My Ultimate Multi Mantis System(s)

[Kharn]

I'm mostly confused around which you say Raoulserenea oxyrhyncha is...

What I assume to be R.komaii above cannot be R.oxyrhyncha but this is on the basis that it looks VERY much like R.komaii and that the pattern mine has is mottled/reticulated it isn't large faded spots/circles...

If the unknown to me still 3rd photo above is what you say is R.oxyrhyncha then again its size doesn't match up...

Not much info in Raoulserenea or Pseudosquillidae on my end =X ...

 

[Kharn]

I'm really sure that this is an R.komaii ...

The pattern along the carapace, thoracic & abdominal somites + the telson all match that of R.komaii...

What I can tell from what I can see available to me is that Raoulserenea oxyrhyncha has no pattern on these places mentioned above, well at least not this vivid...the design itself "lightning strikes" matches that of Komaii too...

 

[Kharn]

Slight update on these 3 unique spearers

So far the largest of the 3 has consumed 1 live fish which is an encouraging notion.
The P.richerii is yet to feed...the live fish in the tank are small enough for it to handle.
The R.komaii has also brought down a fish and left evidence behind in the form of a head.

I had a special treat which ended horribly...originally I finally managed to get my hands on a nice sized eel, that I wanted to offer to my largest spearer, however during the night the eel escaped its tank and died on the floor whilst I was asleep -_-.

Having said that....I recently chanced upon another small spearer but this one is unfortunately a "squillid" and if it shows lacking signs of not taking the change as the past ones did...before it goes to far I intend to put it in with Megatron my Chiragra to see how THEY interact...

 

[Kharn]

I mentioned previously that an Eel was acquired however it died...upon its death I saw now point in wasting it (or point in filming it because the interaction was what I wanted to see and capture)...either way it still became mantis food.

Now this was a foot long eel...so I simply cut it into halves and gave 1 half each to my large spearers (it was intended live for Leviathan the L.mac).

What I am blown away by is the sheer "speed of consumption"...

Within 24-48hrs the giant spearer tossed the remains of the 6-7" eels spaghetti skeleton out of the burrow....

I dunno if that's a normal amount of food to be consumed within such a short time period but it's the largest thing he has had and I totally expected to not see him for a good couple of weeks to month at least...but low and behold the giant is back at the surface as I type this and quite hungry...

fat *** ...

 

[Kharn]

...

The future is looking good, my website is nearly complete and once I have a few specimens ready to go, it will all become public 'officially'.

 

[Kharn]

THE THRONE IS MINE!!!

 

[Kharn]

I think I know of an organism that could stop Godzilla .... (but hey this is fiction so even an ant could stop anything if the writers deemed it so lol...)

 

[Kharn]

It's amazing how I look at that which I have spent already upon my current systems...in comparison with what is to come...and even though this soon to be future build is 3x at least the size of these current ones....it is turning out FAR FAR cheaper on the basis that I know so much more NOW then I did back in 2009....

But at the same time, due to the countless mistakes and regrets made....there isn't going to be much "return" out of the current system being sold off...

Of all that I have I'm only keeping the ReefBreeder Lights, The Tunze Powerheads & The LifeReef HOBs (not being used in future build) so will likely sell the LifeReef HOBs off as well down the track or at least most but keep a couple for myself for 'emergencies'.

But EVERYTHING else is being sold Display Tanks, Sumps, Skimmers, Pumps, Stands EVERYTHING there will be NO room within the room when this new build begins...the whole room is becoming a stomatopod & coral safe haven.

And this time ..... ohh have I learned so much

For example:

Filtration
Where I started originally with just 3 large external canister filters (FX5's) I am starting these 3 new systems each with huge sumps but more importantly within each sump is 1 huge 4ft tall skimmer, courtesy of LifeReef! .

One of the single biggest things I am looking into with these 3 systems which I totally overlooked in my current system, is overall system water turnover. Currently due to the designs of everything, the turnover rate is utterly abysmal...embarrassing to say the least. But with the design of the new tanks, turn over can be quite extreme.

For Example:

Display Tank Overflow
Within every tank, its entire rear wall has a fake wall of black acrylic but with the overflow teeth at the top, through and extension the top of the overflow meets the lid of each tank, this style of overflow offers the greatest form of surface skimming possible.


Anyway with the Math that I have been doing so far this far larger build is going to effectively easily cost less then half of what I have already spent on these smaller "fail" systems.

You may or may not remember me saying many times in the past that the current system is so 'flawed' that the only reason it has been running is to ensure I keep making stuff ups so for the future build to be next to perrrfect .

 

[Kharn]

Sump Design for 1 of the 3 Stands

Personal Display Design, another just like it for stock and then 1 large lone tank with a sump like the above but for a large octopus species.

:dance:

 

[Kharn]

It's hard to tell with the above images, but for the 2 larger stands with multiple tanks hosting stomatopods either for sale or for display with coral, I am still making the equipment sump attached to the refugiums in an "L" shape manner as detailed earlier in a birds eye view of the room when done.

The equipment sump will sit above and slot over the 1st Refugium in line and create the "L" as above, utilizing multiple 40mm bulkheads (as many as possible in 1 line).

