another 29/20 seahorse tank build :)

[Benny Z]

my wife reminded me this week that i had promised her a seahorse tank a long time ago. obviously i'm not going to pass up the opportunity to set up another tank!

we still have our first salt tank - a 29g, original home to the petco clown fish we still have. this just so happens to be the $1/gal sale week at petco, so i picked up a 20-long for a sump and refugium.

i had a lightly-used diamond bit for 1" bulkheads, so i drilled two holes in the 29 for a slim short overflow. i opted for this overflow location because the 29g has such a slim footprint to begin with.

here are the tanks!



today i picked up some 1/8" tinted glass from a local glass shop and pieced them together with aquarium silicon and masking tape.



these will go around the two 1" bulkheads, which i picked up today at (ahem) johnny's reefing experience. 8)



amy, ylchic, also has a similar seahorse system and i intend to leverage her experience and knowledge along the way. i would also like to add that i really like dave dunbar's faux stand design and will likely incorporate his design into this project in some way or another. horace has also offered to help modify a spare skimmer i have laying around, a "super skimmer 65" into a massive skimming machine. can't wait to see how this turns out!

i guess my exotics nano is on hold for a minute.

[krazeekiddie]

What type of horse are you going to put in the tank??

(Just curious, as a 29g can be a little cramped for some breeds)

Also how many?? =) Heather

[Benny Z]

not sure yet...thinking a pair of the yellow kudas would be really neat if i can source a true cb pair. i know a 29g is considered the bare minimum for a seahorse tank... will this suffice for a kuda pair?

[ann83]

True CB Kudas are hard to come by right now, there are just too many being flown in from asia that are net-pen raised, so the breeders in the U.S. have stopped breeding them, since they can't compete with the price of the net-pens at LFS. I'd look into erectus or reidi if I were you, there is much more a chance they'll be true CB. Erectus are very hardy, and are usually shorter than reidi, so a pair of them would probably do better in a 29.
Just FYI, selling on seahorse color is bogus. Seahorses can and do change color, both to blend in with their surroundings and just because they feel like it. More than likely, the color that the seahorse was in the store or at the breeder, is not going to be the color that it chooses in your aquarium.

[Duddly01]

Sooooo true ann83. Both of my erectus change when they see food, each other, whenever they like. My male goes from a medium chocolate to whiteish yellow and everywhere inbetween in a matter of seconds. My girl is usually a blackish maroon and goes to really bright pink. They REALLY brighten up during courting.

[ann83]

Oh, and what I meant to say about erectus and reidi is that there is a much better chance of finding them true CB. You still want to buy them from a reputable aquaculture facility like www.seahorsesource.com, www.dracomarine.org, or www.nyseahorse.com

[CT343]

another new and probably very controversial is the so called "3S" or semi self sustaning system for Dwarves. basically pods grow in the tank, the horses eat the pods, the horses waste feeds bacteria, their wastes feeds plants, the plants feed the pods, and that of course becomes a circle. down side is that it could take months before you could add your first horse.

[CT343]

Heres the details of that idea expanded on. It's and eleven page forum and you have to be a member of seahorses.org to view it. The page is "http://forum.seahorse.org/index.php?showtopic=34102"

[ann83]

Originally posted by CT343
another new and probably very controversial is the so called "3S" or semi self sustaning system for Dwarves. basically pods grow in the tank, the horses eat the pods, the horses waste feeds bacteria, their wastes feeds plants, the plants feed the pods, and that of course becomes a circle. down side is that it could take months before you could add your first horse.

Not quite. The idea is that experienced dwarf keepers are trying to come up with a way to house dwarf seahorses without daily water changes and twice daily feedings of baby brine. It hasn't been put into action yet, but it won't work in quite the "ecosystem" type way you think. It means that there is a larger volume of water (and fewer dwarves) so params are kept in check better and daily water changes aren't needed. It also means that instead of feeding baby brine two or three times a day, you feed once a day, or once every couple of days, or you replenish the pod population daily or every couple of days, or a combination of the two. Frankly, I think it will take an experienced dwarf keeper to figure out the balance required to not have to feed daily and still make sure that their dwarves don't starve to death.
I also don't think this is the right idea for the setup being built, especially considering the overflow. I also would caution anyone wanting to try that setup that it will not be a setup "full of seahorses" and you will have to search, like Where's Waldo, to find your seahorses.

