sigh...
Moderator: Mustafa
mantis
your question about cross seeding bacteria--- no you can not seed a salt setup with bacteria from a fresh set up & vice versa. osmotic shock would occur in the bacteria the same as it would an other life form. you may be able to secure some live sand and live rock from the place you are buying the mantis from.
grrr. my computer is going nuts and crashing every 5 mins. I had written something with a bt more elegance but I'm gonna try to make this fast before my computer crashes. The only thing I plan on using from the tank was the tank itself and the heater. I even plan on using distilled water for water changes. I don't see how the same problem could be cause under that setup. High nitrates, yes, but whatever was causing them in my FW tank is unlikely to invade the new setup as well. I also broke out the phone book and found 2 places that carry LR/LS and it is 8$ a pound Lr and 20-ish$ for ten pounds LS. Will look into investing in a few pounds of LR and LS. Could the Lacquered gravel cause the high nitrates though? the najas? something unforseen? It being near a cat litter box? (kidding. that couldn't cause high nitrate.....right?) A combination of several things? I would very much like to find out what was causing these high nitrates, but do not see how the old problem could be transferred. Though I would very much like to be proven wrong, so that I can elimanate the problem before it ruins my new tank. As always I thank you for your time, and appreciate the help.
sigh
no the lacquered gravel would not elevate no3 because of something from the lacquer itself but it could as I stated produce no3 in that there is no real area for bacteria to populate due to the smooth surfaces. water, particularly tank water is capable of absorbing many contaminates from the ambient air especially when an air pump is in use, depending on the extent of use of the litter-box a goodly amount of ammonia could be infused into your tank water (remember the recycling of the nitrogen gas?) It may be a good idea to move the litter box away, plus some fresh air input is always a good bet. * how the old problem could be transferred * PERHAPS the litter-box is the culprit. ammonia/nitrogen in the ambient air could produce the no3 and the high no3 along with removing the najas , cleaning the sponges could have tipped the scale in the wrong direction. we needed to find the source of the high no3, the litter-box is now the #1 suspect. 
The litterbox has been used to take care of 3 kittens, their mother, and another cat (all my aunts cat's because she is living with us) and the cats were in there because the mother was mean to my cats. I moved all the cats out and brough my 2 cats in to the room recently. But the room was closed with no air circulation, and the shrimp tank was a mere foot away from the cat box. It looks like I have a change in plans, as I seem to be moving tomorrow. So the cat litter problem will be no more. I will cycle the tank and add a fish or two. If the nitrates stay under control I will ask the people to ship the mantis to my new location. If the nitrates are still high I will have to play search/destroy source of nitrates. Will keep you updated. It looks as though my new setup will do well after all. (thanks to the members of the forum, paricularly rugie. Thanks! ) Also looks like I've learned a bit to keep my next FW shrimp tank from failing. 