A biotope for my seahorses and Anglers

[Mudbeaver]

Hi guys, i'm planing a split tank for a fuge of Macro-Algae with on one side seahorses, mandarin, and other criters, and on the other Anglers and File fish. I've done my Macro-Algae seahorse one before , but never both at the same time, in a split tank. Its gona be a 80G starfire tank on top of my reef tank. Hard set up to plan really. this is whats its going to look like.

The plan is not quite finish still lots of mods to do to it , still have questions about.If you see probles don't hesitate to point out, that be cool. some i'm already on it but others i'm struggling.lol

 

[Mudbeaver]

The old one

The old one

My old refugium much smaller and my beautifull horses.

 

[TamiW]

Lovely setup. The final design could be problematic depending on what temperature you plan on keeping the tanks at, as seahorses do better at cooler temperatures. Also I'd ensure you over-design any filtration and waste removal as seahorses and anglers produce a lot of waste.

I just wanted to mention that I notice your seahorses are looking rather thin. I'd focus on ensuring they're eating enough high quality food, and if they are, you may have an issue with internal parasites. I hate to be a downer, but a lot of people fail to recognize the early signs of starvation until the seahorses are past the point of no return. The second to last picture is the one that concerns me the most, I can see muscle wasting along the keel and body ridges.

 

[Mudbeaver]

Lovely setup. The final design could be problematic depending on what temperature you plan on keeping the tanks at, as seahorses do better at cooler temperatures. Also I'd ensure you over-design any filtration and waste removal as seahorses and anglers produce a lot of waste.

I just wanted to mention that I notice your seahorses are looking rather thin. I'd focus on ensuring they're eating enough high quality food, and if they are, you may have an issue with internal parasites. I hate to be a downer, but a lot of people fail to recognize the early signs of starvation until the seahorses are past the point of no return. The second to last picture is the one that concerns me the most, I can see muscle wasting along the keel and body ridges.

Thanks, I no longer have that tank anymore i sold it years ago the horses did fine and had babies finaly, one died actually didn't want to eat at all. When you mean waste what do you mean, excrement or food wise. food wise thats true , my snails and brittle stars where fat lol. The plants did well too thats why its a good marriage. I even plan to have an extra mecanical filtration device i think for that next tank, and remove the drain going to the skimmer maybe, what do you think, or shoul i keep the drain to the skimmer?

 

[TamiW]

Both types end up as waste. Food loss can be limited if you train them to a feeding dish. But seahorses crush food as they eat it, and jet fine particles into the water; which adds to the organic load of the tank. And their waste is very poorly digested so tends to be very high in nutrients. I keep my seahorses in bare bottom tanks for ease of cleaning; but I'm also keeping seahorses strictly for breeding at the moment. (I will eventually setup a display tank again some day. )

I'm not sure what you mean about the drain to the skimmer? I see it in your diagram, but I don't understand what it is doing.

BTW, if you like drawing up plans, have you tried Sketchup? There is a free version, and it is quite a blast to use for drawing up plans.

 

[Mudbeaver]

Both types end up as waste. Food loss can be limited if you train them to a feeding dish. But seahorses crush food as they eat it, and jet fine particles into the water; which adds to the organic load of the tank. And their waste is very poorly digested so tends to be very high in nutrients. I keep my seahorses in bare bottom tanks for ease of cleaning; but I'm also keeping seahorses strictly for breeding at the moment. (I will eventually setup a display tank again some day. )

I'm not sure what you mean about the drain to the skimmer? I see it in your diagram, but I don't understand what it is doing.

BTW, if you like drawing up plans, have you tried Sketchup? There is a free version, and it is quite a blast to use for drawing up plans.

Well i draw plans when i need too lol, thanks for the tip. As for the drain i was thinking that if they produce too much waste, i would connect( in yellow on the plan) to the overflow box in the reef tank going down to my skimmer in the sump for skimming for the purpourses to help in the clean up of the biotope. Or just a add a mechanical biofilter on the top tank insted?

 

[Mudbeaver]

Reposting pictures

Reposting pictures

Sorry guys I changed my album and the picture were lost here they are again, sorry about that.

This at the beginning I saved them from a store they were starving, it took a week before they ate, so I fed them 9 times a day I lost only one.

They love to play and swim in the bubbles. By the way the plans have changed some what, its going to be a 75G and the two tanks are no longer on top of each other, the floor couldn't take it. They'll be side by side but the fuge will still be at 6 feet high so it will still feed the Reef by gravity and the sump will be under the fuge instead of the reef so the load will be spread almost evenly and I'll still have my system intact. No more closed loop by the way its going to be a Tunze wavebox instead with a Tunze power head . Lots of changes.