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G. Ternatensis Mantis Shrimp Tank Build!


Islandoftiki

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Ready for some pictures? Here we go. I picked up a whole bunch of mushrooms at upscales. They were having a buy one, get the 2nd half off, so I went kinda nuts...

 

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Chuck peaking out from a hole in the rock.

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Chuck lurking while I take pictures. He's been very active and poking his head out from every nook and crannie.

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This one had a rhodactis mixed in. I guess I'll leave it.

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Yes, they are that iridescnet.

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Everything is going well in the tank. I have a bunch of snails on order from Reef Cleaners and some of the Live Rock Ranch live sand that I'm going to add to all of my tanks.

 

After the holidays, I'll start adding more mushrooms as I find them.

  • Like 1
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Everything looks great. My LFS has those iridescent green shrooms too. They're really bright. I love Chuck's blue coloration. I know I want to set up another tank in the next year and have always wanted a mantis tank...Gah!!!! to many different biotopes to choose from.

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This make me miss my mantis, mantis shrimp are the reason I got into this hobby

 

I hear you. This guy is obviously fairly old. I'm not expecting more than a year or two. He's already a big part of our family.

 

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Ok now, more pictures, because who doesn't like pictures?

 

I finally had a few minutes to sort out the chiller plumbing and get it all dialed in so the canopy could go back on and I could call the mechanical part of the tank 100% complete.

 

Here's the chiller plumbing. Stainless Steel clamps and black vinly hose:

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I decided to return the chiller to the filter chamber. Seems to be working very well. The light for the chaeto is the old original LED fixture for my Fluval Spec. Ideal for chaeto.

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This was the original problem. I needed a hard line to connect the chiller pump so the vinly hose wouldn't kink and it would clear the canopy and the skimmer cup. That needle valve is part of the Tunze 9002 airline modification. Well worth the 5 minutes to do it.

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This is the first chamber with the skimmer and the pump for the chiller.

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The canopy is finally back on and the tank is looking finished!

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Full Tank Shot under the actinics:

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Chuck comes out for a visit!

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Hey, this is MY tank... Don't make me have to hurt you!

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Wow, tank came out amazing. Now drop a fiddler in there so we can see some real action. ;)

 

P.S. I thought for sure I was going to see a new build for the Graphus that was on DD for a couple of days.

Edited by M@!
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Wow, tank came out amazing. Now drop a fiddler in there so we can see some real action. ;)

 

P.S. I thought for sure I was going to see a new build for the Graphus that was on DD for a couple of days.

 

Lol, I would have loved to pick up that Graphurus. Maybe some day. For now, I'm pretty much maxed out on tanks.

 

It looks like the chaeto did it's job. The nitrates are down from 5 ppm to undetectable with my API test kit.

 

A Reef Cleaners order will be arriving probably next week. I'll be adding a bunch of dwarf ceriths, some zig zag periwinkle snails, some dwarf planaxis and some pods and display macro algaes.

 

I've also made a small order from the Live Rock Ranch for some of their insanely awesome live sand that I'm going to add to all of my tanks to given them a bit of a recharge of little critters.

 

 

So far, Chuck hasn't bothered with the couple of bumblebee snails in the tank. He looked at one for a while but didn't bother it. It think it was too small for him to bother with.

 

For your enjoyment, here's an interesting TED talk about mantis shrimp:

 

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Very very nice. You definitly went crazy on the shrooms

 

Oh, just you wait. This thing is going to end up packed with mushrooms. You'll be lucky to see any of the rock!

 

Lots of local reefers have some spare mushroom corals that I'm going to be collecting. :)

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My order from Reefcleaners was shipped to the wrong local post office and didn't arrive today. I hope they arrive tomorrow or else they'll probably be in bad shape...

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I got my order from ReefCleaners today. I was a little worried since the post office misrouted the package to a post office 10 miles from here. It was supposed to be delivered Thursday, but no lI'll post pics when wegget . Then this morning, the package status showed they rerouted it to the office in my zip code, but it only said it was sorted and notout for delivery. Luckily our letter carrier had the package today, otherwise it wouldn't be delivered until Monday and we wouldn't be home until Wednesday... All of the snails would probably have been dead.

 

Luckily it showed up and all of the snails were in good shape.

 

As always, I ordered 40 dwarf cerith snails and received about 200. I shared some with the other two tanks. There are a ton of diatoms to clean up, so they should be happier than pigs in slop.

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  • 2 weeks later...
The addition of Selcon and Reef Roids are really starting to bring out the color in the mushrooms! They are really heavily extended and looking great.


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  • Like 2
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Chuck got some buddies today!

 

A couple of Azure Damselfish. Now, let's hope he tolerates them like most smasher mantis do and doesn't make them into snacks.

 

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Nice video!

 

It is pretty cool how most smashers will leave fish alone. They really do take into consideration energy spending. Much easier to go after a snail/crab/etc than a fish!

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A couple of new mushrooms for the tank!

 

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They're still opening up. I got them yesterday from Ebay seller Golden Basket. Great new additions!

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A couple of new mushrooms for the tank!

 

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They're still opening up. I got them yesterday from Ebay seller Golden Basket. Great new additions!

 

Damn You!!! I was eyeing those up..... lol

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  • 2 weeks later...

Don't you just love it when the ugly brown bargain bin corals color up and look like this?

 

After about two weeks under my lighting, they went from brownish/green to this:

 

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Here's a little mantis love for all of you mantis enthusiasts... a short video of Chuck doing what he usually does when you put a camera up to the tank.... nothing.

 

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