Peacock in Sump

[Kzinti]

I am currently building a stand to display a small portion of my sump while having my reef on display above. I have a few questions about how to set up a home for a Peacock.

-First off I am using a 55gallon as a sump and I know I will need to divide some of it off for the return pump and filtration, how much room should I leave for the peacock to grow and live comfortably?

-Next how much of a bio load will this animal put on the system? I have been reading about people feeding them live food.

-From everyones experience, how much sand should I put down for say a 5inch peacock? And would it be better to give him live rock, if so how much or should I place a 2inch PVC pipe in the refugium with him?

-What sort of lighting will he need? I was going to throw up a power compact for the macro alge, will that be enough?

-How much flow is too much or too little?

Sorry for all of the questions I have been reading roys list and some of the posts and these things still confused me.

-Joe

 

[Pea-brain]

a 30 gallon footprint is the recommended size. Smallest I'd go is a twenty gallon footprint (30 gallon footprint is about 36" long)

They can add quite a bit to bioload. They can be messy eaters.

PC is about as high as I'd go for a peacock

3" sand bed

Def. add some live rock and LOTS of rubble

They can be found in quite high flow. As long as it isn't moving tons of sand or going straight into the burrow.

A PVC pipe about 1.5X the width of the mantis and 3X the length in a curved "U" shape would be recommended.

Dan

 

[Kzinti]

Thanks a lot Pea-Brain that answers all of my questions, now I have a few months to sit and think about how to set it up while I build the stand :-D.