HOB filter for mantis shrimp

Monsoonium · Feb 10, 2023

Hey all, new here. Thinking about starting a 29 gal tanks for a mantis shrimp (Not sure on what species yet).

Currently I'm doing my research on filters. What HOB filters would be ideal for a decent price? What filtration setups do you have?

This'll be my first saltwater tank and I have a lot of time to do some set up to make it ideal before I get any inhabitants.

As a bit of an off topic bit, is there any divider bits that'll separate the fish tank display area from where the HOB filter, skimmer, heater and other bits would be, mostly for aesthetic purposes? I appreciate any and all advice!

Stomatopods17 · Feb 11, 2023

Look at canister filters. They're eons better than HOB specially for a 29 gal.

HOBs typically don't give the tank good flow (unless you place it directly in the middle) and are very noisy when the tank isn't completely topped off. They're hit or miss on operating correctly too. Canisters you have flexibility with the media inside it, and flexibility in the tubing options.

Personally I drilled my 29 gallon and used an overflow box (original intent was a HOB overflow box but that was terrible to work with not to mention leaks.) and did a refugium system beneath the tank. Also solves the aesthetics issue since all the equipment stays hidden there.

Blake509 · Feb 11, 2023

Monsoonium said:
Hey all, new here. Thinking about starting a 29 gal tanks for a mantis shrimp (Not sure on what species yet).

Currently I'm doing my research on filters. What HOB filters would be ideal for a decent price? What filtration setups do you have?

This'll be my first saltwater tank and I have a lot of time to do some set up to make it ideal before I get any inhabitants.

As a bit of an off topic bit, is there any divider bits that'll separate the fish tank display area from where the HOB filter, skimmer, heater and other bits would be, mostly for aesthetic purposes? I appreciate any and all advice!

Look at a drop in aio it won't accommodate the hob filter. But with pump and some sort of filter caddy you can make your own filter if looking for cleaner look.

Widdlyscudds · Feb 11, 2023

Monsoonium said:
Hey all, new here. Thinking about starting a 29 gal tanks for a mantis shrimp (Not sure on what species yet).

Currently I'm doing my research on filters. What HOB filters would be ideal for a decent price? What filtration setups do you have?

This'll be my first saltwater tank and I have a lot of time to do some set up to make it ideal before I get any inhabitants.

As a bit of an off topic bit, is there any divider bits that'll separate the fish tank display area from where the HOB filter, skimmer, heater and other bits would be, mostly for aesthetic purposes? I appreciate any and all advice!

I use an aquaclear 50 on my 45 gallon reef tank, I would highly recommend it but do yourself a favor and pull out the sponge that comes with it and use filter floss instead, I use mine to hold some bio media and carbon and occasionally i'll throw some floss in there when i want to polish off my water. Mine has been running for 4 years now for both fresh and saltwater.

Mr. Mojo Rising · Feb 11, 2023

Suggest that you do a lot of reading on biofiltration on a saltwater tank. Filtration works very differently in saltwater, a hob or canister filter is not that important and a filter alone won't keep animals alive. I run 2 tanks with no mechanical filtration at all.

jimk60 · Feb 11, 2023

Widdlyscudds said:
I use an aquaclear 50 on my 45 gallon reef tank, I would highly recommend it but do yourself a favor and pull out the sponge that comes with it and use filter floss instead, I use mine to hold some bio media and carbon and occasionally i'll throw some floss in there when i want to polish off my water. Mine has been running for 4 years now for both fresh and saltwater.

Agree with the aquaclear as a great HOB but I would go with the 70 instead

Blake509 · Feb 11, 2023

If you go with aquaclear hob oceanboxdesigns.com sells magnetic overflow/surface skimmer attachment for cleaner look and surface skimming.

Icky Nicky · Feb 11, 2023

I like aquaclear, use them on all my tanks

bushdoc · Feb 11, 2023

Any HOB filter will be OK. I used Aquaclear and Seachem Tidal. I would NOT recommend canister filters as somebody recommended here, they are nutrient traps and need more attention to cleaning that HOB filters.
If it's only gonna be dedicated Mantis shrimp tank, than they have lower metabolism ( or create less waste) than fish, so you'll be fine with HOB.

Stomatopods17 · Feb 11, 2023

bushdoc said:
If it's only gonna be dedicated Mantis shrimp tank, than they have lower metabolism ( or create less waste) than fish, so you'll be fine with HOB.

Depends on the mantis, they do have a heavy bioload (especially since CUC dies, they bury leftover food, and in general feedings. If you use feeders something is dying in the tank every few days.). Wouldn't be much different than keeping a lionfish for the larger species.

Quite a few o. havanensis have actually died just from sand stirring, while O. scyllarus develops shell rot from nutrients. Any HOB that you can run nutrient media in and is easy to clean can work, my skimmer fills up really fast with just my O. scyllarus though.

Monsoonium · Feb 11, 2023

Alright, cool. I'll probably go for the Aquaclear 70 and look into that skimmer attachment bit.

Probably a stupid question, but is the skimmer attachment sold by oceanbox designs the same as a HOB skimmer or sump skimmer?

Also looking at lights now. I've heard that lights can hurt mantis shrimp, but from what I've seen that's only true if the mantis shrimp is truly unhealthy. I plan on giving it plenty of hiding spots if needed. I think I might try some easy corals just to make the tank more interesting, and to force me to stay up on water quality.

