[TundraGuy]

We know that bright lighting is not a good thing for many of the more sensitive mantis. We also know that some people can keep these more sensitive mantis in high light reef environments as long as water quality is kept with in very high quality standards. Truth is as Kharn has stated we don't have the magic equations yet. But Dr Roy has kept peacocks for years with less then what I would call ideal water standards but lower lighting useing ambeant room lighting for viewing.

I trust Dr Roy's for his years of resurch in the field of resurch is unequalled. He has shown that "shell rot" is not the result of any one type of illness. Instead he relates the infections to a group of nastie "bugs" i.e. looking at affected areas under a microscope he has found different things growing. He has in the past stated that he uses canister filters and large water changes also sometimes implying UV sterilization. His methods are old school but effective for his large volumes of water in his lab. I am always testing the "new best filter" methods and have found that there is no one best way to keep ideal water standards. It all comes down to what type of environment and what level of involvement you as the keeper are prepared to keep. An sps system with ultra high grade nutrient removal has been found to kill many types of soft and lps corals, flip the coin over and keeping a slightly higher nutrient level and suddenly the spa corals wash out and the softy/lps start to thrive.

So what I am getting at is what kind of mantis are you thinking of keeping? I am in the process of keeping a peacock in a 38 gallon nuvo with untra low nutrient levels. As I am confident my peramiters are stable I will be adding low lighting levels and bring them up slowly over then next few months to see if I can maintain my peacock without getting the dreaded "shell rot". But i will stress I have the ability to add UV sterilization or even plumb in a huge skimmer with ozone and a lack of photosynthetic organisms I can simply remove or revert to a lower lighting situation at anytime. I have been playing around in the world of saltwater keeping since 85 and will say the only thing that happens fast is not favorable.

What is your tank keeping background and again what mantis are you trying to keep? Remember mantis have different requirements such as deep mud substrates vs hard coal heads vs live rock rubble.