vendor

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    I did see a ton of wrasses, I couldnt believe how many triggers there were too.

    I didnt see too many big big yellow tangs. I think the biggest was about 6 inches.

    I am going to order some more urchins for my tank, they seem to be the #1 algae controller on the reef.
     
  6. Jan 25, 2010 #6
    jwess

    jwess

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    if your gonna do that you might as welll epoxy all your rocks together too. Oh and say goodbeye to all your coraline.
    Josh
     
  7. Jan 25, 2010 #7
    JB Marion

    JB Veteran Reefkeeper

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    Craig,

    Which island did you go to? We went to Maui and I noticed the exact same things. Tons or urchins and SPS (unfortunately very dull colored). I talked to the dive instructors about the lack of Clownfish/Anemones and they confirmed that there are not any in Hawaiian waters. I did see a ton of really awesome eel's out there.

    And yes, the jet lag sucks both ways. You're wake up super early when you're there and you're super tired when you get back...

    -JB
     
  8. Jan 25, 2010 #8
    adampottebaum

    adampottebaum Experienced Reefkeeper GIRS Member

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    Craig, I have a pencil urchin and a purple urchin you can have. Let me know if you want them. I just want to double check that they're both still alive, I haven't looked for them for a while.
    -Adam
     
  9. Jan 25, 2010 #9
    xroads La Porte City, IA

    xroads Veteran Reefkeeper Vendor

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    Ya we went to Maui.

    Yes not much color unless you talk about the green.

    I saw a couple moray eels, but nothing else.

    I did catch a fleeting glimpse of an octopus & a white tip shark.

    The black spine urchins are supposed to be really reef friendly. They will actually pull their spines in instead of bulldozing your rocks. The pencil urchins are the notorius bulldozers. I am going to get a couple of the black ones & see how they do.
     
  10. Jan 25, 2010 #10
    adampottebaum

    adampottebaum Experienced Reefkeeper GIRS Member

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    Yea I can't find the pencil urchin. I do have the purple urchin though. It's got pretty short spines. Good luck with the black longspine urchins.
     
  11. Jan 25, 2010 #11
    phishcrazee Riverside

    phishcrazee Experienced Reefkeeper

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    Good time of the year to go to Hawaii! Look forward to pictures too.....I seem to remember watching something on tv about how there has been an increase in urchins due to an increase in algae due to an increase in global warming and pollution. Something along those lines. I wonder if that's why there were so many or if it was a normal amount for this time of the year there?
     
  12. Jan 25, 2010 #12
    matt1971 Waterloo

    matt1971 Well-Known ReefKeeper

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    Sounds like they need more wolf eels to crunch up the urchins (not the green wolf eels you get at petco).
     
  13. Jan 26, 2010 #13
    ninjazx777 Des Moines, IA

    ninjazx777 Experienced Reefkeeper

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    we dived in kona a few years ago and it was great lots of yellow tangs and leather corals
    and i used to have a long spined urchin in my tank and the bulldozed like crazy grew really fast and ate all the coraline algea bfore it touched any green algea I would not recomend them for a reef tank if you want a urchin i would go with the short spined ones like the pink or tuxedo versions
     

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