Dwarf seahorse advice much needed!

[Samantha_a_f]

Hello everyone! I'm new here and I was hoping some of you all would be able to give me some advice. When I was younger my mother always kept dwarf seahorses. About 2 years ago I started getting into saltwater and After having my nano reef tank.. I would like to start a dwarf seahorse tank. I've been doing online research for the past few months and I now have a set up, that I've uploaded a link to. I used crushed coral, since that was what my mom always used, for substrate. But now I kind of regret that.. I'm wondering if I should dump all my water into buckets and put sand in :/ I've decided to not have any live coral or any other tank mates so I don't have to worry about bringing unwanted hydroids. The rock in there is dead rock. Maybe a snail of some kind later on. As of today I put 3 green chromis in the 10 gallon tank to help start cycling so I plan on checking my paremeters tomorrow. What should the ideal paremeters be after cycling? Right now I have both a hob filter with panty hose around the vents and I also have a small sponged air pump. Is it ok to keep both or too much water flow? I don't feel any water flow when I put my hand in... But they're a lot more.. Sensitive. Lol. And also, I've learned how to decap my own freshly hatched brine shrimp but does anyone else suggest another additional food for them? I've already started putting bottles of Copepods in there. I plan to have a lottttt of ponies in the tank since its a 10 gallon. And I have one more question.. Should I get a skimmer for my tank? I understand the tank should have food available all the time, but how is it possible to have that much food in the tank without the nitrates shooting up and killing them? Thank your reading and I look forward to your feedback!! http://postimg.org/image/no8wjttjn

 

[TONYSCIA]

Water changes

Water changes

You must do a lot of water changes. 10% every 3-4 days.

 

[vlangel]

If you bought a tank divider, (2 is better so one can be bleached) then your skimmer would not suck up the dwarfs. You can move the dividers depending on how much room you need, although that is much easier if the tank is bare bottom. Prizm pro has a reasonable skimmer that HOB. I would still have an open airline tube for surface agitation. This is what I do for my erectus fry when they get big enough to eat live brine. You will still need to do a lot of water changes but a skimmer is bound to help. If you paint the bottom of the outside of the tank you could have bare bottom but the look of sand, if you choose a sand color with texture.