starting a seahorse tank?

[fishymann]

i understand what your saying and once again not to question you but i have tested it and the water line in the return area of the sump gets to low befor the display over fills. So in any case (pump fails or siphon fails) neither tank will over flow.

Basically worst case scenario will be burned out pump and no circulation in the tank but thats better than floods . guys your awesome here thanks for all the help and kind words

I would like to start thinking (so i can get an idea) of tank mates

thoughts on clean up crews? and how would 3 blue\green chroamis due? I'm thinking either 2 female or a pair of Kudas.

 

[Fredfish]

chromis are pretty aggressive feeders and may out-compete your horses for food. You might be able to avoid this by feeding your horses from a feeding station at the bottom of your tank. Chromis are a mid-water fish.

I would be curious to hear if anyone has ever tried them.

Fred

 

[fishymann]

okay, i read they can sometimes be aggresive eaters thats one reason i wanted to get it outa the way. how about a firefish?

 

[Fredfish]

Firefish are on the safe list.

Fred

 

[fishymann]

yea i saw that, i ment as far as bio load goes would that be pushing it for the size? basically would one firefish 2 seahorses and a cleanup be good for the tank?

 

[Fredfish]

In the long run, you can probably add more. It depends on how much nutrient export you are doing.

Fred

 

[fishymann]

okay so starting out that sounds good great . im pretty sure tomorrow ill pick the light up and the pump... still waiting on the rock :\.

 

[Fredfish]

Yup. What I would do is add the seahorses first, give it two to three months and then the firefish. This will give your system time to adjust to the horses before you add more bioload. It always takes bacteria etc. time to adjust to new nutrient levels.

Fred

 

[fishymann]

add the seahorses first? Okay, i was going to do the opposite and add the firefish first than a few months add the seahorses so i can get all the kinks worked out with the firefish and just get feeding routines down and such. But i will take your advice and add them. Finally found out where my rock is, it should be here tomorrow and the rock and new pump should be bought tonight or this weekend.

 

[fishymann]

my LFS changed hours on me and were closing up when i showed up a few min after 8 tonight. So i guess i'll have to wait till this weekend (i can not wait till i get my liscense in 2 months).

so how is this for timeline:
Rock-tomorrow
(cylce)
macro algae- 2-4 Weeks form now (depending on the rock)
clean up crew Month to month and a half
some corals maybe (polyps) two months
and now this is where im debating
FIRE FISH or seahorse? two and half months?

 

[pledosophy]

I usually add other tankmates prior to seahrses, JME. I can see both sides.

There is no real way to put a time line to a cycle. IME turning up the heat during the intial phase tends to speed things up a bit.

IMO once ammonia and nitrite readings are at 0 it is safe to add macro's, clean up crew and corals. I do like to wait a bit before adding fish. JMO

 

[Fredfish]

Interesting. I would add the macros at the same time as the rock. After all, they suck up nitrogen in several forms.

Either will probably work.

The longer you can hold off before adding your fish the better. I know its kinda hard to watch an 'empty' tank month after month.

Fred

 

[fishymann]

fred-i was gonig with what pledo said about the macros, but if you think its worth putting them in during the cycle ill work on getting them.

Once again im going to try my best to wait 2, 2 and 1/2 months b4 any fish get put in. Perhaps longer if i can tough it out hehe, its pouring out today so i hope the UPS guy doesn't decide not to leave the box.

 

[fishymann]

got the rock today. got one nice big piece of brance and the rest of the pieces were pretty nice a lot of small little stick like ones though :\. For now i just threw them in the tank and the sump until i get around to aquascaping it better. I think ill buy some shelf (base) rock soon to help w the aquascape

Right now i've got 30lbs of rock, 60lbs of sand, through out about 50gallons of water.

 

[pledosophy]

That's to much sand to put all in your display. It would give you about 3". You need 2" or less or 4" or more. Best to put some in the sump.

I don't put macro's in the tank when there is detecatble ammonia. Also they don't do well under the heat heat I keep my tanks at during the intial nitrogen cycle phase. Just me. There is more then one way to do things. Obvisously since both Fred and I have different opinions but both keep succsessful tanks. Just part of the hobby. We're all a little quirky.

I like the little stick pieces cuz you can stick them anywhere to make hitches.

 

[fishymann]

sorry, the 60lbs of sand is between my sump and my display (infact all of that is between my sump and display) I figure i have around 35lbs in my display and the rest in the sump its probably even less than 60.

 

[fishymann]

wow the actnic (sp?) lights are AWESOME! the lights are up and on a timer (about 12 hours) only thing is the one LED seems to do NOTHING for the tank so i guess when i get around to it i'll have to wire up some more (blue or white which do you like and which is better?)

Got the pump, i just gotta get out to the HD and pickup a 1" to 3/4" reducer so i can hook it up and 2 more ball valves to control each single return into the tank. I wasnt able to pickup the bulb for the sump though so i'll have to order that also things to order are some macro algaes. I'll get pictures up maybe tonight.


at 7:30 PM

Ammonia (PPM)
.25

Nitrate (ppm)
20

Nitrite (ppm)
.5

PH 8.4

should i test the water daily at the same time? or can i do like every other day?

 

[fishymann]

alright sorry for alll the posts, here are the pictures.

moonlight

basement lights off

large piece of branch rock

other pieces

can you tell me what this white\yellow colored stuff is? its almost cotton ball like

nice coloring on some rocks

and the sump shots (just threw in the two pieces of driftwood rock and a few random pieces of branch

 

[Fredfish]

What temps do you cycle at pledosophy?

I figure macro is inexpensive and sucks up nutrients so why not.

Nice rock fishyman. How are you holding it in place?

Fred

 

[fishymann]

right now all the rock is just sitting on its self. Before i add any fish ill probably find some way to adhear it. fredfish wheres are some of your places to get macros?