Dawn's 56 gallon tribute seahorse tank

vlangel

vlangel

Premium Member
Hi all, I am starting a new seahorse tank build and thought I'd share it. It began about 5-6 weeks ago when I lost my stallion (male seahorse) as a result of adding sand from another tank in to the seahorse tank.

Seahorses are susceptible to bacterial infections so every effort must be made to reduce and eliminate detritus which can fuel pathogenic bacteria. Many SH keepers run bare bottom tanks as this facilitates maintenance.

I began to consider removing my sandbed but I am not fond of the looks of a bare bottom tank. I decided that painting it would make it more palatable to me. It was a daunting task to tear down my current system in order to paint the bottom of the tank so I looked into the possibilities of setting up a new tank.

I found a 56 gallon column aquarium is a similar footprint to my 36 bowfront. It is a 24" tall tank which is very well suited for SH. The extra 20 gallons of water volume would allow me to keep 2 pair of SHs rather than just 1. With the similar footprint all my equipment and sump system could still be used as well as placing the new tank in the same place as the current aquarium. It was an easy decision, I decided to go for it!
 


Since it was Adam, my stallion's passing that initiated this build I decided to do it in his honor. I have always pondered doing a mural on the back glass, (since I have some art training) but was always afraid. I decided to give it a try. It isn't perfect but its not bad either. The black box in the upper right is to simulate the overflow box.
 
Well I am hoping to make the transfer this weekend. The coral may need a little chance to recover and I would like to have my additional ponies by Thanksgiving. However, both of you are always welcome at my house.
 
The stand is repainted vanilla from black, (the only color the pine stand came in). Black did not fit in with our decor. Also the pine stand was very plain so I added some decorative moulding to dress it up a bit. It turned out pretty well and now looks more like furniture.

Today I puttied the gorgs and unattached coral to rock. Without sand I am not going to be able to stick coral down into sand or covering the bases of coral.

Also I took out all 4 rio powerheads and replaced them with 1 tunze 6045 nanostream power head. It has the ability to adjust the flow. It is only on half and the flow is crazy amazing. The tunze will be more than adequate even for the bigger tank.
 
Well the 36 gallon tank is down and the 56 gallon tank is up and running. It was an all day job but went pretty well. Making a bare bottom tank look natural is tricky. Its not a bad scape but I may do some tweaking in the up coming week or so. I will try to take pics tomorrow.
 
Did you paint the bottom of the tank? I had heard that is an option- especially if you use a gray/sand color and put some sand in the paint. etc .- it will look pretty good.
 
acer said:
Did you paint the bottom of the tank? I had heard that is an option- especially if you use a gray/sand color and put some sand in the paint. etc .- it will look pretty good.
Click to expand...
Yes I did Ted. We had used a Valspar sandstone paint on the walls that contains sand, so I used that. Its a yellowish color but under T5s its about the color of marine argonite sand. I am pretty happy with it. The only tricky part is where the brace goes across the bottom. I gently pulled the brace away from the glass and wedged my brush in between. When I got close to the sides it was too tight for that so I painted some poster board and slid it between the glass and the brace. That more or less did the trick.
 

FTS now that I have tweaked and rearranged rock several times. I am feeling pretty good about this scape as it offers the seahorses multiple flow strengths to choose from. The food bowl is in a sheltered area so that I do not need to turn the pumps off which is good.
 
Building the stand. Got to paint the living room and have new carpet laid before it goes up. There ain't enough hours in a day.
 
Misled said:
Building the stand. Got to paint the living room and have new carpet laid before it goes up. There ain't enough hours in a day.
Click to expand...
I hear ya! WE had painted our livingroom 2 years ago and just had new carpet installed 2 months ago.

I did not have the skills to build a stand so I bought a pine stand and repainted it from black to a vanilla color. It was very plain so I glued some decorative moulding on the front to 'dress it up' a bit.
 
acer said:
looks great with the bottom painted- I am still debating on what do to with my display.
Click to expand...

I really thought that I was making a huge concession going to a bare bottom but with it painted I am liking it. I re-scaped yesterday and the tank didn't get cloudy which was nice. You can point powerheads anywhere without creating a sand storm or dune in the tank. Cyano is less likely since it does not like glass.

It is still not real sand however.
 
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