After several years out of the hobby, including an ill-fated attempt to start a nano tank, I’m finally back in business with a juvenile Peacock mantis that I found at my LFS. His name is Orion and he’s 3.5 inches long.
Here’s the setup details, pics as soon as I have time:
-20 gallon long tank VERY minimally aquascaped
-about 1/2 inch mixture of reef sand & Aragonite
-IM wavelink pump, ~1000GPH on surge mode
-undersized Aqueon heater always on at 78F
-1.5” diameter PVC burrow to be upgraded to 2” PVC shortly
-cheap LED lamp
-Auto aqua smart ATO lite
-Fluval 207 canister filter running carbon and about 20 marinepure biospheres
-Red gracillaria macro (Fern caulerpa will also be added)
-Livestock: just the mantis!
-Salinity 1.025
-Nitrates: less than 5ppm
This will be a simple tank and will more closely resemble a refugium as it matures. I plan on adding a couple photosynthetic Gorgonians and maybe a Pulsing Xenia. But the concept is about openness and good water quality while minimizing maintenance requirements. I intend to add an in-line UV sterilizer specially made for the Fluval series canister filter.
Right now I feed live (and sometimes frozen) Coquina clams which I personally collect on the beach. Also live brine shrimp and a live crab about 1x/week. I have an order of snails and hermits on the way to mow down the inevitable “new tank diatoms” but they will likely be consumed as well.
So far activity is decent for a new Peacock. He molted the night before I picked him up from the LFS so I was pretty worried he wouldn’t make it. I dosed Seachem Prime daily for the first couple weeks just to be sure. I also struggled to get the Gracillaria established so I had a high nitrate (up to 40ppm) problem initially.
I’ll add a few more posts as I have time, thanks for reading!
Here’s the setup details, pics as soon as I have time:
-20 gallon long tank VERY minimally aquascaped
-about 1/2 inch mixture of reef sand & Aragonite
-IM wavelink pump, ~1000GPH on surge mode
-undersized Aqueon heater always on at 78F
-1.5” diameter PVC burrow to be upgraded to 2” PVC shortly
-cheap LED lamp
-Auto aqua smart ATO lite
-Fluval 207 canister filter running carbon and about 20 marinepure biospheres
-Red gracillaria macro (Fern caulerpa will also be added)
-Livestock: just the mantis!
-Salinity 1.025
-Nitrates: less than 5ppm
This will be a simple tank and will more closely resemble a refugium as it matures. I plan on adding a couple photosynthetic Gorgonians and maybe a Pulsing Xenia. But the concept is about openness and good water quality while minimizing maintenance requirements. I intend to add an in-line UV sterilizer specially made for the Fluval series canister filter.
Right now I feed live (and sometimes frozen) Coquina clams which I personally collect on the beach. Also live brine shrimp and a live crab about 1x/week. I have an order of snails and hermits on the way to mow down the inevitable “new tank diatoms” but they will likely be consumed as well.
So far activity is decent for a new Peacock. He molted the night before I picked him up from the LFS so I was pretty worried he wouldn’t make it. I dosed Seachem Prime daily for the first couple weeks just to be sure. I also struggled to get the Gracillaria established so I had a high nitrate (up to 40ppm) problem initially.
I’ll add a few more posts as I have time, thanks for reading!