=Jwin's 9 GALLON MANTIS CUBE - Nano Wave 9

Have fun on your scuba trip.

I was thinking some other cool species you may want to look into. Any of the smaller Odontodactylus species would be really cool to have too. Havanensis, latirostris, brevirostris (very interactive). Only thing is they aren't very tolerant when it comes to low oxygen or high ammonia so you would really have to be on your toes with them.

I think I am going to set up another tank, using my 10gal mantis tank as the refugium sump. I am going to keep my N. Wennerae down there with some mangrove trees. Then in the top which will be 20-30 gal, have a small Odontodactylus probably Havanensis (plan to go down to the keys and catch one lol). Or I saw a massive crab at the LFS (3reef sponsor: wwc) that thing was cool looking.

 

So have you had any issues w/ heat? When I get into the office, the tank is around 78*, and by 5pm its up to 84*. Not sure what to do. Not so keen on the idea of stuffing fans into the hood, I'd imagine they'll be loud and annoy other people in the office.

 

Crim: Heat seems to be the only issue with these tanks. My lights have been off for most of the time. With the lights off, the temp is at 77 or 78, when they come on the temp climbs like crazy. I'm going to install the nanocustoms fan kit soon and see how it does. It looks great so far as I can tell...I'm not at the mental or physical capacity to do it right now though

Our last plane landed at about 2pm today from the trip. It was GREAT!!! So fantastic. Scuba diving was only a part of it...but it was great. Having a SW aquarium makes it so much more fun. And yes, I swam with sharks on one dive. The other parts to the trip were fishing (we caught a ,mahi mahi trolling), sailing, snorkeling, and spearfishing (I nailed me 3 grunts, 1 snapper, and 1 strawberry grouper. they tasted fantastic) and killing time in the boat with movies and such. When I get my video completed I'll post it up for you guys, as well as some pictures.

I'll get the fans installed some time this week and see how well they keep the temp down.

 

Your trip sounds like a blast, wish I had gone on vacation ;D

I have mine setup on my desk at work, an am hesitant to install those fans on it due to noise. I don't really want to annoy the other guys who sit nearby.

I was looking at my cube on friday and was thinking about installing some 1" fans *under* the hood, on the top part of the divider that seperates the display and filter sections of the tank. There appears to be 1.5-2" of space above the water line on that divider. I was thinking I could easily cut one or two 1"x1" squares out of the top of that, and stick in two fans sucking air out. Air would then flow in from the side vents, accross the top of the display water, and then out of the back thru the holes in the back of the filter area.

We'll see I'm going to go dig thru my boxes of computer junk to see if I have any suitable fans laying around to try this out.

 

That trip was a blast. Well worth me going into even deeper debt with my parents. It was amazing.

As for installing this fan kit...I'm currently shooting emails back and forth with tech support on what stupid wires I cut and what wires I don't. I didn't realize how vague the instructions were to someone without an electrical engineering degree until I opened it up. They could have made things so much easier if they just said "cut the red wire coming from the long shiny metal box thing" instead of throwing in all kinds of techincal what not. I will HOPEFULLY have the fans up and running by the end of the week.

 

That would make it to easy. LOL Can't wait to see this one take off. I am still debating on if I want to keep the nano running the way it is. I want something different. Who knows what will be in store for the 26 in the future. Now get that Mantis. LOL

 

Ah so does the kit for the fans pull power from inside the tank w/o the need for an extra power supply? If so, if you wouldn't mind posting up where you're getting power for the fans that would be awesome. I think I'm going to try the two small 1" fans on the back, and if I can hook it up to a power source already in the hood as opposed to running another power line that would rock.

 

The fans use another power line. I thought they didn't...but those instructions from nanocustoms on the fan kit were WORTHLESS. I ended up just using my gut instinct on what goes where, and it turned out better than it would have turned out trying to follow that garbage. I even emailed them, and they just repeated what the instructions already said. In theory...I could have achieved the same result by snipping and soldering 2 wires. But no, I was supposed to cut 6 wires and end up with 4 connections. I think I ended up with 8 wires and 6 connections trying to repair what they instructions told me to do. Biggest pain in the *** I've ever had with a soldering iron.

Anyways...I have good news!!!

Our LFS employee kinda sorta called us about a little mantis they got in. He hitchhiked in on a customers live rock and the customer brought him back in. Wellll....

The mantis I now have in my tank is a N. Wennerae (kind of almost a let down...except not really) and is 3/4" long. At least, I think he's a Wennerae. That's what he looks like to me. He's pinkish, purplish, grayish with yellow appendages. He is so tiny. When we got to the store the little guy was trying to beat the snot out of a hermit crab they had put in with him, and the crab was bigger than he was.

Anyways, I've been watching him bang out a hole in the rock for the last 2 hours. He acts like a puppy, and acts like quite a goober. In the store he rolled over onto his back and stared at us. On his back. He could have stared at us all day while standing on his legs like a normal critter, but no. He rolled over I really like him/her so far.

I'd rather he be a tad larger so the damsel doesn't do anything to him (has left him alone so far), but at least I get to see him grow up from a whee one. I wanted an active/interactive mantis, and this little guy fits the bill.

I'll get some pics up tomorrow if my camera can focus in on him

 

What no pics you are such a tease jwin. LOL Can't wait to see him. Whats his name.

 

No, you will put pics up in the next 5 minutes, even if they are blurry
How did the fan kit work out? Help with the temp issues?