Fish's new cube diary

[Haagenize]

Hey Fish,

 

first my comliment for your beautiful tank! Truly inspiring (kept me awake a couple of nights ) I want to setup an mantis tank in your style too but than a 33 Gallon tank (20x20x20)

 

I have a couple of questions. Do you use any suplements like calcium or trace elements cause your corals are growing so well in this relatively small volume of water.

 

And do you use live sand aragonite or just plain aragonite?

My mantis will arrive saturday, can't wait!

- Leonardo (sorry for the crappy language-I'm Dutch)

33 gallons, thats pretty hard for a Mantis tank since your cleanup crew will be very limited due to the Mantis eating it.

[ninjafish]

Leonardo,

 

Thank you vey much for the compliment! I think that a 20" cube would be beautiful! And it would give you the option of housing and larger mantis (get a peacock - that would be awesome). Your main concern would be providing ample water circulation. Even a big cannister filter like this: http://www.petsolutions.com/Default.aspx?ItemID=20622131 wouldn't provide enough circulation. If I were you, I would plumb two sets of bulkheads, one for the cannister filter/chaeto fuge/topoff and one for a closed loop external pump. The chaeto fuge in your cannister filter probably wouldn't be enough to make a difference to such a large tank so I would also add some decorative macro algae to the display.

My cannister filter mod is a huge benefit to nano-sized tanks but for a tank the size of yours, I would really recommend having a overflow/sump setup instead. Even if you still wanted to have 360 degree visibility, you could put your overflow right in the center of the tank and build your rockwork around it to hide it - that way you would only notice it if you were looking from the top, and a canopy would fix that. Then you could have a sump with a decent amount of chaeto and a PROTEIN SKIMMER (I miss those). I would still probably have a couple bulkheads plumbed into the bottom of the tank for a closed loop. That way you didn't have to try and make all of your circulation with your sump return pump. And as for the sand, I use dead arogonite and only enough to cover the bottom. I don't depend on my sand for any filtration process and last week I replaced the whole sandbed (1 cup of sand ) during a water change . I have my tank stocked with some LPS and SPS corals and they are all growing very well. I do not add any suppliments to the tank besides my weekly 30% water changes. I don't believe it is necessary to dose in a nano tank. Is it possible that I could get even faster coral growth if I did? Probably, but I'm not in a race with anyone. And the faster my corals grow, the sooner I have to either break them off, or get a larger tank...

I hope this makes sense. Your tank should be a great mantis tank!

 

 

- Chad

[Haagenize]

Leonardo,

 

Thank you vey much for the compliment! I think that a 20" cube would be beautiful! And it would give you the option of housing and larger mantis (get a peacock - that would be awesome). Your main concern would be providing ample water circulation. Even a big cannister filter like this: http://www.petsolutions.com/Default.aspx?ItemID=20622131 wouldn't provide enough circulation. If I were you, I would plumb two sets of bulkheads, one for the cannister filter/chaeto fuge/topoff and one for a closed loop external pump. The chaeto fuge in your cannister filter probably wouldn't be enough to make a difference to such a large tank so I would also add some decorative macro algae to the display.

My cannister filter mod is a huge benefit to nano-sized tanks but for a tank the size of yours, I would really recommend having a overflow/sump setup instead. Even if you still wanted to have 360 degree visibility, you could put your overflow right in the center of the tank and build your rockwork around it to hide it - that way you would only notice it if you were looking from the top, and a canopy would fix that. Then you could have a sump with a decent amount of chaeto and a PROTEIN SKIMMER (I miss those). I would still probably have a couple bulkheads plumbed into the bottom of the tank for a closed loop. That way you didn't have to try and make all of your circulation with your sump return pump. And as for the sand, I use dead arogonite and only enough to cover the bottom. I don't depend on my sand for any filtration process and last week I replaced the whole sandbed (1 cup of sand ) during a water change . I have my tank stocked with some LPS and SPS corals and they are all growing very well. I do not add any suppliments to the tank besides my weekly 30% water changes. I don't believe it is necessary to dose in a nano tank. Is it possible that I could get even faster coral growth if I did? Probably, but I'm not in a race with anyone. And the faster my corals grow, the sooner I have to either break them off, or get a larger tank...

