Fish's new tank project

[woodcarver]

Hey Chad , Looks like they finally got you behind bars
Is that for aiding and abetting that criminal mantis ?
..............................Dave

[Fish]

Right on thanks Justin. I am trying to feed a fair amount of live food but will be picking up some selcon for frozen krill and some iodine to dose the water. I will definitely get a hold of you.


Dave,
The only thing criminal is how much money I've spent so far -


- Chad

[justinl]

whoa whoa! stop there and back up a step. Why do you need iodine? Are you one of those people who believe mantids need iodine to molt? just to let you know, iodine dosing in a mantid (or another exoskeleton invert that molts) tank is NOT a good idea.

There is this false rumor going around that it helps a mantis molt. It actually forces premature molts from them. This is bad because there are things a mantis needs to do before a molt like reabsorb nutrients from the old shell and start growing a new one beneath it. Do that too often, it can kill a mantid. For the mantis' sake please don't dose it with iodine.

Ive only ever come accross one case where it seemed an iodine dose helped. But that was a special case where a peacock was ready to molt but was having trouble doing so.

[Fish]

Whoa... I almost dropped my glass of water when I read your post, it jumped out at me so much. I don't think I'm one of "those people".... I have just always heard that iodine is an essential element that that it is quickly depleted from mixed salt. I have heard that dosing iodine is necessary to maintain the level over time. But thanks for the heads up, I will be sure to look into it.

- Chad

[justinl]

No proble. I believe that the only case where iodine can be depleted is in a reef system, but even there im not sure. There is plenty of iodine in the salt mix, and if you feed the mantis crustaceans, frozen or live, it will get all the iodine it needs. There is absolutely no need to add iodine in my mind. If you're worried about depletion over time, I wouldn't so long as you do your regular water changes.

[Fish]

Well, this will be a reef when I'm done - I much prefer the look of a mantis in a reef over the sand + pvc-pipe-cave that make up some mantis tanks. Probably what I will do is test regularly for iodine to see where I am at.

_ Chad

[justinl]

yeah i think that would be the best plan of action. My own mantis tank (when i actually find the damn mantis) has a 2 inch sand bed and LR with rubble (small LR and empty shells) for the mantis to make its burrow. I don't like the unnatural look of bare pvc either.

[Fish]

Here is a photo of the system now that I have it all up and running:






Fortunately there are no vibrations that I can detect with my hand coming from the sump return pump... I think it is lucky that I looked a little harder and paid a little extra for the Japanese-motored Iwaki. Now the system is far from silent, the fans from both pumps are very noticeable... each one probably twice as loud as that fan in your computer - and maybe a higher pitched hum. I know there are some that strive for a slent sysytem but this isn't a problem for me - my nano design was all about downplaying and hiding equipment; however, this setup is about displaying and showcasing the equipment... bringing attention to all of the hardware and power it takes to maintain a single drop of ocean so far from its natural environment. Speaking of showcasing equipment, here are a few shots of the plumbing:













There are a couple things about the setup that I would do differently if I had the chance. First of all I would make my skimmer chamber shorter so the water didn't have so far to fall. Secondly, I think my disconnect unions are too close to the effluent sides of the pumps - when they are wide open, I get a rattling sound in there that I think is cavitation due to the water going from the impeller (3/4" passage) and straight into the over-sized chamber (over 1") inside the unions. I have found that by closing the ball valve partway (probably closer to 3/4") I can eliminate the sound without decreasing output. I think if the over-sized unions were further from the pumps there wouldn't be a problem. The plumbing is enlarged to 1" in order to reduce friction and reduce the velocity from the return pipes - which is good because I have ran the head-loss calculator with my actual measurements and the total came to 1468gph of flow from both pumps. That makes an even 40x's turnover. (I said that the plumbing was 1" and then sized down to 3/4" at the pumps but actually my intake to the closed loop starts out at 1.5" to allow for a larger bulkhead screen that's less prone to plugging. It then goes down to 1" and then to 3/4" at the pump).

One last pic:





Hope you like,

- Chad

[justinl]

i like.

unorthodox approach to your display method. i like as well.

[Fish]

Thanks Justin,
I didn't have the sides on the stand in those pics... oh well... just have to take some more photos