29g seahorse questions.

[Cahooligan]

i want to do a seahorse tank in my 29g. the tank stays stable at 72 degrees without a chiller. i have a cpr hob skimmer/refugium, and a coralife 65g skimmer on a 10g sump. the return pump is kicking ~300gph into the tank. is that too much? if so i can close the ball valve a bit. i also have 3 powerheads in the tank, as it was originally supposed to be a reef, but they can be removed if needed. i was thinking about one pair of H. erectus as the only inhabitants. i have a clownfish, but after reading, i guess ill be trading him in. will a cleaner shrimp pose any issues? the tank has t5s, and i will be doing a soft coral reef along with the seahorses. the current aquascape is all live rock. i know they need to hold on to stuff, so what would you recommend? find some branching liverock? or use corals? i apoligize for asking so many questions, but i would like to see if im able to do it with my current system, or if i need something special. thanks for any questions answered, along with any input.

 

[retz75]

You are not alone Cahooligan I have been thinking of setting up a 29g for my 3 year old she just loves seahorse and it has to be the first thing we look at when we go into a fs.

 

[Faerl]

You can do it with your setup and it looks like you're taking all the right things into consideration. ~30 gallons is the recommended minimum size tank which you have. The minimum recommendation is really for two reasons. One is area for them to feel comfortable and move around, the other is that more filtration is better with these guys. You've got a bit more on the filtration side with your sump which is good.

To answer some of your other questions;
Clownfish are not recommended as you mentioned. Sometimes they're alright but more often than not they'll compete for food too heavily.
I'd pull the cleaner shrimp. They won't compete for food (much) but they may try to clean the seahorses which can stress them.
Your return pump is fine and seahorses can handle more than you'd think. The powerheads you'll just have to watch and see. I have 2 vortechs but they're also set to the lowest level to give even flow throughout the tank. What you want is enough flow that everything stays healthy but also have some areas where it's soft enough for the seahorses to relax a bit. What I'd do is turn your powerheads off when you put the horses in and then try them on slowly one by one. If they're pushing the horses around heavily then pull them. If not it'll be ok. You may find you can only keep 1 or 2 of the powerheads in there. Make sure they have fishguards on them though, otherwise they could try to attach and hit the blades with their tails.
Your lights and most softies are fine. Check here for an easy listof corals and fish that can be with the horses safely.
http://www.seahorse.org/library/articles/tankmates/tankmates.shtml
As for things that they can hold on to you have a bunch of options. They'll grip onto live rock if you find branching ones. Macroalgae also works. Mine also attach to my coco worms (no idea why but the coco worms don't even retract when they grab onto their bodies). Anything that's slim like that works.

Good luck!

 

[Cahooligan]

Thank you. i think ill be fine. i picked up a pair of H. Reidi's today. the tank is at 72. i pulled 2 powerheads and left one up near the return pump. i was able to get a bunch of dead gorgonians along with branching live rock really cheap. im going to watch the clown, and if he feeds too aggressively, he will be removed. same with the cleaner shrimp, but for now ill observe their interactions, and remove whatever is necessary.

 

[Cahooligan]

cleaner shrimp was removed within the first 5 minutes of their introduction haha you were right.

 

[Faerl]

cleaner shrimp was removed within the first 5 minutes of their introduction haha you were right.

Heh, yeah. Those cleaners have good intentions but...