New seahorse tank

[reefinSC]

I am in the planning and buying stages for my new seahorse tank and I hope to try to be as detailed as possible in this build thread so that I can get any and all help I need.
My background:
I had fairly good success with reef tanks for about 10 years. I have had a 55 gallon mixed reef and a 120 gallon setup. I say fairly good because my attention would wonder during those years and the tank would go to crap and then I would pour my time, energy and money into it and it would look great again. And then the cycle would repeat. I have been out of the hobby now for about 12 years so I am hoping age and wisdom will be on my side. (and a little more money to do it the right way first)

Here is my plan:
Tank will be either a Waterbox 30ish gallon AIO or Marine X (still wrestling with AIO vs Sump)
OR
IM Nuvo Pro 40 gallon AIO
(I plan on making that decision very soon to take advantage of black friday deals)

Inhabitants:
2 Reidi or Erectus seahorses
2 or 3 very docile fish
cleanup crew
Non-stinging LPS corals and gorgonians to provide plenty of hitching spots

The rest of the equipment (besides the basic necessities) will be determined after the tank is bought.

Thanks for any and all opinions, thoughts, interest free loans, or whatever.

 

[reefinSC]

So first things first is planning out my RO/DI water storage and my saltwater storage. Luckily I have a laundry room adjacent to my garage so I will tap into the cold water faucet for the washing machine and run an RO 1/4" line to an RO unit through a hole in the drywall and into the garage.
I am thinking of going the Brute trashcan route with a float valve on the one that will hold the RO water and then a pump at the bottom of that with a line that can pump it to another brute trashcan for mixing and storage of my saltwater. It will only be a 30ish gallon tank so I don't need massive amounts of water.

I decided to go with an RO unit from Amazon. As long as the water parameters come out good then I don't see how a unit from a specialized aquarium store for $100 more would be any better.
I also bought a wye with 2 valves to separate out my RO line from my dishwasher line.
Lastly I bought a garden hose to 1/4" adapter, about 16 feet of RO tubing and various fittings.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along! I am always curious in seahorse tanks!

 

[reefinSC]

I pulled the trigger on the Waterbox Marine X 60.2. I knew I would regret going the AIO route and not having a sump. I just hope I can get the overflow dialed in to prevent the splashing noises since the tank will be in the living room.
Delivery date is supposedly before January 10th so that gives me more time to study up and research.
Today I spent some free time at work (don't tell anyone) researching test kits. Even though I have some years of experience with a reef, it's been quite a while... plus I want to go in with the mindset of a newbie so I have no biases or think I am an expert on something.
First off I bought the Milwaukee MA887 for my salinity meter. As with anything, I found great reviews and I found so-so reviews but I feel the positives far outweighed the neutral reviews. I probably will go ahead and get the tropic marin hydrometer as my standard but with it being very delicate I want an everyday meter as well.
As far as other testers go I am on the fence about going all in with the Hanna spectrophotometer kit or a mix and match of hanna individual "eggs" and salifert test kits. Still need to research that some more and see what make sense.
This next week I plan on getting my storage containers for saltwater and RO/DI and hooking that all up and going through some dry runs making sure that will be as hands off as possible.

 

[reefinSC]

Update:
Took advantage of some black friday deals and my equipment list is slowly taking shape.
I decided on a return pump and went with the Sicce Syncra SDC 6.0. Having a quiet tank will be one of my priorities so a DC powered pump is a must. This pump is probably way oversized for my tank at least I can control flow and hopefully that will also help dial in my overflow noise as well.
I also bought the Hanna Instruments Marine Master Tester and Red Sea salt. The Hanna tester was expensive but if it makes monitoring my tank parameters easier then it will be worth it in the long run. Plus who doesn't like the cool toys?
Today my goal is to research protein skimmers. I am looking at a couple of different options including the Reef Octopus 110 and a Bubble Magus curve 5. As with everything else in this hobby I am finding every component out there has its fans and its haters so sometimes you just have to weed through the noise and hope for the best.

