Video of the Mantis shrimp in a one cubic foot micro-reef
Continuing on a similar thread from my recent Mantis shrimp post, here is a video of a Mantis shrimp, which is cool enough, but also living in a super-small 1 cubic foot tank micro reef.
Chad Rausch has built what probably the smallest micro reef ever. It's only one cubic foot of salt-water and contains live corals and one of the aquarium-cracking 
Mantis shrimp I mentioned in a previous post. He even filmed a video showing it in action.
Salt-water aquariums are known to be somewhat difficult to keep due to chemistry issues, and the larger the tank the less hassle and danger. That's why this tiny tank is so impressive. Obviously, there is several hundred dollars worth of equipment at play under the desk, some of which the owner hacked together or modified himself.
That would be a really, really cool toy to have, but a friend, who has several salt-water tanks himself, pointed-out that there's probably $200 in coral alone in that tank (at Colorado prices). That could be an expensive mistake if something goes wrong!
Chad does not have a site I can link to directly, unfortunately, so if you're interested in reading more, perhaps this forum thread will be interesting.
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February 28th, 2006 at 8:45 am
I would be interested to see some photos of how he has his filtration system hooked up. I did not see it from the side, so he must have a hole in the desk and the sytem running from underneath. Pretty cool set up! He seemed to have mainly soft corals which need different wavelengths of light than hard corals. He had a great variety of coral which is attractive to look at. And your guess of a couple of hundred of dollars for the corals sounds about right…a good thing about a tank that size is that you do not need to buy large specimens-smaller ones will create the right visual ratio needed. (Which can help save some money) Seems like it would be a great distraction to have on a desk!
March 28th, 2006 at 5:02 pm
Hi there,
Loved your vid. I have one of my shrimp in SLO-Mo have a look, at what your fish can do!!!
northernac.com/mantis
or
http://www.northernac.com/mantis/
March 28th, 2006 at 5:12 pm
Bob,
Pretty sweet. Thanks for sharing.
Al
October 2nd, 2006 at 4:33 pm
Hello guys,
Thanks for the kind words. Here is another video that shows some of the equipment being put together. I am using a modified canister filter with lights for growing chaeto and a heater. You will also see the pump that I use to add fresh water to make up for evaporation.
http://www.truenorthreef.com/newcube.wmv
- Chad
March 20th, 2007 at 10:53 am
hello Chad,fantastic tank you have,i was wondering how you did the plumbing on this tank as i would like to copy your idea to my tank which is a 20inch cube. many thanks Frey
April 18th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
Nice nano you have there! 8 gallons is a good desktop size.
Is it a custom cube?
April 21st, 2007 at 12:11 am
Hey..I’m assuming that you made that cube..I was wondering if you had any directions…I would be interested in making one myself
May 12th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
Hi Mike and Andrew,
Sadly, no, that is not my tank. I was just posting a video that I found since I thought it was very impressive. If you click the forum thread link I have in the post, you can read more.
Mike
June 17th, 2008 at 10:30 am
aren’t u afraid that one day the mantis will break the glass or something