Dawn's seahorse garden!

FTS by Dawn Gilson, on Flickr

I should call this tank 'My ex seahorse tank', ha ha! Anyway now that I do not have to worry about bad bacteria so much I am going to make this a high nutrient tank which opens up lots of new options for me.

I used to grow dragon's breath well but I slowly lost it in the seahorse tank. I am guessing it starved so I hope to acquire some in the future to try again.
I would also like to try shaving brush and mermaids fan. I was always afraid in the seahorse tank since I know they go through die off periods.
Blue octode or the other blue macro that is similar is on my list.
Finally I always wanted sargassum.

I have removed most of the caulerpas because they out compete some of the other macros for nutrients. Maybe once I get the macros growing well then I can reintroduce the caulerpa. I do have healthy amounts of it in the seahorse tank.

I have some ideas for new coral as well. Ricordia and RFAs will help add some nice color, I hope. I have lots of rocky spots that they can nestle up to. A yellow toadstool and green sinularia would be cool. I hope to order some ball sponges too.

I still want a few more fish too. I want either a Midas blenny or a yellow watchman goby/shrimp pair, depending which I find first. I want a small goby or two, (green clown goby or rusty goby). And lastly, I would like a colorful wrasse. I have never had a wrasse except a six line early in my salt water days.

This of course is a lot of $, so to fulfill most of this is going to be a slow patient journey. That is ok with me because the journey is all part of the joy. Even now the blennies make me laugh as I watch them dart in and out of their hidey holes! :-) I will have 1 purchase coming fairly soon, a par 38 abi tuna blue bulb. I have noticed that under the T5 alone my coral rock does not 'pop' like it did under the led par 38. Adding some led should also add some pleasing shimmer and T5/led combination seems to be the best of both worlds. It would be nice to have it all in one fixture but thats not gonna happen, at least for now.

So, that is the vision.
 
Your new, dual tank vision is the best of both worlds! You must be very excited with your future new additions. I look forward to following along. You are smart to have a plan!

I'm curious as to how you will treat each tank differently. For example, how will you make the high nutrient tank higher in nutrients? I imagine there will be equipment differences, as well as husbanry differences. Can you flesh that out for us?
 
Michael Hoaster said:
Your new, dual tank vision is the best of both worlds! You must be very excited with your future new additions. I look forward to following along. You are smart to have a plan!

I'm curious as to how you will treat each tank differently. For example, how will you make the high nutrient tank higher in nutrients? I imagine there will be equipment differences, as well as husbanry differences. Can you flesh that out for us?
Click to expand...
Michael, are you under the impression that the tanks are hooked together? They are not. Only the seahorse tank is connected to the sump. The 56g is a stand alone AIO tank. It has the Aquaclear 70 HOB filter but no skimmer. I am doing a 5-8 gallon WC once a week. With the blennies, cardinal fish and inverts the water should be much more nutrient laden than the seahorse tank. The seahorse tank is hooked up to the sump with a fuge, is heavily skimmed plus gets (3) 8 gallon WCs a week. I probably should be testing both tanks for nitrates and phosphates but I am just watching them closely for nuisance algae.
 
I figured they were separate. You fleshed it out well, thanks. Those system differences make sense. Three water changes a week? Wow, that's a labor of love! In the other one, you'll need few water changes in it, at least.
 
Michael Hoaster said:
I figured they were separate. You fleshed it out well, thanks. Those system differences make sense. Three water changes a week? Wow, that's a labor of love! In the other one, you'll need few water changes in it, at least.
Click to expand...

Actually the seahorse tank water changes are a walk in the park compared to the 56g. That is because my water station is right next to the sump and fortuitously, there is a floor drain right there too!:) All I do is make a large amount of rodi in a brute can, then add IO and mix for a while and that lasts me all week. I can syphon out 8g and pump replacement water all in about 5 minutes. I recently switched to Instant Ocean so that the seahorse tank does not grow as much coraline algae.Its nice in a reef but only a pain in the seahorse tank.

