gem
05-18-2008, 04:56 PM
Well.....My Mantis shrimp got lucky this weekend. When I got her, I set her up in a 10 gal tank that was supposed to have been a quarantine tank and gave her a pile of rubble and a few sick zoanthids as decor. Kind of a downtown slum look in the world or reef aparments.
Yesterday, my reef club had a "crap swap" at one of the lfs. A crap swap is when a bunch of you pull all the extra reef related junk out of your garages and closets and set up a little swap meet stand in front of the participating lfs (who also puts out a bunch of stuff that he has lying around) and just blow it out!!!! I'm telling you....the prices were AWESOME!!!! Used pumps and powerheads from a rio 90 all the way up to Mag 7's going for $5. Used heaters at all wattage $5 (we're talking Jaeger heaters even titanium ones), Tank and stands brand new going for $1 over the store's cost. One guy bought three Gen-X 150 pumps for $20 each!!! Personally I picked up a maxijet 1200 and a Mag 5. Then I found the base rock at 25 cents a pound. Yes you heard me.....25 cents a pound!!! Nice base rock too. I got over 30 lbs for under $8!!!! I was going to redo the Chiragras little one bedroom slum and make it look a little nicer. UNTIL she started complaining that she wanted a luxury condo in the country. I mean adding new furniture to her existing tiny space would just make it a little too crowded. It was bad enough she has to share with whatever snail or Emerald crab comes to visit (mind you some of them have a very short visit. I think it's rude to eat the guests, but she disagrees!
Since I do EVERYTHING my little mantis master tells me to do, I returned to the swap and practically stole a used 24 gal JBJ Nanocube and stand. by stole...I mean I paid $20. You heard me $20. Of course I told her I paid much more. Maybe the guilt will make her a little more humble.
So her new luxury condo is under construction. She is currently staying at the refugium motel until I'm sure the params in her new condo are good to go. I shouldn't have much of a cylce if any at all because I used the sand from her original tank, all the lr rubble, and dry base rock. I imagine it will go through a mini cycle though, as her 10 gal did.
I'll post pics of her new set up later. I kind of like the scape. I do however, need to figure out a skimmer option for this tank, as it doesn't accomodate an hob skimmer.
Yesterday, my reef club had a "crap swap" at one of the lfs. A crap swap is when a bunch of you pull all the extra reef related junk out of your garages and closets and set up a little swap meet stand in front of the participating lfs (who also puts out a bunch of stuff that he has lying around) and just blow it out!!!! I'm telling you....the prices were AWESOME!!!! Used pumps and powerheads from a rio 90 all the way up to Mag 7's going for $5. Used heaters at all wattage $5 (we're talking Jaeger heaters even titanium ones), Tank and stands brand new going for $1 over the store's cost. One guy bought three Gen-X 150 pumps for $20 each!!! Personally I picked up a maxijet 1200 and a Mag 5. Then I found the base rock at 25 cents a pound. Yes you heard me.....25 cents a pound!!! Nice base rock too. I got over 30 lbs for under $8!!!! I was going to redo the Chiragras little one bedroom slum and make it look a little nicer. UNTIL she started complaining that she wanted a luxury condo in the country. I mean adding new furniture to her existing tiny space would just make it a little too crowded. It was bad enough she has to share with whatever snail or Emerald crab comes to visit (mind you some of them have a very short visit. I think it's rude to eat the guests, but she disagrees!
Since I do EVERYTHING my little mantis master tells me to do, I returned to the swap and practically stole a used 24 gal JBJ Nanocube and stand. by stole...I mean I paid $20. You heard me $20. Of course I told her I paid much more. Maybe the guilt will make her a little more humble.
So her new luxury condo is under construction. She is currently staying at the refugium motel until I'm sure the params in her new condo are good to go. I shouldn't have much of a cylce if any at all because I used the sand from her original tank, all the lr rubble, and dry base rock. I imagine it will go through a mini cycle though, as her 10 gal did.
I'll post pics of her new set up later. I kind of like the scape. I do however, need to figure out a skimmer option for this tank, as it doesn't accomodate an hob skimmer.