Charles4400's Waterbox 100.3 Seahorse Build

Devaji · Jul 26, 2020

HEck yes perfect size tank for a SH build. I have been wanting to do a SH build for years now...even had the 90gal SCA 36x24x24 tank for it to but the GF said no if i was gonna get a 6' tank.

love macros and gorgs. sooo under rated IMHO.
I think we need a video of the tank so we all can droll!

Devaji · Jul 26, 2020

Dang it! I read the whole trade now I want to start another tank..haha
will be moving into a new house in the next month or so and I have an unfinished basement that i am planning to turn in to a media/movie room down there I have been going back in forn in my head if I should do a large fish only 300-720 gal or SH build. I was leaning toward a fish only but now..................

I have been looking at those sunburst Sh from OR as well I am very curious if they stay that color for you or change.

Charles4400 · Jul 26, 2020

Devaji said:
Dang it! I read the whole trade now I want to start another tank..haha
will be moving into a new house in the next month or so and I have an unfinished basement that i am planning to turn in to a media/movie room down there I have been going back in forn in my head if I should do a large fish only 300-720 gal or SH build. I was leaning toward a fish only but now..................

I have been looking at those sunburst Sh from OR as well I am very curious if they stay that color for you or change.

Congrats on the new house and an empty basement is a clean palette, awesome! (Wish we had basements in CA!)

The short answer to if they stay that color is no they don't and sort of. I got 2 yellows and 2 orange sunbursts. One of the orange always stays orange and goes from bright to darker orange always in the orange spectrum. The other orange kinda the same but never gets that bright orange anymore. One of the yellows changes from bright yellow to a darker yellow usually staying a darker yellow. The other yellow turned kinda orange most of the time. I've only had these sunburst as far as 'colored' seahorses so don't have anything to compare them to such as mustangs. Dont know if mustangs would have more muted colors or not. I did also get 2 of the black seahorses from seahorse savvy. Which go from black to grey (one died a few days ago from unknown causes, all others are fine so don't know what happened there).

The OR seahorses are a good size and have always been healthy. SS seahorses were smaller and looked a little frail and skinnier.

Seahorse tank is fun, I like it alot and easy to maintain maybe because its a smaller tank? But I haven't had any issues with high nitrates or phosphates (which I attribute to tons of cheato and ulva in the fuge) And I feed alot.

The seahorses are not super active but are definitely different than other fish and are truly a joy to keep! It really is a fun tank!

That being said my next tank will be a large fowlr with aggressive fish. Nice to work with a variety of tanks!

I was wanting to add 2 more seahorses and was thinking about the Pinto but OR never got back to me on if there were any pintos with a colored background (they were going to send me some pics of what they had but never did). So not sure what I should add now. Was thinking of pipefish but may not as I would rather have the seahorses as the starts of the tank but may get some pipe fish later on not sure.

Charles4400 · Jul 26, 2020

I'm sure if I added more bright yellow to the tank the yellows might stay yellow but I really wanted to keep it natural without plastic chains and bright yellow is harder to some by. I added the yellow Fiji but even those don't bring out the brightbyellows in the seahorses as much as I would have hoped.

NashobaTek · Jul 26, 2020

You could always add some bright yellow fake corals. I have read that their environment colors will help with the color they display the most.

Charles4400 · Jul 26, 2020

NashobaTek said:
You could always add some bright yellow fake corals. I have read that their environment colors will help with the color they display the most.

I would add the plastic plants but wanted to keep this build as natural as possible.

Devaji · Jul 26, 2020

Charles4400 said:
Congrats on the new house and an empty basement is a clean palette, awesome! (Wish we had basements in CA!)

The short answer to if they stay that color is no they don't and sort of. I got 2 yellows and 2 orange sunbursts. One of the orange always stays orange and goes from bright to darker orange always in the orange spectrum. The other orange kinda the same but never gets that bright orange anymore. One of the yellows changes from bright yellow to a darker yellow usually staying a darker yellow. The other yellow turned kinda orange most of the time. I've only had these sunburst as far as 'colored' seahorses so don't have anything to compare them to such as mustangs. Dont know if mustangs would have more muted colors or not. I did also get 2 of the black seahorses from seahorse savvy. Which go from black to grey (one died a few days ago from unknown causes, all others are fine so don't know what happened there).

The OR seahorses are a good size and have always been healthy. SS seahorses were smaller and looked a little frail and skinnier.

Seahorse tank is fun, I like it alot and easy to maintain maybe because its a smaller tank? But I haven't had any issues with high nitrates or phosphates (which I attribute to tons of cheato and ulva in the fuge) And I feed alot.

The seahorses are not super active but are definitely different than other fish and are truly a joy to keep! It really is a fun tank!

That being said my next tank will be a large fowlr with aggressive fish. Nice to work with a variety of tanks!

I was wanting to add 2 more seahorses and was thinking about the Pinto but OR never got back to me on if there were any pintos with a colored background (they were going to send me some pics of what they had but never did). So not sure what I should add now. Was thinking of pipefish but may not as I would rather have the seahorses as the starts of the tank but may get some pipe fish later on not sure.

yup that is what I thought would happen with the colors of the SH.
but good to know you still have some color in them. I hear ya i dont fancy the plastic chains in the DT I would rather do as you did with LR, gorgs and marcos for hitching posts.

in a "prefect" world I would have a reef a nano a large fish only and a sh tank and even a planted FW oh and all the time and $$ to take care of them.. haha

keep the post coming!

NashobaTek · Jul 26, 2020

Just ran across some other ideas for color in your sh aquarium....... Macroalgae and the brighter colored sponges. Gulf coast ecosystem sells both.

Charles4400 · Jul 27, 2020

Been hesitant on the nps sponges as I dont think ther is enough nutrients in my tank to keep them alive. Thabks for the gulf coast economy suggestion though, mught try later down the line one to see how it goes!