seahorse tank/refugium?

[Melina74]

Hello,
I posted this in the seahorse section, but am curious to know what you reefers think. I've been thinking about plumbing a refugium into my 65g (20g sump) reef set up. I love seahorses and would love to keep them. Would a seahorse tank, (with a deep sand bed, planted with seagrasses & macroalgae), give my reef tank the nutrient-exporting benefits of a refugium? I'm thinking the minimum size for a seahorse tank would be about 30g or so? Is it a good idea to plumb the two tanks together? Has anyone done this?

 

[JetCat USA]

horses need to be kept at <74 degree or they are Very prone to disease, most people don't run their reefs at those temps so it's best to keep them in a dedicated system with a chiller.

 

[Melina74]

aha, didn't know that. Thanks.

 

[JetCat USA]

You're Welcome.

 

[KDodds]

Not all Seahorses are subtropical/temperate, H. kuda, for example, can be kept at reef temperatures (78º-80ºF) without a problem. The only problem here is that the "refugium" that small, well, it wouldn't really act as a refugium at all, just another tank with its own bioload tied into the main tank. Yeah, macros will grow and do well, and likely the seahorses will benefit from live food to graze upon, but it will no longer be a refugium. You also have to consider that Seahorses' digestive systems are quite poor, they extract much less nutrient from an equal amount of ffod as other fish. What this amounts to is excess detritus/nutrient production. If it were a larger tank, and larger refugium, yeah, sure, it could work, but I wouldn't do it at this size.