seahorse tank question

[reefstew]

I will be setting up a sh. tank in about a month. My question is what are you using on the bottom of the tank, bare bottom or aragonite? The tank will be 2x2x2. Thanks,
Bob

 

[novahobbies]

Just as in reef tanks or FOWLR setups, this is really the decision of the aquarist. Seahorses don't need a substrate of any sort, but the asthetics of a sandbed must be weighed against the ease of maintenance a bare-bottom tank provides. Personally, I prefer the sand. A fine arragonite sand bed (dsb or normal sb) provides extra biological filtration, and a sugar-sand bed is fairly easy to maintain. Just stay away from larger crushed shells or crushed coral in the mix, as these contain sharp edges that may scrape a seahorses tail if the horse slithers along the bottom, as some occasionally do.

 

[reefstew]

Thanks novahobbies, I was also concerned about brissleworms. I breed clown fish & they come out when I feed the fish.

 

[CCall]

I also like the look of the sand bed. I take out the brissleworms when I can. You can train seahorses to use a feeding dish in which helps to keep food from the ground.

 

[pledosophy]

I use argonite, but bare bottom is fine.

Bristle worms are a fact of life when keeping seahorses, it took awhile but I just got used to them, my wife still has not.

They do keep the tank fairly clean and help to break down detritus.

JMO

 

[namxas]

i prefer #3 aragonite...a little larger than oolitic, but not as large as CC, which makes it lay down much better.