Ecopico aquarium for dwarf sea horses

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Zeroblake

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Dec 30, 2012
Messages
120
Hello reefers , good night!! To all of you!! I'm new in this forum, and I hope to find a good source of information about saltwater hobby!! To start , i'll like to explain a little about my new protect , is a 5 gallons ecopico aquarium for a few dwarf sea horses, this going to be my 2nd tank , i introduce my self in this hobby just 7 months ago , and build a saltwater was easy and at the same time wasn't easy!! Because i start really good but couple weeks ago my other tank had some crashed parameters !! But i'll talk to all of you about it later on another post, Tonight i will like to talk about dwarf sea horses, if any of you keep it, or had some in your tank, I just start the cycle 14 days ago, and i'm using a canister filter , and is not moving the water to much, i read than they doesn't like to much water flow, and i'm using a betta bowl heather and actually works really good , this i had to placed it under sand bed, because i went to the store and i choose it really quick because they closed the store, ? but works excellent. And my light is 2 LED Arm with 9 watts each, because i was planning add some corals and live plants to make a more natural environment for them, but i don't exactly know what type of corals will be good for them, and also what type of sea algae will be good for them too!!
Well tonight i check the water for 2nd time since i set it up!!
And this was the water parameters;

Salinity 1.025
Ammo 0.25 ppm
Nitrate 0 ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Ph 8.2
Calcium 400
Phosphate 0.25
Kh 179

This parameters are under ro/di water !!
Well reefers i uploaded some pictures about my little tank, i hope you'll like it !! And i hope to hear from all of you to help me to build an excellent aquarium for my seahorses !! Thank you everybody!! And have a great night!!
 

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Congrats on the new tank and welcome to AA! So I don't know how experienced you are and sorry about your other tank crashing, but a word of caution, if you didn't know already seahorses are sensitive and picky creatures. There has to be consistent parameters, temp, and constant supply of food. I'd think you want dwarf seahorses which are the hardest species to keep so I've read. You can keep any corals that will grow under that light (I'm guessing soft corals) and make sure the corals can't sting/harm the seahorses b/c they like to grab on to many things. Gorgonians or SPS corals are great for them to grab on to, but are harder to keep and your lights don't look like they'd support such high light demanding corals. Any marine plant works. Chaeto is most common for refugiums and it grows quite fast too. The red macros look cool and add color. Here's how this company keeps their dwarf seahorses. They make it look easy...maybe it is if you're experienced in saltwater: Dwarf Seahorses - SaltCritters

Also, how thick is the glass on that tank? I know it's a random question, but I wanted to build a 5 gallon potentially.
 
Dwarf seahorse are pretty difficult. I keep discus and tried the dwarves and even they were a challenge to me. They'll need plenty of grasses to hang on to. They're very poor swimmers. Lots of live food daily. Seeing them give birth is amazing though. The babies are so tiny. Good luck with them!
 
Yea dwarf sea horses can't handle a very strong water flow. Best thing to use is a sponge filter. Like the others said, it is very hard to care for these guys, if not for the water quality alone but also the feeding, they only eat live foods.
 
Yes I am about to set up a couple pico seahorse tanks and I will post picts as I go. I actually had dwarves some 16 years ago or so ordered them form aqualand on a black and white ordering form seem so long ago. My set up was simple Betta tank, plenty plastic grass and they lived for a long time. I used the same airline from my ciclids breeder tank and a splitter with valves on it to adjust the air flow to be slow.
 
Dwarf seahorse are pretty difficult. I keep discus and tried the dwarves and even they were a challenge to me. They'll need plenty of grasses to hang on to. They're very poor swimmers. Lots of live food daily. Seeing them give birth is amazing though. The babies are so tiny. Good luck with them!

I know than they are hardy to keep , but i think than having a good parameters of water , and keeping them feeding , they will be good!! I hope so!! Hehe!! But i want to try it , i want to have another experience with a different specie !! Os going to a big challenge but i want make it worth it!! Thank for your comment herp_mommy!!

Thank you !! Sorry for the late answer!!
 
Yea dwarf sea horses can't handle a very strong water flow. Best thing to use is a sponge filter. Like the others said, it is very hard to care for these guys, if not for the water quality alone but also the feeding, they only eat live foods.