I hope this makes sense. Your tank should be a great mantis tank!

- Chad

how about just a sump chad lol

[Leonardo <Nano-Reef>]

Hey Chad,

 

 

Thanks for thinking with me in this project. After reading your reply, I think I'll go with the sump-setup. The overflow will be in the center, and I'll cover it up with rock.

The return pump will be responsible for all the flow in the display tank, it's an 1538 Gallon pump, I think it will be enough flow.

I also will use a venturi skimmer up to 400 Gallon Tanks, so it will sure take care of the mantis-poo. An extra canisterfilter will be connected to the sump for the additional Phosphate-killer and carbon filtering.

I will use a 250 Watt 14000 K pendant. Are you having heat issues because of the halide?

 

BTW The mantis that arrives Saturday is a peacock-mantis

 

 

Thanks, Leonardo

[Haagenize]

hey Fish, i dunno if you told us this but do you dose calcium for the birdsnest?

[Leonardo <Nano-Reef>]

I asked him before, see his last reply. He doesn't dose any supplements, just frequent waterchange.

 

- Leonardo

[ram man]

how big is the tank? you shouldnt house a peacock in anything less than a 20 gallon, give him some space.

[Haagenize]

okay thanks

 

its a 7.5 g, ram man, 12" cube

[ninjafish]

Haha, are you guys even reading the posts or just grabbing words at random?

 

The mantis that I have in my 12" cube is a g. smithi. I recommended a peacock to Leodardo because he reported that his tank is a 20" cube - that's 34gals by my calculations. I think it would be a fine home for a peacock.

 

- Chad

[Leonardo <Nano-Reef>]

Before your topic is polluted bij all the off-topic posts , I have a question about your cube (asked before). Do you have any heat issues because of the small watervolume and the halide?

 

The calculations for my tank said 33 Gallon, because I don't fill it to the edge of the tank

 

- Leonardo

[ninjafish]

Before your topic is polluted bij all the off-topic posts , I have a question about your cube (asked before). Do you have any heat issues because of the small watervolume and the halide?

 

The calculations for my tank said 33 Gallon, because I don't fill it to the edge of the tank

 

- Leonardo

 

 

Leodardo,

 

There are no heat issues with my tank. Even with the 70watt over 2 gallons of water, there was no problem.

Most people won't tell you this, but halide is the coolest form of lighting. The only time I have ever had problems with heat is when I used power compact fluorescents which are usually enlosed in canopies and need to be very close to the surface of the water.

I had a 90gal tank with 220w of pc and it had heat issues - then I switched to a 20gal with 295w of halide/vho and it didn't have heat problems.

My 2gal cube was hotter with a 13w pc than it was with the 70w halide!

If someone is having heat problems with halide it is because they are using it wrong. Halide is able to penetrate the water so well that you can raise it up off the surface of the water. This allows you to have the kind or air circulation that wouldn't be possible with other forms of lighting.

Sure the bulb might be hotter on a halide, but the only time that the bulb's temperature would ever transfer to the tank is if you had it too close to the water or tried to trap all the heat by putting it in a canopy on the tank!

My tank maintians a constant 78degrees whether the light is on or not. I actually had to add the heater mod to the cannister filter because it would have only been 75 otherwise. HTH.

 

- Chad

[ram man]

if its a 34 gallon then he will be one happy mantis! ive seen them in little tanks before and i think they deserve huge tanks.

[Leonardo <Nano-Reef>]

Thanks for the reply Chad, I'll sure go for the 250 Watt Halide now (will also be great for the SPS that I'll keep)

 

How often do you feed your mantis? And do you only feed him with hermits etc, or also frozen food?

 

(btw it's leoNardo, not leodardo )

 

- Ciao, Leonardo

[ninjafish]

Haha sorry Leonardo - I guess I should proof-read my posts

 

I feed Ike once every two days or so. I usually give him frozen krill (and stuff it inside an empty snail shell when I can). Two times a month I will feed him live food for variety. I will drop four or five snails or hermits in the tank and Ike snacks on them throughout the day. It takes a little practice to know what size snails and hermits to feed. A small mantis will have a hard time breaking open shells if they are too thick.

