I am looking at the possibilty of setting up a species tank in my living room and welcome any advice. This tank would be for seahorses and maybe a pipefish, with some LR and maybe some soft corals/zoos. This tank would be an extension off of my 180g reef/sump in basement, so in terms of equipment needed I am thinking just tank,light and maybe heater. Not sure of what tank to pick, but I have heard horses like tall tanks. I am thinking maybe a 29g w/ overflow but have not found one yet. Any advice ? Thanks
new tank setup
- Thread starter sullyfish
- Start date
Been in to reef tanks for 10 years now but still new to seahorse tanks.
When I was going to first set up my seahorse tank I was also thinking of plumbing it into my show tank system. After doing some research and geting advice form the forums I decided against it. Biggest reason i had was with having the 2 systems linked you could spread nasty stuff from one tank to another. With all the time and money I have in my show tank Im not going to take a chance. Another reason that I was told was because depending on the type of seahorse the water temp for your reef tank may be to high for seahorses.
Im sure others will have different/other reasons but thought i would throw in my $.02.
Ken
When I was going to first set up my seahorse tank I was also thinking of plumbing it into my show tank system. After doing some research and geting advice form the forums I decided against it. Biggest reason i had was with having the 2 systems linked you could spread nasty stuff from one tank to another. With all the time and money I have in my show tank Im not going to take a chance. Another reason that I was told was because depending on the type of seahorse the water temp for your reef tank may be to high for seahorses.
Im sure others will have different/other reasons but thought i would throw in my $.02.
Ken
Personally I see no reason, other than temperature concerns, not to link your tanks. Pumping water up from your basement will suck up a lot of power though.
If you quarantine properly, 'nasties' should not get into your tank.
Seahorses seem to need a tall tank to breed properly, but other than that, they should be OK in a shorter tank. 1 29/30g tank will be a nice size.
I would give the horses some cover. They come from seagrass beds and will be more comfortable with places to hide.
If you have not already done so, look into foods and feeding. Seahorses are picky eaters.
Consider the risks of mixing seahorses and pipes if the horses are captive bred. A lot of people have lost seahorses to disease this way. The theory is that because seahorses tend to live in isolated groups, they have developed resistance only to the diseases in their local area and are susceptable to 'foreign' diseases. There are folks that have been successful in doing this, just know the risks.
Good luck with setting up the tank.
Fred
If you quarantine properly, 'nasties' should not get into your tank.
Seahorses seem to need a tall tank to breed properly, but other than that, they should be OK in a shorter tank. 1 29/30g tank will be a nice size.
I would give the horses some cover. They come from seagrass beds and will be more comfortable with places to hide.
If you have not already done so, look into foods and feeding. Seahorses are picky eaters.
Consider the risks of mixing seahorses and pipes if the horses are captive bred. A lot of people have lost seahorses to disease this way. The theory is that because seahorses tend to live in isolated groups, they have developed resistance only to the diseases in their local area and are susceptable to 'foreign' diseases. There are folks that have been successful in doing this, just know the risks.
Good luck with setting up the tank.
Fred
Since I am finishing my basement, now is the time to run the hoses if I am going to do this. I am thinking of at least running the hoses now and then I still have the option.
Not sure what kind of horses I will have yet, but I have seen some of the pics of 29g tanks and they look great. I really like the idea of a tank in the living room with little eqpt expense. I guess I will have to look more into the added power consumption ($$$) of the pump. any pump suggestions welcome...at least this will add to my total water volume.
Not sure what kind of horses I will have yet, but I have seen some of the pics of 29g tanks and they look great. I really like the idea of a tank in the living room with little eqpt expense. I guess I will have to look more into the added power consumption ($$$) of the pump. any pump suggestions welcome...at least this will add to my total water volume.
I finally have time to respond again ! I am glad I started this thread before doing this, as it has made me think, which is a good thing 
kjdeut.... Thanks for the input and I really appreciate the comments. I was thinking about the issue you mentioned of nasties being spread around and I am however going to be using a 57 watt UV sterilizer which I am hoping should go a long way in stopping water born nasties from traveling around from tank to tank. This made me think that I should design my sump so that the SH tank inlet is plumbed after the UV output. Heck, I might even get a second smaller UV sterilizer that would clean the SH tank output coming back to my main tank sump. This is assuming that the UV sterilizer would zap all the nasties. Sound good ?
Fredfish....Thanks for the good feedback, as I am very new to seahorses. As far as the temp issue I now realize ( thanks to this thread ) that there needs to be about a 5 degree difference between my reef and SH tank. Worst case I will get a heater and a chiller, but I have heard of using coiled up water tubing in the RO/DI output reservoir as kind of a poor-mans chiller ...This way I would run the hose out of the sump and pump, through a coil in the reservoir ( which would be about 65-70 degrees year round) before heading up to the seahorse tank upstairs. This also would help raise the RO/DI water temp before going into the heated top-off tank.
I was always thinking captive bred SH are the best way to go, but thanks to your comments I know the risks. It makes sense that they would have a low resistance, those wild caught SH I have heard can be hard to feed though.
kjdeut.... Thanks for the input and I really appreciate the comments. I was thinking about the issue you mentioned of nasties being spread around and I am however going to be using a 57 watt UV sterilizer which I am hoping should go a long way in stopping water born nasties from traveling around from tank to tank. This made me think that I should design my sump so that the SH tank inlet is plumbed after the UV output. Heck, I might even get a second smaller UV sterilizer that would clean the SH tank output coming back to my main tank sump. This is assuming that the UV sterilizer would zap all the nasties. Sound good ?
Fredfish....Thanks for the good feedback, as I am very new to seahorses. As far as the temp issue I now realize ( thanks to this thread ) that there needs to be about a 5 degree difference between my reef and SH tank. Worst case I will get a heater and a chiller, but I have heard of using coiled up water tubing in the RO/DI output reservoir as kind of a poor-mans chiller ...This way I would run the hose out of the sump and pump, through a coil in the reservoir ( which would be about 65-70 degrees year round) before heading up to the seahorse tank upstairs. This also would help raise the RO/DI water temp before going into the heated top-off tank.
I was always thinking captive bred SH are the best way to go, but thanks to your comments I know the risks. It makes sense that they would have a low resistance, those wild caught SH I have heard can be hard to feed though.
Swanwillow
goby girl
I don't know what nasties it would be... with dwarves, there are issues, but the big horses there aren't as many. its more or less the temp difference. its going to cost ALOT to cool the water, then warm it back up, and your probably going to have temperature issues, ALOT of them...
but, connecting the systems would be nice, for the added water mass and the filtration options for a huge system like that.
but, connecting the systems would be nice, for the added water mass and the filtration options for a huge system like that.
so this will be costly, time consuming, and a bit of frustration.....Sounds like everything else I have done with this hobby.LOL
I guess I am not surprised, but I am glad I am getting the warning before hand so I can be somewhat prepared. As stated earlier I will go ahead and set this up, I really want to try and make this work. If I run into insurmountable problems I will then seperate the tanks. Has anyone done this sort of thing before ?
I guess I am not surprised, but I am glad I am getting the warning before hand so I can be somewhat prepared. As stated earlier I will go ahead and set this up, I really want to try and make this work. If I run into insurmountable problems I will then seperate the tanks. Has anyone done this sort of thing before ?
Swanwillow
goby girl
yup-can't think of names off the top of my head. but they ran thier reef cooler than normal, and thier horses warmer than normal. probably around 78 or 79*
