I have my seahorse tank build almost done!

cassilyn

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I have my build post up at https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/finally-getting-my-seahorse-started.754479/ and have almost completed my Dr. Tim's cycle. It won't be long now until I can add my seahorses. How long should I wait after I get it cycled to introduce the seahorses? I think I'm getting the new Northern h. erectus from Alyssa's Seahorse Savvy. I can't believe it's finally almost here!
 

Billldg

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I will ask @Paulie069 to respond as he is a avid seahorse lover and he will give you the best advice. :)
 

Tracy Schultz

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I have my build post up at https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/finally-getting-my-seahorse-started.754479/ and have almost completed my Dr. Tim's cycle. It won't be long now until I can add my seahorses. How long should I wait after I get it cycled to introduce the seahorses? I think I'm getting the new Northern h. erectus from Alyssa's Seahorse Savvy. I can't believe it's finally almost here!
Seahorses need a very well established tank, I would shoot for a minimum of 6 months.
 

footgal

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I’d put some pods in there and some seahorse-safe livestock just to see how they do. Maybe a small cardinal fish or something easy to net out later that won’t decimate the pods that your seahorses need just to provide some ammonia so the tank doesn’t have a mini-cycle when the seahorses come. Some wet live rock pebbles from LFS or another reefer’s sump will be very beneficial to your cycle as well (the bottle bacteria is good but doesn’t provide the same variety of bacteria as live rock) I can’t wait to see the horses in your build thread!!
 

Paulie069

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I have my build post up at https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/finally-getting-my-seahorse-started.754479/ and have almost completed my Dr. Tim's cycle. It won't be long now until I can add my seahorses. How long should I wait after I get it cycled to introduce the seahorses? I think I'm getting the new Northern h. erectus from Alyssa's Seahorse Savvy. I can't believe it's finally almost here!
I actually cycled my tank with my seahorses in it (15) at the time,, I believe cycling is more for the coral n live reef part of this hobby,, I kept seahorses in a 20gal tank for two years without going thru a cycle, I did 100% water changes every 6-7 weeks and I also never used RODI only 100% ocean water. But that’s before I decided I wanted a reef tank with live corals,, before that everything was fake
 

Tracy Schultz

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Who told you that,a book. I’m sorry I disagree but that’s only my opinion from how I do things I’m very outside the box kinda guy
Have you personally kept them? If you want long term success, I agree with having a tank that has a well established bacteria culture, pod population and I would be sure the tank has been established with a small amount of livestock in in it. I’ve been keeping seahorses for more than 35 years, and although we do have a lot of great products today that we didn’t have 35 years ago like Dr Tim’s, nothing can replace the fine tuning it takes from Mother Nature and time.

If there’s one this Hobby has taught be over the years is if you truly want success stand the test of time. Seahorses are one of the most fragile species of marine life and the cycle the tank with an off the shelf bacteria culture and throw in the fish mindset isn’t the best for a long healthy life for these awesome creatures.
 

Paulie069

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Have you personally kept them? If you want long term success, I agree with having a tank that has a well established bacteria culture, pod population and I would be sure the tank has been established with a small amount of livestock in in it. I’ve been keeping seahorses for more than 35 years, and although we do have a lot of great products today that we didn’t have 35 years ago like Dr Tim’s, nothing can replace the fine tuning it takes from Mother Nature and time.

If there’s one this Hobby has taught be over the years is if you truly want success stand the test of time. Seahorses are one of the most fragile species of marine life and the cycle the tank with an off the shelf bacteria culture and throw in the fish mindset isn’t the best for a long healthy life for these awesome creatures.
I agree with you I think the bacteria in a bottle is snake oil/ nothing beats pure ocean water
 

ThePurple12

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Seahorses need a very well established tank, I would shoot for a minimum of 6 months.
6 months?? I have to disagree with that. As long as the tank is cycled, it'll be fine. Sure, a healthy pod population is a good idea, but not completely necessary, and pods can be added easily.
 

