Mantis Tank

[Gillybaby]

Got the new tank all set up yesterday. Its an Aqua One AquaStart 320 28l 32x32x36cm tank. It has an 11w compact flourescent (not T5 but Aqua One's own make) in the hood and came with a 400 lph pump attached to a spray bar and undergravel filter. We turfed out the undergravel filter part and are just using the pump with spraybar for surface water movement. We've also added a 55w heater and a Fluval 1+ internal filter for Rowaphos etc which has 200lph pump. Plenty of flow then at about 20x.

There is 2.5kg of liverock (plus some rubbly bits and bobs) with a 1" 2-5mm aragonite sandbed with livesand, all from our 6ft tank. We also used water from our 6ft tank so we've just moved the shrimp, some snails, some corals and chaeto straight in. Do not do this if you are setting up a tank from scratch. We are absolutely confident of the water quality and filtration quality of the rock and sand so don't anticipate any problems.

Here's a pic of the tank as it looks just now:



Still haven't got any pictures of the shrimp as he has holed himself up inside one of the rocks. I guess it'll be about a week or so before he starts exploring properly as the last few days must have been very traumatic for him. But here's a picture of the door to his hole complete with bouncer in the form of an aiptasia :eek:



He did pop his nose out this morning for a look see and then promptly closed the door again. Am very impressed with his building technique.

Any and all comments welcome :D

[Macca]

Is that illynassa or nassarius snails I see :confused:

James

[Macca]

I have a right weird looking pair of shrimps if you want them Gilly. Quite Dull but very alien like. Not sure of sp.

James

[callum_parsons]

cool i cant wait to see the shrimp

[Gillybaby]

Those are some large IO snails from my 6ft tank. We think they are a bit big for the shrimp to take out but if he does go for one then we'll swap them for a big turbo or astrea. Didn't think there would be enough algae for the bigger snails yet but there is a bit on the rocks and sand that I don't want to get out of hand.

Might be interested in the weird shrimps - can you post a pic at all?

[MR Teee]

That looks great Gillybaby.

Looks like the continuing adventures of the mantis should be a regular feature!

[Kev]

nice little set up that.

[oakwell]

Loks great

[Tangman]

Nice little tank there Gilly, that little mantis should be quite snug in there he's a lucky fella. Eric

[Gillybaby]

Nice little tank there Gilly, that little mantis should be quite snug in there he's a lucky fella. Eric

I hope so Eric. At least he'll be a lot happier here than in a stir fry ;)