Argent Posted August 5, 2006 Share Posted August 5, 2006 Hi Travis! Think my tank will just be some LR and black sand (I still have 15 pounds of it) and my wee little green mantis. With a couple snails and hermits for cleanup. Link to comment
yankeereefer Posted August 5, 2006 Author Share Posted August 5, 2006 I was out of the house for awhile. I thought you spent all your time on NR! LOL I got 2 pcs of .25" thick acrylic (11x14 and 14x18) for $20. I ordered the 11x14 ($10) and the spoke w/Argent and figured out that it was going to be to small. When I called back, they had already cut it, so I ordered another (14x18) and the guy gave it to me for $10 too - Spent like $5 at lowes for tubing and "bulkheads) and $4 for the returns. I like the look of reefinnewb's tank w/macro in the display so I might do that - The left side of the display is kinda small btw - ended up using the 11x14, so I have the 14x18 for another project sometime! Link to comment
travisurfer Posted August 5, 2006 Share Posted August 5, 2006 Sounds cool. When I setup my "broke-in-college tank" I will use my leftover black sand too. I still have 20lbs. For larger tanks you just need too much light for it to look good. I think a 70w halide over a small cube would be awesome! Link to comment
yankeereefer Posted August 5, 2006 Author Share Posted August 5, 2006 where'd you get the black acrylic? from a local glass shop (LGS??) Link to comment
travisurfer Posted August 5, 2006 Share Posted August 5, 2006 I thought you spent all your time on NR! LOL I got 2 pcs of .25" thick acrylic (11x14 and 14x18) for $20. I ordered the 11x14 ($10) and the spoke w/Argent and figured out that it was going to be to small. When I called back, they had already cut it, so I ordered another (14x18) and the guy gave it to me for $10 too - Spent like $5 at lowes for tubing and "bulkheads) and $4 for the returns. I like the look of reefinnewb's tank w/macro in the display so I might do that - The left side of the display is kinda small For your info, I do spend all my time on nr. That sounds pretty cheap to do. Too bad my silicon skills are sub-par. Feather caulerpa would be cool. Link to comment
Argent Posted August 5, 2006 Share Posted August 5, 2006 Think I'm going to go with a 5.5G for my mantis as well -- from my understanding mantis' don't need any fancy lighting so I'll recycle my 18w coralife mini. Link to comment
yankeereefer Posted August 5, 2006 Author Share Posted August 5, 2006 wasn't caulerpa the stuff that took over someone's tank in another post? Link to comment
reefinnewb Posted August 5, 2006 Share Posted August 5, 2006 I was going to do prolifera in the tank too. Im just afraid of it going sexual on me. Link to comment
yankeereefer Posted August 5, 2006 Author Share Posted August 5, 2006 well I'm loggin off for awhile - GF came home, I'm outta beer and she's hungry Back later! Link to comment
travisurfer Posted August 5, 2006 Share Posted August 5, 2006 owned! Feather caulerpa isnt as invasive but does require constant trimming. Some mantis are more active in lower light. Now, I am tired so, good night. Link to comment
reefinnewb Posted August 5, 2006 Share Posted August 5, 2006 Sorry travis, props to travis for starting cult. I spend all my time on here now, just not posting, you know its bad when your gf calls you a reefgeek lol. When im at school, im on here all the time, screw papers and homework lol. From what I heard they dont need alot of light. So you should be fine with the 18w of lighting. When it comes time to upgrade to a 10g, i have a 32w bulb and ballast laying around, should light it up nice. Link to comment
travisurfer Posted August 5, 2006 Share Posted August 5, 2006 Mantis dont really need that much light at all. Some mantis owners have reported less active mantis when they had/have stronger lights. HTH. Oh, and whats wrong with being called a reefgeek? Link to comment
reefinnewb Posted August 5, 2006 Share Posted August 5, 2006 nothing at all, i take pride in being called a reefgeek. I just find it funny my gf calls me it. Link to comment
travisurfer Posted August 5, 2006 Share Posted August 5, 2006 Wait till I wear my nano-reef shirt to school. I should put my post count on it too. Link to comment
Argent Posted August 5, 2006 Share Posted August 5, 2006 I have my nanoreef coffee mug at work - my former gf thought my 'collecting' aquariums was a sickness - now I'm searching for a hot reef chick! Link to comment
yankeereefer Posted August 5, 2006 Author Share Posted August 5, 2006 Did anyone else have problems getting on the forums a little bit ago? Server must have been down or something. Quick update - Went and bought visitherm stealth 50w heater and perfecto hood from Petsmart - I can't stress enough about checking their website before shopping at the store. Picked up the heater for $13.99 (store had it for $24.99) and hood for $6.99 (store had it for $12.99). I just printed the web page and the store matched the prices. Anyways, I'm at work right now so I can't play on the web for long or mess with the new goodies I bought. Tonight's plans are to mod the hood to accept another bulb and cleanup the tank in preparation for receiving the LR/LS tomorrow. I have a small piece of acrylic left from the 11x14 sheet that I built the false wall from - Think I should silicone it to the bottom of my tank ? There would be an inch or so of the bottom glass around it thought that would remain "unprotected". Not sure if it's worth it. It's kinda funny how much activity this thread has seen so far and I have nothing more than a tank full of fresh water! Link to comment
