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Unread 05/09/2012, 07:12 AM   #126
Kharn
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Originally Posted by TundraGuy View Post
I think thats going to be cool
Although I am confident in its design (holding together etc) I am NOT confident that it will do its purpose, which is to slow the incoming water from the FX5 to the first chamber in the top tank of STAND A & B going to test it out this weekend.

If all goes well it should disappear into the backdrops of the sides and rear of the tanks being black.


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Unread 05/09/2012, 07:29 AM   #127
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you can always try adding a second return and teeing them off and have them return to different sections. this way the flow will be split and you will still be getting the full use of the 925 gph from the fx5.


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Unread 05/09/2012, 03:48 PM   #128
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you can always try adding a second return and teeing them off and have them return to different sections. this way the flow will be split and you will still be getting the full use of the 925 gph from the fx5.
well basically the back plan is similar to that. But I do hope the current way is enough to slow the water enough.

In this pic I detail my current FX5 difuser which is the one on the left, the one on the right has a 2nd spray bar and is what the backup plan is like, to hopefully further reduce the powerful flow from the FX5.




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Unread 05/10/2012, 05:32 AM   #129
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I have come with an idea to potentially increase the overall accommodation available in my overall setup from what is at current 12 to possibly 17-22 overall. (Unless for some extremely odd and rare circumstance that I get another "happy" smasher pair like Maximus & Minnie).

I am starting to come to the terms that although it may be a bad idea I want to keep Minnie & Maximus "together" basically in the same setup there in now only separated via an egg crate sheet so Minnie can pass through. They will still have more room then they currently have in my sump....which I am ashamed of. None the less, there happy now and will be more happy soon enough.

Obviously this opens up another 'compartment' which in a sense can also be divided off via egg crate into 2 'compartments' if the given species doesn't get too big but not too small to pass through the egg crate. Unless I can get another breeding pair (HIGHLY unlikely) which would render it the same setup as Maximus and Minnie.

Also by coming to terms with the minimal space required for some of the largest stomatopods (Lysiosquillades) I have also decided to split STAND C tanks in half with egg crate. I am more then confident both Morgoth and Leviathan will be more then fine in the shorter spaces considering the lack of space they currently use in my much larger current tank.

Again this opens up 2 more 'compartments' however being in STAND C they are obviously setup specifically for large spearers so they will be targeted to fill the void on that stand, I'd love female L.sulcata & L .maculata =).

If there are any tanks that I am deciding to keep a bit more spacious it will be the bottom tank of STAND B (900Lx300Wx450H mm) currently it has no divider at all but I am willing to put up a SOLID divider (perhaps a few sheets of egg crate neatly lined up) to split the tank into 2 compartments for at least a pair of decent sized smashers.

Note: STAND A remains untouched with the tanks being small as is (2ft ea), the "ladder" type sketch in the pics represents the egg crate adjustments, whilst the solid black single lines (mostly in STAND A) represent the already made solid dividers that I had done with the tanks.

Again Zuzu is "counted" in this setup as he will occupy a space initially, also I have "counted" 2 other stomatopods that I don't exactly "HAVE" yet but I need to ensure they DO have a compartment for when they arrive as I am starting to get a bit of an army going here....the 2 others are the O.scyllarus & what I believe to be a G.falcatus.

Here is the generalized idea.



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Unread 05/10/2012, 06:06 AM   #130
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I know you love your egg crate but why not just get sheets of acrylic and drill it and cut slots in the top?

Egg crate is for frags and light fixtures. Imo

I think your going to be the envy of many a mantis keeping reefaholic. One day I am going to show up at your door just to see this Mantis Mecca.

I see what your doing as a good plan.


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Unread 05/10/2012, 06:13 AM   #131
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Originally Posted by TundraGuy View Post
I know you love your egg crate but why not just get sheets of acrylic and drill it and cut slots in the top?

Egg crate is for frags and light fixtures. Imo

I think your going to be the envy of many a mantis keeping reefaholic. One day I am going to show up at your door just to see this Mantis Mecca.

I see what your doing as a good plan.
One reason I don't have holes in the dividers I have already on the tanks is because of what I saw happening to the walls on the plastic containers they ONLY attacked around the holes that allowed water in and out chipping away slowly there is NO damage on the completely clear and solid walls.