The 56g requires me to fill 2 5g buckets half or 2/3 full, then carry through the basement, up the stairs and thru the diningroom to the livingroom and then lift and pour into the tank! Then I have to carry the discard water either outside or to the bathroom. I am getting tired just typing what I do! LOL

I am old school so water changes have always been my main method of export because that is how it was done in the 70s, 80s when I got into aquaria. I only did FW in those days but when I got into salt in the 90s I was too poor to afford a protein skimmer so WCs was still my main method. It was a good training ground to learn how the tank functioned biologically and where the balance was in feeding the tank inhabitants and the need for export.
 
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Oof, that's a pain! Thankfully, once you get a good crop of macros growing, you should need very few water changes, because the plants will naturally clean the water. They are much more effective than bacteria. Your method of export will shift to plant export. And since the plants will strip the water of nutrients, you'll need to dose them, which is way easier than water changes - tea spoons vs buckets. In a sense, your macro tank is the polar opposite of your seahorse tank, as you'll be working to keep nutrients high enough, rather than low enough. For prospective new macro algae keepers, that shift in methodology is a huge adjustment.

Sorry, I'm sure you know all of this. Sometimes I can't stop myself from getting on my soapbox! I really should confine these rants to my own thread!

Best of luck with your new macro garden!
 
Michael Hoaster said:
Oof, that's a pain! Thankfully, once you get a good crop of macros growing, you should need very few water changes, because the plants will naturally clean the water. They are much more effective than bacteria. Your method of export will shift to plant export. And since the plants will strip the water of nutrients, you'll need to dose them, which is way easier than water changes - tea spoons vs buckets. In a sense, your macro tank is the polar opposite of your seahorse tank, as you'll be working to keep nutrients high enough, rather than low enough. For prospective new macro algae keepers, that shift in methodology is a huge adjustment.

Sorry, I'm sure you know all of this. Sometimes I can't stop myself from getting on my soapbox! I really should confine these rants to my own thread!

Best of luck with your new macro garden!
Click to expand...
No, actually I appreciate the refresher and reminder because it is so opposite of the seahorse tank. I moved the cheato that was in the sump to the 56g fish tank. I will be thrilled when the macros are getting established enough to do my nutrient export for me. I will gladly dose instead of water changes. Since the large water changes were taking care of my macros' needs (in the seahorse tank along with seahorse poo) what are the main thing that I should dose? I know magnesium, iron and iodine get used up. What else should I be dosing that the macros can't get from fish wastes?
 
The big three are Carbon, Nitrogen and Phosphorus, with their respective ratios (on average) being around 550-30-1, known as the Atkinson Ratio. All of these can be supplied with fish food alone, but unfortunately, not in that ratio. So dosing helps to get us closer the correct ratio, without doing water changes to replace them. If you feed your fish, phosphorus is plentiful, so no need to dose it.

Carbon and Nitrogen are often the limiting nutrients, so they are the most needed, and the two most important nutrients to dose, in my opinion. CO2 injection is a simple method for Carbon. Potassium Nitrate, sold as stump remover in hardware stores, is an easy and safe source of Nitrogen.

Coming at it from the other direction, you could reduce phosphate and nitrogen, to get closer to the ideal ratio. A deep sand bed, for nitrogen reduction, and any of the phosphate reducers on the market, for phosphate. This reductive method would probably reduce the number of plants you could grow, as well as slow down their growth. Overfeeding the fish could possibly compensate.

Hope this helps.
 
Michael Hoaster said:
The big three are Carbon, Nitrogen and Phosphorus, with their respective ratios (on average) being around 550-30-1, known as the Atkinson Ratio. All of these can be supplied with fish food alone, but unfortunately, not in that ratio. So dosing helps to get us closer the correct ratio, without doing water changes to replace them. If you feed your fish, phosphorus is plentiful, so no need to dose it.

Carbon and Nitrogen are often the limiting nutrients, so they are the most needed, and the two most important nutrients to dose, in my opinion. CO2 injection is a simple method for Carbon. Potassium Nitrate, sold as stump remover in hardware stores, is an easy and safe source of Nitrogen.

