SH Questions

[jennifish120]

I am setting up a SH tank in a 35g and have a couple of questions. I would like to keep a pair of h. reidi, some nassarius snails, and a green mandarin with the possibility of adding another pair of horses in the future.

1. I am not sure what type of substrate to use. I am not going to go cc, but am not sure about grain size.

2. I am a bit concerned about bristleworms with the live rock. I read about soaking the lr in a lower salinity water to remove the worms. Does this work, or should I go all base rock and let the tank cycle longer?

3. Is 1 50/50 and 1 actinic sufficient for growing red grape, maidens hair, and shaving brush?

4. Would it be wise to seed the tank with a bit of sand from my reef tank or does that introduce possible harmful stuff to the seahorses?

Thanks in advance and I look forward to starting the process of keeping these awesome little guys.

 

[TamiW]

I am setting up a SH tank in a 35g and have a couple of questions. I would like to keep a pair of h. reidi, some nassarius snails, and a green mandarin with the possibility of adding another pair of horses in the future.

A 35 is going to be too small for a pair. If you're just setting up the tank and you think its likely you'll want two pair, I'd get the bigger tank now before you've invested a lot of time into it. It also may be too small for a mandarin, depending on if you can get it eating frozen or not.

1. I am not sure what type of substrate to use. I am not going to go cc, but am not sure about grain size.

I prefer fine sand.

2. I am a bit concerned about bristleworms with the live rock. I read about soaking the lr in a lower salinity water to remove the worms. Does this work, or should I go all base rock and let the tank cycle longer?

I am just recently gotten on the anti-bristle worm bandwagon after witnessing two seahorses attempt to eat them and die within the last year. Most of the time they are fine. I don't know if the lower salinity method works, but there is a de-wormer called fenbendazole that can be used. I've used it in dwarf seahorse tanks and it is fine, but it can have lingering effects, and some snails and inverts may not tolerate it, and it kills good worms too. So its up to you to decide if its worth using.

3. Is 1 50/50 and 1 actinic sufficient for growing red grape, maidens hair, and shaving brush?

What wattage are you thinking? If its just Normal Output Fluorescent, then probably not. Maybe the red grape.

4. Would it be wise to seed the tank with a bit of sand from my reef tank or does that introduce possible harmful stuff to the seahorses?

Other than the bristle worms, most things in your reef will be beneficial. I also don't know how much of what I experienced was a fluke. Me personally, I'd probably add it anyway.

Thanks in advance and I look forward to starting the process of keeping these awesome little guys.

Good luck! They are awesome fish!

 

[rayjay]

A 35g tank would be fine for a pair, but not 2 pair.
You might push it to 2 pair by using a 20H sump with a high level of water in it.
I now have rebuilt my seahorse tanks and boiled my liverock and recycled it to eliminated the inherent bacteria and worms that might cause problems.
I'd had enough problems in my first 4yrs in the hobby (MY THOUGHTS ON SEAHORSE KEEPING) and this was just my way of dealing with some of the possibilities.
I am slowly pulling out various mysid and other pod forms from my reef tanks, rinsing them in fresh water, and introducing them to the seahorse tank sumps where the rock is.
IMO, keeping a mandarin in that size tank is not a good choice. The only way would be to keep it in a small tank feeding it frozen foods IF it will eat such food, and see if it gets fat/stays fat over a period of time, but have the option to put it in an acceptable tank if not.

 

[jennifish120]

i think i will probably stick to the one pair and nix the mandarin - i have a ton of pods in my reef tank, maybe he would be happier there? i have decided to go with base rock and just let the tank cycle longer - i'm in no real rush to just throw the horses in there and i'd rather be safe than sorry! i am painting the back today - will post pics as i go thorugh the build.

 

[pledosophy]

If you want to soak the rock in water to remove the bristleworms a higher salinity does best IME. I like to use one around 1.040. Make sure there is a powerhead or two in the bin to circulatet eh water. The worms will flee the rock. I did this to catch a eunicid worm and lost hundreds of bristleworms in the process.

Personally I am not concerned with bristleworms myself. I think they are a good member of the cleaning crew. There is a concern if a seahorse snicks one, there are some ways to minimize this risk (like elevating a feeding dish off of the back wall in a place where the worms won't go, IME they will not climb the glass). I have never had an issue with a seahorse and a bristleworm that has been bad, so I don't worry about them to much.

I would do a pair of reidi in a 35g myself. If your up on your filtrationa nd the tank is setup around it, you could do two pairs. IMHO I don't think it is a spcae thing for the horses, but more of a bioload thing for the tank. JMO. I do notice that in larger systems seahorses are much morea ctive as they have more places to hunt, but in a tank with some mates they will still goof around a bit IMO.

If you ahven't already purchased the light I would urge you to look into the PAR38 lights for your system. A little pricey up front but for what you get and how long they last they might be the way to go for macro tanks in the future. They burn really cool, and only consume 21w's. The new plasma's are pretty hip to, but they are like a grand and might be to bright for you.

HTH

 

[TamiW]

If you ahven't already purchased the light I would urge you to look into the PAR38 lights for your system.

HTH

What are these PAR38 lights you speak of? Can you provide a link?

 

[jennifish120]

+1 I googled them and could only find outdoor motion detector lights.

 

[ebruce01]

I think what he is referring to is a CFL that is in a reflector housing.

http://www.1000bulbs.com/23-Watt-PAR38-Compact-Fluorescent-Light-Bulbs/

HTH

Eric

 

[rayjay]

From what I've read, PAR 38 comes with either halide or LED but I don't know how you tell by looking at the bulb.

 

[pledosophy]

I've never seen a halide version of them, but the LED's are the new rage. They are rather focused, but a couple will really light up a smaller tank, you can even grow acropora with them, for 21w's and next to no heat. The CREE LED's really last a long time too. To make it really nice you might need three for a 35g tank, but then you won't need a new fixture or any bulbs for 5 years+ and your only running 63w's a day which is far cheaper then the amounts I run now.

I plan on hooking several of these up soon. There are lower on the list of the new system upgrade (building a 300g system right now) but they will definetly be included.

The new plasma lights are nice too, but crazy pricey and still the wrong spectrum for us.

The link
http://www.nanotuners.com/product_info.php?cPath=74&products_id=623

 

[timinnl]

Why the price difference between the two companies?