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Cultivated Reef

Carnival of Fun - Under the Big Top Edition -It is WET!


Nocturnal

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Update, overflow in place, tank is on stand and plumbing is roughed in. Now I'm working on the rock structure. :ninja:

 

 

20140320_154622_zpsc09195be.jpg

 

New build below.

 

Come one come all, step right up to be dazzled, wazzled and fuzzled.

 

Introducing our main attraction, coming to us from his previous role as the terror of the Indian Ocean...Pennywise!

 

Update. Well either Whelks don't taste good or he decided to make friends with it so it's now cruising around the tank. I think this is the luckiest hitchhiker ever. Not only did I spare it after finding it (and after it ate my CUC for over a year while I was unaware) but then I dump it in with a hungry 4" Mantis and even though he pulled it into his lair it survived.

 

40 breeder from Petco is now sitting in my basement. I am considering building a concrete structure. Maybe a shelf fairly high in the tank with pillars supporting it. The shelf top could host some corals while keeping heavy light away from the mantis.

 

 

 

 

http://s1277.photobucket.com/user/noct101/media/20140115_111303_zpsef1855c1.mp4.html

 

 

Not a very clear video unfortunately. This guy was supposed to come in a few weeks ago. I had the setup all ready but it was on back order. Last night I got the email that he would be arriving this morning so it was a race to get the tank wrapped up. Fortunately it was full of water and I had my LR ready to go. So far he has shunned the 2" PVC Y piece that I buried in favor of hiding under a big rock. I have already learned that these guys do what THEY want to do and you just have to follow along. He gave the net a mighty whack in the acclimation bucket. Fortunately he decided that he wanted to go into the net a minute later. So we were ok.

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1/24/14
Overflow kit from glass holes is on the way. Plus my DIY LED setup for the cube which will free up the Halide for the Mantis tank.
Update 1/23/14
60lbs of dry rock from Reefcleaners is on the way. I'm planning on building the PVC/egg crate structure Tuesday of next week. I will either leave the PVC full of air or fill it with concrete, depending on how buoyant the structure seems.
1/20/14

The mantis tank is getting a big upgrade. 40G breeder, DIY reef shelf/cave etc.

 

40 Breeder dry fitted with acrylic sheets for some extra insurance in case Pennywise get's bored. (thank you Petco $1 per gallon sale!) I think I may go rimless, but I want to do some more research first. I assume that unless the rim is a center brace then it's purely for cosmetic reasons. Does anyone know for sure if de-rimming a 40B works?

 

20140120_115854_zpsca8b09d4.jpg

 

In my mantis research it seems that intense lighting exacerbates or causes shell rot and perhaps can only be avoided with perfectly clean water. To remedy this problem while making the tank capable of displaying some coral as well the idea is to great a large shelf structure to provide shade to the lower portion of the tank and being a platform for corals and tidal inverts.

 

Inspirations:

 

Konolua's Volcano Tank

 

IMG_0176_2.jpg

 

 

Mr. Kang's Korean Reef (via reef breeders)

mr-kang-reef-aquarium.jpg

 

kang-reef-aquascape.jpg

 

The Cavernous Reef - Rickcasa from reef central

 

photo.jpg

 

 

Euromomtx - Shadowbox reef - reef central

 

img_8463.jpg

 

Basic Layout (please don't be jealous of my epic rendering skills, I'm not here to embarrass anyone)

 

model1_zps364a398f.jpg

 

Main structure will likely be PVC. Shelf will either be eggcrate or rigid foam (xps) depending on weight issues. Small chunks of dry rock will be cable tied or glued to the structure and gaps filled in with foam. Foam will then be coated in epoxy and sand/rubble to make it look natural. This method can create some very natural looking rock work. The tip of the shelf may require another column for support. I am sure I can make it neutrally buoyant due to the foam making up for the rock, but I don't want the whole thing collapsing if I drain the water down halfway.

 

The shelf will be similar to a zero entry pool, so that the very left portion will be partially above water and will slant down going deeper to the right. Likely a few depressions for anything that wants some extra depth. A wave maker, either a Wp-10 or WP-25 will sit on the far right, and I hope I can get waves to form that will have a crest like effect on the zero entry side.

 

Underneath the shelf will likely be a standard jumble of LR unless I can think of something cooler. I will bury a couple large PVC U shapes in the sand as well to provide ready made mantis lairs. The stretch goal will be to create a shadowbox similar to the pic above to give the whole thing the appearance of infinite depth front to back.

 

Filtration: will be drilling an overflow (likely glass holes) plumbed into a large sump and sharing water volume with 2 other tanks, one will be an algae scrubber/fuge the other will be a frag tank.

 

Lighting: Initially will be the Coralife HQI fixture that is being donated from my cube, but over the long term I'd like to convert to LED to allow very specific placement of lighting so I can keep the bright areas bright and the dark areas very dark.

 

Life: Pennywise the Clown Mantis of course. Wally the Indestructible Whelk, and whatever leftover hermits I have in my junk tank. Some basic corals will go on top of the shelf, maybe polyps. Nothing fancy. Some NPS corals might be cool for under the shelf but I haven't thought too much into that. Likely a fast moving and not terribly expensive fish or two. I'd like to throw in a few tidal type crabs in there as well. Hopefully they will avoid the drop-off into mantis territory.

Input and critiques are welcome. I will be ordering the overflow kit this week and starting the mock-up of the shelf as well. I think this may turn out to be a really cool tank. The mantis doesn't care much about vertical living space so this may have the effect of almost being two tanks in one.
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oooooh cant wait to see this up, I am living vicariously through everyone on here with mantis tanks!

 

I can say that if you take the rim off the bottom be super careful about the surface you have your tank on. I derimmed a 20l and didnt notice a tiny little flaw in the wood table underneath my tank and the bottom cracked. Was a very unfun time.

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that's probably the safest way to do it! the rim on the bottom doesnt seem to detract as much from the tank as the top rim does. Good luck if you decide to do it! Just go slow lol

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  • 1 month later...

Well, it's wet!

 

I was worried that it would be buoyant, but I think I will just drill a hole in the PVC and release the air. For now a bunch of extra rocks and a baby sledge are helping to weigh it down. I'm not particularly concerned about the lack of water exchange once the tank is up and running. I'm very happy with how the shelf looks. The support legs look ok for now, but I think once they have some rocks mounded up near them and see some coraline growth they will look fine.

 

I considered covering the back wall with the same sort of structure and really cementing the shelf in place but this way I can always remove it and it gives me room to grow GSP on the back and side glass.

 

I want to let the whole thing soak for a couple days to stabilize the small bit of cement I wound up using. (don't mind the return back there, I haven't gotten around to securing it)

 

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