 

[twentyleagues]

Update:
Took advantage of some black friday deals and my equipment list is slowly taking shape.
I decided on a return pump and went with the Sicce Syncra SDC 6.0. Having a quiet tank will be one of my priorities so a DC powered pump is a must. This pump is probably way oversized for my tank at least I can control flow and hopefully that will also help dial in my overflow noise as well.
I also bought the Hanna Instruments Marine Master Tester and Red Sea salt. The Hanna tester was expensive but if it makes monitoring my tank parameters easier then it will be worth it in the long run. Plus who doesn't like the cool toys?
Today my goal is to research protein skimmers. I am looking at a couple of different options including the Reef Octopus 110 and a Bubble Magus curve 5. As with everything else in this hobby I am finding every component out there has its fans and its haters so sometimes you just have to weed through the noise and hope for the best.

Both of those skimmers are good skimmers you should have no issues with either. I personally like the reef octos better but that is just from a personal point both work.

I saw you said nonstinging lps I dont know which you are planning on but I dont know if I would put any lps with seahorses. I am not a seahorse expert though so I dont know if some would work. I stick with soft corals and gorgs.

 

[Doctorgori]

I have 4 young Reidi in a 65,
A few suggestions:

• keep the water clean and under 76F, and thats a hard line… warm dirty water risk vibrio
• Train them to a feeder dish ( I use a IM frozen feeder) otherwise mysis gets scattered and they never find it all…with seahorses they quickly learn specific feeding time and this is important
• Tankmate selection ideally should include one vegetarian…I use mollies
• Use nem guards on wavemakers or risk cut off tail tips

Reidi will breed but the fry dont take BBS at first. i didnt have much luck with rotifers (high mortality) or tisbe (no feeding response)

Good luck

 

[reefinSC]

Both of those skimmers are good skimmers you should have no issues with either. I personally like the reef octos better but that is just from a personal point both work.

I saw you said nonstinging lps I dont know which you are planning on but I dont know if I would put any lps with seahorses. I am not a seahorse expert though so I dont know if some would work. I stick with soft corals and gorgs.

Thanks for the info on the skimmers.
And thanks for the advice on the corals. I honestly have tons more research to do before I start selecting corals. But any and all advice is much appreciated.

 

[reefinSC]

I have 4 young Reidi in a 65,
A few suggestions:

• keep the water clean and under 76F, and thats a hard line… warm dirty water risk vibrio
• Train them to a feeder dish ( I use a IM frozen feeder) otherwise mysis gets scattered and they never find it all…with seahorses they quickly learn specific feeding time and this is important
• Tankmate selection ideally should include one vegetarian…I use mollies
• Use nem guards on wavemakers or risk cut off tail tips

Reidi will breed but the fry dont take BBS at first. i didnt have much luck with rotifers (high mortality) or tisbe (no feeding response)

Good luck

Thats exactly the kind of advice I need. I live in SC so a chiller may be in order to keep temps down but I will just have to wait and see.
Feeding will definitely be something I put a lot of thought into as I know this is one of the biggest challenges with seahorses. Buying captive bred already trained on frozen mysis will help greatly.

Question for you: the old school way of thinking is that seahorses need low flow but I have read more and more that it’s ok to use wavemakers. What kind of flow are you running?

 

[Doctorgori]

Question for you: the old school way of thinking is that seahorses need low flow but I have read more and more that it’s ok to use wavemakers. What kind of flow are you running?

