Please help with some setup questions

[Reverend Reefer]

hi everyone,
i wanted to know if you can help me with some questions starting a seahorse tank. i currently have a 65G LPS mostly reef tank with a 10G fuge attached to it. i recently setup a tall 15G tank to house a new seahorse/pipefish style tank. i've been researching setting up a seahorse tank but now i have a couple questions regarding the setup before i actually buy any pipefish:

1. i've read that they don't like too much flow.
-> what do they mean by low flow? as in, no powerheads whatsoever?
-> right now i have a little nano rio powerhead in the tank but cyano is growing all over becuz of this

- i guess my question is, what do you guys do for flow in a seahorse tank given that there will be a lot of feeding (seems like seahorses like to eat alot but are very finicky), not just for the seahorses, but the gorgonians (i picked one up recently, its sitting in my display for now) also seem to need to be fed quite a bit (currently feeding reef-roids) with stuff that really pollutes my system

2. lighting
- ive read that seahorses don't require too much light but i also want to keep some zooanthids in there along with some other things

- my question is, i just bought a clamp on 70W metal halide light, is this too much light for the seahorses? i realize this will also add a lot of heat and it seems like seahorses aren't that tolerant of higher temps, is this really a problem?

3. seagrass and macroalgae
- everywhere i read, it says that ideally you will want seagrass in the tank. right now i have some cheato, some grape caulerpa, and some other unknown macroalgae (along with some cyano, ha!)

- where the heck do you get seagrass? my LFS have no idea what im talking about when i ask...

4. live rock
- right now there's live rock in the tank, which im hoping some copepods will start growing out of. i've read that live rock could be sharp and cut the fragile seahorses,....

- is it really that bad to have live rock in the seahorse tank?

thanks in advance for any help or suggestions!!! a seahorse tank is kinda scarry and exciting for me. my reef display is doing so well and now i think im ready for this next step in this saltwater obsession of mine.

 

[ChadTheSpike]

1) SHs are more tolerant of flow than they are generally given credit for. The key isto provide them areas where they can get out of higher flow. I have a 60 gallon tank, I have my retrun pump adding about 600 gph, a medium sized powerhead, and a tunze nano wavebox. I find that there are two areas of higher flow in the tank (directly in the output of both pumps) and most of the rest of the tank gently moves back and forth. Overall there are very few (or zero) stagnant areas in the tank and it works very well for me.

You note the problems associated with really low flow and stagnant water, and these problems will lead to an unhealthy tank. Stagnant areas are as bad in SH tanks as they are in other tanks.

As a side note, its really funny how many people will tell you that their SHs play in the flow! I have certainly found this to be true as well. Right after the lights turn on in the morning, one of my females will swim into the output of the powerhead and be pushed accross the tank, once on the other side, she swims as fast as she can back to the outlet and does this again. and agian. and again, she does it 5-10 times every single morning, its like her coffee or something, very fun to watch. There are many others who have similar stories to this.

2) SHs dont require much light, but they can be kept under higher lighting too. I have heard antecdotes of lower lighting being more likely to bring out brighter coloration of the SHs, and this may be true in some cases, however, SHs will be whatever color they want to be that day and time (usually not what you want!!). I keep my SHs under a 250W MH bulb, and they dont seem to mind it (I will say that all of my erectus are white, brown or grey though ). Your 70W light will be fine.

Temperature IS an issue with SHs, however. The problem is that SHs are susceptible to pathogens, and in our closed systems, these infections can spread at uncontrollable rates at 'normal reef temperatures'. Keeping SHs at lower temperatures gives us and them a chance to fight off the infection before they succumb to it. SHs should be kept at temperatures no higher than 74F.

3) I like macro algae in my SH tanks because it gives the SHs something to hitch to, and a place for pods to live where the SHs can spend time hunting them down. Seagrasses are more of a true vascular plant and require care and setup similar to that used in the FW world (setup and substrate). In a 15 gallon tank I would not recommend this route. Chaeto is good, but its not really something to hitch to (I do use it though), the grape caulerpa growth habit gives nice hitches, there are others as well though. In your tank, I would stick with macro algae instead of the seagrasses.

You can get seagrass and other marine plants and algae from online sources like http://www.live-plants.com/

4) I know of no issues with LR and SHs in tanks that dont have SPS like whirling flow that throws the SHs uncontrolled into the rock.

Good luck, HTH

Chad

 

[rayjay]

First of all, a 15 g tank is too small for normal seahorses and too large for the dwarf Zosterae unless you put a heck of a lot of Zosterae in it. I would question your areas of research that say otherwise. For normal seahorses it is recommended to go with 29/30g for a pair and you will need about an extra 15g for each extra pair.
Seahorses do fine in a tank with areas of low to high flow and can be seen hitching directly in the high flow areas at times, but need the low flow for the majority of time.I have one tank with just air for movement, another with just powerheads, and a rearing tank with both. Main thing is to have surface water disruption for proper air exchange.
Cyano could be just a sign that the tank hasn't matured as of yet.
One of the reasons for so much space for seahorses is that they are considered to be messy eaters in that many of them selectively pick out the food that looks great to them, leaving the rest to decay and pollute the tank or at least cause more algal problems than you will want to have.
I personally don't use a lot of light because I can't afford to have chillers in each of my tanks and lighting heats up the water.
Temperatures over 74° F help bacteria to grow, especially the bad types like vibrio. The seahorses are very susceptible to bacterial infestations and are probably the biggest cause of death in our tanks. In the wild, the seahorses live in warmer water but in our "contained" system, the bacteria spread exponentially with each rising degree.
Because my lighting is low, I don't keep corals but use artificial plants/hitching.
I don't know where you can get the seagrasses as here in my part of Canada, I see none at the LFS's.
My macro's didn't survive the low lighting.
While I have used live rock for all set up's I now boil my rock and then set up the tank using ammonium chloride to cycle. This lessens the chances of something causing the demise of my seahorses.
I would hazard a guess that not more than maybe 1% of seahorses sold will make it to a year in tanks mainly because of bacterial or protozan infestations that haven't been minimized by doing the recommended methods as noted on the "org".
While there are definitely failures even when trying to do everything right, the successes when not specifically catering to seahorse needs are very few.
MY THOUGHTS ON SEAHORSE KEEPING

 

[Reverend Reefer]

wow, well, thanks for the info. that write up is pretty good rayjay.

seems like im almost ready to go. just need to pickup another powerhead to get rid of the cyano building up and wait for the macro to grow out a bit. my display tank has been up and running for 2.5 yrs now and has finally stabilized.

i dunno what to do now with this temperature problem though.... i've plumbed all my tanks together now and with all the equipment and lighting (no heaters), my tank water ranges from 77-80, which is fine for reef conditions, but for seahorses, seems like too hot. chillers are really expensive and hard to justify..... maybe i need to install some fans?

 

[arcprolife]

just my thought:
If you are set on a 15 gallon you may consider a pair of fuscus and definetly only one. They are smaller than most. I keep one fuscus and one barbouri in a 20 gallon but its the extra tall. I think fuscus are cute with there short little snout. Reefcleaners.org is a good place for macros though the winter is slim pickens most places. I would find some way to get a lower temp before adding seahorses. I only keep my set-up the way I do because the temp is 70
If it were higher I would want more "damage control"
Good Luck with what you choose