Best corals and plants in your tank

[ricefootball]

I've seen the page that everyone refers to for what is compatible with seahorses an what is not. I'd love to hear from folks how are running seahorse tanks though, what do you love in your tank from a plant and coral standpoint, that works very well for your seahorses as well.

Photo's would be great! I'm learning from you for my build.

 

[pledosophy]

My seahorse seems to love this gorgonia. She sleeps there and generally hangs out there

I like the red from this macro a lot.

I have a neon green sinularia I got a a freebie frag. I am sure when it grows it will be awesome as well. It's growing fast but is to tiny still. I think this pic is at least 6 months old.

HTH

 

[ricefootball]

Great photo's! I have a book that shows several different kinds of sinularia. Is this a particular type? I LOVE that look.

Also on the Gorgonia same question. Some are hard to keep and some are easy. Which is that one in particular? Hard to keep?

 

[pledosophy]

I don't know an excact ID on either speciments. The common name for the gorg is purple gorgonia :lol:

In general I have done better with photosynthetic gorgonia species. I pretty much avoid species with white or blue polyps at this point. I've had that gorg for at least two years. It was about 5" tall and two sticks when I got it. It's about 1" now and there are 12 branches. It likes a lot of light and a lot of flow. It's close to the center of my tank which has a 150 HQI for lighting. I have a koralia nano pointed right at it as well.

I've kept non photosynthetic species before but I don't want to take the time for daily target feeding anymore, nor do I want to grow cultures to feed it with. It was easy to do when I was raising seahorse fry.

Also the bioload for non photosynthetic gorgonia's is higher because of the amount of food you have to feed them. I might do it again one day with a red sea fan in my reef which has better filtration, but time will tell.

 

[ctenophors rule]

halimeda is supposed to be a great plant, though be careful becase it will use up lots of calcium. thanks to ocean acidification theymay soon be extinct in the wild (next 50-100years if not sooner) so get them while you can. lol

 

[pledosophy]

I have halmedia too, it's a cool plant, but my seahorse doesn't chill there much. My buddy John has some and his horses love it. To each there own.

IME the halmedia doesn't take up much calcium, although it does use some. I monitor calcium levels and they stay pretty consistent without much supplementation. I do dose when they get low, but it is not very often at all. I don't have a tank full of halmedia though either, maybe the size of a couple of soft balls.

JME, HTH

 

[mollymonticello]

Oh my gosh, Pledosophy, I have the same EXACT things in my tank as you do. I have that same red algae, green soft coral, and gorgonian. I think that is a Pseudopterogorgia sp., or purple ribbon gorgonian. I've had mine for a long time, too.

I also have a sun coral in my seahorse tank. They don't hitch on it, but they like to eat mysis off of it sometimes. It's one of the few LPS that are safe for seahorses. It's my favorite coral.

<img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FpWiOJSiT8E/SZy3Upz--MI/AAAAAAAAAC4/SWLsFoprnww/s320/seahorsejuviecirri.jpg">

 

[pledosophy]

You have excellent taste Molly

I have the sun corals too, but if seahorse keepers are planning on getting them I really recommend you planning for the extra bioload they create. They are not a normal coral, need to be target fed IME, and do create a lot of waste.

Kevin.

 

[mollymonticello]

I totally agree. And so would my hair algae

 

[pledosophy]

A half teaspoon full of sugar makes the hair alage go away, the hair alage go away ayyy the hair algae go away. A half teaspoon of sugar makes the hair algae go awayyyy ayy in the most delightful way. ba dum da bump, ump.

 

[vsnsofadrgn]

any id on the red macro???

 

[pledosophy]

The one in the front of the first pic and the second picture is called dragons tongue.

The one in the back of the first pic is red grape.