Two Nero 5’s …not on high blast but maybe “mid range”

I pay no never mind to them getting stung either…I figure if they are reef inhabitants and if the fish are too stupid to figure out what stings after a few million years of evolution, then they deserve extinction …

Some parroted stuff gets oversold via repeating over and over even when the poster has no direct experience…

So would I put them in the vaunted high flow “wall to wall SPS” tank? No
But nor would I hesitate to put the random Stylopora or bird's nest here or there… They seem to instinctively avoid torches and similar also …

 

[twentyleagues]

Two Nero 5’s …not on high blast but maybe “mid range”

I pay no never mind to them getting stung either…I figure if they are reef inhabitants and if the fish are too stupid to figure out what stings after a few million years of evolution, then they deserve extinction …

Some parroted stuff gets oversold via repeating over and over even when the poster has no direct experience…

So would I put them in the vaunted high flow “wall to wall SPS” tank? No
But nor would I hesitate to put the random Stylopora or bird's nest here or there… They seem to instinctively avoid torches and similar also …

You have a good point. The pipe fish I had in my euphyllia dom tank years ago didnt get stung or if they did didnt show any ill effects.

 

[reefinSC]

Update:
Today I made a decision on the lighting which was probably a non main-stream choice. I went with the NICREW HyperReef 200 Gen 2. I like to think Radions are way overpriced but I know a lot of people will say you get what you pay for. But after lots of reading and research I am willing to take that risk and see what happens.

I am monitoring the live rock situation and it looks like some of the major players are opening back up after hurricane season. Tampa Bay Saltwater will be my go to. From my previous experience, I have found if rock is already covered in coralline it makes it much more difficult for the nuisance algae to grow and adhere. Luckily, since it's just a 32 gallon display, it won't break the bank to get 20 or 30 pounds of rock.

I also need to research live sand. Back when I was in the hobby live sand was all the rage. But I have read many articles that mention live sand isn't necessary. My plan is to keep a shallow sand bed for aesthetic reasons (i don't like the look of bare bottom tanks). But also don't want to go the deep bed route either. I am thinking about 1" of sand will do.

 

[Fishfreak2009]

To add onto points made earlier, like guards on powerheads, keep temps below about 75 or so (my tank is at 73 F).

Some LPS like Micro lords, blastos, etc do fine. Would I trust an elegance? Absolutely not. I also once upon a time kept a maxi mini carpet anemone in with some erectus and it was fine for 8 months until one day it was trying to eat one of the seahorses. Pulled the pony out of it, pony died about 48 hrs later from the stings. I've kept Acropora with them without issue, but my current system is lit with freshwater planted leds for the macroalgae, which the Acros did not like at all...

I used to keep sailfin mollies in with my wild caught group, as the ponies ate the fry, but ended up removing them as they picked at and harassed the ponies constantly.

My group of 5 erectus are currently in with a pair of ocellaris clowns, 4 spotted garden eels, a pair of mandarin dragonets, a blue flasher wrasse, a masked goby, an Eviota goby, a green banded goby, a firefish, a tailspot blenny, and 3 yellow headed jawfish. Corals consist of Blastomussa, various gorgonians, leathers, palys, zoas, Discosoma, Ricordea, and Rhodactis shrooms. There are also a few different types of macroalgae, some sponges, and a couple seedlings of turtle grass.

Honestly, most peaceful fish do well with them. I've kept cardinals, Brotulids, Liopropoma basslets, grammas, various gobies, dragonets, ocellaris and percula clowns, firefish, garden eels, the gentler blennies (like the tailspot), flasher wrasses, Possum wrasses, and even a few different types of damsel without issue.

In a larger system, I wouldn't hesitate to keep adults with fish like anthias or fairy wrasses either, but the seahorses would need to be at least subadults and trained to feed from a feeding station.

 

[reefinSC]

To add onto points made earlier, like guards on powerheads, keep temps below about 75 or so (my tank is at 73 F).

Some LPS like Micro lords, blastos, etc do fine. Would I trust an elegance? Absolutely not. I also once upon a time kept a maxi mini carpet anemone in with some erectus and it was fine for 8 months until one day it was trying to eat one of the seahorses. Pulled the pony out of it, pony died about 48 hrs later from the stings. I've kept Acropora with them without issue, but my current system is lit with freshwater planted leds for the macroalgae, which the Acros did not like at all...

