Setup of Seahorse tank

[R@ck78]

I was thinking of setting up a Sea Horse tank. I know its challenging but would like to try it. Here is the list of equipment I currently have and is already setup.

29G tank with stand and live sand with a couple of pieces of live rock
Bak Pak HOB skimmer
10g tank for sump/fuge
A couple of different power heads (probably will not need them)
175w se MH (probably WAY over kill but its what I have on hand)

Is there anything else I would need? Pros/Cons? I was thinking of adding some different algae and some Sea Fans (gargonians). Is there anything else I can add to it?

 

[rayjay]

The number one thing that comes to mind is a chiller.
With a light like that, it will most likely be impossible to keep the water temperature in the 68 to 74°F recommended range.
While seahorses live in warmer waters, in our tanks, they are exposed to constant exposure to high levels of bacteria, live vibriosis for instance, that multiply exponentially with each degree rise in temperature.
While some succeed with their horses at higher temps, many more die in the attempt, so the cooler water is to significantly improve the odds of keeping the seahorses.

 

[R@ck78]

i will most likely ditch that light and go with either a two T5 setup or PC's. Dont really want to invest that kind of $ for a chiller.

 

[namxas]

+ 1 bazillion on the temp issue. besides not getting TRUE CB stock, over-temp is probably the number 1 SH-keeping faux pas for novice keepers.

if you decide to use PH's, make sure they have some sort of guard on the intakes as well as the impeller/propeller, depending on the type of PH you have. just for SH, i doubt you'll need it, but i suspect you might need it for the gorgs if you try to keep them.

definitely go with live macro.

 

[R@ck78]

yea i am planning on using live macro (where do i get the different types?). I also am going to keep gorgs in there as well. hopefully i should have enough flow coming from my return pump so i dont need to use PH's.

 

[ChadTheSpike]

Inland aquatics has a large number of different types of macro. Ghetto website, but great service and products.

Also, live-plants.com has a good selection.

 

[Brian77]

I would recommend reefcleaner.org for macro. John's been a great help to me.

 

[mattkd5]

I would recommend reefcleaner.org for macro. John's been a great help to me.

ditto

 

[ChadTheSpike]

+2, I feel bad I forgot them

 

[R@ck78]

Thanks everyone for your input. Here is what I have so far. I am going with a 29g tank (its been up for about a year, was hold all my coral till I got my cube). use a BakPak skimmer, HOB overflow with a 10G fuge/sump (need to make baffles) with all kinds of macro in the fuge and tank. Use a quietone pump to shoot the water back up. I was toying with the idea of using a SCWD with low flow. ALso I am going to put either 2 T5's or an PC fixture on it.Thoughts?

 

[jtph11]

Highly recommend getting captive bread seahorses. You will go crazy trying to find a consistent source of live food for wild caught seahorses. Live brine is the easiest to find but lack nutritional value and would need to be enriched with zoecon or vita-chem. Not to mention another tank/bowl to keep the food in. Plus, the wild seahorses can be very difficult to ween onto frozen food.

 

[jtph11]

You might want to consider starting with a few pipefish and then onto seahorses. That way you could get your feet wet before jumping in! Pipefish are a little easier and are good tankmates for the seahorses.

 

[R@ck78]

Good info! Can the pipefish and SH's be able to survive in a 29G tank?

 

[mattkd5]

absolutely they can

 

[Elysia]

Although wild pipes are more likely (than other fish) to bring a seahorse-compatible pathogen into the tank that can harm your captive bred horses than almost any other kind of fish. Also, a 29 gallon is a bit small for anything but the smallest pipes (such as bluestripes or pugnose.)