Poll: What kind of substrate you guys using?

moviegeek

Premium Member
I'm curious.

1)I'd like to hear about the particle size of the substrate in your mantis tank. The crushed coral I've been using is just too big.

2)How often does your mantis make a snow storm from digging/burrowing in the substrate?

Thanks!
 
i just want to open this thread again because im interested to know what substrate everyone is using too?

im using medium sized crushed coral and ive never had any problems with it being disturbed, but my now deceased mantis never really bulldozed at all.
 
the substrate that I use is just 20 lbs of crushed coral and 5 lbs of sand. the crushed coral is the biggest size that my LFS had on hand at the time. there is no size indications on the bag that I bought, so I have no idea what size it is. My O. scyllarus has no problems moving the substrate around. I have noticed that for the den it prefers to have a sand bottom and will neatly remove any crushed coral and use it for a wall or will just throw it out of its den, leaving the sand. The subtrate in the tank is about 2.5" deep on one side and the other side its about three inches. With this substrate when the O. scyllarus digs heavily I do not get any cloudy water. Hop this helps u.
 
Agilecrux -

Since I am in the process of moving, I did an experiment in my mantis tank to see what would happen. I emptied his tank completely. Then, I filled up the tank with 6" of cheapo silica sand from Home Depot. I put 1" of crushed coral on top of this and filled the tank back up with 50/50 mix of original water and new tank water.

This was set up 2 weeks ago.

The first thing I noticed was how ugly the cheap silica sand I got was. I'm sure there are more white varieties (like sandblasting sand) but this stuff is an ugly brown.

The second thing I noticed was that after a few days the mantis had removed all the crushed coral from on top of the sand where his burrow is. I saw him scoop up clawloads of crushed coral and dump it at the entrance many times. Whether the mantis prefers the smaller (softer?) sand, or whether he was just trying to block off the entrance, I can't tell. His burrow is entirely sand bottom now.

When I move the tank this weekend I will be going back to the aragonite sand I initially used nearly 1 year ago. It does result in the occassional sand storm, but that I can live with.
 
I am using a 3" Southdown DSB, but just moved the little guy in, and he rally hasn't burrowed much yet.

He's got a great piece of dome-shaped Live Rock in there that has tons of holes/tunnels in it, and he basically fixes up the main door, and that's about it. He camps out in some of the "hammock"-like nooks inside the cave & has plenty of room to scoot around inside.

talk about a snow storm, though..I need a few more pieces of LR: southdown is so fine, you can usually see swirls of it on the open areaas of substrate (kinda cool, though)

On a 10 gal FOWLR that I have, I went with the same substrate, and my pistol shrimp, Randall's goby and Coris Wrasse are haveing a blast mving the stuff around....Main problem, though: too fine, so it causes "snowdrifts" and the sand is tough to remove from some of the rocks' porous surface...looks pretty natural, though.
 
MovieGeek

MovieGeek

I just read your post again and I wanted to point out something. the reason that salt water tanks have the aragonite crushed coral and sand is because after time they actually break down and release trace elements that help keep the PH in your tank stable.

So by using the silica sand you would not have this acton going on and run the risk of a Ph problem in the tank. Of course you could use it if you wanted to but you would have to keep an eye on the Ph lvls constantly.

I'm glad that you decided to go back to the aragonite.
 
Agilecrux,

I hear what you're saying. I've spent hours over the last two years reading articles discussing the ideas you outlined above. But after some recent comments by Dr. Ron Shimek I'm starting to doubt if it really matters all that much in the long run whether aragonite or silicate sand is used.

When I upgrade my main reef, I am planning on using 50% or more silicate sand simple because where I live I can't get aragonite sand of small enough grain size.
 
Ditto on the dissolution calcium, etc. from substrate: It's minimal enough that it needs to be supplemented anyway.

Hey, moviegeek: no southdown out your way, huh? Man, I've heard of people spending a fortune on the stuff, but for those of us fortunate enough to have it available locally, It is only $3.59 for a 50 lb bag, and talk about fine grain.

I'll pop some pics of Rocky's tank up somewhere, once I get a digital camera!
 
huh... think.. think...

huh... think.. think...

Do you think that just crushed coral would do any good on a small scale tank by which I mean just having a couple of corals and fish or wouldnt it effect anything?
 
The thing I hated most about having crushed coral was that in a relatively short period of time all kinds of algae were growing on it and making it look kinda nasty. The great thing about sand is that it is always being turned over and moved around.

Crushed coral can also lead to higer nitrates and additional algae bloom problems, in my experience.

I'm definately sticking with sand. My plan is to use about 25% to 50% aragonite from the LFS (which is a bit too coarse) and 50% to 75% silicate marking sand (the stuff they use to mark the white lines on baseball fields). It is very white and very fine grain.

Sandstorms are the lesser of all evils, in my opinion.
 
hey moviegeek

ive read that mantis change according to the colour around them, have you noticed any colour change as you have changed the substrate around?

just interested to know.
 
Nope, I haven't noticed any color change while moving substrate. I did see fairly dramatic color change in my first mantis, which I had for 9 months before it died. It changed from a predominantly tan/beige color to a light olive green color. It seemed to darken a bit with each molt. I'm not suggesting this was due to substrate, more likely it was diet or perhaps just aging.
 
well i might try sand then when i finally get around to setting up my new mantis tanks. im having trouble with algae on the crushed coral and i want the tanks to be good to look at and good for the mantis.
if they like sand they will get sand!
 
thats easy...

thats easy...

build a mantis den out of it.

do this by buying some white cement. take one part of white cement to two parts crushed coral add enough fresh water to make a mud. make sure that you dont get it too watery. then take a cardboard box dump the crushed coral in it. and start building the den layer by layer. just use dry crushed coral where you want the holes to be.
let it sit for 24 hours to harded.

after you are done have the den sit in fresh water with regular water changes for 3 weeks to cure it and then you can put it into your tank.
 
Hey moviegeek, i just noticed youre from chico. Im glad to have the moderater of the mantis board in the same town. I am going to set up a 20 gallon mantis tank this summer. Reef connection has a nice mantis right now, but they want 37.99 for it. I was wondering where you got yours? Have you tried pacific supply for sandblasting sand, theyre right by the overpass on eaton road. Im going out there to check for myself tomorrow, I know they have it but I dont know which grades yet. If you ever want to share some shipping on anything get ahold of me.
 
well ive changed my crushed coral to sand from my local beach which looks pretty good but i want to know doe the masntis have any trouble digging in the stuff?

the sand ive got is pretty fine and a little boggy but i dont know if it will be able to burrow without the sand running straight back in.

guess ill set up my new tanks and see what happens?
 
Funktree,

Sorry I'm a month late getting back to you -
in the last month I moved, got married, and started a new job teaching summer school. I just got my Internet access up and going this weekend.

I'll check out that sand, could come in real handy this week.
 
congratulations on your wedding mg.
it sounds like you wont be able to afford anything for ages.
wedding, new house. hope that teaching job pays well!
 
Afford? When did that ever become a consideration? Seriously, I'm thinking of getting rid of one or two tanks to reduce expenses.
 
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