Seahorse newbie questions

[Tahoe Reefer]

I've been thinking of turning 1 of my tanks into a seahorse/pipefish tank. I've got a couple of options to choose from and need a little help deciding whats best. I've got an 80g reef with 2x 20g tanks tee'd into it with a 30g sump/refuge. I'd like to turn one of the 20g into the SH tank. I'd like to have a mix of macroalgae and NPS/PS gorgs in this tank. Here is a shot of the setup:

First question, what should I light this tank with? If I use the top 20g tank, I have a 150w MH pendant I could hang over the tank or if I use the bottom 20g tank, I have a 2 x 24w T5 strip light. I'd prefer to use the bottom tank and the T5 light so I can make a sps tank with the MH and top tank but i'm not sure if 2 x 24w T5 is enough for the types of gorgs and macroalgae that are best suited to a SH/PF tank.

Will my slotted overflow drain be a problem? How should I modify or remake it to best suite SH/Pipefish?
Here is a shot of the overflow to help explain it better:

I've got the book "Seahorses - Pipefishes and their relatives" but I could use more information on the aquarium side of things. In a 20g tall tank can i get away with any of the banded pipefish? If I go SH instead what species is best for my size tank?

I've got rotifers and brine shrimp going but i'm about out of rotifer food and might not keep them going... clowns stop laying eggs. With the amount of tanks tied together do you think there will be a large enough mysis/coepod population to support the animals with only 1 maybe 2 feedings a day? The tanks are mature, 2 yrs+ runing in this location. I have shell/rubble in my refuge and a mondo ball of cheto with no filters between them and the return pump. There is a medium sized madarin in the 80g tank and two wrasses that forage nonstop for pods.

My system is currently running at 80degrees. I don't have a problem turning it down a degree and a half but, I would prefer species that do well in that temp range.

I'm obviously just getting started and have alot of reading to do
Thanks for the advice

 

[mtc1966]

first let me say very cool set up. normally its 1 pr per 29g but with the extra water in your system i feel you may be able to bend that rule . 2cnd i would go with t5 over s/h tank. now keep in mind you will need to drop the tank temp down to 68 -72 may not be best fro the corals in other tank also what life do you have in other tanks . seahorses can be susceptible to pathogens from other fish . not to say this is not done with success by others but it is recommended to do s/h alone for a year first.
i look forward to seeing how you handle this . imo you have the makings of something special here . good luck

 

[mtc1966]

sorry just read the fish you do have i would keep 1 manderine and get rid of wrasses . for something else later that want compete for pods.

 

[Tahoe Reefer]

This is whats in the big tank:

Longfin Fairy Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus rubriventralis) I've already been thinking of pulling the longfin wrasse because its a bit feisty with the clownfish.
McCosker's Flasher Wrasse (Paracheilinus mccoskeri)
2 of Donis Picassos hidding in the back as usual
Female Green Mandarin
Lots of shrimps and crabs too many to list

Coral wise it's a mixed reef with a bit of everything in it.
Im going to start lowering my temp down 78 for now.

 

[phil519]

Everything i've read so far says that trying to keep SH at tropical temps is a recipe for disaster. 68~72 as mentioned is fine - but i don't get how lowering to 78 will help?

 

[Tahoe Reefer]

Everything i've read so far says that trying to keep SH at tropical temps is a recipe for disaster. 68~72 as mentioned is fine - but i don't get how lowering to 78 will help?

If I lower it from 80 to 74 in a day don't you think things will die?
Therefore I'm going to lower it slowly down to 78, observer the tank for awhile and then if everything is doing well i'll lower it more in preperation for the SHs. If you read the tread you'll notice the tank I intened to use already has a reef in it. I would assume that just droping macros gorgs and SH into that tank won't work so I'm going to take steps to prepare the system, slowly lowering the temp is one of these steps. I never stated I was going to keep SH in 78 degrees.
Hope that clears it up for you.

on a side note from what I've read, the temp barrier for bacterial exponential blooming is 75 so 74 is reccomended as a max temp.

 

[rayjay]

Lower temperature gradually over as long a period of time as you can as you don't have the seahorses in there at this time and it will be better for your reef to go slow.
Recommended range is 68° to 74°, but some people successfully operate at 75° to 78°.

 

[phil519]

Tahoe reefer - if my post came across rude - I do apologize. It's the internet and I guess I read your post incorrectly and your rhetorical sarcasm back to me says you were not pleased. :beer:

Anyways I guess i was confused as to why you'd want to reduce the tank temps of your reef to accommodate 2 SH. What i mean is that it would seem far easier to simply start a new tank for the 2 erectus and then continue to maintain (from my newbie viewpoint) a very successful and thriving reef tank (especially if you had clowns that were breeding).

One other point to consider is that SH are susceptible to a variety of diseases. In a captive bred environment, they are not necessarily exposed to all the diseases that say reef fish (in your display) might encounter.