Charles4400's Waterbox 100.3 Seahorse Build

Charles4400 · Apr 23, 2020

Things I should have NOT done (and should have known better!):

I shouldn't have used the ammonium chloride BECAUSE I had live rock. In retrospect that was a dumb move as it I think it stressed and burnt my live rock defeating much of the purpose of getting live rock.

Live rock is still good and it is still beneficial for my needs but I should have just used some dead shrimo, bio spira and water changes in the beginning to keep as much life on the rock alive as possible instead of adding in additional ammonia. I believe the die off from tshrimp, and decaying shrimp was sufficient to cycle the tank in the first place.

Usually on builds I use at least 80% live rock to dry. This time it was more like 60-70% dry rock to live so thought I needed the ammonium chloride to cycle it faster. I would not do so again if I redid this build. Oh well live and learn!

Yesterday I added 2 bottles of bio spira in the tank to lower the nitrites. It did its job well and today reads 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites and 25 nitrates.

I plan on doing a huge water change (about 90%), a day or 2 before getting livestock, and adding in more bio spira the day before livestock arrives. This should happen next week.

Charles4400 · Apr 23, 2020

Things I am glad I did:

I'm glad I got the x2 of the Kessil 360x!
Wow they are really nice lights and I think will work perfectly for this size tank. 1 light would not have done it and 'clean' is the best way I can describe the light. The blending on this light is amazing. You can't see the separation of colors! Its like a pure light no matter what color I have put them in. This clean light is the magic behind this clean shimmer I have heard so much about! Love these lights, not cheap but worth it imo.

The arm.mount is solid and clean looking as well. Its $$$$ for what it is but does at a very polished look as far as mounting options go. The cords go through the tube so nice and conceiled. I got the k link cable and dongle but have not hooked up the dongle yet.

Also redid some aquascaping to leave room for more macro algae and coral.

Will attach the dongle tonight so I can play around with the additional colors that are available using it. Stoked!

ams_reef · Apr 23, 2020

The branch rock looks really nice, should make a good hitching post for the seahorses.

I hope I don’t come off as the seahorse police but I did see that you mentioned potentially wanting H. abdominalis seahorses. They are a really giant species than can grow over a foot tall and are a temperate species, 55-65 degrees seem to be their limit. They’ll certainly won’t live long in tropical temperatures.

If you are looking for more info on various species the seahorse/pipefish subforum here on R2R is a good starting point. If you can access any info from a dead but highly informative seahorse.org forums I encourage it.

Good luck!

Charles4400 · Apr 24, 2020

ams_reef said:
The branch rock looks really nice, should make a good hitching post for the seahorses.

I hope I don’t come off as the seahorse police but I did see that you mentioned potentially wanting H. abdominalis seahorses. They are a really giant species than can grow over a foot tall and are a temperate species, 55-65 degrees seem to be their limit. They’ll certainly won’t live long in tropical temperatures.

If you are looking for more info on various species the seahorse/pipefish subforum here on R2R is a good starting point. If you can access any info from a dead but highly informative seahorse.org forums I encourage it.

Good luck!

Thanks! And no I don't feel 'policed' by your comments at all, it's appreciated actualy!

I hadn't looked too far into the pot bellies (obviously lol). I was browsing through ocean riders and they struck me as a nice addition by pics alone. However I haven't done research on them and had no idea they can get that big and lived in such cool waters. Definitely not fit for this size tank and build.

I will be happy getting a pair of Hippocampus erectus first which I have looked into and make sure I can keep them happy before venturing further into any other type of species (if at all).

Ideally my vision is to start off with one pair then maybe another and if that all works out see if I can get a pair of pipefish in there.

Again appreciate the input, I have no problems in the least bit with anyone helping out with info! Thanks!

Charles4400 · May 9, 2020

Tank is moving along nicely! Got some macro algae, softies and some fish in there.

Some of the highlights so far is the dragons breath which I think looks really nice and the pineapple softie.

Yellowhead jawfish is colorful and pajama cardinals are staying huddled up!

Not done with the whole look yet and do want to add more things but here are some early stage shots of the tank.