I am undecided on what to use for dividers really but egg crate is the back up plan, I do plan on making it a LOT neater then my current "fugly" egg crate because the egg crate in my current tank was put it AFTER it was all setup....this will go in before hand.

Also for the case of Maximus & Minnie the only reason that they can "hook up" is because she can fit through the egg crate easily whilst its more then impossible for him to try (he pokes his eyes through I'm trying to capture it on camera xD). I'd like to retain that sort of thing if in the VARY RARE circumstances that I happen to get another "pair" of smashers that mate/live like them.


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Unread 05/10/2012, 07:20 AM   #132
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That’s cool but what happens when she grows to big to fit through the holes? How about using the acrylic sheet and drilling a hole for her to pass through. I think the thickness of the sheet could be chosen to stand up to some abuse. I wonder also if it’s the female or the male that become more aggressive in time or is it a size/space issue with them. Well you’ll collect that info for us I bet.

But I can see it now this new set up will only serve as your prototype for your bigger mantis holding facility in the future.


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Unread 05/10/2012, 09:06 AM   #133
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I would doubt very much if it's the female's instinct to make an unprovoked attack on a male twice her size. A species with that kind of instinct wouldn't survive very long


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Unread 05/10/2012, 04:12 PM   #134
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Originally Posted by TundraGuy View Post
That’s cool but what happens when she grows to big to fit through the holes? How about using the acrylic sheet and drilling a hole for her to pass through. I think the thickness of the sheet could be chosen to stand up to some abuse. I wonder also if it’s the female or the male that become more aggressive in time or is it a size/space issue with them. Well you’ll collect that info for us I bet.

But I can see it now this new set up will only serve as your prototype for your bigger mantis holding facility in the future.
I already thought about when she gets to big I plan on cutting out a square in the eggcrate, then creating out of eggcrate 2 slightly larger then the square cut out, I will zip tie these 2 "egg crate squares" to either side of the main egg crate wall and covering the slightly small egg crate square I cut out to act as sort of small square doors on hinges (the zip ties) that I can lift and lower at will.

Hard to describe without drawing or making it.

So I drew it in paint just then to hopefully give an idea....to note the CLOSED/OPEN image is what you would see looking directly at the wall into the tank from the front pane of glass so although it appears that I have NOT cut the larger square out in the OPEN/CLOSED images, I will have its just that from this angle your looking at the very outter rim of the egg crate wall, where the hole is in its center. The larger black dots/circles represents the Zip ties however I do plan on using small clear ones rather then the bright green heavy duty ones I currently use xD...




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Unread 05/10/2012, 04:28 PM   #135
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I plan on moving all my live stock to the temporary tank tomorrow along with hopefully removing as much of the old stuff from the current tank that I can...need to dig out a LOT of substrate....


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Unread 05/11/2012, 04:26 AM   #136
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Dude i would go about 10mm marine ply dont take a chance on the bottom of the glass bowing you could end up with a huge mess. An dead mantis.


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Unread 05/11/2012, 05:42 AM   #137
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O moving mantis progress!

Why am I so excited to see your set up? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm


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Unread 05/12/2012, 05:07 AM   #138
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G'day all

The Temp Tank Setup is complete!

Wasn't easy and there bumps along the way but I managed to capture both spearers without harming either of them, having said that I also did NOT capture any of the "capturing" on camera...however I have managed to capture plenty of pics of this new TEMPORARY setup.

All the water that was in my old setup housing the spearers is in this temp one, since there is NO SAND in this temp tank I gave the spearers some PVC pipes to live in for the time being.

Here is the outcome of the new tank, water is still a bit cloudy so can't provide "clear" pics but I did get some shots I haven't been able to before due to the nature of spearers in general, this is just a taste of whats to come in my new large system I'm building since its primary purpose besides keeping stomatopods happy is to give me the photographer the best pic opportunities possible.

The overall setup (same as before minus sand and minus 1 foot for display sump is same).


The Temp Display tank (Morgoth Left/Leviathan Right).


Morgoths Compartment.


Leviathans Compartment.


Morgoth on some Live Rock, probably still coming to terms with where all that wonderful sand went ='[...


Leviathan in his burrow staring at the camera.


Fingers crossed that they all survive and live happily in this new system for a little bit.

More to come.


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Unread 05/12/2012, 03:14 PM   #139
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awesome.


