RM's HalfMoon Mantis Palace R.I.P CARNICERA

That is awesome news!!! which kind did you go with?

 

I ordered a N. Wennerae from tbsaltwater. After talking with Stepho, reading more and more about the diff species + the facts that no one has any available and everyone has a smithii, I just decided to get the wen. Be a good first mantis. Another factor in the decision was the $$ hit my wife and I took yesterday. I NEEDED to spend my mantis money now before it was 'discovered' and spent elsewhere.

 

Congrats on getting the system up and going. Can't wait to see the mantis.

 

Thanks

 

Neat tank. I have s standard 10g. I like yours but curved glass distorts stuff, as I saw with yours. lol What kind of plumbing do you have? I don't need a sump for a 10g if I just do regular water changes, right?

If they really are that smart, teaching it tricks would be awesome. How could you do this though? You're outside the tank...and it's inside. haha.

It would be cool to pick it up if it didn't try to bite me. What do you do when you transfer it to it's tank? - Wear gloves?

 

True curved glass has some distortation. But it takes more glass to build a curve so it's 3/16" thick which is advantageous. It also looks so much sharper than a square box.
All of the plumping is 3/4" pvc. I'm possibly changing the overflow to 1" to get a bit more flow w/o adding a powerhead in the tank.

 

Yeah, a rectangular box doesn't look that good. lol Could I get a pic of your plumbing?

Do I need a sump for my tank if I do reg. water changes?

 

The only reason I added the sump was a place to keep snails and crabs that I intend to feed the shrimp when it's hungry. (OR when I feel the need to be amused LOL )

Not much to look at with the plumbing really. Just a DIY pvc overflow that dumps into one 5 gallon tank. A DIY UTube (you can see that in the pics on page 1) flows water into the sump and a 525 gph pump send it back up a DIY 3/4" pvc return.

 

OK, thanks. What would you recommend for a good HOB filter? I would like to keep within a low budget, if possible.

 

If your going to do w/c's to control nitrates and only use a hob for chemical and want to go extreme low budget just go to WalMart and pick up a Whisper 10 or 20. If you use the sponge for mechanical filtration, I'd clean it every time you change water or you'll end up with a factory for nutrients.