new seahorse tank

K

kvanpoppel

New member
i am gettting ready to set up a seahorse tank in a 36gal corner, i have built a refugium as my filter, i have a metal halide, and actinic lighting. i have also decided to put a uv sterilizer on it also. does anyone have any helpful hints?
 
Hint 1.
By CB, a little more upfront some times, but several thousand dollars cheaper in the long run. Ask how I know. :( Try seahorsesource.com

Hint 2.
Run a water polisher before the UV to maximize it's effectiveness and help eliminate the creation of UV resistant bacteria. Also run the UV at a flow low enough to kill parasites.

Hint 3.

Buy a clip on fan from Target or someplace similiar and point it at the surface of the water in the refugium. With those MH it's going to take a little effort to get the temp in the low 70's. If the halides are for you that is cool, if your getting them because you think the horses need them, they don't.
 
metal Halide

metal Halide

the reason i wanted to use a MH is because i would like to do alot of corals and i have never had that much luck with them. so i figured MH's would help me with that!
 
What corrals are you planning on keeping? Many corals are not suitable with seahorses.

I strongly support the advice to buy captive bred seahorses, not wild caught ones.
 
Many corals are suitable to keep with seahorses. I have about 15 in the tank and about the same number in the prop tank.

Most of the corals that are seahorse friendly do not require MH's. PC's or T5's are fine. I'm really stoked with how cool and efficent my Nova T5's are. They get a thumbs up.

Corals are a tricky thing. IME I found it is better to let the tank mature for a bit and then add them slowly. Maybe try a leather or some mushrooms if you've had bad luck in the past. Also what supplements are you using.
 
I'm not good with my lighting, meaning i don't know what you mean by T5's or PC. I would love not to use MH's.... it would save a lot of money!!:p But I did not know that seahorses could not be with some corals. i like soft corals, such as branching trees, and mushrooms. I really like those Fungia's that sit on the ground. I wanted to try some clams, and that is where MH's came in.

I also want to keep 2-1watt lights at night!

any advice on lighting is greatly appreciated.

What did you mean about a water polisher before a UV, and do you have any suggestions on a UV. i have never used one before!
 
how many seahorses can you keep in a well established tank that is 36gal. i'm going to set it up and let it mature for 6 mos. before i add seahorses.

any advice on how to prep the tank?
 
Seahorses don't do well with corals like the euphyllias, nor with anemones. Unfortunately, clams and sea horses don't mix well either since the clams tend to close up on the sea horses tails and can cause serious damage. Most soft corals are OK , as are gorgoninans and 'shrooms (not the large hairy ones though). Branching soft corals (finger leathers, etc.) are good because they give hitching posts. This web page gives some more information which might be useful: http://www.seahorse.org/library/articles/tankmates.shtml

Another thing to consider would be macroalgae and/or sea-grasses. These work well with sea horses. Some of these might benefit from MH, especially the grasses. There are lots of posts about these in this forum.

I can't comment about UV since I don't use one and am not convinced that there are really needed or helpful in most cases.

There's a lot of discussion about lighting on this site. Other than MH, there are three main types of flourescent lighting which is used: VHO, PC and T5. T5 is essentially a smaller diameter tube of the VHO/regular flourescent light bulb which some people think gives more intense light. VHO is a more intense version of the standard flourescent bulb. PC (power compact) are sort of like the smaller bulbs being pushed to replace incandescent bulbs, but larger and more powerful. All of these would be fine for soft corals and sea horses.

EDIT: Just a small clarification - I wasn't trying to be negative about T5's. They clearly are an excellent source of light.
 
Last edited:
Nick got you covered pretty well there.

See if you can go to the LFS and look at different types of light. I have a never used VHO's or MH. I have a tank with half T5 and half PC. I can tell you that even though the T5's are like 38w less, they out shine the PC's. Lighting a 36g tank should not be too expensive. But do try to look around and make sure you get lights that you like.
 
Hey P, you got the Nova Extreme deal from Drs. Foster and Smith right? Did yours come with parabolic reflectors? Some guy told me they are crap without them...I haven't seen much growth out of my zoos, but they have really colored up. I got them in January I think...
 
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