I know they can't handle strong water flows , i couldn't find an small sponge filter to my canister model, but this one doesn't make so much flow, but i'm thinking to cover the inflow with some chaetomorpha and build a nice environment to them !! And yeah, i'll try to keep them feeding with a good live food very often !! Thank you for your comment luckyIrish!! Have a great day !!
 
Congrats on the new tank and welcome to AA! So I don't know how experienced you are and sorry about your other tank crashing, but a word of caution, if you didn't know already seahorses are sensitive and picky creatures. There has to be consistent parameters, temp, and constant supply of food. I'd think you want dwarf seahorses which are the hardest species to keep so I've read. You can keep any corals that will grow under that light (I'm guessing soft corals) and make sure the corals can't sting/harm the seahorses b/c they like to grab on to many things. Gorgonians or SPS corals are great for them to grab on to, but are harder to keep and your lights don't look like they'd support such high light demanding corals. Any marine plant works. Chaeto is most common for refugiums and it grows quite fast too. The red macros look cool and add color. Here's how this company keeps their dwarf seahorses. They make it look easy...maybe it is if you're experienced in saltwater: Dwarf Seahorses - SaltCritters

Also, how thick is the glass on that tank? I know it's a random question, but I wanted to build a 5 gallon potentially.
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Congrats on the new tank and welcome to AA! So I don't know how experienced you are and sorry about your other tank crashing, but a word of caution, if you didn't know already seahorses are sensitive and picky creatures. There has to be consistent parameters, temp, and constant supply of food. I'd think you want dwarf seahorses which are the hardest species to keep so I've read. You can keep any corals that will grow under that light (I'm guessing soft corals) and make sure the corals can't sting/harm the seahorses b/c they like to grab on to many things. Gorgonians or SPS corals are great for them to grab on to, but are harder to keep and your lights don't look like they'd support such high light demanding corals. Any marine plant works. Chaeto is most common for refugiums and it grows quite fast too. The red macros look cool and add color. Here's how this company keeps their dwarf seahorses. They make it look easy...maybe it is if you're experienced in saltwater: Dwarf Seahorses - SaltCritters[/FONT]
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[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]Also, how thick is the glass on that tank? I know it's a random question, but I wanted to build a 5 gallon potentially.
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[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]Hello again !! And sorry if the other quote doesn't appear in your reply, i don't know what happened !! [/FONT][FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]
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[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]Thanks for the welcome to this forum, you know i only have 7 months of experience but i feel than i could do this, i want to try it, i want to earn more experience in this hobby , i know than this will be a good challenge to me but i'm going to make it woth!! I'm thinking to make as much as i can a good environment for them!! I'm checking every water parameter to have a good quality of water, but the next days i'll get my delivery of the brine eggs to start to hatched 'em up and start to adding to the aquarium little by little , until i could get my horses !! But i'll feed with the first hatch yo my fishes and corals, i've read than the reef environment could be feed by live food also!! Well thank you so much for your comment appreciated so much !! [/FONT]
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[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]And the range of the glass form this aquariums is about 5 to 6 mm thick !! I recommend it really good!! [/FONT]
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[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]Have a great day obscurereef[/FONT]
 
Hello reefers , today i will like to show you the 1st update of the little seahorse home!! Today i add some macro algae , and a frag of gorgonian coral to the aquarium!! Thanks guys to see my project !! Have a great night
 

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[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]Hello again !! And sorry if the other quote doesn't appear in your reply, i don't know what happened !! [/FONT][FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]
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[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]Thanks for the welcome to this forum, you know i only have 7 months of experience but i feel than i could do this, i want to try it, i want to earn more experience in this hobby , i know than this will be a good challenge to me but i'm going to make it woth!! I'm thinking to make as much as i can a good environment for them!! I'm checking every water parameter to have a good quality of water, but the next days i'll get my delivery of the brine eggs to start to hatched 'em up and start to adding to the aquarium little by little , until i could get my horses !! But i'll feed with the first hatch yo my fishes and corals, i've read than the reef environment could be feed by live food also!! Well thank you so much for your comment appreciated so much !! [/FONT]
[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]
[/FONT]
[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]And the range of the glass form this aquariums is about 5 to 6 mm thick !! I recommend it really good!! [/FONT]
[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]
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[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]Have a great day obscurereef[/FONT]

Hope all goes well :). Just went to a public aquarium and saw a bunch of dwarf seahorses and many other kinds and they were very cute! Yes fishes love live brine shrimp. They lose their nutrition fast after being hatched, so feeding the brine within 24 hrs of being hatched is best. Fish still love them when they are full grown, but they're more of a treat w/out nutritional value. Thanks for the measurement.

