Let me see if I can help you out a bit more here bud.
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13313264#post13313264 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by oneoffcustom
I was thinking mostly softies anyhow such as zoo anthids and such rics and brains. I have more questions though as you can imagine.
Seahorse Tankmate Guide
I have a center overflow box going to a 29 gallon sump where i will haveit chambered off for refugium/ skimmer. i have a 400 watt 20000k light. my return pump is 800 gph i believe. i have rodi unit and 15lbs of live rock rubble built into a background. i plan to use deep sand bed along with 50 lbs of live rock. I have a maxi jet 400 with upgrade kit. help me turn this to a sea horse tank.
With your return pump your going to have to split your returns. I would split the pipe so it returns on each side of the tank. From there you can use loc line to split each side into two, and use flare nozzles, giving you a total of 4 flare nozzles. If the tank is not drilled for the returns you could do spraybars over the back of the tank and into the tank so the flow would be more broken up.
The MJ 400 with upgrade kit could be Ebay'd and you could repalce it with a Seio 620 with fish guard attached, or a Koralia nano stream. The MJ is going to be too strong.
Seahorses can live in flow, they just don't do well in jet stream style flow. Typical rule of thumb for seahorses tanks for many years has been that the flow in the tank should be between 3 to 5x the total tank volume per hour. So in a 46g you want to be at 230 gph tops to follow the rule of thumb. Your return pump alone almost quadruples this, so you do have to take some care so you can break up the flow so it is a good environemnt for the seahorses.
My seahorse tank turns over 47x an hour, way beyond what is the status quote. I did it by using about 5' of spraybars powered by a closed loop, a nano koralia, and a return pump. The spraybars go behind the rocks to eliminate the dead spots, the koralia provides the flow for the sinularia and the gorg, the return pump igves surface aggitation. All the flow is planned out. Even though the flow is so much there is no place in the tank the seahorse can not swim. Breaking up the flow so the seahorse is comfortable is the key.
I'd either raise that light up really high off the tank, like two or three feet, or trade it in for something else. There are a few reasons. Heat is a big one. You might be runnng a chiller you might not, wasn't mentioned but almost all species of seahorses do better at temps under 74F, some need much cooler. 400w MH puts out a lot of heat. Also that bulb is designed to cover a 2' square area so if you use it at recommended height above the tank your going to have some very noticable fall off of light. Very shadowy on the sides of the tank. If it were me I'd look at some T5's
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I run a 150w 14K HQI on my seahorse tank. I raised it a bit so it will cover the 30" from side to side, my canopy has two 1' square sections of egg crate vents, I also use fans pointed up. This takes all the hot air out. I have a fan blowing on the water in the sump to keep the temp down. I only need the fan a month or two out of the year, it's kinda chilly up here most of the time.
I'd ditch the DSB myself, if you really want one the refugium is a good place for it. Seahorses like vertical height to swim. Your tank is already on the short side for seahorses, taking up 5 more inches with sand then you have to isn't the best idea IMO.
HTH
they like company
