flsvedlund
Lion Tamer
Here's the new video!
http://youtu.be/uZ9fv9SE9Pg
http://youtu.be/uZ9fv9SE9Pg
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Feedback on my set-up? Seahorses arriving Tuesday!
- Thread starter flsvedlund
- Start date
flsvedlund
Lion Tamer
And some new photos!
FTS 1/5/14
View from the right side of the tank.
FTS 1/5/14
View from the right side of the tank.
flsvedlund
Lion Tamer
One of the jawfish.
madeyemary
New member
Just wanted to say that is a wonderful tank and an inspiration!
What is the name of that spiral coral and where did you buy it?
I was wondering what the best way to communicate with Southwatch was...I've had no success sending them a message through the form on their website, and their number goes straight to voicemail. I wonder if they're on vacation..?
What is the name of that spiral coral and where did you buy it?
I was wondering what the best way to communicate with Southwatch was...I've had no success sending them a message through the form on their website, and their number goes straight to voicemail. I wonder if they're on vacation..?
flsvedlund
Lion Tamer
Thank you! I love country music
The seahorses are pretty much staying the same colors as when I bought them with just slight shade variations from day to day, except for the one that is now all white. She originally was all white/silver except for some yellow on her head. The yellow on her head has gone away and now she is just a solid white/silver that I think is actually prettier than her original coloring. The photos don't show it as well, but she's very shimmery/iridescent in person. Other than that, my orange pony is still orange, the biggest yellow pony is still bright yellow, and then the gold/tan one with white blotches is still the same color and just changes shades a bit in the gold/tan/yellow range from day to day. None of them have ever drastically changed colors to like black or grey.Thank you!
Thank you so much!
The spiral wire corals are in the family of black corals and their scientific name is Cirrhipathes spiralis. I've seen them called spiral wires, spiral wire corals, and even spiral gorgonians although they are not gorgonians. They're a bit uncommon, so they're not easy to find but I have a store near me that gets some in from their wholesaler pretty frequently. I'd suggest talking to your local stores to see if they can order one from you from their supplier if you're interested. I haven't seen them sold online much except once in a blue moon on ebay.
Southwatch is definitely not the best at answering their email or the contact form through their site. I had no problem reaching them by phone though and that's always how I contact them. They must be on vacation because they normally answer their phone or call you back by the next day at the latest. Its a small family type business, so they were probably closed for the holidays. I'd say keep trying to reach them by phone.
Thank you!
flsvedlund
Lion Tamer
Sounds good! You may want to consider captive bred pipefish from Ocean Rider to avoid pathogen introduction. Prophylactic treatment of fish is definitely a good plan before putting them in a tank with seahorses. My jawfish were in quarantine for a month and I treated them with PraziPro for internal parasites and then I did a FW dip in methylene blue to treat any external parasites such as ich before adding them into the seahorse tank.
Bratyboy2
New member
My game plan is to get the ocean rider pipes to train my other pipes. Once that happens they will be treated with prazipro.
Following that I plan to do a paragaurd dip on them before intro to the tank.
I might just stick with the pipe only tank...still a debate in the household
Following that I plan to do a paragaurd dip on them before intro to the tank.
I might just stick with the pipe only tank...still a debate in the household
flsvedlund
Lion Tamer
Sounds like a decent plan. I have zero experience with pipefish, so unfortunately I can't help there. Keep me posted on what you end up doing!
David - Miami
Aquanot!
Great video and I love the music. Amazing and inspirational tank. Once my baby grows up a bit, I will be doing something similar.
flsvedlund
Lion Tamer
Thank you! Good luck with your new set-up
Thanks for stopping by! Glad you liked the updates. I'll keep them coming
mwilliams62
New member
Feedback on my set-up? Seahorses arriving Tuesday!
Feedback on my set-up? Seahorses arriving Tuesday!
One of these days I would love to have a setup like yours. So inspiring....
The information that you have provide does help a lot.
Feedback on my set-up? Seahorses arriving Tuesday!
Thank you so much! I am so glad that other people appreciate this tank!
Right not I am using an old 20" Coralife 96W quad powercompact fixture. Its not ideal, but it came with the tank which I bought used from a member of my local reef club. I've been saving up and in the next month or so, I will be buying an LED fixture to replace it. My plan is to get the Maxspect Razor Nano 10000K fixture for this tank. The Coralife fixture works great and is plenty of light, but it runs very hot so I have to have two cooling fans on the tank to keep the temperature at 72F. Its also expensive to replace the bulbs on this fixture. Finally, it can only just all turn on and off and once and the drastic lighting change seems to bother the seahorses a bit. The new fixture I am getting will be able to do a gradual sunrise and sunset so that its not just a sudden change in lighting.
There are definitely several considerations with keeping seahorses and coral in one tank. First off is compatibility. You can't keep seahorses with any corals that are sticky, have powerful stings, or are capable of eating slow moving fish. Pretty much all LPS corals and definitely all anemones are not compatible with seahorses. SPS corals can't harm seahorses (except the fire corals), but the seahorses will hitch to them frequently and most SPS corals are too sensitive for that and will lose flesh and end up dying. With seahorses, it is best to stick with softies, macro algaes, gorgonians, zoanthids/palythoas, sponges, etc. Of course there are a few exception. For example, I have some porites (SPS) in my seahorse tank. They don't branch like many other SPS, so the seahorses can't hitch to them and irritate them.
Here's a great compatibility guide for seahorses:
http://www.seahorsecorral.com/Seahorse_Tankmates.html
The other thing to consider with putting corals in a seahorse tank is their flow requirement. It is outdated thinking that seahorses need to live in super calm, almost stagnant water. Your seahorses and your tank will be much healthier with a brisk, moderate water flow. You don't want blasting flow to the point that your seahorses won't let go of their hitches though. Basically, its best to have good moderate flow and set it up so that there are some calmer areas in the tank with low flow where the seahorses can rest. This effects the corals you can have because you can't keep any corals that need super high flow, like some SPS corals. However, most moderate flow corals will do great. Then you can find some corals that only need low flow to put in the calmer areas.
In terms of tank parameters, here's about what they usually are:
Temp: 72 F
Specific Gravity: 1.025
pH: 8.0
Amm: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrates: ~5
The seahorses are messy eaters and have to be fed frequently, so this tank needed good filtration to maintain good water quality. I have a skimmer rated for up to 55 gallons on this tank, a media rack with Chemipure Elite, Purigen, and Phosguard, and I run dual media reactors - one with carbon and one with GFO. I also have a bunch of macroalgaes in the display portion and also in the refugium chamber to help with fixing nutrients. I do a 15% water change every week, or twice a week if needed. Since I do frequent water changes, I don't test for or dose Ca, Alk, Mg, or any of the other trace elements.
This tank is a balance of keeping the nutrients in the system low enough to provide good water quality for the seahorses, but having some nutrients is good because the sponges, macro algaes, and NPS corals in my system filter feed off the nutrients in the water. I also made sure this tank had a very good cleanup crew to eat any leftover food from the seahorses, so it can't decay and mess up the water quality. I've got a lot of snails of different types, hermit crabs, and 3 nano serpent stars which do a great job scavenging for uneaten food.
I hope that helps!
One of these days I would love to have a setup like yours. So inspiring....
The information that you have provide does help a lot.
flsvedlund
Lion Tamer
I'm glad my tank can be an inspiration! I try to post useful information on here. If you have any questions I haven't answered though, don't be afraid to ask.