Tank is looking cool with the gorgonian and macroalgae. Most gorgonians are non-photosynthetic and filter feed. Feeding phytoplankton or marine snow, etc. several times a day or very often is recommended. They also require stable water parameters. Not good if you're adding it just after or while you're cycling. Most gorgonians don't do well long term anyway. However, it's great for the seahorses, even if it does die/dead already.
 
Hope all goes well :). Just went to a public aquarium and saw a bunch of dwarf seahorses and many other kinds and they were very cute! Yes fishes love live brine shrimp. They lose their nutrition fast after being hatched, so feeding the brine within 24 hrs of being hatched is best. Fish still love them when they are full grown, but they're more of a treat w/out nutritional value. Thanks for the measurement.

Tank is looking cool with the gorgonian and macroalgae. Most gorgonians are non-photosynthetic and filter feed. Feeding phytoplankton or marine snow, etc. several times a day or very often is recommended. They also require stable water parameters. Not good if you're adding it just after or while you're cycling. Most gorgonians don't do well long term anyway. However, it's great for the seahorses, even if it does die/dead already.

Hey thanks !!
You know i purchased this gorgonian coral today , but to be honest is more dying than alive, i know could be hard to keep it alive but i'll try yo not let it down, but it was a great addition to my little aquarium, i've going to check the parameter more often to have a good water to my sea horses !! Is been a challenge to make it but i hole it worth it! I know than is a big risk to have a coral like this but i want to get as much a natural environment as i could give to them, tomorrow i'll have the delivery of brine eggs to star to hatch them. And little by little adding to the aquarium!! I, been wroking really hard to build it, but i hope
Everythin goes excellent until i add them!! Thanks for your answer!!
 
What type of filter canister are you using? I'm about to do a similar setup (5 gal as well), but I don't want the current to be so strong.
 
What type of filter canister are you using? I'm about to do a similar setup (5 gal as well), but I don't want the current to be so strong.

Hi there!! Well i'm using a canister called "Nano 501" this one is 2 to 5 gallons , is very quiet and the flow is perfect for the seahorses!! Have a great day !!
 
What type of filter canister are you using? I'm about to do a similar setup (5 gal as well), but I don't want the current to be so strong.

Hi there!! Well i'm using a canister called "Nano 501" is 2 to 5 gallons and the flow is perfect for the sea horses !! Have a great day !!
 
My husband and I were looking at that one, thanks for the recommendation! Our tank is also 5 gal, are you doing dwarf seahorses? Also, are you doing live food or frozen?And did you use live or dead rock? I've read a bunch of different articles and they all contradict each other.
 
My husband and I were looking at that one, thanks for the recommendation! Our tank is also 5 gal, are you doing dwarf seahorses? Also, are you doing live food or frozen?And did you use live or dead rock? I've read a bunch of different articles and they all contradict each other.

Hi there.

I'm not order the seahorses yet , because today this aquarium has a month old, i'm adding some plants to try make a natural environment for them, i'm going to use life food, i have been hatching some brine shrimp to check how long time took to get em !! Some times they hatch more fast than others days!!
Fir the rock i'm using live rock, i used a couple of pieces than i had in another aquarium, but i washed them all the way, and i put them to boil in a pan, for about 2 hours before add them to the aquarium, for sand bed i'm using fine sand called natural's ocean!! And yes i've been reading a lof of info about them , but many people has a successes with many way to build it , but i wish you good luck, and as soon as i do another update i'll show the picture!!

Have a great day!!
 
One more question for you, what are your temps running? Mine has been 78-79, which is a couple degrees to high. Have you noticed this w/ yours? I do live in Florida so I might just need to keep my a/c lower.
 
One more question for you, what are your temps running? Mine has been 78-79, which is a couple degrees to high. Have you noticed this w/ yours? I do live in Florida so I might just need to keep my a/c lower.

Hi again!!

My is running with 72 to 76. Well i live in California is more cold than Florida for sure, yeah!! Is a little to high , you have to get down a couple of degrees , which area of your house has been placed the aquarium??

Have you some pics to see it!!

Have a great night !!
 
It's in my bedroom. It's not by any windows. My husband and I were looking at cooling fans, but they are really big for a 5 gal tank. The tank is cycling right now, so no seahorses yet. But I'll attach a pic.

Thanks again!
 

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