Dosing the SH tank

[nanafish]

After scanning the local forums, I was wondering if there is any benefit to dosing the tank ? I do not have any sps/lps in my tank. I do have quite a bit of macro growing in the tank for the horses. I realize that with the horses being in artificial environments as opposed to their wild cousins in the ocean, is there anything that could/ should be added to the water? Being that there are many species of SH from various region of the world, my thoughts are - Is there anything indigenous in those areas for the SH and would it benefit them to receive that in captivity? I realize seawater is fairly constant but in different regions are there more/less concentrations of minerals that would help the SH? Outside of the usual parameters in checking seawater, I was thinking of that after reading an article by R. Holmes-Farley .

 

[rayjay]

First of all, I've never dosed anything but Calcium Alkalinity and Magnesium, in any of my reef tanks in my 20 yrs of reefing with about 1,00g total volume at my peak. IMO, trace elements are resolved either by water changes or by the food you add.
I personally do water changes to LOWER the trace element levels that build up from food that I add.
With seahorse tanks, I especially don't dose because I believe that frequent, large water changes are the most beneficial thing I can do for my seahorses so that the Calcium, Alkalinity, and Magnesium are NEVER a concern in my case.
DON'T dose ANYTHING to your tank unless you have tested it with an appropriate test kit and found the levels to be less than it should be. If levels are over what they should be, then water changes are the solution.
Randy Holmes-Farley's page of links is my REEF chemistry Bible, and can be found at http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=102605

 

[JLynn]

What about dosing for the macro algae/seagrass in a seahorse tank? I have seen advice about dosing certain heavy metals in marine planted aquariums, and I have heard that you shouldn't dose heavy metals in SH tanks, but why not? Clearly it is harmful to them in some way, or else no one would advise against it, but I have never seen an explanation for it. Do you know if there are any things other than heavy metals which should not be dosed in a seahorse tank? If someone had, say, a sponge with a silicate-based skeleton, and was dosing silicon, would that be harmful to SH/other fish? Sorry to intrude on your thread, OP, but I was wondering about this subject as well.

 

[nanafish]

Yes I would test the water first. I was wondering if there is anything that could be beneficial to them. I agree water changes are the best but in doing so I was wondering if that adding anything like Mg, CaCl, etc would be beneficial. I realize that is it is crucial for polyp development. I was wondering if it helps/hurts SH to keep water optimum for SH tanks as it would be for reef tanks.

 

[rayjay]

I don't dose and I'm throwing out my macro on a weekly basis because of it's growth.
I've not heard specifically about what NOT to dose for seahorses because I believe VERY few people are dosing anything.
The only thing I can think of that might be a problem with dosing silica for a sponge would be it could also feed diatoms.
As I already said though, you should NEVER have to add alkalinity, calcium or magnesium to a seahorse tank because of the water changes normally done.
Again, if you are in doubt, test for it first, don't just add something without knowing it's needed.

With my reef tanks, I added the 3 majors, calcium, alk, and magnesium as needed and each tank varied with how often and how much and even which chemical, with some tanks needing a fair bit and one never needed any.
I never added trace elements at any time in my 20 yrs.
Obviously many others DO add trace, many without even knowing it's needed, spurred on by LFS's that have an incentive to sell and make money.
Some products, as over the years have been found to be not much more than water, but people still keep using them.
You do what you think is best for your own tank is what it really comes down to.

 

[JLynn]

Ok. Thanks for the advice!

 

[tjdouglas]

Hi Jlynn, do you test the pH and/or alkalinity in your tank. Since seahorses are messy eaters all that waste could impact your pH and alk levels, especially if the tank has only been running for a few months. Dosing alk to maintain good pH between water changes might be helpful.

 

[rayjay]

Another reason for testing before dosing is that you can have a low pH, and dose alkalinity as much as you want, and still not get the pH up.
Many times people experience this, that when their alk reading are fine but the pH is not and it's because of insufficient gas exchange.
To find out, if you do have low pH with normal alk readings, take a sample of water outdoors and aerate it for a few hours. If the pH reading increases by even a point, then you have poor gas exchange at the surface of the water.
It now needs to have more turbulence, and/or better air supply with lower CO2 levels.
This problem is prevalent in homes where they are shut up for heating in winter, or for cooling in summer.
I've personally never had waste impact my pH and alkalinity in any of my seahorse tanks in my 10 yrs.

 

[rlpardue]

+1 on not dosing anything you can't test for. (Although I confess to dosing KZ flatwormstop because I *swear* it makes my SPS appear "fluffier" lol). Meh, perhaps I'm a hypocrite. But for seahorses, I suppose alk testing/dosing is reasonable, if only because it will keep the whole system a bit more stable (pH and other factors).

Probiotics is also something you can add to SH food. It's been shown in peer-reviewed literature to increase the growth rate of clownfish fry, so one would expect SH fry (and adults) to also enjoy the benefit of increased digestive powers.

 

[JLynn]

I am currently in between tanks; I had a dwarf seahorse tank for 4 years, and since everything was artificial except the 'horses, I never had any issues with water chemistry. But then we got a kitten and he knocked the tank off the table when I wasn't looking and it broke. The seahorses died. I still can't decide whether the kitten was clumsy or just clever to knock it off... Anyways, now I am putting together my first big tank, a 120g, and will be trying my hand at a larger species of seahorse. I am a bit worried about maintaining water chemistry, though. It is just a lot more complicated when there are so many more environmental factors to consider. I will be trying to keep seagrass, but the tank itself will be more focused on macro algae and photosynthetic gorgonians. I am also considering maybe trying to keep a few of the less demanding NPS gorgonians and sponges, but I am still on the rocks about it. Hopefully, the seagrass will work out for me. If it does, I would imagine that photosynthesis will take care of aeration, or at least help it along. I will keep in mind to check aeration if I am having pH issues, though. That's good advice, thanks. And frankly I don't plan on dosing any more than I need to. I am terrible at chemistry and don't really trust myself not to screw dosing up somehow. How would probiotics increase digestion in the adults, Lee?