Coming back to seahorses. Questions.

[SaltyMember]

Hi, after a failed attempt to keep seahorses about 6 years ago I am planning to try again and avoid mistakes I made in the past. The primary cause of my problems, which I realize now, is that I was keeping my tank at reef temps. Over the course of a year I lost all my horses to disease.

So I know I have to keep my temp in the 68-72 F range. Is this correct for Erectus? My tank is in the basement with ambient temp of 70 degs. Do you thinki will need a chiller?

Tank setup: I have a reef ready 65 gallon tank. I have used live rock primary filtration in the past but am thinking I do not want a tank full of live rock on this setup. I am considering a few possible filtration setups.

Option 1: small amount of live rock in the display (maybe 30 lbs), artificial corals, 3 inch sandbed, caulerpa and other macros, wet/dry (well maintained of course) filter and skimmer.

Option 2: same setup except no wet/dry but putting more liverock in the sump so that the rock is primary filtration. My concerns with this setup are that liverock in the sump is messy and accumulates a lot of debris and I don't know if it is as effective for filtration in the sump as it is in the mason tank.

Livestock: planning on 4 erectus (all females) and cleanup crew.

Leery me know what you think and if you have any other suggestions.
Thanks!


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[mtc1966]

run a rock free sump with a skimmer over rated for your tank. temp should be good. depending on how hot you equipment raises the temp.

 

[SaltyMember]

So you are saying go with the wet/dry setup, correct?


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[rayjay]

There are many successful ways to keep seahorses so what it boils down to is what you wish to work with as cleanliness is the biggest thing in keeping the seahorses.
While some do succeed keeping the seahorses at reef temperatures, the recommended spread is a little higher at 68° to 74°F mainly to slow the growth of the nasty bacteria that are IMO, the big killers of seahorses in tanks.
My tanks are in the basement and I don't need chillers even with temps in the high 90's like right now.
My personal choice was to go bare bottom and all live rock in the sumps.
I use plastic plants for hitching and decor.
I don't use clean up crews in my tanks as I vacuum out any detritus and uneaten food on a regular basis.
If you haven't already, it might refresh your memory somewhat by reading the links at the BOTTOM of "My Thoughts on Seahorse Keeping"

 

[SaltyMember]

Yes I actually have read your info. Good stuff. Although I am not a fan of bare bottom tanks except for sps setups but I understand why you run yours that way.



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[mtc1966]

Salty i think we have different types of sumps it sound like you have one of the pre manufactured ones . i use a 20g tank with baffles installed . chamber 1 my water drops in through a filter sock and a small amount of rubble rock . chamber two holds my over sized skimmer and chamber three is home for the return pump. also my tlf 150 reactor hangs into chamber three as well. i also run a cpr hob fuge for my pods and macros . Like you about the only thing i disagree with Rayjay on is sand i like sand and have turtle grass planted in my deeper section. 65g is a great tank just take it slow get cb erectus when the tank has cycled and i bet you will be fine. and post pics

 

[SaltyMember]

mtc, actually I do have a 20 long sump with baffles. I just have it set up differently since I was using it when the 65 gallon was a reef tank. In my the first chamber I had my overflow emptying into a sock also with my skimmer, then chaeto in the second chamber then return pump in last chamber. What I am thinking of doing either putting my drop in wet/dry filter box in the first chamber, skimmer second then return. It all depends on how much live rock I am going to have in the display but I really don't want to have a lot of LR in the display.