77railer
New member
Hello all,
I am a 4th grade school teacher at Kingsbury Elementary School located in Sumter South Carolina. My two sons suggested that we get seahorses to keep at home since we have a reef tank already. I agreed and have plans to setup a seperate tank for the seahorses. My oldest son being a 4th grader at my school told some classmates what we were doing and the next thing I know my students are wanting a tank at school as well. This is not a problem as we already have several tanks of various kind throughout the school. My problem is I want to be successful at these projects in order for all parties (my kids and my students) to feel succesful. If the project goes well at school it may expand into a broader scope allowing future endeavors without much opposition from the admins. Having said that this is what I plan. Please help guide me as any help is greatly appreciated.
At Home: I plan on using a 54G tank that is 24" high which should allow plenty of room for vertical courtship between the ponies. I am thinking of using live rock which is hypersaline dipped for several minutes hopefully removing any bad critters. (Will this take care of little micro stingy bad guys..cant remember their name) This tank is not drilled so I am debating between a HOB filter vs HOB skimmer or undergravel filter. I am planning on using crushed coral for the substrate. Not sure if we will go with dwarfs or another species of seahorse. I think the tanks might be to big for dwarfs? How does this sound so far? How many ponies will this tank safely hold with this filtration? Is lighting critical or will flourescent bulbs be ok?
At school: I have the option of using a 10, 20, 75, or 90. I have an undergravel filter for the 20, 75, or 90. Not sure about live rock do to the cost of having enough for biological filtration. Again wanting to go with crushed coral for the substrate. Thinking about using 2 HOB filters in conjunction with the undergravel filters. Do you think this would be enough filtration? Any drawbacks to this plan? Again is lighting critical? Stocking density?
Sorry for the long post. I appreciate the suggestions and help as I currently know very little about this area and as stated above want/need to be succesful at this the first time around. Other than the tanks I have not purchased anything for these projects as money is very limited so any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Any help whether it be information or things you have laying around would be greatly appreciated. I have been posting on other forums asking for help in making this a success as well.Thanks for your time and efforts...
Leroy Steigerwalt
I am a 4th grade school teacher at Kingsbury Elementary School located in Sumter South Carolina. My two sons suggested that we get seahorses to keep at home since we have a reef tank already. I agreed and have plans to setup a seperate tank for the seahorses. My oldest son being a 4th grader at my school told some classmates what we were doing and the next thing I know my students are wanting a tank at school as well. This is not a problem as we already have several tanks of various kind throughout the school. My problem is I want to be successful at these projects in order for all parties (my kids and my students) to feel succesful. If the project goes well at school it may expand into a broader scope allowing future endeavors without much opposition from the admins. Having said that this is what I plan. Please help guide me as any help is greatly appreciated.
At Home: I plan on using a 54G tank that is 24" high which should allow plenty of room for vertical courtship between the ponies. I am thinking of using live rock which is hypersaline dipped for several minutes hopefully removing any bad critters. (Will this take care of little micro stingy bad guys..cant remember their name) This tank is not drilled so I am debating between a HOB filter vs HOB skimmer or undergravel filter. I am planning on using crushed coral for the substrate. Not sure if we will go with dwarfs or another species of seahorse. I think the tanks might be to big for dwarfs? How does this sound so far? How many ponies will this tank safely hold with this filtration? Is lighting critical or will flourescent bulbs be ok?
At school: I have the option of using a 10, 20, 75, or 90. I have an undergravel filter for the 20, 75, or 90. Not sure about live rock do to the cost of having enough for biological filtration. Again wanting to go with crushed coral for the substrate. Thinking about using 2 HOB filters in conjunction with the undergravel filters. Do you think this would be enough filtration? Any drawbacks to this plan? Again is lighting critical? Stocking density?
Sorry for the long post. I appreciate the suggestions and help as I currently know very little about this area and as stated above want/need to be succesful at this the first time around. Other than the tanks I have not purchased anything for these projects as money is very limited so any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Any help whether it be information or things you have laying around would be greatly appreciated. I have been posting on other forums asking for help in making this a success as well.Thanks for your time and efforts...
Leroy Steigerwalt