travisurfer Posted August 5, 2006 Share Posted August 5, 2006 Its not worth siliconing the sheet imo. Just dont get one of the larger species. I got an AC110 from petsmart for 1/2 off. It saved me over $40. Link to comment
Argent Posted August 5, 2006 Share Posted August 5, 2006 Man I want an AC110 for my 5.5G -- and I still haven't heard from this guy about his mantis Link to comment
EL CHUPACABRA Posted August 5, 2006 Share Posted August 5, 2006 I have a small piece of acrylic left from the 11x14 sheet that I built the false wall from - Think I should silicone it to the bottom of my tank ? There would be an inch or so of the bottom glass around it thought that would remain "unprotected". Not sure if it's worth it. You could cut a small rectangle of that out and hold it up to the back of your strainer overflow. Move it up and down until you find that you are getting good flow from all the slots, I know you complained about it rushing out the lower slots and not the top slots before. I personally choose no slots at all on my 5.5 overflow, I have perfect surface skim only going in to the filter area, (my display side has a crystal clear surface where the overflow area has that protein slick on its surface, plus its silently cascades over the wall. You may want to cover it up all together, nano cubes (and copy cats) I believe have the strainer off to one side due to all the compartments across the back. Like me, you only have one compartment so water can cascade over into any part of the overflow, it does not have to be limited to one side. I don't think the strainer is even neccesary, once my clown got sucked over the falls into the over flow area, my snails and crabs climb over all the time to get some tasty treats. Once you find the proper height you could unplug the pump, let the water level equal out below the strainer, and you could use some of that acrylic weld glue stuff to molecularly bond the strainer fix in the proper place, or you could silicone it and use a clamp. You want to get that sponge out, or replace it often so it does not become a nitrate factory, especially since that mantis is probably going to create a lot of waste do to its eating habits. You might also be able to use the 1/2 a audio cassette tape case that is so popular with those nano cubers to get surface skim off the strainer. Link to comment
yankeereefer Posted August 5, 2006 Author Share Posted August 5, 2006 thanks El Chupacabra I will try some of your suggestions dealing with the overflow strainer tonight when I get home- As for the sponge, it's there for now to deal with the noise - I may / may not continue to run it after tank is setup - I have a sponge in my AC fuge on the 10g - It's part of my weekly w/c routine to rotate out the sponge - Will likely do the same for the 5.5 I have a 3/4" wide piece of the filter basket from the AC left - I was considering mounting 90 degrees off the partition (into the display side) to keep stuff (critters) going over the wall. I'm afraid I can't do the cascading overflow like yours as it would mean tearing out the wall and recutting the acrylic. Link to comment
EL CHUPACABRA Posted August 6, 2006 Share Posted August 6, 2006 I'm afraid I can't do the cascading overflow like yours as it would mean tearing out the wall and recutting the acrylic. Do what ever floats your boat, but you could cover the strainer all together in the manner I suggested before to get the surface skim if you want it, and then you could leave the existing wall in place and not cut anything. I am certainly not saying that it is better either way, just how it could be done. thanks El Chupacabra Your welcome. It is actually, EL CHUPACABRA though, you should be yelling it every time you say it. Edit: 4am, just came to me: people add dursos and what not to their overflows to reduce noise, obviously that is not an option for you, but all a durso does is reduce the distance the water falls in to the overflow, the longer the fall the louder the noise. You could just add more water so it is not falling at all, probably the simplest solution. Link to comment
yankeereefer Posted August 7, 2006 Author Share Posted August 7, 2006 (yelling) EL CHUPACABRA!! Quick update: Sat: Tank / false wall don't leak so I emptied it and cleaned it out - got my lighting modded (perfecto 16" incandescent hood w/coralife 10w 50/50 x2) and new heater visi stealth 50w - Stealth was too big for my 5.5g so I swapped it out for the hydor theo 50w in my 10g ac fuge - mixed water for 10g w/c and 5.5g fill Sun: Picked up my LR (~5lbs) from a guy down the road - Had to wait on the LS until the afternoon cuz his tank wasn't empty yet - Note: remember to check PM's before heading out to meet someone, things change - While waiting for LS, I changed water in 10g and played w/new LR to figure out aquascape for 5.5g. Once I have sand, I place LR, LS and fill - I also put in all of the demon hermits (stocking mantis groceries) from my 10g. Mon: Put on the lights this morning and there's all kinds of stringy slime coming off rock and sand - It looks like the slime secreted off of corals when ticked off - What's that from? Took turkey baster and sucked out most of it and temporarily added my turbo from the 10g - Thant's all I had time for as I had to leave for work. No pix last night as tank was cloudy, no time for 'em this morning. Will shoot some and post tonight. Anyone have idea's on the slimy stuff I found this morning? LFS is closed today so I won't be able to pickup my mantis until tomorrow Link to comment
reefinnewb Posted August 7, 2006 Share Posted August 7, 2006 better post pics when you pick that bad boy up. Link to comment
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