Dawn's seahorse garden!

vlangel · Nov 29, 2015

Hi all, I downsized from a 90g tank to a 36g bowfront in Dec 2012. It was predominantly an LPS/ softie tank.

oscarinw · Nov 29, 2015

It's looking great!

vlangel · Nov 29, 2015

My bowfront at its best as an LPS/softie tank.

vlangel · Nov 29, 2015

However I always loved seahorses so I began researching them in May 2014. I already had a chiller on the reef tank so I wondered if I could connect a 30g seahorse tank via the sump? It would mean running the temperature down in the low 70s for the seahorse's health and I wasn't sure how the reef would tolerate that. I slowly began lowering the temps a degree every 2 weeks or so. By the end of the summer the temperature was 74 degrees with no I'll effect to the reef. On Oct 2, 2014 my pair of seahorses arrived.

I named them Adam and Eve since their tank had a lot of macro algae and reminded me of a garden.

Daniel@R2R · Nov 29, 2015

I'm an official member of the Adam and Eve Fan Club, so I'll follow along here too! :)

vlangel · Nov 29, 2015

Both tanks, the 36g reef and the 30g seahorse as one system.

vlangel · Nov 29, 2015

On Oct 2014 they had their first batch of fry. I gave half of them away and I kept 22 to try and raise. It was a lot of work, an awesome experience and in the end I raised 15 to maturity. All the fry that followed I gave away to a lfs as it is a huge commitment.

vlangel · Nov 29, 2015

Keeping up with 2 tanks with the necessary maintenance to keep seahorses healthy was taking its toll on me. Even with 25g WCs every week Adam developed an infection on his pouch. For that reason I made the difficult decision to downsize to just 1 tank. I would keep everything that was seahorse safe and re-home everything else. It was very difficult to give up my cute midas blenny and my blue crocea clam.

vlangel · Nov 29, 2015

After 2 rounds of antibiotic treatment Adam is pretty much back to health although I still watch him closely. I put this tank together with maintenancing in mind. Seahorses put a heavy bioload on their tanks. Also their wastes put a slime coating on all glass surfaces so I pulled the rock work away from the back wall and sides so I can wipe them down every 3 days. The tank has 3 small Rio pumps in addition to the return pump for overall circulation and flow to keep particles in suspension. I was very pleased with the scaping, especially considering I transferred into the tank in just a couple of hours.

vlangel · Nov 29, 2015

This is what the tank looks like now. Adam and Eve share their garden with their pipefish buddy, Abraham and a royal gramma, KB (which stands for Kowabunga), a multitude of snails, 2 cucumbers, 5-6 peppermint shrimp and 1 small red leg crab.

vlangel · Nov 29, 2015

The tank has a mix of corals, mushrooms, palys, zoas, gorgs, leathers, caps, a birds nest, a green slimer, blue clove polyps, yellow polys, gsp, and ornamental macro algae. I did not include feather caulerpa or cheato in favor of more attractive macros. I may add them in my sump when I upgrade from my current 10g sump to a basement 20g long sump, for more nutrient export.

vlangel · Dec 8, 2015

Over the weekend the holes were drilled in the livingroom floor for the plumbing for the basement sump. Also I began partitioning the 20g L to make into a sump tank. It will be the standand 3 chamber sump with a drain/skimmer compartment, a fuge compartment and a return pump compartment.

vlangel · Dec 8, 2015

This is my sump in our basement fish/sump room. It is directly below the display tank in our living room so that works out well. This little room also has a drain which will be very handy when doing water changes. The laundry tub is not far which is also handy.
The plumbing has been ordered and should arrive the end of this week or beginning of next week.