How much LR/Sand for 1 N. Wennare in a 12 gal nanocube

[DivaMan]

How much do I need?, I was only thinking the bare min of 12 pounds of rock, and about a 3-3.5 in sand bed of aragonite.

 

[Thurge]

3 - 3.5" is plenty of sand.
You want enough rock so that its esteticly pleasing to you and provides plenty or nooks for your mantis to build a home, with rubble so that it can form doors to its lair. Its impossible to say you want X amount mainly because the density of LR varies so widely. 12# of Florida Aquacultured LR would be considerably less than 12# of Walt Smith's Fiji LR.

 

[DivaMan]

That I do know (as in different types of rock usually are different weights) But ty for the info, I wasnt sure if tehre was a specific amount that a mantis would really require.

 

[justinl]

yeah there is no specific weight that a mantis requires... you'll just have to eyeball it. be picky about the rock you choose since it's going into a nano. i have a piece of fiji that is more like swiss cheese in my mantis nano and my G. smithii loves it in there.

for sand, minimum would be 2 inches imo. more is fine.

 

[DivaMan]

Yeah, My LFS gets pretty good rock in, cures it himself, nice porous and nice-looking.

 

[Thurge]

Take a cooler that is roughly the size of your tank when you buy your rock. That way you will have an idea of how its going to fill up your tank.

 

[DivaMan]

YEp, thats what I did for my 55 gal, and what Me and a friend did when we set his up. (this isnt my first tank)

 

[Lehman]

I just ordered 28 lbs from sealife inc and it was barely enough to get about a 4" bed in my 12g nano and about a 2-3" bed in my 5 gal eclipse so that should help you out a little bit.

 

[Lehman]

Also I have about 12 lbs of LR in my 12g jbj nano and it fills it up nicely while leaving some space open in the front so I can see the mantis.

 

[Bud's Reef]

Don't forget it's not just the minimum for your mantis's needs to think about but the filtering that LR provides. I'm for putting in as much as I can but still leaves room for the critters.

 

[DivaMan]

Like I said this isnt my first tank, and in the end, I am buying 12 lbs of rock. To fill the 12g JBJ. I will also get extra and repalce some of the ceramic rings with extra LR. My LFS also cures his own LR. I am also getting roughly 20lbs of LS free from my LFS, and I have a small 2lb bag of dry left over from kmy refugium build. The tank will be cycled with extra rock from my tank, which will then be slowly switched out with the new rock. I believe I am getting a G. Smithii, and from my research seem to require much the same parameters as a N. Wennearea. I am also getting him for free, partly because my LFS wants to see how these guys fare in captivity, and if they may want to start selling them. Thanks for teh help everyone.