I've heard tons of good things about VIPARSPECTRA, but for quite a bit cheaper there is the 'Wills' branded light on Amazon. I understand the whole "you get what you pay for", but it seems relatively well received on the reviews. Worst case scenario I return it, learn my lesson and pay for the better light since I plan on having at least a month to set up the tank so I am truly ready.

Also might look into a cheap fish tank mate to see how the peacock mantis shrimp's temperament is. Worst case is it's a free meal and it doesn't like to have tankmates. I've seen a few mantis shrimp with some tankmates but I completely understand it's all personality based and I'm willing to take that risk.

Any advice and input is greatly appreciated!

Monsoonium · Feb 11, 2023

Stomatopods17 said:
Depends on the mantis, they do have a heavy bioload (especially since CUC dies, they bury leftover food, and in general feedings. If you use feeders something is dying in the tank every few days.). Wouldn't be much different than keeping a lionfish for the larger species.

Quite a few o. havanensis have actually died just from sand stirring, while O. scyllarus develops shell rot from nutrients. Any HOB that you can run nutrient media in and is easy to clean can work, my skimmer fills up really fast with just my O. scyllarus though.

Understood. I'll have to look into what filter media I'll use and note it down.

Only thing about canister filters is I have one from a 75 gallon freshwater aquarium that needs a good clean with RO-DI water. Might be overkill, but I don't see that as bad.

Stomatopods17 · Feb 11, 2023

Viparspectras are really strong lights, I have 3 of them over my 125.

You either have to do some kind of DIY mount or them or hang them from the ceiling, which can be tricky. I plan on doing 2 AI primes instead of one of my spare viparspectras due to complications in ceiling and wall structure. I intend to grow a mixed reef with mine.

That being said, lighting has a correlation to shell disease (which is where I emphasize nutrient control is a must for O. scyllarus in particular.), so if you're a beginner its not recommended to run the lighting until your water is stable enough to deny nutrients for the shell disease to grow. Skimmer where possible helps with this and perhaps even look at HOB refugiums instead as macroalgae like chaeto will out compete shell rot for nutrients.

I wouldn't reuse equipment from freshwater but that's me personally. I've crashed tanks reusing equipment from saltwater.

The biggest emphasis if you do choose O. scyllarus is the burrow, naturally they develop U shaped burrows and then seal the entrances of both sides with rubble, going in complete darkness during molts. If they can't do that they'll stress and die by molt.

EDIT: tankmates try damsels. Always had better luck with them personally.

Monsoonium · Feb 11, 2023

Stomatopods17 said:
Viparspectras are really strong lights, I have 3 of them over my 125.

You either have to do some kind of DIY mount or them or hang them from the ceiling, which can be tricky. I plan on doing 2 AI primes instead of one of my spare viparspectras due to complications in ceiling and wall structure. I intend to grow a mixed reef with mine.

That being said, lighting has a correlation to shell disease (which is where I emphasize nutrient control is a must for O. scyllarus in particular.), so if you're a beginner its not recommended to run the lighting until your water is stable enough to deny nutrients for the shell disease to grow. Skimmer where possible helps with this and perhaps even look at HOB refugiums instead as macroalgae like chaeto will out compete shell rot for nutrients.

I wouldn't reuse equipment from freshwater but that's me personally. I've crashed tanks reusing equipment from saltwater.

The biggest emphasis if you do choose O. scyllarus is the burrow, naturally they develop U shaped burrows and then seal the entrances of both sides with rubble, going in complete darkness during molts. If they can't do that they'll stress and die by molt.

EDIT: tankmates try damsels. Always had better luck with them personally.

Already planned on making a bit of an overkill PVC tube system so the shrimp can choose where they like it best and have plenty of space to isolate themselves for molting.

Any good budget-ish minded options for refugiums?

Blake509 · Feb 11, 2023

The surface skimmer is just that a surface skimmer not a true protein skimmer it's a black box that the filter intake goes in that has slots in top to allow a hob filter to pull water from the top instead of middle of water column it provides a cleaner look like you were looking for but will only fit filter intake not heater or anything else. You may want to go bigger filter if you want to hide heater in there but can have problems with regular sized heater for tank being able to keep up might want slightly oversized

Monsoonium · Feb 11, 2023

Blake509 said:
The surface skimmer is just that a surface skimmer not a true protein skimmer it's a black box that the filter intake goes in that has slots in top to allow a hob filter to pull water from the top instead of middle of water column it provides a cleaner look like you were looking for but will only fit filter intake not heater or anything else. You may want to go bigger filter if you want to hide heater in there but can have problems with regular sized heater for tank being able to keep up might want slightly oversized

Thought that was the case. I should have a spare heater I never used around here somewhere from a lost freshwater endeavor that hasn't been opened. (Issue was such a tall tank not exactly being friendly to light)

I'm probably going to start getting some stuff ordered off of amazon to get the tank set up to start cycling soonish.

Pridedcloth3 · Feb 11, 2023

I'm personally only running a in tank skimmer and a chaeto ball just laying around with a small Chinese powerhead. Pretty much I went minimalist and it worked surprisingly well in a 55g. After a crapfest the shrimp is now in my reef but never had issues with what I had setup for it just ran a hob once a month to clear the water with carbon.

Reef. · Apr 19, 2023

LordofCinder said:
Suggest that you do a lot of reading on biofiltration on a saltwater tank. Filtration works very differently in saltwater, a hob or canister filter is not that important and a filter alone won't keep animals alive. I run 2 tanks with no mechanical filtration at all.

Interesting, do you have any links for me to start looking into this.