Tracy Schultz

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6 months?? I have to disagree with that. As long as the tank is cycled, it'll be fine. Sure, a healthy pod population is a good idea, but not completely necessary, and pods can be added easily.
Yes, 6 months is just a guess. You’ll know when the time is right, based on your results and experience. Once I see coralline starting to take hold this is a good sign for me. No dead spots in the tank that could promote cyano and that’s tough because seahorses need a low flow environment. I’m looking forward to seeing great results.
 

rayjay

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As you can see there are a LOT of opinions on how to start seahorse keeping. Indeed there are MANY ways to succeed.
My 18 years of keeping has impinged on me the degree of attention needed to water quality probably over and above any other need, especially as test kits we have DO NOT tell us when bacteria (the biggest killer) are going to be problematic.
However, for STARTING a first tank, the immediate concern is to make sure the cycle has completed so that our seahorses don't get exposed to any levels of ammonia when inhabiting their new home.
So it really doesn't matter a lot HOW you cycle the tank, just that is IS cycled. The way to determine if the tank is cycled properly is to CHALLENGE the tank once you think it is ready. To CHALLENGE the tank, add an ammonia source like pure ammonia liquid or ammonium chloride powder so that the ammonia level goes up to 2ppm or higher depending on just how much load you will be placing on the biological filter right off the bat. If the ammonia clears overnight, you should be good to go. I've never waited 6 months or even six days before adding the seahorses after the cycle has been challenged successfully, although I DO usually challenge the tank two days in a row just to be sure.
Use of the variety of product aids for cycling is just a personal choice and not a necessary one.
I have personally never used anything other than ammonia or ammonium chloride to cycle a tank but again, that is just my choice.
I much prefer also to start a tank off COMPLETELY STERILE, with only artificial hitching and no other tankmates. This way if something does go wrong, I have already eliminated a lot of possible sources of any problem that develops. This was extremely important to me until I gained some years of experience. (it's also a GREAT way to be sure you won't have to deal with aiptasia or bristle worms)
Back to water quality, as there are no test kits available to the hobbyist to tell us when the bacteria are going to be a problem, it is obvious to me that husbandry and water change protocols need to be what many consider to be excessive so that you don't have to end up treating severe problem cases that develop. Figure out what you THINK you need to do and then do even more.
You can accomplish the water quality by doing frequent and large water changes as I do, or as many others do, lesser water changes but using more equipment to clean up the water dirtied by the way seahorses take in and digest their food. A greatly oversized skimmer goes a long way to help this.
That all being said, if you are MORE comfortable waiting longer, even 6 months, then go for it. It isn't going to make anything worse, and MOST of the pods you may introduce if the system isn't sterile, will be smaller than the seahorses are going to be interested in. Amphipod size though would be ideal.
Again on my personal outlook, I've never added pods or anything not sterile until well over a year into a tanks setup.
 

Paulie069

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Yes, 6 months is just a guess. You’ll know when the time is right, based on your results and experience. Once I see coralline starting to take hold this is a good sign for me. No dead spots in the tank that could promote cyano and that’s tough because seahorses need a low flow environment. I’m looking forward to seeing great results.
Low flow is old school thought, they live in the ocean that has a huge current not to mention tides that switch every 6-8 hours.ive actually watched my seahorses swim into the power heads flow get blown across the tank and keep doing it for ten minutes
 

