liquidfluidity
Premium Member
hello all mantis keepers! i happen to work in a LFS and had a rude awakening when i came in to work and found a prized black volitan being eaten by a mantis. i have been in the freshwater business for quite a few years but i am very new to salt. i am a very anal retentive person and i am finding this a plus in my salt experience so far. so anyway, i brought home an eclipse 12, 20# of crushed aragonite, 2# of live sand,2# piece of liverock, and probably about a gallon of cycled water. the tank was able to run for only about 24 hours before i had to introduce this mantiss. everything tested out good before i put him in. i know this is way to soon to be doing this kind of projecct but i did not have a choice since the owner of the store didn't want him"wasting" space in the store. he is a juvenile at about 1.5", a smasher from some carribean or gulf LR, with kind of a brick red color and blue/green "hammers". he's doing great and has made himself at home. my questions are as follows- is this stock filter enough? i put a type of bio-media under the cartridge for added biological filtration. i am a little skeptical of a little rotating wheel being enough. will i need more water flow through the tank or is there enough with only the stock output? what about a skimmer or can i just do regular water changes?what about corals and other tankmates? and last(for now) has anybody tried out those new titanium heaters? thanks and i am glad to be a part of this "society"