playing around with the idea of going big with a 200 gal SH tank!

[Devaji]

Ok so I have been thinking about SH for many many years now. almost did it a few times then backed out for one reason or another.

so now I have this fancy new red sea reefer 750XXL ( upgraded from the perfect SH tank a 90 cube GF decided I should only have 1 tank in the house so I went nice and big ) that I was gonna do a classic mixed reef but all my corals died in coral QT ( still not sure what the happened ) so now I am open to ideas.

I love macro algae, gorgs and SH so I though why not just do it his time I have the space...haha

it's spend the $$ restocking for a mixed reef or spend it on the SH I could fit quite the heard in there.

just thinking out load here as it's one of my options and a dream of mine for quite some time.

thoughts?

 

[Gareth elliott]

You do not need to start expensive. When i started with corals the $5-10 bin was my goto area
Look up frag swaps in your area, and any lfs events going on. Start with the easier corals, mushrooms are my favorite here since they are easily controlled, not as dependent on parameters and use up nutrients that can help keep algae at bay.

 

[vlangel]

On a 200 gallon system you will incur a sizable cost just in salt for a seahorse tank. On my 50 gallon system for 3 seahorses I do a 7-8 gallon WC 3Xs a week. Plus I siphon out detritus and replace that water with newly made saltwater. Even though I use IO which is reasonably priced I spend roughly $60 a month on salt alone. You can keep 12 ponies in a 200 gallon system safely but your salt will be over $200 a month if you want them to stay healthy. Of course if you are happy with 6 ponies you can cut that cost in half by cutting your WCs in half.

For the sake of your back, come up with a WC system that you do not have to carry and lift buckets. That was by far the very best thing I did with my seahorse tank.

Also I would paint the underneath of your tank a sand color. Having now kept seahorses over 4 years I have found that having them in a bb tank with high flow by far keeps the tank cleaner of leftover food or detritus resulting in ponies that stay healthier. Live rock with macro algaes is very attractive and I have a few palys and a cabbage leather too.

Be sure to think about how your pets will be cared for when you travel. Seahorses should be fed a minimum of 2Xs a day and 3Xs is better. They need someone to come every day when you are away. My sister takes care of mine. She feeds them their frozen mysis and when they finish she nets live ghost shrimp for them to hunt on their own. Buying live ghost shrimp is an expense as well.

These are just some of the considerations you should mull over before you decide on seahorses. A 200 gallon seahorse tank would indeed be cool but for me the cost would be prohibitive.

 

[Lucie]

The bigger is always the better! More stable, more choice in stocking... Lots of seahorses owners rapidly upgraded to bigger size tanks.
I have to say it s also a project i have and i think it s awesomely exiting!
the good thing is, if yoiu start with proper equipment, you can have a very stable tank with a very efficient nutrient export, and cut on waterchanges pretty well with a tank this size.
You can still have corals with seahorses if you choose wisely the ones that don t sting (xenia, gsp, leathers, sps, some lps, mushrooms and zoas...) and can add also other fishs (same, choose wisely the compatible ones, like dragonets, firefish, gobies, cardinals...)

 

[Lucie]

On a 200 gallon system you will incur a sizable cost just in salt for a seahorse tank. On my 50 gallon system for 3 seahorses I do a 7-8 gallon WC 3Xs a week. Plus I siphon out detritus and replace that water with newly made saltwater. Even though I use IO which is reasonably priced I spend roughly $60 a month on salt alone. You can keep 12 ponies in a 200 gallon system safely but your salt will be over $200 a month if you want them to stay healthy. Of course if you are happy with 6 ponies you can cut that cost in half by cutting your WCs in half.

For the sake of your back, come up with a WC system that you do not have to carry and lift buckets. That was by far the very best thing I did with my seahorse tank.

Also I would paint the underneath of your tank a sand color. Having now kept seahorses over 4 years I have found that having them in a bb tank with high flow by far keeps the tank cleaner of leftover food or detritus resulting in ponies that stay healthier. Live rock with macro algaes is very attractive and I have a few palys and a cabbage leather too.

Be sure to think about how your pets will be cared for when you travel. Seahorses should be fed a minimum of 2Xs a day and 3Xs is better. They need someone to come every day when you are away. My sister takes care of mine. She feeds them their frozen mysis and when they finish she nets live ghost shrimp for them to hunt on their own. Buying live ghost shrimp is an expense as well.