[Benny Z]

tanks are on the stand...

note how the skimmer cup just barely fits - it's actually taller than the display tank itself. lol!



here is the finished skimmer!

[brad23]

That's Kurts handy work on the skimmer right?

[Benny Z]

kurt cut the old skimmer up and helped w/ the venturi on the pump...he also sold me the pump and large pvc material. all i had to do was cut the pipe to length, cut holes for and put in the uniseals, buy the gate valve and plumbing, and assemble it.

[Benny Z]

here is the final sump/plumbing/filtration design. please disregard the crudeness of the ms paint drawing.

water flows down from the overflow through a 100-micron filter sock where it is processed by the ginormous skimmer. it then flows to the return chamber where it is fed back up to the display, but some of it splits off before the display to run through the fuge or fluidized reactors, which then dump back to the return chamber. feeding the fuge and fluidized reactors after all water has been run through the filter socks *should* in theory keep detritus out of them.



*not pictured is a union just above the return pump

[Benny Z]

plumbing = done

[pledosophy]

IMO if you can find Kuda, they will be fine in that tank. If you want to go taller there is a 37g and 44g with the same footprint.

[Benny Z]

thanks...

i think i have decided on two pairs of southern erectus from seahorsesource.com when they are available.

[Benny Z]

the marco rocks showed up today. not sure if i'm going to use it all or not. i'm soaking it in bleach water overnight, then will begin a rinse process and finally stack the rocks in the tank, fill it with salt water, and begin the cycle.

[Benny Z]

let the cycle begin!

here's the mandatory cloudy tank shot.



the tower on the left is two medium-sized pieces of the marco rock and then the structure on the right is 3 decent-sized pieces with a few small pieces for filler. the rest of the small pieces went into the fuge along with ~5" of sand.

[Charger21_SD]

Awesome tank!

[seastar12]

I like the two islands look. Can't wait to see how this turns out.

[mbunakeith]

Love the setup. i had a similar setup with my 20L reef a couple years ago. what do you/are you going to use to keep the water noise to a minimum? i know from experience that a mag7 sitting on the bottom of a tank generates a decent amount of noise that would drive me nuts. also, how are you keeping overflow/splashing in sump noise down?
one more thing, have you thought of plumbing an inline heater? it would be really easy to put in on the return. i have a couple hydor ETH 300's on my 180g tank and love them.

[Benny Z]

well, let me say first that i had temp issues with the mag7. it was running at 79 without any lights on. and yes, it was quite noisy.

i swapped it out for an eheim 1250, rated at only 317gph and 28w, as opposed to the 70w mag7. eheims are far superior pumps - i should have just used this pump to start with...and it's silent! temp is now running 76-77. i need to do more homework to see if this will be ok for the southern erectus. i know it is still on the warm side.

the skimmer pump - gen-x 2400 - is very loud and so is the venturi tube...i made a silencer for that.

with the reduced flow there is very little noise. i put caps on the up pipes and there is no gurgling. i extended the down pipes slightly so that they are under the water level inside the filter sock.

i'm just going to put a small heater in the sump, but i doubt it'll turn on much...maybe this winter. i may have to buy a chiller... :/

here's a picture since the water has cleared:

[mbunakeith]

you did pretty much what i figured you would. i had to extend the drain pipes into the water and cap the up pipes. i wound up keeping the mag7, i just insulated it against the bottom of the tank and it helped alot. i will look into the ehiems. i never hear anything about them.
good point about the heater, you probably wont need one anyway. good luck with the tank. looks great.

[Eagles]

The tank looks great, can't wait for future pics!

[Benny Z]

bought a 1/10 hp chiller...



now i have to redo the plumbing...going to drill the sump and install an external panworld pump to supply the display, chiller, refugium, and fluidized reactors.