Charles4400 · May 9, 2020

Have to dose some nitrates and phosphates via neophos and neonitro. Nitrates are fairly stable but phosphates are being absorbed big-time. Not sure if its the rocks, macroalgea in dt or chaeto thats eating it all up but I am dosing to .1 and it is zeroing oout via hanna by morning!

Wish I had that problem on my other tank!

It's probably a combo of all 3 but I suspect it is my rock absorbing the phosphates and will probably stabilize as it reaches an equilibrium.

Going to wait until things stabilize much more before seahorses go in.

Strawberry · May 9, 2020

Charles4400 said:
Tank is moving along nicely! Got some macro algae, softies and some fish in there.

Some of the highlights so far is the dragons breath which I think looks really nice and the pineapple softie.

Yellowhead jawfish is colorful and pajama cardinals are staying huddled up!

Not done with the whole look yet and do want to add more things but here are some early stage shots of the tank.

I love the macros, they look really nice. Hopefully the sea horses will love clinging to them! Have you considered adding some sea fans or gorgonians?

Charles4400 · May 9, 2020

Strawberry said:
I love the macros, they look really nice. Hopefully the sea horses will love clinging to them! Have you considered adding some sea fans or gorgonians?

Thanks!!
Gorgonians are definately planned for the mix. I just want to get past any bad unwanted algae phases before putting them in. I hate cleaning algae off gorgonians so they will probably go in right before seahorses.

Charles4400 · May 9, 2020

Put together a red sea mesh lid also. I don't like mesh lids but I don't like fishing jumping out more! I've learned my lesson on rimless open tanks already and will always put mesh lids on from now on.

Charles4400 · May 25, 2020

Tank has been doing really really well and I placed an order to get my first seahorses in, woo-hoo!

All parameters in check and have been having to dose phosphates to keep them from bottoming out. I think all the macroalgae is absorbing them all up which is actually a good sign and no crazy gha blooms due to that. Corraline algae growing on the dry rocks as well which fantastic to see.

Ordering from ocean riders and am getting their 'sunburst' ponies, h.erectus.

Will hopefully be coming in this week! Excited about it and will post back when they get here.

Here's some updated shots of the tank as of today.

Charles4400 · May 27, 2020

Seahorses are in!!!

They are amazing creatures...this is like the feel of how I felt starting my first reef tank so many years ago!

I got two oranges and two yellow sunburts from ocean riders.

One of the oranges has amazing patterns on it. The other orange is suffering from some ammonia sickness from shipping as it has been lethargic and laying on the substrate most of the time. Had contact with Pete at OR and hopefully it should pull through and be fine in 24hrs or so. Will be closely monitoring. Liights out for the day and no feeding until tommorow.

The below pic shows him perked up a bit (upper one is lethargic one) and the other orange with cool markings looks like he came by to comfort the other. Hes been exploring tank but stopped by for photo op and to check on the other!

The other 2 are yellows with one showing alot more yellow than the other. They have been
exploring the tank and hitching onto everything happily. I think they need food as 1 does look skinny but following directions and holding off for tommorow.

Hard to take pics with lights off but these pretty much show them a few hours after acclimation and introduction.

I'm stoked!!!

Charles4400 · May 27, 2020

Looks like the other 2 came by to comfort as well.

drawman · May 27, 2020

Very nice!

Charles4400 · May 27, 2020

Thanks!!!

I think the sick one is going to recover...he/she is now starting to explore the tank and hitched itself on the opposite side of the tank
No longer laying down wooboo!

Ended up getting gorgonians in from kpa aquatics and the big ones are huge!

Will take some pics tommorow when lights come back on...

Really want to feed them as I'm sure they are starving!!!

ThePurple12 · Jun 22, 2020

Is that seagrass on the sand bed?

Tank is looking great.

Charles4400 · Jun 23, 2020

ThePurple12 said:
Is that seagrass on the sand bed?

Tank is looking great.

Thanks! Everything so far has been going really well (knocks on wood!). And yes that is sea grass I planted in various areas of the sandbed.

I try and get some updated pics of the tank tommorow during lights on!

Charles4400 · Jul 25, 2020

A few updated pics with some changes...I think my turbo snails are eating alot of the red macro algae or I just can't get them to survive in the dt. Nitrates are from 5-10 and have to dose phosphate to .08 but they slowly fade or are eaten. Got some cabbage leathers to fill a spot without macros.