Coming at it from the other direction, you could reduce phosphate and nitrogen, to get closer to the ideal ratio. A deep sand bed, for nitrogen reduction, and any of the phosphate reducers on the market, for phosphate. This reductive method would probably reduce the number of plants you could grow, as well as slow down their growth. Overfeeding the fish could possibly compensate.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
O my, I really do not know much about REALLY growing macro algaes! I have never heard of the Atkinson ratio, (she says hanging her head in shame). I can see that I need to do more research, ha ha! However, I have always been a big fan of deep sand beds. I could still incorporate one in this tank.
Thanks Michael for the info.
 
I found that ratio when researching sea grasses. I honestly don't know if I've ever hit those numbers, but I use it as a general guide. It has helped me have great success with several macros and grasses. But not all of them!

I like deep sand beds too. I'm looking forward to starting mine!
 
Thank you Michael, that helps me know what to shoot for anyway. I need to chew on this info for a while and ponder on how I want to go about this. I really appreciate the explanation.
 
My pleasure, Dawn! Ponder it a little. Dosing can be as simple or complex as you like. I'm still figuring it out myself. Just knowing generally about C-N-P ratios will help shape want you want to do.
 
I love the tank updates. It sounds like everything is doing well, including Delilah.

Good points Michael!
 
That's amazing! You're the Seahorse Wisperer!

I was wondering, now that you have two, separate tanks, are you going to start a thread for the new tank?
 
Michael Hoaster said:
That's amazing! You're the Seahorse Wisperer!

I was wondering, now that you have two, separate tanks, are you going to start a thread for the new tank?
Click to expand...
Thank you Michael, but if I were truly the seahorse whisperer, they would not have been subjected to an enviroment that got them sick in the first place!

I thought about it. This thread will be more about the 56 gallon fish tank but the Title does not represent it very well. LOL I will have to think on that for a while too.
 
I have decided, both tanks will still be represented in this thread until I take 1 down and just focus on 1 tank. I am not good at maintaing 2 threads so the tanks will get lost if I don't post on them both here. Technically they both are macro gardens, just not both are seahorse tanks.

So, tomorrow I have some macros coming in with my ghost shrimp order. I do not know exactly what I will get since they could not get all of what I ordered, but I was asked to trust them, so I am sure they will do right by me. Its kind of like Christmas. All the macros are going in the 56 gallon blenny tank. Here is what it looks like today.
2018-11-13_02-34-59 by Dawn Gilson, on Flickr
As you can see, I am still fighting cyano. Its not overtaking anything, just being ugly. I will continue to work on that.

Here is the seahorse tank. It is much more sparce and clean but that is how I need to keep seahorses.
2018-11-13_12-36-08 by Dawn Gilson, on Flickr
Its growing on me and should get better as the macro algaes in it grow. Because husbandry on the tank is so much easier I am feeding the seahorses more than I ever have. They are really liking that part...3 full meals a day.
 
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Your tanks look great! I really like the fang blennies too. Are all the blenny species getting along OK? Are the blennies within each species getting along OK?
 
Chasmodes said:
Your tanks look great! I really like the fang blennies too. Are all the blenny species getting along OK? Are the blennies within each species getting along OK?
Click to expand...

Thanks Kevin. If only I could get the cyano gone. It makes me crazy, ha ha! Today I added significant more flow to see if that helps. The dual powerhead is pretty intrusive to the aesthetics of the tank but maybe its the lesser of 2 evils.

I love them all (the blennies)and they are doing quite well together. The linear blenny is the boss and on a seldom occasion he will lunge half heartedly at a yellowhead fang blenny. It never results in even stress to either blennies. The little barnacle blennies hang in their holes with their heads hanging out. On occasion they will come out and stretch their fins but not often. Nobody bothers them though.

I have been wondering if I could add a large midas blenny since their shape and swim style is completely different. Probably only the linear might object. Its a risk so I need to think on it more. Also I wondered about a starry blenny too because they have more of a sailfin shape. Lots of things to think about.
 
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