My 25 gallon sea horse tank.

[Jordan55]

Well, I decided to keep a log of my tank so that everyone else can follow along with me, add input, and learn from my mistakes and successes.

Equipment-

-25 gallon AGA 24X12X20
-1 or 2 Via Aqua 150 gph pumps.
-1 150 watt Stainless steel heater
-JEBO 110 watt PC 50/50 light fixture.
- Aqua Clear 500 modded into a fuge to house rock rubble and some macro.

Inhabitants-

- Two H. erectus sea horses (male and female).
- Shrimp/goby pair.... still deciding on which.
- *Estimate* 10 Nassarius, 10 cerith, 10-15 astrea .
- *Estimate* 5 blue leg hermits, 5 scarlet hermits.

The tank will be home to macro algae, no corals.

Macro algae:

- Caulerpa prolifera
- Caulerpa racemosa
- Caulerpa sertularioides (if I can find some)
- Caulerpa mexicana
- Halimdea copiosa

15-20 lbs of live rock. Bali, From Phishy Business.

an inch or two of sand on the bottom.

Tank should be set up Saturday, January 21.

After a month of cycling, I will slowy add my clean up crew, macro algae, and the shrimp/goby.

Once my tank hits about the 2 month mark, pods are starting to gather, parameters are stable, and the tank is doing well, I will add my two sea horses.

Any comments are welcome along the way. Hopefully I will start to get some pictures up within the next couple days.

Wish me luck.....

and the countdown begins: 4 days.

[DebsSisterFlo]

Good luck! I'm adding my live rock this weekend, then have to cycle.... *drums fingertips*

[tabwyo]

and we are off to the races. I have just finished the contruction of my 30gXT. Leak test and all. I will be setting up on saturday as well. Best o' luck.

[Jordan55]

I was going to get a 30 gallon XT but it was like 20$ price difference, and I need ervy penny I can get.

I think in the summer I will try and ask for a 30-40 gallon.... maybe 35 hex for my b-day. That will be a nice upgrade and everything will be healthy.... hopefully.

[pledosophy]

I'd stick with the one powerhead for now. With that and the Aquaclear 500 your flow will be high enough.

[Jordan55]

Yea I wasn't sure how much flow would be going through the tank.

Would it be a good idea to keep all the flow to one side of the tank so the horses can have a calm side? Or spread out so water distribution is mixted all around equally.

[pledosophy]

IME I like to break the flow up throughout the system so there is no area where the current is to strong for the seahorse to swim through.

If you ask me you will not be able to section off a 25g tank so there is only flow on one side, the system is just to small.

The best way IMO is to break up the flow as much as possible to make the entire tank a suitable environment for a seahorse.

This can be achieved by utalizing such equipment as spraybars, by pointing the powerhead toward the surface of the water, or by pointing the powerhead towards the back of the LR structure. In the last example I would be sure that there is no way a seahorse could swim in front of the powerhead and be pushed and then pinned in the LR. It would most likely kill them, if it took you to long to notice. The stress incurred would be great.

Good Luck!

[Jordan55]

Well I will start mixing water tomorrow.

I will throw in some pictures tomorrow of some of my equipment.

3 days

[cj_basser]

Good to hear the tank is getting set up.

Let me know if you want any live mysis shrimp or pods. I have tons of them in my refugium that you are welcome to.

[Jordan55]

Thanks CJ. I may need a little bit after a month to get my fuge started.

Well tonight I put in 11 gallons of RO water and started mixing salt. I am a little nervous because the salt has been open in my basment for a few months and it is kinda hard untill you break it up. So far it is dissolving well but I have a feeling I will run into a problem shortly because I have less than 48 hours untill I need it.

I got my light bulb for the fuge... I think the macro will grow well under it.

Tomorrow I am going back for 11 more gallons of RO. With the left over, I can get ready for a water change after a week or so.

I also called the LFS and got the 25 gallon in today... so I will pick that up tomorrow or Saturday.

