mantis tank overhaul

[ATLDrtybird7]

I have a 4.5 inch female peacock mantis in an eclipse system 12 with a retrofit 32 Watt smartlamp kit. The tank has live sand and ample live rock, as well as a pvc pipe for "burrowing"purposes. This weekend I intend to "overhaul" the aquarium, including cleaning the live sand (it has gained quite a bit of silt). I intend on adding at least 2 inches of aregonite reef sand that will be placed below the already existing live sand layer. By doing so, the pvc pipe will be completely burried in at least 3.5 inches of substrate, save the enterance hole. I plan on removing a great deal of live rock in order to ake the mantis more visable, but there will still be some corals and minor rockwork in the tank, more for scenery than anything else, but there will be some minor rockwork around the enterance hole, for a more natural look. One other thing I was considering doing was installing one of those moonlights to have on when the daylights are off. What is everyone's oppinion on this? Has anyone tried it? Is it a good idea, bad idea, stupid idea, otherwise? Feel free to comment, since this will be my last rennovation for a good long time (hopefully) i want to make it as perfect as possible. I would love to hear what everyone thinks, and I am open to suggestions!

Thanks,
Mike

 

[rwhhunt]

I had a single 3/4 watt moonlight on a 5 gal with a peacock mantis (he is now in a 26), I really liked the moonlight, it added a nice dimension to the set-up. Supposedly a picture taken under 420 nm light with a strong yellow filter will allow the capture the fluorescing of the mantis, I tried but didnt have a strong enough yellow filter (it was a digital camera w/ built in digital colored filters). Unfortunately my light got to hot sitting next to a pc bulb, and it stopped working... But I plan on installing a strip of about 6 on my 26 gal new mantis setup.