Reef tank turned seahorse

oceaninabox12345 · Jul 10, 2019

Hey guys! Ive always been fascinated by seahorses, and always loved the idea of owning some. I have had saltwater for 9 years now, and i have 6 tanks ranging from .2 gallons, to 120 gallons. I have experience with picos, nanos, and large systems. I have studied a fair amount about seahorses, and I would like to turn my current mixed reef tank into a seahorse tank and i would like you seahorse veterans advice!
The tank is 45g and currently has a tiny scopas tang(he will be moved to my 120 in a month), a lawnmower blenny, a maroon clown, and two cardinalfish. If i continue down the seahorse path, i would remove all the existing fish into one of my 120g tanks, along with all coral and inverts.
My question to all of you is, should i completely restart the whole tank? Take out all the rock sand, and start fresh to sterilize everything? Any advice is awesome

Peace River · Jul 10, 2019

Let's see if we can get some help...

#seahorse #seahorses @SeahorseKeeper @vlangel @rayjay

vlangel · Jul 11, 2019

Hi all and specifically @oceaninabox12345. No, you do not need to completely restart imo. There is perhaps some risk but in my opinion it is slight but others may disagree with me.

You do need to really do a thorough overhaul maintenance however. All stinging coral should be removed with all the fish. I would scrub all the glass, turkey baste all the rockwork (to remove all detritus and possible trapped debris). This is an extremely important step as any leftovet detritus or debris can fuel pathogenic bacteria. Then I would do a 75% WC and replace with newly made saltwater. Finally I would vacume all the sand and after that is done I would do another maintenance WC, 10-15%. I would finish off by adding Seachem Stability to help burn off any lingering detritus and reseed biological life.

vlangel · Jul 11, 2019

PS, I think I see a heater in the tank. Seahorses do not need heaters as the water temperature should be kept at 74° F or lower. Their tails can be burned by a heater when they hitch to it.

Also you want the rockwork to be simplified so as to not trap excess food or detritus or else you are likely to experience bacterial sicknesses with your ponies. Good flow 10-20 Xs turnover helps keep food and particulate in suspension so debris does not get trapped. Any powerheads that are utilized should be covered if a pony tail can be injured by the impellor.

An oversized protein skimmer is a must have piece of equipment if you do not want to be doing WCs every other day. 2-3 Xs the tank's capacity is not overkill. I have a skimmer rated for 180 gallons on my 50 gallon seahorse system.

Be sure to thoroughly research seahorse care before you purchase.

oceaninabox12345 · Jul 11, 2019

vlangel said:
PS, I think I see a heater in the tank. Seahorses do not need heaters as the water temperature should be kept at 74° F or lower. Their tails can be burned by a heater when they hitch to it.

Also you want the rockwork to be simplified so as to not trap excess food or detritus or else you are likely to experience bacterial sicknesses with your ponies. Good flow 10-20 Xs turnover helps keep food and particulate in suspension so debris does not get trapped. Any powerheads that are utilized should be covered if a pony tail can be injured by the impellor.

An oversized protein skimmer is a must have piece of equipment if you do not want to be doing WCs every other day. 2-3 Xs the tank's capacity is not overkill. I have a skimmer rated for 180 gallons on my 50 gallon seahorse system.

Be sure to thoroughly research seahorse care before you purchase.

Alright this all sounds good. So the heater i planned on getting rid of, then remove fish, corals, and ill probably just remove most of the live rock and rescape it so its pretty much in the middle and nothing is touching the walls of the tank. Ill also buy a skimmer and some different powerheads, and then i will cover those with some sort of thin netting to protect the seahorses. The tank itself look okay though?? Like a good size and shape?

rayjay · Jul 11, 2019

I'm one of those who recommend starting with everything sterile. If not, and something doesn't go right, you then have to consider more possible causes of what is wrong.
IMO, the two BIGGEST causes of seahorse problems are bacterial related, internal and external, as well as parasites that they become exposed to when placed into a system either with other fish OR had other fish. Seahorses many times do not do well with exposure to parasites that they haven't grown up/along with.
The BEST THING I can recommend for you when setting up is to make the system REALLY easy to keep clean. I mean CLEANER than for any reef tank you have.
Seahorse inability to deal well with bacteria problems, far more so than any other reef fish, means you have to maintain water quality such that the water doesn't provide food and bedding for such bacteria, mainly benthic types like the vibrio species.
As there are NO test kits available for the hobbyist to be able to determine when water is getting to the point that bacterial expansion is imminent, you need to be proactive in maintaining that water quality with extreme husbandry and larger more frequent water changes.
You WILL see people claiming no problems, or not needing extreme measures, and in fact it does happen, just not the norm.
Seahorses, like people, have varying capabilities of immune systems, where like people, some seem to be always ill, or some NEVER seem to get ill, with the vast majority of people falling at various points between those two extremes. I personally think seahorses tend to have the majority of luck to fall at the bad end of the scale.
As you have NO way to know what the immune capability will be for any seahorses you get, I've personally learned over the last 15 years that it is best to be safe than take chances. You might have an extremely capable one, but you might have an extremely vulnerable one also in the same tank and it will need to be maintained as all are vulnerable.