10 Gal Mantis

predator · 12-02-2007, 07:43 PM

Today i bit the bullet and bought someof the starter stuff for my mantis shrimp tank.

Here are the goodies:

10 gallon tank
glass lid
arogonite sand
distilled water
marine salt
digital thermo

So i get it home and rince it out and put it in its new home with out much to talk about...

sept i got a lil wet in the process

i rinced off the sand and put it in...

started mixing the salt and after like 5 hours of mixing i enlisted a buddy to help me

but that didnt work so since i dont have powerheads just laying around i had to hand mix it all

after i got it all mixed here is what i have...

Its still really cloudy... i have a small hob on it just to try to circulate the water a bit... (its the best i have) and i have a heater that i have to put on it... And i just ordered all the equipment hopefully here by the weekend...

Tommorrow im gonna check the SG... Im gonna hold off on any LR or cleaning crew untill the actual equip gets in since they will have atleast a month to cycle the tank...

Oh but i had this blue powder that fell out of solution and collected at the bottom of my mixing bucket...

any ideas i used instant ocean salt... do i need to add it back to the tank... is it calcium or something?

-me

predator · 12-05-2007, 05:03 AM

Good news and bad...

My orders shipped out from Big Al's, but the skimmer was out of stock so im gonna have to wait on that.

And I dont think my heater is working (i used one i had laying aorund) so im gonna have to play with that a bit....

The tank is finally clearing up though and ive almost got the SG where i want it...

-me

**TheOldSalt** · 12-06-2007, 08:57 AM

Hmmm.. the blue stuff is a bit weird, but I think it's a leftover effect from your dechlorinator. It might also have something to do with the fact you used metal mixing beaters on your mixer, which certainly goes right into the what-were-you-thinking file. Metal + inverts = less than stellar success.

predator · 12-07-2007, 05:06 AM

i only used the beater for like a minute... it was causing no circulation... and then i was like hmmmm wonder if this wiel hurt anything?....

since i thought it might be something that just wasnt disolving very fast i actually put it into my hob so it could get good cirulation and hopefully dissolve. still just sitting in the bottom of the filter... when i get my actual equipment in im gonna take the small hob off the back and the bule powder... im just using it mainly as a way to circulate water to get the temp stable and i can add salt with it and know it gets mixed in...

since you mentioned the metal thing... Is there a good copper test kit out there?

i have atleast a month to get all the parameters right on this thing and i might as well check for as much as i can....

-me

**TheOldSalt** · 12-07-2007, 08:17 AM

Sure, there's lots of copper tests out there, and like most things in the marine side of the hobby, you tend to get what you pay for. Most of the cheap ones are still good enough.

predator · 12-13-2007, 05:24 PM

Ok so my net has been down a while so ill give you a run down of whats happened...

Friday I was actually really bored with the setup so i went and got a power head to act as a temp circulation unit and a full time sal mixer... picked it and about 6 pounds of LR up and got the tank a bit less barren...

This was on my step on Tuesday...

As you can tell my cat was more excited that i was... and it was filled with some goodies...

and i got another goodie on Wed...

So after a few hours and some blood sweat and tears i would like to introduce you to my cycling 10 gallon future home for a mantis shrimp...

now i know it looks a little under decorated when it comes to rocks, but i set up some pretty good lil lairs for the lil guy to use and i plan on adding som LR bits to it when i can get some pay palage going on.

Here are the lairs of evil....

all for now...

-me

p.s. seems to be cycling well... my ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate lvls are all moderately high and im checking them daily.

Chaos553 · 12-13-2007, 07:45 PM

looking good, keep up the good work!

when do you plan on getting the shrimp?

Chrispy · 12-13-2007, 08:27 PM

OMG were did you get that light. i have a 10g and need a light. thank one looks pretty cool

predator · 12-13-2007, 08:49 PM

shrimp will prolly be mid to late january depending on how everything goes...

and light
http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS...plight1x28watt

then i just got some of the like $6 legs to get the light up off the tank...

-me

predator · 12-16-2007, 11:52 AM

here is it with a bit of a rearranging of the rocks... I like it alot better like this. It looks like i have more rock in it this way and is just overall more pleasing to the eye...

It will still be atleast a week befor all my water paramets let me add anything, but i think its doing pretty well for my first SW attempt...

-me

ikermalli · 12-17-2007, 12:25 PM

How big will it's tank have to be when he is fully grown?

12-17-2007, 01:13 PM

If I remember correctly, he plans on getting Pseudosquilla ciliata? In which case, the tank is large enough for the mantis to live in for the entirety of its life.

predator · 12-17-2007, 04:59 PM

BANGO scuba.

I was willing to spend the cash for a 20 gallon, but after reading i found that a 10 is plenty for some of the smaller species... so even if i have to get another species i should pretty easily be able to find on that will fit the tank...

-me