How do I start my first mantis shrimp tank?

[JESTERX626]

I'm in the process of thinking about setting up a solo peacock mantis tank and I have a 29gal available for him.

I've never done any sw tanks before so I'm not sure what type of filtration equipment to buy.

I'd like to get filtration that not only will be sufficient for a solo mantis, but also in the future should I want to switch it up to a small 29 gal community fish tank, to be able to handle the bioload from the fish.

I'd like a sump, but for a 29gal stand that I have, its really small.

So the question is,

1. what type of filtration equipment? HOB's? Skimmers? bakpaks?
2. how deep of a sand bed?
3. is a rena filstar XP3 filter fine?

 

[lifemalfunction]

I run a Bakpak2 on mine, with about a 4" sandbed or so. It seems to do well for a 32G.