Paulie069

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As you can see there are a LOT of opinions on how to start seahorse keeping. Indeed there are MANY ways to succeed.
My 18 years of keeping has impinged on me the degree of attention needed to water quality probably over and above any other need, especially as test kits we have DO NOT tell us when bacteria (the biggest killer) are going to be problematic.
However, for STARTING a first tank, the immediate concern is to make sure the cycle has completed so that our seahorses don't get exposed to any levels of ammonia when inhabiting their new home.
So it really doesn't matter a lot HOW you cycle the tank, just that is IS cycled. The way to determine if the tank is cycled properly is to CHALLENGE the tank once you think it is ready. To CHALLENGE the tank, add an ammonia source like pure ammonia liquid or ammonium chloride powder so that the ammonia level goes up to 2ppm or higher depending on just how much load you will be placing on the biological filter right off the bat. If the ammonia clears overnight, you should be good to go. I've never waited 6 months or even six days before adding the seahorses after the cycle has been challenged successfully, although I DO usually challenge the tank two days in a row just to be sure.
Use of the variety of product aids for cycling is just a personal choice and not a necessary one.
I have personally never used anything other than ammonia or ammonium chloride to cycle a tank but again, that is just my choice.
I much prefer also to start a tank off COMPLETELY STERILE, with only artificial hitching and no other tankmates. This way if something does go wrong, I have already eliminated a lot of possible sources of any problem that develops. This was extremely important to me until I gained some years of experience. (it's also a GREAT way to be sure you won't have to deal with aiptasia or bristle worms)
Back to water quality, as there are no test kits available to the hobbyist to tell us when the bacteria are going to be a problem, it is obvious to me that husbandry and water change protocols need to be what many consider to be excessive so that you don't have to end up treating severe problem cases that develop. Figure out what you THINK you need to do and then do even more.
You can accomplish the water quality by doing frequent and large water changes as I do, or as many others do, lesser water changes but using more equipment to clean up the water dirtied by the way seahorses take in and digest their food. A greatly oversized skimmer goes a long way to help this.
That all being said, if you are MORE comfortable waiting longer, even 6 months, then go for it. It isn't going to make anything worse, and MOST of the pods you may introduce if the system isn't sterile, will be smaller than the seahorses are going to be interested in. Amphipod size though would be ideal.
Again on my personal outlook, I've never added pods or anything not sterile until well over a year into a tanks setup.
Ray jay was hoping you would chime in/ OP listen to this mans advice he’s the guy I look to for advice, even though sometimes we disagree I always wind up doing it his way sooner or later. The seahorse Guru
 
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cassilyn

cassilyn

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I’d put some pods in there and some seahorse-safe livestock just to see how they do. Maybe a small cardinal fish or something easy to net out later that won’t decimate the pods that your seahorses need just to provide some ammonia so the tank doesn’t have a mini-cycle when the seahorses come. Some wet live rock pebbles from LFS or another reefer’s sump will be very beneficial to your cycle as well (the bottle bacteria is good but doesn’t provide the same variety of bacteria as live rock) I can’t wait to see the horses in your build thread!!
I've been doing Dr. Tim's cycle and I am down to 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites with 10ppm nitrates now. I have another two test days and a water change left on the program. I think it will be ready for fish after that, if not seahorses. I'd love to have an established tank to put them in, but I built this one specifically for them, so I was planning on waiting another 30 to 45 days before adding the seahorses. I hope it works out. I think if I take very good care of husbandry it should be okay, from my experience with other types of tanks. I could be wrong.
 
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cassilyn

cassilyn

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Yes, 6 months is just a guess. You’ll know when the time is right, based on your results and experience. Once I see coralline starting to take hold this is a good sign for me. No dead spots in the tank that could promote cyano and that’s tough because seahorses need a low flow environment. I’m looking forward to seeing great results.
I've read that low flow is a myth, that they actually enjoy high flow areas with spots to get out of the high flow. That's what I'm aiming for, but I have adjustable circulation pumps that can give me the flow I need. There seems to be great circulation throughout the tank without any dead spots, so I think I have the circulation pumps pointing in the right directions. If not, I'll adjust that too.
 

Paulie069

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I've been doing Dr. Tim's cycle and I am down to 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites with 10ppm nitrates now. I have another two test days and a water change left on the program. I think it will be ready for fish after that, if not seahorses. I'd love to have an established tank to put them in, but I built this one specifically for them, so I was planning on waiting another 30 to 45 days before adding the seahorses. I hope it works out. I think if I take very good care of husbandry it should be okay, from my experience with other types of tanks. I could be wrong.
Don’t worry you’ll be fine, it seems you have a passion for them and that’s a huge start
 
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cassilyn

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I’d put some pods in there and some seahorse-safe livestock just to see how they do. Maybe a small cardinal fish or something easy to net out later that won’t decimate the pods that your seahorses need just to provide some ammonia so the tank doesn’t have a mini-cycle when the seahorses come. Some wet live rock pebbles from LFS or another reefer’s sump will be very beneficial to your cycle as well (the bottle bacteria is good but doesn’t provide the same variety of bacteria as live rock) I can’t wait to see the horses in your build thread!!
I did buy live reef rock and live sand to get it going too, not dry rock, so I'm hoping that helps as well. I thought that you were supposed to add seahorses first due to territory problems. If not, I'd rather add other fish first if I can. Thanks!
 

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