Dawn's 56g memorial seahorse tank!

[vlangel]

Another short video!

 

[vlangel]

2018-02-18_07-54-43 by Dawn Gilson, on Flickr
A new friend!

 

[ReefQueen]

The tank and ponies are looking great! I can't wait for you to do your presentation on seahorses, I think that is the meeting I am most looking forward to.

 

[vlangel]

The tank and ponies are looking great! I can't wait for you to do your presentation on seahorses, I think that is the meeting I am most looking forward to.

O my, now the pressure is on so that you are not disappointed, LOL! Hopefully no one leaves disappointed, just better informed on seahorses.

 

[ReefQueen]

O my, now the pressure is on so that you are not disappointed, LOL! Hopefully no one leaves disappointed, just better informed on seahorses.

Haha no pressure, I only want to learn more about seahorses. That way I can keep talking myself out of a pony tank, unless you can convince me that they aren't as hard as they seem lol.

 

[MarieG]

I have a 36 gallon bowfront tank that I recently switched over to saltwater. I have not decided what way I want to go so right now I am just cycling the tank. I am in LOVE with Seahorses and would love to have some but would also like to include a few other fish. I was wondering if you think that is possible and if the tank is ok for seahorses. If not one day I will have a tank just for seahorses.

 

[vlangel]

I have a 36 gallon bowfront tank that I recently switched over to saltwater. I have not decided what way I want to go so right now I am just cycling the tank. I am in LOVE with Seahorses and would love to have some but would also like to include a few other fish. I was wondering if you think that is possible and if the tank is ok for seahorses. If not one day I will have a tank just for seahorses.

Hi MarieG, I actually kept a pair of seahorses in a 36 gallon bowfront tank with 2 pipefish. You could probably have a fish or 2 with the seahorses if you are very diligent about keeping up with husbandry and water changes. Just know any time that you keep fish with seahorses there is risk of passing disease from the fish to the seahorses.

Also I eventually traded up to a 56 column tank because I was tired of cleaning the bowed glass. It needed a scrubby instead of a metal edged scraper and seahorses are dirty. I am a stickler about algae on my glass and a bowfront is tougher to keep clean than a straight rectangular tank.

 

[MarieG]

I'm sorry now that I didn't go bigger. I know what you mean about cleaning the bowfront.

 

[vlangel]

2018-03-21_03-23-33 by Dawn Gilson, on Flickr
A pic of my seahorse display between 2 picos.

 

[hotashes]

Very nice looking array of tanks. Can I be linked to the pico tank log? If you have one

 

[I'm a natural blue]

Hey there, Dawn!
I have a question for you. How are you liking the addition of sand?

 

[vlangel]

Very nice looking array of tanks. Can I be linked to the pico tank log? If you have one

https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/385900-dawns-shrimp-chalet/?page=1
I do not have a build thread here. Nano-reef.com is having a creative container contest and that jar is my entry. The 5.5 gallon is a diy AIO that I will move the jar contents into when the contest ends. Both tanks are in that thread.

 

[vlangel]

Hey there, Dawn!
I have a question for you. How are you liking the addition of sand?

Hi natural blue! I am loving the looks. I feel that I need to keep healthy seahorses for a year before I can say if I can keep them in this tank with the sand. I have 2 levels with a rock retaining wall, so a portion of the tank has a DSB. It's a very very natural scape which is why I like it so much.

 

[vlangel]

2018-03-29_08-15-03 by Dawn Gilson, on Flickr
I did a deep clean today by removing all the coral and macro algae. Then I basted all the rock and syphoned the sandbed. After returning the coral and macros I went downstairs and syphoned out the sump chambers.
As you can see the sand has either diatoms or cyano. It was dry sand so I am thinking it just has to go through this ugly stage until it is colonized with life. I may get another snail or 2 to help out.

 

[vlangel]

Here is my latest video and a very tender interaction between Samson and Delilah.

 

[I'm a natural blue]

How sweet!

 

[I'm a natural blue]

Hi natural blue! I am loving the looks. I feel that I need to keep healthy seahorses for a year before I can say if I can keep them in this tank with the sand. I have 2 levels with a rock retaining wall, so a portion of the tank has a DSB. It's a very very natural scape which is why I like it so much.

I am contemplating adding sand. Did you remove the ponies when you added the sand? How did you go about doing it?

 

[I'm a natural blue]

Also, what brand did you use? Grain size and brand?

 

[vlangel]

I am contemplating adding sand. Did you remove the ponies when you added the sand? How did you go about doing it?

I did not remove the ponies. I used Carib Sea oolite dry sand. I rinsed it in a 5 gallon bucket. Then I used a yogurt container to scoop the sand and slowly lowered it to the aquarium floor. It did make the tank cloudy but I had the pumps going. I stopped when I felt it was too cloudy and waited for an hour for it to settle. It took about 2 days me to get all the sand in.

If I could do it again I would use 1 size larger grain than oolite. It took several weeks not to blow around. I chose it because I thought it would be less likely to trap food and I am happy that it does not seem to do that. But its fine grained and with the high flow in some places of the tank it was hard to keep in place.

I have been dealing with diatomous algae since adding it. It is beginning to settle down now. I vacume the sand usually once a week. I do prefer the looks of a sandbed and although it adds to the husbandry chores, I still prefer it.

 

[FredsNJReef]

Truly spectacular! And you have a ham with the frilly one lol.

Your PC seems to be just as enchanted in them as we are