Melosu58`s seahorse diary

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melosu58

SW REEF 20+ YEARS
Joined
Oct 21, 2004
Messages
39,152
Location
Virginia
The sea horse odyssey starts today. My wife found a tank and stand today for free. I believe it`s a 29 gallon but not sure maybe someone can help me as it is 30" long , 12 inches wide and 18" tall. I am going to document the whole process on this thread. That way others could use this thread to do their`s and you seahorse experts will be able to watch me and make sure I do the right thing. Day 1 will be spent cleaning the tank. Filled the tank halfway with water. Added a cap of bleach and scrubbed down the tank. Rinsed it off real good and will allow it to air dry for a few days. When I add water I will add a little dechlorinator just in case but I`ve heard that air dry will be good enough but better safe than sorry. Hopefully I will soon start to make enough RO/DI water and mix salt. Will be using oceanic salt. I`ll then add sand and cured LR from my main tank. Thats my plans for now. If you see anything let me know.
I`m pretty excited about this.
 
Thanks Micah as I had not seen those but I need something to study while my tank dries and during the cycle. Thanks all. I cant wait to start.
 
I`ve got to worry about the filtration now. I was wondering about the emporer bio wheel just remove the wheels and replace with rubble and LR or should I try for a HOB skimmer and LR. What kind of filtration will be good for this project.
 
After reading thru those links I would be a little wary of an HOB skimmer unless you could be assured of zero chance for microbubbles getting into the tank.
I had no idea that seahorses could develop and die from a "bubble" sickness... wow.

In my own inexperienced opinion, I would go for the Emperor w/ rubble and LR.
Keep the water level at or above the spillway lip on the filter for a gentle surface agitation with no bubbles.
 
Thanks LR. I`m going tomorrow to get something. I agree that those HOB skimmers do give off alot of micro bubbles. This weekend I`ll start to add the water and salt. And then filtration and heater and then sand and LR. Then I should be ready for the cycle.
 
WOW how did I miss this post I have had seahorses in the past and they are neat creatures ... My guy died when we went on vacation ...... the one thing I can say that would benifit you is not only CB horses but also to pak lots of live rock into the tank for pods. Also a fuge with macro is of great help but not needed. You can even make it a reef to some extent with gorgs, shrooms and also with zoas maybe even some softy leathers or so ... I always turned off all the filters and power heads during feeding but then later trained him to come out to feed in a small tank... he did fine with that ... We had ours for 9 months before we went on vacation and he died ... I got mine from fosters and smith they even told me thta they dont know how old they are when shipped but they are atleast a year because the smaller and younger ones dont ship well Seahorses have about a 2-3 year life span so they arent long livers . Be sure to cover the intake to your power heads and filter with a sponge as they can get caught up and not beable to get free.... They are really not that hard to care for just alot of little details ...
 
Thanks Sadie, I going to be expecting some help from you then. What did you use for mechanical filtration. I will have plenty of LR But I`ve had suggestions to use a canister or emporer with out bio wheels.
 
I used a penguin filter I did not use a bio wheel either . I also ran my powerheads on low one to the top one to the bottom ...
filter
I believe it is this one but they renumbered them ....
the power heads are mini jets ....
also remember pipettes are your friend to target feed them if you have a few run a tandum filter for a bit after feeding to help remove extra.... also a turkey baster to remove extra clumps ... turning off the PH, and HOB allows them to eat ... I had 1 in my tank with fish but he learned to come out during feedigns .... canisters IMHHO are nitrAte factories and horses are more sensitive to that. Most times when they dance and twine their tails it means mating is about to happen ... If so be ready to raise some babies . SO have an extra set up doesnt have to be big ready for them...as well as the food . In a 29 I would house no more than 4 but 2 would be better as they wont depleate their food too quickly . Even if they are CB and eating mysis they will still eat pods throughout the day ....They are basically an all day feeder ...
 
I was thinking two in a 29. I went ahead and got the penguin filter and will not run the bio wheels. I will be mixing RO/DI water and salt this weekend. Thanks for the info sadie
 
Ok, Thanks for the comments. I added the RO/DI water and salt over the weekend and I`m waiting for everything to stabilize. I`ll add sand and cured LR and filter and heater in the next few days. Then I`ll let it run for a few weeks. Give me a chance to do some research in the meantime.
 
You may want to look into dead, branching coral, for them to hang onto, or something of the sorts.
 
Yes I was thinking about that. Sometimes I `ve seen those things that look like tree sponges but they are not real. I was thinking about using those but we will see. Thanks for the suggestion Scott.
 
Tonga branch LR would be great for them to! also maybe some fake plants for them to hang on to..... I seriously thought about sea horses for my SW but diddnt due to dietary needs.... did tons of research though LOL I will be watching yours though!
 
OK, I`ve added the aragalive sand and LR in the tank. On both ends I added some Tonga LR which has some good stick like areas for the seahorse to wrap their tails around. All together about 30 lbs of LR. I know in the reef environment you try to have 1.5-2 lbs per gallon for good bio filtration. For years I had just LR and a skimmer for filtration but I`m not going with the skimmer to keep bubbles out of the tank. I did start up the emporer bio wheel using the GAC pad only and also added a heater with it set at 75 degrees. After the dust cloud settles then I `ll post a pic. Any assesement or comments welcome. Thanks, Mike
 
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