New at this..40 gallon build

[Treyco]

Ok so I need a little input from some of the more experienced seahorse wranglers lol.. So as stated I have a 40 gallon breeder and I want to turn it into a little reef if I can..it will house some seahorses an maybe a few little creatures that can be housed with them like mini hermits an such..now my question is do I need a sump or refugium? I see a lot of setups with them but I wondered if it was necessary.. I already have a light fixture on its way. Now what kind of filters, heater, an stuff would I need? I already have a refractometer from when i had a brackish tank. This will be a semi slow build so bare wit me but I'll update wit pics as I go

 

[Henchman24]

A sump isn't a necessity but they make things easier. You can hide equipment like heater, auto top off, protein skimmer etc in a sump without being in the aquarium. A deep sand bed or refugium in a sump helps keep nitrates down but more frequent water changes will keep nitrates down also.

 

[Treyco]

Thanks for ur reply..I might look into it..I have a spare 10 gallon that I might could use if I have the room for it

 

[kre8ivairbrush]

I am getting everything ready to transfer my seqhorses into a 40breeder too..

My question is about sump/refugium size. I was going to use a 20l.. i know BIGGER IS BETTER but will it be good for now?

Sent from my LG-P925 using Tapatalk 2

 

[rayjay]

Any corals you choose should be selected for being able to tolerate conditions at 74° max temperature as recommendation is from 68° to 74° for seahorses.
Hermits may end up being expensive seahorse treats.
As for equipment needs, that varies with the hobbyists as there are no "set" conditions.
You need biological filtration, a mechanical filter which might just be a sock, water movers.
Options are the preferred oversized skimmer and open ended air line.
Heaters are not normally needed unless you keep the room below 68°
Check the links at the bottom of "My Thoughts on Seahorse Keeping"
If you use a decent sized sump, the 40g tank would be good for two pair of seahorses as recommendation for two pair is 45g water.

 

[Treyco]

Cool thanx..what filter would you recommend? Yea I have to get a heater as I keep my apt cold. Might just opt for some live rock an plants. What sort of maintenance critters would you recommend also? Sorry if its in the link you provided I haven't had a chance to look at it yet

 

[rayjay]

WOW!! Not too many people would consider keeping their living quarters below 68°.
If using heaters you have to keep them in the sump or use protection so that the seahorses can burn their tails when grabbing on to it.
Others will have to help you on filtration and other items as I tend to go for simplicity in all of my systems, using bare bottom with live rock in sumps for biological filtration, open ended air lines and a mini power head and Hagen 802 power heads for water movement. I also use "quick" filter attachments on the 802 power head for my mechanical filtration.
Hitching and decor is mostly artificial with only one tank having live macro along with the artificial decor.
I don't use any "maintenance critters" as I believe that tends to lead one to believe that they can get by with less physical attention to husbandry, so again, others will have to chime in on that for you.

 

[Treyco]

Lol yea I range from about 50-65 degrees..I can't get to hot that's y. But thanx for the input..makes me rethink my whole scenery plan

 

[Treyco]

Ok just a small update..I went to one of my lfs an found out they actually sell black seahorses which is the ones I'm going to buy so I'm in luck there..an I also asked them about some of their products they would recommend so I took a few snapshots of them to see what y'all think


This filter with

This uv filter

 

[Treyco]

Or this filter with a small skimmer an the guy also recommend this salt called salinity so if anybody has heard of it an give me a lil more detail about it then that would be great cuz I couldn't find it anywhere else

 

[TamiW]

Don't! Don't buy any seahorse that most LFS's carry. They're probably tank raised from asia, too small, underfed and diseased. Many people start and give up on seahorses because of the crappy ones that LFS's carry. You want to get captive bred seahorses from a breeder. Seahorse Source is the favorite in the seahorse community, but you can also check local reef clubs to see if there are any breeders.

I wrote something on exactly that subject here:
http://www.fusedjaw.com/aquariumcare/a-modern-guide-to-buying-seahorses/

As for your equipment, expect seahorses to be at least twice as dirty as other fish you might think of. You want to aim for a flow rate of about 10 to 20 times the overall water volume per hour, but make sure any overflows and in-takes are covered.

Regarding the products you pictured. I don't know what the first one is. The second one, the marine buffer, is just expensive baking soda. You can make the same thing by putting baking soda on a pan in the oven for an hour on 350 degrees. (more info here)

The via aqua is a relatively cheap brand, at least they used to be. I would look for a hagen/fluval, marineland, jager or even an Aqueon isn't bad. The problem with going with a cheap heater is that when something goes wrong, it can wipe out your whole tank; and faster than any other piece of equipment. Pass on the aquatop - I experimented with them and had one that produced stray voltage and wiped out a bunch of fish before I found the cause. UV sterilization isn't necessary but it's nice to have. As for the marineland biowheels, they're alright in terms of a filter, but the wheels always seem to stop spinning. For a HOB filter, my preference is the Hagen Aquaclear: http://usa.hagen.com/Aquatic/Filtration/Clip-On/A615 though they may have rebranded them as Fluval.