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Unread 05/12/2012, 04:16 PM   #140
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awesome.
My hardest job keeping these animals to date was re-capturing Leviathan & Morgoth I am so glad its OVER!


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Unread 05/12/2012, 04:48 PM   #141
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I plan on moving all the stands into the room this week, I shall finish anything that the stands need done in the room the stands will live in, things to be done are Hooks to Hang the lights (each hook goes into the base of each tanks ply sheet to hang from) then there is just the Hood Ornaments left to help conceal the lights & the top of the tanks.

So hopefully by this weekend I can get water in each stand and have it cycling (depending on the arrival of the Poly Risers to connect each tank in each stand). After using this FX5 on my current "Temp Setup" I am starting to think that STAND B may be ok with the standard output fitting and not requiring a Difuser however my Temp Tank is much deeper then the tanks for the stands only the bottom tank on STAND B matches basically exactly, the 3 foot tank I have now as the Temp Setup, the reason all the bottom tanks are +1/2 height (example most tanks are 350mm H the bottom tank on STAND A & B are both 450mm high) is to account for water loss/drainage during power outs cause some water is going to want to go down from the top 2 tanks in each stand, gravity.


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Unread 05/12/2012, 04:51 PM   #142
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I am undecided rite now whether I am going to "encase" the rear and sides in a thin ply sheeting to help conceal it all, one thing I did over look due to so much going on is the fact that the piping connecting each tank within its stand, sticks out a few inches from the steel frame, so if I were to "encase" the stands in thin ply sheet, I'd need to cut long rectangles out in its sides to allow for the piping to slot into it and poke out of it once in place.

Either way I need to basically have EVERYTHING up and running before that point so I MAY do it during the tanks cycles.


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Unread 05/12/2012, 05:08 PM   #143
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Last night during my sleep my obsession for stomatopods showed...

I had a strange dream/nightmare albeit NOTHING over the top all of it completely plausible which is what made it feel so real / scary.

I can't recall my dreams completely anymore but I do remember this...for some reason during the transferring of my animals I decided to use a clear plastic rectangular container to use to scoop up my smaller smashers (I do NOT need to do this nor would it be capable of placing such an item into the sump to use to move them). Anyway I started to scoop up each mantis and I got a few done (I do not know where I was putting them once scooping them) when it came time to scoop up Minnie, I was too rough and cut her head off when I 'accidentally' slammed the plastic container against the side of the tank in an attempt to trap her.

I woke up coated in sweat and scared remember how I lost Minnie yesterday, but when I woke and looked she was there in her Live Rock staring out at me as if to say "Good Morning" (the temp setup is at the end of my bed).

So I wiped away what sweat was left on my head knowing full well, it was just a dream o_O.

weird


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Unread 05/12/2012, 11:40 PM   #144
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HAHAHAHAHA THATS GREAT.

lol A+ for the love of stomatopods.

will you have a huge refugium?
maybe one huge display refugium with macroalgae, live rocks, and best of all... LIVE FOOD FOR THE MANTIS!


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Unread 05/13/2012, 07:12 AM   #145
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HAHAHAHAHA THATS GREAT.

lol A+ for the love of stomatopods.

will you have a huge refugium?
maybe one huge display refugium with macroalgae, live rocks, and best of all... LIVE FOOD FOR THE MANTIS!
Not sure maybe down the track... there is room to slot a nice long and deep (but not very wide) tank behind all the stands that I could possibly link to all the stands

Rite now its all about finishing this off to get the stomatopods I do have into there homes, its been way to long and I only further reduced there compartments (well for my large spearers) the smashers are in the same place but that is a sad sight and they deserve there space and freedom.


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Unread 05/13/2012, 10:38 PM   #146
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Last night I did a lot of excavating and maneuvering within the room the stands will reside in. It took me a while but I gutted the whole wall that the stands will inevitably occupy so this evening I am getting one of my co-workers over to help me muscle the stands into place as they do weigh a lot and mostly because of there size it will take some effort to get them through a "normal" door way.

However I did manage to drain all the water from the old 4footer that house my large spearers, into there Temp tank, then I went about the long task of digging up all the sand in the tank to make it lite enough to move (myself) which I did in the end =D I left about 2inchs of substrate and an inch or 2 of water in it, then I grabbed it (like I do my missus ) and just hoofed the whole thing out myself, now the room looks REALLY bare with one of its largest walls being totally bare. (Thought about hanging my boxers on the wall to help it cover up the bareness lol).

