Melosu58`s seahorse diary

[roka64]

I love those heaters! They tell the temp of the water and what temp they are running at....I think. There weren't any real directions (at least not in the digital ones I got).

 

[Sadielynn]

I will shoot pics of mine tonite if possible ....
We use a the penguin 350 we use media in it too . I also house our heater (finexx 50 watt ) heater in the filter as well as the thermometer probes in there , You may need to dremmle out a bit of the top but it is easy enough .... The thing is to measure the depth on it subtract 1 inch of depth for the lid of the filter and that is the length of the heater you will need....The subtraction of the 1 inch give you room for the cord and the lid factors ....dremmeling out is easy place the heater in let the cord drape over mark with a sharpie where the cord "falls" drill a starter hole then dremmel out the round portion I will take pics to show you a bit later .....

 

[melosu58]

Thanks Sadie that`s a good how to with pics. I appreciate it very much.

 

[rayjay]

FWIW, depending on the temperature of the room the horse tank is in, you probably won't need a heater in it.
My seahorse tank has two large floor fans blowing on it to try to keep the temperature down.
My basement never gets below 80F because of all my tanks,
and I don't want the seahorse tanks above 72 so it's a constant struggle to keep cool.
Cooler temperatures mean less chance of problems from bacterial outbreaks,
If you check, most experienced hobbyists on the org, and, most breeding places, keep the temperatures cool compared to what we are used to for our reef tanks.
Another point I want to mention is that Tank bred is preferred to captive bred, which includes pen raised horses. Horses raised in pens placed in the ocean, are still possibly carrying pathogens similar to wild caught ones, but because of the "captive bred" tag, people don't think about that aspect of it.
As far as how much rock to have, I have enough for the biological filtration because I use no filter on my tank, but I have the rock sectioned off now, (egg crate) unlike when I first started it was spread out on the tank bottom.
I became frustrated with trying to see the horses and they seemed to always stay in my rockwork.
Now, no rocks, I still have problems picking them out when they are right in front of my nose in the plants, but at least I see them a heck of a lot more.

 

[flamingonhot]

Another point I want to mention is that Tank bred is preferred to captive bred, which includes pen raised horses. Horses raised in pens placed in the ocean, are still possibly carrying pathogens similar to wild caught ones, but because of the "captive bred" tag, people don't think about that aspect of it.

Tank Bred and Captive Bred can both mean multiple things, but when you go to seahorsesource or dracomarine you know they are all bred in tanks under excellent conditions. (but horses like abdominalis, etc. are imported from a breeding project in australia).

Dracomarine is more of a company, seahorsesource is like an at home project..just in a very large scale.

 

[melosu58]

Well thanks for the ideas. I have to have a heater on it because it is on an exterior wall. In the winter it gets to teens at nites and the temp will go to low. I`m still trying to figure what to do on that point but I think we all agree on captive bred.

 

[STARFYRE]

Hi guys! I read this entire thread! I too am starting my first seahorse tank.

I set up my tank Dec. 20th. I've been getting different feedback from many people. This is what I went with........
20g high tank
penguin biowheel (the smallest one that holds a C cartridge)
seaclone 100 skimmer
visatherm stealth 150watt heater
1 and 1/2 inch sandbed
Bahama grand sand (which is fine white sand with many small shell pieces)
Lighting is a dual satellite 2x65w 1 dual daylight, 1 dual actinic, 1 lunar light

I have 22 lbs of LR in the tank. Eight lbs of it has been in there for 2 days, and I just purchased the rest of it about two hours ago.
I did not want alot of LR, but many people kept telling me, "The more you have, the better off you are". Only one person told me to have no LR at all. I wanted to compromise what I've heard and go with 15 lbs. My LFS just recieved an 800 lb shipment of some fantastic stuff, and I got it at 5 bucks a lb!!!!!!! I was eyeing up the tonga branch, but decided to go with some other stuff I forget the name of.
So I have a half lb of Florida cultured, which is almost completely covered in purple, with a little green. I have 5 lbs of Carribean plant rock, 2 lbs of tonga fusion, and I just bought 14 lbs of this mystery tonga rock. It's incredible!!!! It's covered in red and purple algae. And it has red and purple plants growing off of it.