These are just some of the considerations you should mull over before you decide on seahorses. A 200 gallon seahorse tank would indeed be cool but for me the cost would be prohibitive.

I don t have ANY detritus on my 60g. Even if i remove all rocks. If set up correctly, sediments should be dragued to filter efficiently. The use of specific probiotics is really a game changer for seahorses. They help avoiding nutrient build up, help decrease the amount of pathogen bacterias, help the immune system and digestion. No way i can t use them now in any seahorse tank! In my 60g i have 6 seahorses, a few fishs, and i only do a weekly waterchange. I know i could do a water change every 2 weeks if i wanted. So the tank is overstocked and i don t have any issues. I have a ridiculous undersized sump.
The cumul of mutiple tricks really help to have a much better water quality (oversized skimmer, probiotics, a lot of macro algaes, algae scrubber, feeding station and not broadcasting, cleaning mecanical filtration/filter socks often...

 

[Devaji]

On a 200 gallon system you will incur a sizable cost just in salt for a seahorse tank. On my 50 gallon system for 3 seahorses I do a 7-8 gallon WC 3Xs a week. Plus I siphon out detritus and replace that water with newly made saltwater. Even though I use IO which is reasonably priced I spend roughly $60 a month on salt alone. You can keep 12 ponies in a 200 gallon system safely but your salt will be over $200 a month if you want them to stay healthy. Of course if you are happy with 6 ponies you can cut that cost in half by cutting your WCs in half.

For the sake of your back, come up with a WC system that you do not have to carry and lift buckets. That was by far the very best thing I did with my seahorse tank.

Also I would paint the underneath of your tank a sand color. Having now kept seahorses over 4 years I have found that having them in a bb tank with high flow by far keeps the tank cleaner of leftover food or detritus resulting in ponies that stay healthier. Live rock with macro algaes is very attractive and I have a few palys and a cabbage leather too.

Be sure to think about how your pets will be cared for when you travel. Seahorses should be fed a minimum of 2Xs a day and 3Xs is better. They need someone to come every day when you are away. My sister takes care of mine. She feeds them their frozen mysis and when they finish she nets live ghost shrimp for them to hunt on their own. Buying live ghost shrimp is an expense as well.

These are just some of the considerations you should mull over before you decide on seahorses. A 200 gallon seahorse tank would indeed be cool but for me the cost would be prohibitive.

yes was just about to look in to average weekly/biweekly WC amount and do the math to see if that part is even possible. the whole BB VS sand is somthing i have thought about for a while to. if I do a fish only tank ( butterfly ) or mixed reef I was going to try the " white sand bed method" where you still up part of the sand bed every day.

wish I would have keeped the 90 cube that was the perfect size SH tank. but part of the the upgrade deal was to sale it. so I would not be tempted to set it up..haha my GF know me very well.

 

[Devaji]

well after much though on this unfortunately I decided it's not the best way to do for this build for me. really wish it was I have been dreaming of a SH system for years now. maybe some day. I am sure it will happen. to bad we SH keepers cant buy IO salt in bulk. like pallet pricing or even less packaging. then I could set up an Auto WC system and would go for it!

hmmm maybe I'll reach out to them and see if they offer anything like this for us SH keepers.

so for the 4th time I am going to bail on the SH idea I have a one tank rual set by the GF so going smaller not really an option at this time maybe down the rd. we will have the space for a SH system.

 

[vlangel]

I don t have ANY detritus on my 60g. Even if i remove all rocks. If set up correctly, sediments should be dragued to filter efficiently. The use of specific probiotics is really a game changer for seahorses. They help avoiding nutrient build up, help decrease the amount of pathogen bacterias, help the immune system and digestion. No way i can t use them now in any seahorse tank! In my 60g i have 6 seahorses, a few fishs, and i only do a weekly waterchange. I know i could do a water change every 2 weeks if i wanted. So the tank is overstocked and i don t have any issues. I have a ridiculous undersized sump.
The cumul of mutiple tricks really help to have a much better water quality (oversized skimmer, probiotics, a lot of macro algaes, algae scrubber, feeding station and not broadcasting, cleaning mecanical filtration/filter socks often...

I am definitely not going to argue with your success. You have beautiful healthy ponies.
For me, my ponies stay healthy when I do the frequent big water changes. I have lots of flow to lift detritus and excess food up into the water column, plus I have an SCA-302 skimmer on a 50 gallon system. Maybe what I do is excess but I don't want to risk losing any.