Only things left to do on the stands are to screw in some hooks to hang the lights off and attach the Hoods to the front of each stand, slightly above each tank so the bottom of the hoods meet around the internal water line of the tank its resting above.

Hopefully by this weekend I can have all the stands in the room and completed to go with there tanks in place and plumbed, all that would be left is to fill and cycle =D

I am so happy I got both my large spearers out of there old tanks SAFELY (specifically there burrows) because I KNEW one wrong move would mean a cave in and a likely hood of a death but, now that its done and there is NO sand in there temp setup, when I have to remove them from there Temp setup, it'll be a piece of cake =)


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Unread 05/13/2012, 10:43 PM   #147
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Originally Posted by Bluemon View Post
HAHAHAHAHA THATS GREAT.

lol A+ for the love of stomatopods.

will you have a huge refugium?
maybe one huge display refugium with macroalgae, live rocks, and best of all... LIVE FOOD FOR THE MANTIS!
One thing I can do for a sort of live food storage would be to turn the "Temp Tank" into the Live Food tank, capable of housing all sorts of critters for the Multi Mantis System.

I got a great deal with a mate of mine that will sell me 50 live 1-2inch ghost shrimp for......$6 but 10 of those didn't last long with Zuzu when I dumped them all in his tank on my first buy (thinking he couldn't eat them all...)

I will highly Likely do this for the Temp Tank, since it is NOT in "the way" where it is and well its an up and running system all I might have to do is add a sand bed to help feed...the feeder critters lol.


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Unread 05/14/2012, 09:26 AM   #148
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Yo man I am so sad to see you did the mantis move without a camera. Lol did you use the lasso or did you find a better trick? Good to see you still have use of your fingers.
I like the idea of having a “live food” holding area. It makes a lot of since to me. I know your really into controlling the feeding times for your mantis. It will be kind of like having a fuge without all the macro. Are you still using the leds from Ikea, and are you using the color changing ones? If you are will you try and see if the color of the light will have any effect over the color of the mantis?


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Unread 05/14/2012, 05:30 PM   #149
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Yo man I am so sad to see you did the mantis move without a camera. Lol did you use the lasso or did you find a better trick? Good to see you still have use of your fingers.
I like the idea of having a “live food” holding area. It makes a lot of since to me. I know your really into controlling the feeding times for your mantis. It will be kind of like having a fuge without all the macro. Are you still using the leds from Ikea, and are you using the color changing ones? If you are will you try and see if the color of the light will have any effect over the color of the mantis?
I knew you particularly would be sad by the fact that I didn't film the capture process but things did get awkward, firstly I DID NOT use the lasso method (not that I have anything against it at all, since it was recommended by the stomatopod man! I just felt to paranoid about it and could see myself ripping the animals in half...) What I did (which worked like a charm) was to study the each spearers burrows knowing where which tunnel went where.

Then I proceeded to stick long steel skewers (blunted) down into the burrow sort of blocking it off behind the mantis, then I dragged the skewers towards the mantis, destroying its burrow in the process, this made them come flying out and for easy capture.

It also makes sense to use the Temp Tank for something since its all brand new and be a waste to not use it, that and its already setup ready for Live Food basically.

I am not using the LED's from IKEA I went and found some actual aquarium LED's there awesome, extremely light and very bright, each light coems with 3 LED strips in its fixture, 2 white 1 blue and the fixture has 2 switches (one for the blue and one for the whites) so I can alter when whats on.

As far as using different colors, all I am going to do (to get the pics) is use a powerful torch with some colored cellophane to use the different colors when I need to see them that and a good UV torch too.


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Unread 05/15/2012, 05:32 AM   #150
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“I am not using the LED's from IKEA I went and found some actual aquarium LED's there awesome, extremely light and very bright, each light coems with 3 LED strips in its fixture, 2 white 1 blue and the fixture has 2 switches (one for the blue and one for the whites) so I can alter when whats on.

As far as using different colors, all I am going to do (to get the pics) is use a powerful torch with some colored cellophane to use the different colors when I need to see them that and a good UV torch too.”

Sounds good but I was referring to using different color lighting on the mantis for a couple months to see if the colored light would stimulate the mantis coloration during and post molt.

The skewer trick so simple and vary affective. Bravo.


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