I'll be following this thread, so feel free to send advice my way!

 

[melosu58]

OK Starfyre, I guess we are going to do this together. Right now I`m trying to figure out what to do with my heater whether to cover it with some craft stuff from walmart or get a smaller one and put it in my filter like Sadie was showing me with her pics. I would be care ful of the skimmer as people have warned me about the micro bubbles. I also need to get a small PH.

 

[STARFYRE]

I was told that I don't even need a filter, and if I do use one, to keep the cartridge out and just use the biowheel with some LR rubble in the box. I was also told that a skimmer is a must. I also plan on putting a few soft corals in there, so that may be the reason for that advice. I havebeen told that between the skimmer and the LR, that will be adequate filtration. I am, however, leary of going filterless. Why not use a biowhell?? Is that because of possible nitrate build-up?

 

[STARFYRE]

I would go with the cover for the heater. Having it directly in the tank will be a better source of heat. I went with a visatherm stealth for my seahorse tank. It has a plastic cover, so I doubt I will encounter any problems. I have it set horizontally close to the sand bed. There's a bunch of LR in front of it, which will make it hard for the ponies to get back there.

 

[STARFYRE]

I'm still not sure if I want to go the ph route. I put up a post on my ph dilema. "To powerhead or not to powerhead". Check it out and let me know what you think.

 

[melosu58]

I havebeen told that between the skimmer and the LR, that will be adequate filtration. I am, however, leary of going filterless. Why not use a biowhell?? Is that because of possible nitrate build-up?

I agree with skimmer and LR is all you need for most marine systems. That plus a refugium is all I have on my reef tank. I went with filter because I was told the skimmer will give off micro bubbles that will end up harming the Sh. I also agree about the LR rubble in the filter but I would skip the wheel as they are considered nitrate factories. Good Luck on your tank.

 

[STARFYRE]

I'm goin to nix the wheel. Thanx. I read something somewhere about using the filter box as a mini fuge. Was that somewhere in this thread?

 

[melosu58]

Doing that will be OK unless you need to run carbon for some reason.

 

[STARFYRE]

So, how would I go about it? Take the carbon out, take the wheel off, stick rubble in the box, and then what?

 

[Sadielynn]

I would go with the cover for the heater. Having it directly in the tank will be a better source of heat. There's a bunch of LR in front of it, which will make it hard for the ponies to get back there.

Not entirely true placing it in the filter has water movement around it constantly . You would be surprised where they can hitch their little tails at. Just because it is plastic doesnt mean they cant get burned they can still hitch on and get burned . As for the biowheel loose it it is a nitrAte factory and horses are sensitive to that . The question of skimmers is still debated but I did not use one water changes are more efficent at removing TDS and such than any skimmer. Skimmers sometimes put out micro bubbles that cause a problem on horses ... that being said read read and read as horses are a bit more difficult than just plain salt water fish .

 

[STARFYRE]

Thanx for the tip Sadie. I decided to nix the wheel. I plan on having some soft corals in there, so I was told the skimmer is necessary. Can you check out my post, "To powerhead or not to powerhead", and tell me what you think? It's in the nano section. I'd appreciate it. Are you the one that said something about using the HOB as a mini fuge? If so, how do I go about it?

 

[melosu58]

as horses are a bit more difficult than just plain salt water fish .

This what I`m afraid of. I want to do everything right.

 

[STARFYRE]

I got pics of my new tank! Hooray!!!! There's also some close up shots of my brand new LR in my gallery. Check em out!!

 

[flamingonhot]

While most people don't usually have mechanical filtration on saltwater tanks, I really recommend it for any tank. I have a canister filter on my 30 gallon- a lot of output but the macro, rocks, and depth of the tank kind of absorb its effects. Most CB horses eat mainly frozen foods, and it degrades water quality a lot faster than flake food does. I have 3 filter pads, a bio pad, and bio filter rings in my rena xp1.


Good luck with your attempts! I just got my latest seahorse and I love it :