Whatever HOB filter you use, get one that's rated for at least twice the size tank than your's actually is. The rating is basically the minimum for a lightly stocked tank. Seahorses create a lot of waste, so you want something that can really filter. With a 40 gallon, I'd probably go with two aquaclear 70s (http://amzn.to/11NlTSi). You could do one aquaclear 110, but with two, you can position them so you'll have the optimal flow for your tank.

BTW, I like your method of shopping. I do that all the time now too. If I want to look something up later, just snap a picture. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

 

[TamiW]

Oh yeah, re:salt. I'd personally go with Instant Ocean or Reef Crystals. Salinity is SeaChem's salt, but it came out a few years ago it was just repackaged IO at a higher price. Since they were found out, they reformulated, but there have been a lot of complaints about their salt.

 

[rayjay]

Well, the "NIGHT OWL" beat me to reply again, and at least she was able to comment on some of the products I've no experience with due to the way I set my systems up.
I too have no idea on the first bottle shown. Is it a starter bacteria product?
Also, I agree on being extremely careful when buying from and LFS. Listing a seahorse simply as "black seahorse" indicates lack of knowledge of the store people and should be listed by species type and can then have the decriptive "black" added after the species type if they wish.
Did they tell you what species they are.
What is the size of them from tip of tale to top of head?
Are the males identifiable easily by a developed pouch?
Is the tank the seahorses are in, connected in any way to other tanks on a system?
I agree on the buffer as I use baked baking soda (min. hour at 300° works fine for me) in all my reef tanks AND seahorse tanks.
However, be aware that adding buffer to a tank with an already appropriate level of alkalinity is going to be a waste.
The biggest problem we see for low pH is insufficient gas exchange at waters surface, especially when the home is sealed up for winter or summer heating/AC. Increasing the turbulence at the surface, or increasing the fresh air available there, or both, will often solve the problem without buffer.
As for a UV, IMO, they are NOT an important item as most of the nasty bacteria we want to kill off are NOT in the water column predominantly, but on the surfaces of the glass, rock, and decor and grasses that are in the tank.
A VERY wise addition is to add a skimmer rated for a tank MUCH larger than your tank size.
The skimmer, coupled with larger, more frequent water changes than you would do for normal salt water fish, paying attention to areas where excess food and detritus can be trapped unseen or seen, will help alleviate problems down the road from deteriorating water conditions that to the eye may look just fine. Even standard water testing doesn't show that the "dirty" water is producing nasties that will affect your seahorses.
Before you buy, check out Tami's page she linked above, "A Modern Guide to Buying Seahorses".

 

[Treyco]

Ok thanx for the replies..yea I questioned them about the seahorses an he said he buys them from a woman in California that breeds them..when I go back ill take a pic of them so y'all can see

 

[TamiW]

If that's true, it might not be so bad; but it strikes me as something a store would say to make people feel more comfortable about buying them. There is still other concerns; especially about size and how stores are keeping them but if it's from a genuine breeder that's much better. My only concern is that California is a hub for imported seahorses from the east, so just as easily be tank raised ones rebranded.

What would be better is if you could find out the breeder and buy direct from her; that way they've never contacted LFS water which may have housed other syngnathids or be kept too warm.

 

[rayjay]

I think if his story were true he would be almost certain to have been told the species of seahorse by the breeder.

 

[TamiW]

Not necessarily; it would depend on the circumstances. One scenario I could see is the LFS just not caring and not writing it down. The second is the breeder themselves got tank raised no species name seahorses, and against the odds, had success with them and raised their young. It's certainly not impossible.

Only tangentially related, I've also been seeing a lot more wild caught H. erectus in stores lately going as "black seahorses". I don't know why this is, but unfortunately it means in addition to looking out for tank raised seahorses, people have to look out for larger, wild caught seahorses. At least H. erectus is one of the easier wild caught seahorses to keep, but there is still a level of difficulty there.

 

[Treyco]

Ill question them more about where they get them from..they only had about 4 or 5 in the tank

Ok would this skimmer be adequate?

 

[Treyco]

Also have any of you used this heater? It comes with a safeguard

 

[Treyco]

Quick little update
I ordered one of these to get the tank started with the cycling so Saturday I will go buy the sand an salt an fill it up to get the salt dissolved..once that is done ill buy a fish or something to get the cycling goin