I'm thinking seahorses

[Fphipps]

Hey,
I recently purchased a second 47 gallon column aquarium. Its 30"Tx20x18. I am not a beginner with aquariums and have ha salt tank for a while and fresh tanks for over 10 years. I'm interested in getting some horses. I understand they need lower temps but I keep reading mixed reviews on what temp. My house is typically kept around 68 which I believe is too cold. I'm also a bit confused by water flow. How much water flow do I need? And my last question is about gorgonia in the tank. I haven't gotten around to researching that yet. Just new to horse keeping an looking for some advice. Thanks in advance

 

[MrsHavoc]

I'm not sure what kind of horses your thinking of. You can keep something like H.Erectis at that temp. They will not be as active but the lower temp helps keep unhealthy pathagens lower. Spend alot of time considering how much care they take for feeding and tank maintenance. Flow is hard to explain for me. I use a mp10 at mid range set to reef mode, in a 50 gl column plus a HOB. I have no experience with gargonia. May folks with more expertise will chime in

 

[rayjay]

Primary reason for lower temperatures are that it makes growth of nasty bacteria species, like the vibrios, grow much slower.
Bacteria infections are one the the major causes of seahorse losses in aquaria.
These bacteria multiply exponentially with each rising degree, especially above 74°.
While there are successes out there at temperatures around 78° and even higher, there are a lot more that succeed when kept in the 68° to 74° range.
My house is always kept at 68° and I don't use heaters in any of my seahorse tanks.

 

[TamiW]

You can still add a heater if you feel that temperature is too low. Just keep it below 74. I like my H. erectus around 70-72 though they've been colder.

Flow rate should be around 10x - 20x the tank volume per hour. Older literature suggests a slower flow rate; we didn't really understand that even though they are poor swimmers, seahorses are adapted high flow environments - if you look at the oceans they are found in, it's not exactly calm waters. They do however need planned shelter from the flow, and intakes and overflows need to be protected.

 

[tjdouglas]

Dear Fphipps, you might want to keep in mind that by the time you add a pump, powerhead, skimmer and possibly some lighting, the tank is probably going to run a bit warmer that 68F. It's surprising how these seemingly things add a couple of degrees (or more if you have higher lighting) to your water's temp.