I used to keep sailfin mollies in with my wild caught group, as the ponies ate the fry, but ended up removing them as they picked at and harassed the ponies constantly.

My group of 5 erectus are currently in with a pair of ocellaris clowns, 4 spotted garden eels, a pair of mandarin dragonets, a blue flasher wrasse, a masked goby, an Eviota goby, a green banded goby, a firefish, a tailspot blenny, and 3 yellow headed jawfish. Corals consist of Blastomussa, various gorgonians, leathers, palys, zoas, Discosoma, Ricordea, and Rhodactis shrooms. There are also a few different types of macroalgae, some sponges, and a couple seedlings of turtle grass.

Honestly, most peaceful fish do well with them. I've kept cardinals, Brotulids, Liopropoma basslets, grammas, various gobies, dragonets, ocellaris and percula clowns, firefish, garden eels, the gentler blennies (like the tailspot), flasher wrasses, Possum wrasses, and even a few different types of damsel without issue.

In a larger system, I wouldn't hesitate to keep adults with fish like anthias or fairy wrasses either, but the seahorses would need to be at least subadults and trained to feed from a feeding station.

I will definitely refer back to this list and suggestions as I start stocking the system.
Hopefully I am only a couple weeks out from getting my tank. Over the last couple of weeks I have researched a ton of info on cycling. Back in the day the thought process was just to dump 1-2 pounds per gallon of live rock in the tank and some live sand (deep sand bed was the in thing) and let it go. Seems like there is a lot of new info on the use of base rock, ammonium, live bacteria and, eventually, copepods to seed the tank. So that's the direction I will be taking to try to minimize the ugly period my tank has.
I have pretty much bought all the big ticket equipment I will need. And once I get it running I can see what else I might need.

 

[bikerbutter]

I am in the planning and buying stages for my new seahorse tank and I hope to try to be as detailed as possible in this build thread so that I can get any and all help I need.
My background:
I had fairly good success with reef tanks for about 10 years. I have had a 55 gallon mixed reef and a 120 gallon setup. I say fairly good because my attention would wonder during those years and the tank would go to crap and then I would pour my time, energy and money into it and it would look great again. And then the cycle would repeat. I have been out of the hobby now for about 12 years so I am hoping age and wisdom will be on my side. (and a little more money to do it the right way first)

Here is my plan:
Tank will be either a Waterbox 30ish gallon AIO or Marine X (still wrestling with AIO vs Sump)
OR
IM Nuvo Pro 40 gallon AIO
(I plan on making that decision very soon to take advantage of black friday deals)

Inhabitants:
2 Reidi or Erectus seahorses
2 or 3 very docile fish
cleanup crew
Non-stinging LPS corals and gorgonians to provide plenty of hitching spots

The rest of the equipment (besides the basic necessities) will be determined after the tank is bought.

Thanks for any and all opinions, thoughts, interest free loans, or whatever.

Hello. So it would seem that you and I are about on the same schedule. When you posted this, i was thinking about what tank to get. We are going dwarf seahorses. You seem to be researching everything well, which I commend. Sounds to me like you have a great plan thus far and I hope all is going well for you by now. We just started our cycle yesterday. Looking forward to seeing your progress.

 

[keepingfishwithnoidea]

Following along! I am always curious in seahorse tanks!

 

[xWascallyWabbit]

Any updates?

 

[bikerbutter]

Hello!! Have added 2 bottles of Tigger pods, they are building a nice population. Also a green star polyp, a zoanthid, a soft coral, 19 blue leg hermit crabs, and 6 micro brittle seastars. Will be adding more pics soon. Tank is maturing nicely. Seahorses aren't far away now. A month, 6 weeks tops. Thanks for your interest and feedback.

 

[Anna K]

What settings do you have your NICREW set at for your tank out of curiosity?