# Cheapest saltwater set-up and test



## MichaelAngelo (Jul 6, 2009)

Hey Guys!

So I _may _get a mantis shrimp / stomatopod from Sea U Marine in a few weeks, because I'm brand-new to saltwater I'm looking for advice.

I'm a rez student, I can't practically go larger than 5G (I have a 2G, 2.5G, 5G, and a few 10G aquariums lying around).

1. I want to keep this as inexpensive as possible.

2. I have a hang-on-back filter good for up to 15G (10-20 G i think), would this be good enough for filtration and circulation in a 5G aquarium??? (ie save on the powerhead)

3. Do I need live rock and live sand?

4. Titanium heater??? Also, I usually use a fluorescent desk lamp to light my aquariums, would this be OK?

5. What's the cheapest salt invert I can test the tank with?

Thanks so much for the help!!!


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## wtac (Mar 17, 2006)

1. It can be 

2. For sure 

3. Cherry pick a piece in his LR tanks that would look cool to you and give a place for the little thumbsplitter to call home. No need for LS, dry is fine and will become live in a few weeks.

4. He carries teh MarineLand Stealth heaters, $26, IIRC. Bugger can't break that..HA HA! A desk lamp will be fine to view the devil. Minimize nuscience algae too .

5. Drop a cube or two of frozen food and let 'er rot. Test for ammonia and nitrite and when both are zero, do 25% water change and let the spawn of Satan loose. 

HTH


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## UnderTheSea (Jun 2, 2008)

Agree with WTAC.... as for the desk light goes, you may want to look at the PC spirals in the 6500K range. Nice colour for a small tank. I've got some of my corals under just 6500K bulbs performing some tests.


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## MichaelAngelo (Jul 6, 2009)

thanks for the help so far!

For sand, do I need some special name? argonite... crushed coral? or is plain any kind of sand OK?

Would I find LR like that with a burrow of sorts in it already? How about L-shaped pvc pipe?

How much should I expect to pay for a test kit?


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## UnderTheSea (Jun 2, 2008)

MichaelAngelo said:


> thanks for the help so far!
> 
> For sand, do I need some special name? argonite... crushed coral? or is plain any kind of sand OK?
> 
> ...


Stay away from sand containing silica. People have had mixed results with cc, for a small 5 or 10g tank I would just ask someone in the hobby for a few cups of sand.


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## MichaelAngelo (Jul 6, 2009)

cc? crushed coral?


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## UnderTheSea (Jun 2, 2008)

MichaelAngelo said:


> cc? crushed coral?


Yes, sorry. Crushed Coral


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## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

you can also purchase a small bag of live sand for $10-$15 and should be enough for 5G or 10G.


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## 50seven (Feb 14, 2010)

Sorry for the necro post, but I didn't want to start a new thread, so I picked one that had a related question. 

Why is silica sand bad for marine aquariums? I have a big bag of white sand left over from a job and thought to not let it go to waste.


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## wtac (Mar 17, 2006)

I known quite a few that started out using silica sand to start out and in the end, change over to aragonite AND a new aquarium either to replace or upgrade to a larger size. The one common theme in all these cases is "Why didn't I just use aragonite in the first place?!?"

The one major drawback esthetically is that their viewing panes are all scratched up when a grain gets caught b/w the magnetic cleaner and the glass when they get to the substrate level. Rarely get that w/using aragonite sand as it it isn't "as hard" as silica sand. Silica sand is in essence "unrefined" glass.

The topic of it releasing undesired silica into the water column somewhat untrue as the "natural" conditions to do so just isn't feasible in a typical aquarium system.

Another drawback is the sharp edges which longterm, isn't a good thing for sand sifting/ingesting creatures. At least with aragonite, the sharp edges easily smooth itself out.

Finally, silica is basically inert and doesn't benefit the system. With aragonite, it is dynamic with the overall captive system. When it dissolves in the lower regions of a DSB, it becomes an ionic form of calcium and carbonate for corals to utilize. When ingested, it can give the consumer a source of Ca.

In a nutshell, you can use silica but you will be far better off longterm using aragonite.