 

- Chad

[pico1]

I don't know if someone has already said this but if you used rigid tubing you could have a sump that was gravity fed as long as the return pump wasn't pumping water out of the sump faster than water was flowing into the sump. It just seemes like a canister would be a real PITA to maintain and lacks the features of a sump or fuge.

[SoCal Reefer]

Your tank is so cool only problem if i had one a work would be distraction.

I would be so distracted.....

[Haagenize]

I don't know if someone has already said this but if you used rigid tubing you could have a sump that was gravity fed as long as the return pump wasn't pumping water out of the sump faster than water was flowing into the sump. It just seemes like a canister would be a real PITA to maintain and lacks the features of a sump or fuge.

what do you mean?

 

i dont see how a sump is possible with the "overflow" being on the bottom of the tank

[ereefer]

It's ok this person should read a whole post about how he put algae in the filter with a light..etc Obviously too impatient.

 

I think this tank is the coolest of almost anything I've seen. keep up the good work!

[ninjafish]

I don't know if someone has already said this but if you used rigid tubing you could have a sump that was gravity fed as long as the return pump wasn't pumping water out of the sump faster than water was flowing into the sump. It just seemes like a canister would be a real PITA to maintain and lacks the features of a sump or fuge.

 

 

As has already been mentioned, my cannister filter has the features of a sump/fuge. If you think it over you will realize that it would be impossible to have a gravity fed sump with the bulkheads on the bottom - not difficult, not challenging - impossible. The only way to make it work would be to have a standpipe in the main tank that took water from the surface instead of from the bottom. The only tiny problem with that approach is it would be UGLY.

Designing the cannister filter posed a few challenges but the reason I did it is because it is the only way that I could have such a small tank that could be viewed from all four sides (and above) and not have any visible equipment. If you are wondering what I mean, click on one of the video links...

 

- Chad

 

It's ok this person should read a whole post about how he put algae in the filter with a light..etc Obviously too impatient.

 

I think this tank is the coolest of almost anything I've seen. keep up the good work!

 

 

ereefer,

Thanks bro . I'm glad to hear that you like it.

 

- Chad

[glxtrix]

totally love the tank, it looks great! BTW where did you buy that desklamp at?

[distantfire]

Chad how did you connect the hose line's to your bulkhead's? I'm using 1/2"ID hose line from my cannister. I put radiator hose clamp's on and snuged them down. Now the water is still leaking out of the hose line's in small drop's. I can't tighten the hose clamp's any tighter or they will break. Are you using 1/2" 90deg. elbow's on the bottom of your bulkhead's? My 1/2" adapter's from my BH's are pointing straight down. The water flow's up past my hose clamp and drips down the line. I'm using black vinyl tubing 5/8 x 1/2" ID. Do I need a differnt type of tubing? Thanx in advance

[ninjafish]

distantfire,

So did you mod your cannister too? I would love to see a thread on your setup if you have one. I found the same problem with the different between regular plumbing hosebarbs and eheim specialty sizes. What I ended up doing is wrap the connectors on the eheim with electrical tape to make them fatter. After I forced the hose on, I torqued the metal hose clamps down to seal the deal. Good luck!

 

- Chad

 

totally love the tank, it looks great! BTW where did you buy that desklamp at?

 

 

Thanks ! I found the lamp at staples. It was originally a 150w de halogen I believe.

Cheers

[Fishfreak218]

update w/ pics.. soon.. please??

[distantfire]

I didn't mod my cannister because with my luck it would get really screwed up and never work again. I upgraded my 5.5 to a 10 and drilled the bottom of my 5.5 with my dremel. I'm trying to use the cannister for flow and extra filtration. So far all I managed to do is get wet. I will put electrical tape on the barb's for sure. Thank's again for your help.

[glxtrix]

I actually went there later that day and found the lamp, lol. Its such an awesome fit for the retro!