 

[TundraGuy]

You are killing me with the sumps. Why use a few tanks sitting next to each other plumbed together? One or two larger tanks will provide more water and less chance of leaks. Look at all the space your losing under the raised sumps. Heck man you could use a large plastic horse trough for less money and still get the same benefits. I also see having a stair step sump layout having a big draw back, as you now know when the power goes off the sump fills with the water from above. You want a higher turn over rate which equals more water in the displays so more overflow back in the sump. This is to say when the power is off more water will be displaced to the sump. One large sump can handle this way easier. Another thing to look at is with each step down in the sump you have a new area to create micro bubbles and splash and salt creep.

A sump is a utilitarian device keep it simple and focused on the goal of filtration. This is not to say it cant be pretty to look at but stair steps are best left to a cool display not the filtration under the displays.

Why 3 fuges? Are you going for 3 different biotopes? I can see one for macro one for cryptic zone but what is the third for? If the goal is a larger biological support system then you would be better off having a pre-filtered (used to strip derriere from the water) feeding a section full of live rock. Every few months turn off the filtration turn the rock and suck out the detritus.

 

[Kharn]

You are killing me with the sumps. Why use a few tanks sitting next to each other plumbed together?

Large tanks are very expensive and very difficult to move around.

One or two larger tanks will provide more water and less chance of leaks. Look at all the space your losing under the raised sumps. Heck man you could use a large plastic horse trough for less money and still get the same benefits.

The refugiums will also host live food and 1 type per refugium to cut back on overall predation, crabs in one, shrimp in another, etc etc. They will need to be easy to both see and catch/remove.

I also see having a stair step sump layout having a big draw back, as you now know when the power goes off the sump fills with the water from above. You want a higher turn over rate which equals more water in the displays so more overflow back in the sump. This is to say when the power is off more water will be displaced to the sump. One large sump can handle this way easier.

I believe the step idea is a greater idea and to overcome the potential problem of having the last sump overflowing from too much water, I believe raising it's overall height would cancel this out even if it operates a little lower to compensate, it is a sump after all.

Another thing to look at is with each step down in the sump you have a new area to create micro bubbles and splash and salt creep.

This will not be the case on the simple grounds that the pipe work connecting each refugium is not only multple (3-4 x40mm) but it will also run quite deep and only around 50-75mm OFF the next refugiums base.

Why 3 fuges? Are you going for 3 different biotopes? I can see one for macro one for cryptic zone but what is the third for? If the goal is a larger biological support system then you would be better off having a pre-filtered (used to strip derriere from the water) feeding a section full of live rock. Every few months turn off the filtration turn the rock and suck out the detritus.

As stated above the refugiums will host both Live Stock and perhaps in the case of having space maybe a display type style with something like sea horses etc. to benefit off the pod population (likely the Octo tanks sump).

Hope this clears up any thoughts or confusion

Besides yourself I have been getting a lot of great feed back from others

Cheers

 

[Kharn]

So far things have been looking really good cost wise.

Recently received the quote for the pallet rack style stands, which will set me back $1500 a lot less then I thought for the weight they can hold, what makes them so great is a few things...

- They can be torn down and moved easily.
- They are powder coated & galvanized.
- They are the perfect Lengths & Widths.

Overall I couldn't be happier & now the only thing we are awaiting is the tank quotes!

We have also decided to upgrade the skimmer size on the grounds that we won't be running any reactors (to begin with) due to the size of the refugiums, and the money that was going to be spent on reactors initially has now been put into Skimmers so the 3 skimmers we are getting are to simply put...the largest skimmers LifeReef has to offer, 72" 1500gal.

Whilst each system itself may not be close to the overall skimmers potential, we are going to be looking at some serious bio-load per stand as is, one being that of a giant octopus.

The skimmers on the CURRENT systems whilst considered over sized slightly for the size of the stand their attached to..are being run very very hard...48-72hrs after cleaning their black/dark brown.

It's like Dr.Caldwell hinted a little back, I tend to over feed my animals but not in a sense that they are suffering from it...that is certainly clear, however equipment wise, yes it is suffering specifically the skimmer, and since we don't wanna stop "our" method of feeding, we are opting to account for this in the Skimmers selection a.k.a the big mutha 72"

 

[Kharn]

Well last night I finally managed to get some live saltwater prawns about 2inchs long and was finally able to sit back and breath easy!

After a month of no food the Richeri brought the pain and swiftly overcame a live prawn offered. So im really happy its got food in it now!

The Komaii was the same although the Komaii is both the most interactive and really big on leaving its burrow to hunt, I caught decent footage of the Komaii last night

Finally.....ROUND 2.....

EEL VS LEVIATHAN

The event will go down this afternoon with the eel safely contained this time no suicide before battle!

 

[Kharn]

R.komaii taking out live shrimp, in the last strike or capturing strike you can see the dactyl impale through the shrimp...

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[Kharn]

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[Kharn]

This time I didn't miss a thing... I used 2 cameras... 1 was recording full time HD with the whole tank in the frame the other was me hovering above with the HS recording snapping events as they happened.

As soon as the Mantis went into the tank, the Octopus opened up to become much larger then I first thought...

I didn't want to just offer this Octopus to something like Morgoth or Leviathan, seeing as it would serve no real purpose, I really wanted to capture =X... "the struggle".

Neither of the 2 individuals were placed into the tank "instantly" the Octo was in there for 4hrs whilst I sucked up water in my coral feeder and replaced it with fresh tank water every 30mins.

After about 4hrs, the divider was removed....

 

[Kharn]

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[Fartin'Gary]

Dead link

 

[Kharn]

Dead link

Yep Australia ripped into me lol...