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## teemee (Aug 29, 2009)

What do I know, but don't mantis shrimps get pretty big?
I think the more rock you have, the happier they'll be, considering the ones i've seen in the wild. and be careful of whatever else you put in the tank, mantis shrimps are fast and ruthless. My camera housing was attacked by one, i can't remember where, and i was glad to have something in the way.


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## Byronicle (Apr 18, 2009)

teemee said:


> What do I know, but don't mantis shrimps get pretty big?
> I think the more rock you have, the happier they'll be, considering the ones i've seen in the wild. and be careful of whatever else you put in the tank, mantis shrimps are fast and ruthless. My camera housing was attacked by one, i can't remember where, and i was glad to have something in the way.


camera housing? curious whats that?


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## teemee (Aug 29, 2009)

Byronicle said:


> camera housing? curious whats that?


its a rig to take my camera underwater.
here is a giant mantis - not 'the' one, but they're all ambush predators.
i would be hesitant to get one as a pet, but to each his own.
if you want to run a small tank, there are lots of examples of picos that are running in the pico thread on nanoreef.com.


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

Wait, this 5G is for the mantis shrimp? I'm pretty sure they need more than 5G.


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## vaporize (Apr 10, 2006)

Joeee said:


> Wait, this 5G is for the mantis shrimp? I'm pretty sure they need more than 5G.


no they don't, and they are much harder to kill than you think


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

vaporize said:


> no they don't, and they are much harder to kill than you think


I don't think I talked about the sensitivity of the mantis shrimp, just the size. The average 5G tank has a length of 16 inches but I've heard that a lot of species of Mantis grow up to one foot. I'm not a saltwater person so I wouldn't really know, I've only studied the eyes of the Mantis a few months ago.


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## wildexpressions (May 3, 2010)

Stomatopods range in size from 1-2 cm to more than 30 cm.

I read a published study on them (that I will post if I can find it that showed) that the speed and power of their strike was so great that the popping sound heard was the water rushing back in to fill the void caused by the vaporization of water at the point of impact.

http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/ excellent site on keeping them.

truly a beautiful animal









found it. Here is a video presentation by the biologist on the noise produced my Mantis Shimp.
http://www.ted.com/talks/sheila_patek_clocks_the_fastest_animals.html


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## PACMAN (Mar 4, 2010)

wildexpressions said:


> found it. Here is a video presentation by the biologist on the noise produced my Mantis Shimp.
> http://www.ted.com/talks/sheila_patek_clocks_the_fastest_animals.html


Super interesting video. thanks!!!!!!!!


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## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

wildexpressions said:


> I read a published study on them (that I will post if I can find it that showed) that the speed and power of their strike was so great that the popping sound heard was the water rushing back in to fill the void caused by the vaporization of water at the point of impact.


That's interesting. Are you certain it's the vaporization of water, not vacuum?

This creature is certainly fascinating, however it would be a challenge to keep one in the long run. I haven't seen the exact same kind as the picture, the peacock mantis. How hard is it to find one like this?


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## bioload (Oct 20, 2009)

Another fav


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

conix67 said:


> That's interesting. Are you certain it's the vaporization of water, not vacuum?


Actually, I do believe it's both:

From the Wikipedia article for Cavitation:


Wikipedia said:


> Other ways of generating cavitation voids involve the local deposition of energy, such as an intense focused laser pulse (optic cavitation) or with an electrical discharge through a spark. Vapor gases evaporate into the cavity from the surrounding medium; thus, the cavity is not a perfect vacuum, but has a relatively low gas pressure. Such a low-pressure cavitation bubble in a liquid begins to collapse due to the higher pressure of the surrounding medium. As the bubble collapses, the pressure and temperature of the vapor within increases. The bubble eventually collapses to a minute fraction of its original size, at which point the gas within dissipates into the surrounding liquid via a rather violent mechanism, which releases a significant amount of energy in the form of an acoustic shock wave and as visible light. At the point of total collapse, the temperature of the vapor within the bubble may be several thousand kelvin, and the pressure several hundred atmospheres.


Combined with their amazing eyes (which can see UV and polarized light in some species), mantis shrimp are possibly one of the craziest critters!


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