plumb seahorse tank into reef tank?

[Melina74]

Hello,
I've been thinking about plumbing a refugium into my 65g (20g sump) reef set up. I love seahorses and would love to keep them. Would a seahorse tank, (with a deep sand bed, planted with seagrasses & macroalgae), give my reef tank the nutrient-exporting benefits of a refugium? I'm thinking the minimum size for a seahorse tank would be about 30g or so? Is it a good idea to plumb the two tanks together? Has anyone done this?

[fishyvet]

Seahorses generally require temperatures lower than typical reef systems. They should be kept below 74 F to keep pathogenic bacteria from replicating out of control and making the horses sick. Also, due to seahorses' feeding nature, they can be little nitrate factories on their own. Seahorses do best in dedicated species only systems.

Have you considered pipefish instead? A couple of blue lined pipes would be virtually self sustaining in an established refugium.

[captainandy]

I did it a year ago and just took it down. Never knew exactly what temp to keep the system on. When I kept it below 75, the SPS didn't grow that well and when I kept it above, the horses weren't happy. I kept it going because of a 200 gal fuge that ept the water perfect.

Now that I've separated, the sps are happy at 78 and the horses/pipes are at 73. I did add a fuge for the seahorses.

Don't do it - IMO

[craig813]

Thanks, I had this same question.

After reading I new the horses would like a little lower temp, but I was still back and forth about it.

Nothin like RC!

craig

[fourts1]

I just added a seahorse tank to my reef system. I put my chiller on the seahorse tank with semiclosed circulation. I have a small amount of water which comes in from the reef tank, which then over flows back to the reef tank after mixing to esssentially have a constant water change since I have limited biofiltration in the seahorse tank. I also put an additional low gallonage pump on a thermostat which pumps addition water from the reef tank to the sea horse tank when the reef tank system needs chilling. This water again over flows back to the reef system after mixing. This is working well with seahorse tank at 72-74 and reef at 80. The only problem is that the seahorse tank temperature tends to swing alot between 72 and 74 over several hours due to the small size of the seahorse tank relative to the reef.

[deansreef]

what size chiller for a 90 gallon reef>?

[craiglanda]

I have a pair of seahorses in my tank. i raised them in a sperate 30 gallon to about 3-4 inches than broke down that tank and put them in my 90 gal reef. I keep it at 78in the day and 76 at night and have no problems. i dont have many fish so target feeding isnt a big problem. The only thing i can see as any issue is they get tossed every now and then in the current. I have a lot of sps so high current is needed. Otherwise i don't have any problems at all.
Now i wouldn't say this is the best idea for keeping them nor would i reccomend anyone try it...but, if you are willing to take the risk i can tell you it can be done sucessfully.

[FishyMel]

My seahorses are kept at 76 degrees. I have mushrooms with them. My temp in the winter will be around 74. This is my house temp. I haven't had a problem with the warmer temperature. I guess it would depend on the reef temperature.