Just starting small

[CephalopodCove]

I have a few SW tanks in planning, but I decided to start off small. I'm getting a 10 gallon for Dwarf Seahorses. I've been reading up and I understand their environment needs in the way of substrate, food, rock, etc. And I also know they need a current. But I'm clueless on equipment In the way of filters and such I'm not sure what I need at all. I know SW gets all kinds of confusing with sumps and refugiums and protein skimmers, but what am I going to need for a 10 gallon? Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[Bectan01]

First salt tank and your sure you want nano and seahorses! Good for you. I would love to do a seahorse tank but two years in I still think I am not up for the challenge. As for filtration there are a few options but I think a HOB is probably going to be best for this size tank. You will need flow and a heater (not sure what temp they like) also but I believe a gentle flow is all seahorses need. Saltwater tanks are all set up differently, depending on their inhabitants, I don't think you need a skimmer on this size and a sump would be overkill too I think. I know that a 10g is going to be a lot of work (smaller tanks are much harder to maintain) and seahorses as well will need small, constant feedings, some say up to 5 times a day. I don't know about you but I work most days which is the main reason I won't keep them at this time

 

[CephalopodCove]

Yeah, I've been reading a bit more about them. Apparently I should start with a 5 gallon, though I'm a little worried of having too many depending on their breeding. A HOB filter is probably easily do-able but I should probably cover it to avoid hurting tiny babies and filtering too much brine shrimp. My biggest worries that are coming to surface with this tank are:
1. Hydroids growing in my tank and killing all my seahorses
2. Decapping the brine shrimp eggs and preparing them everyday. I do work full time and I'm worried I won't be able to feed them enough.
3. All the decently priced dwarf seahorses I can find are wild-caught. Which apparently usually have parasites or hydroids and die easily.

I still kind of want to do this tank but it may take me a bit more research before I'm comfortable. Maybe I'll think about a hardier seahorse...

 

[Bectan01]

If you have a few salt tanks in the planning try one of those first, I started with a 55g which was a great first tank - lots of room for error but I almost instantly wished I'd gone bigger! Now I've turned it into a reef. Maybe put the seahorse tank further down the list and attack it later when you have a good knowledge of the hobby? Just recently a lady was on here super paranoid about hydroids, is that something particular to seahorses? Because I have never heard of that worry before and most of my fish are wild caught. (Most salt water fish are)

 

[CephalopodCove]

I think I may hold off on them for a while. I think I'll make a 30gallon small reef my first SW. But from my reading(and bio classes) hydroids are jellyfish. Sort of. Many species of small hydroids can be found in live rock and live sand as well as on marine plants. For most fish and inverts this is fine. Dwarf seahorses, however, are extremely sensitive to these and just one sting can kill them.

 

[Mebbid]

Agreed, I would probably hold off on the seahorses for a while, at least until you get your feet wet in saltwater

I started with a 20g reef tank and ended up needing a refugium because I was having a heck of a time keeping my levels stable in the tank. Start big and then go small later

One idea that I've been throwing around is plumbing multiple tanks into a single refugium making one big system. Get your big tank started and then start a nano tank for seahorses and plumb them all together. This eliminates the issues with keeping your parameters at acceptable levels in a nano. This is most likely what I'm going to do when I get my BIG reef tank.

 

[CephalopodCove]

That would be neat! Though I heard a horror story of someone with all their tanks connected like that. One fish was sick and it wiped out half their system.

And I think a 30 or 35 is gonna be my first SW when there's time. Mostly because I want a tank big enough for an Orchid Dottyback. I love their color! And a Black Percula Clown pair and maybe an Anemone crab. Too many fish I want haha.

 

[Mebbid]

That would be neat! Though I heard a horror story of someone with all their tanks connected like that. One fish was sick and it wiped out half their system.

And I think a 30 or 35 is gonna be my first SW when there's time. Mostly because I want a tank big enough for an Orchid Dottyback. I love their color! And a Black Percula Clown pair and maybe an Anemone crab. Too many fish I want haha.

That's a possibility of course which would be terrible but proper quarantine procedures should reduce that to a minimum.

 

[CephalopodCove]

That's what I thought. Now I just need more room for quarantine tanks...My mother is getting a little pissed as it is haha

 

[Mebbid]

haha don't you love multiple tank syndrome?

 

[CephalopodCove]

Yes! But my mother doesn't haha

 

[Mebbid]

She will eventually see the light and become addicted to fish as well just you wait

 

[CephalopodCove]

Haha I wish! My moms not too bright. She tries to talk to me about my tanks but she's pretty clueless. I was buying substrate for my shrimp tank while she was with me and called me over to the tanks because she saw a fish she liked. She asked if we could add him to my 10gal freshwater which is already pretty full in my opinion. I went to see what she wanted to get....it was a baby horseshoe crab -facepalm-

 

[Mebbid]

Well clueless and not too bright are completely different things. I've made tons of uninformed decisions about aquarium keeping including putting a black ghost knife fish and common pleco in a uncycled 10g hex tank.

Try to teach her about it when she asks questions like that. It might just get her more interested in the hobby

 

[CephalopodCove]

I do try. I kind of looked at her and said 'mom...those are salt water fish. The fresh are over here' and directed her to the FW section. She looked at a few she liked and I explained that I can't have flashier long finned fish because my betta may attack them. She then took our puppy to pick out toys.

Not going to get into details but I don't like my mother all that much. My dad and I usually work on tanks together and he helps me. Though I've had to teach him a few things that could've saved his tanks from years ago.

 

[obscurereef]

Hey be nice to your mom You may think how annoying she can be because she's so clueless and have many facepalms, but I practically facepalmed when you said you wanted your first SW tank to be a 10 gallon dwarf seahorse tank. Recipe for disaster . But it's really awesome that you researched and changed your mind and starting off on a better route.