About 44 more hours

[TippyToeX]

Yea Jordan! This has been a long time coming. Can't wait to see some pictures.

[Jordan55]

Tank is in the house, 21 gallons of saltwater is being mixed, and I am getting anxious!

So far so good.

About 19 more hours

Pictures in a couple hours.

[DebsSisterFlo]

woohoo! My friend (mako56) pm'd me and he has our live rock so I'm going this weekend to pick it up. Then I can start cycling my tank!

[Jordan55]

I will be home in about 5 hours with rock

Expect lots of pictures today.

[Jordan55]

Water is on. Sand is in. Rock is in. We have a tank!

I will snap a few pictures tonight of everything.

[Jordan55]

Well the tank is almost 7 hours old. Sand is cleared down probably 80-90% and everything seems to be going fine. I had literally exact water... so I may have to go and get some for top off/water change.

Rock is perfect. I got to handpick (plus a nice discount). It had literally no smell since it has been curing for weeks. So I expect about a week or 2 for the cycle.

I snapped a few pictures of lights and filter, then some pictures of the tank after set up. Hope you enjoy.... and throw in some comments!

Filter. Cj made it... I added a little to it. Thanks man!






Lights. 50/50 PC 110 watt. 40$




I was little worried with heat. The first couple hours, the lights were off and tank sat around 70ish. Lights went on and they went up to about 72ish. I put in my heater and it is around 76 now. I am going to have to get the temp up to about 78ish for the horses... then slowly bring it down to around 72.

[Jordan55]

Here is the filter all hooked up. It has some serious flow to it... so I don't think I will need a pump.... but I may put one in later on if need be.





Full tank shots. I am not sure if I am satisfied with rock work. I like the pieces I got, but I think I need to move them around a little. I am going to have to have a tall pillar on the left because the intake of the filter and the heater are there... and I do not want them showing. If I can rearrange the rocks some, I may be able to do something different, but still get the equipment hidden.





Any suggestions are welcome on the rockwork. Please post your ideas and comments! Thanks

[pledosophy]

Good Start.

Hard to make suggestions on the rockwork since I can't play with it myself. I spend hours aranging my rock, just a habit.

Keep it up!

[Urabggr]

Looks good! Only suggestion with the rockwork is to not have rocks touching the glass. Rocks touching glass = many problems IME. Keep up the good work!

[Jordan55]

That you both.

Urabggr- I had trouble seeting up these rocks inside my tank. The tanks layout is 12 inches wide and 24 inches long.... not a very open bottom. It is hard to keep them from touching the glass and keep the sandbed open for macros and my goby.

I understand why I should keep them away.... but I have never had a problem with it in the past, and I think this may be the one way. I will work with them today. Thanks for your concern though!


Day 2- Water is a lot clearer. Tank seems to be doing fine. I will mess around with rock more. Pictures later on.

[cj_basser]

Good to see it set up!!!

You did a great job on the filter, too. How did you knotch out the overflow in the filter?

When I bought the fully cured rock from PhishyBusiness, I had a very small cycle. In fact, I had no nitrate/ trite/ or ammonia spike ( but I was also using cheap test ktis.) Definantly let the tank mature, though.

The LR pillars look sweet. It will be hard aquascaping in suchj a tall, narrow space......and not having the rocks touch the glass would be pretty hard.

CJ

[xdusty6920]

looks great jordan. are you gonna start cultering pods and mysis to feed?
i would try putting all the liverock on the left side of the tank. have its tallest point at the back of the tank and its lowest point at the front of the tank just left of center. making a slop that slightly curves to the right if that makes sense at all. this way you have 4 things to your benefit.
-covers fuge inlet and heater
-unique aquascape
-leaves almost the entire 2/3 of the right side open for macro
-leaves a great place to stick a few frags just in case the naked LR starts bothering you.
give it a try and see how it looks.

[DebsSisterFlo]

This is fun that so many of us are setting up at the same time. I don't mean to hijack your thread, but just thought I'd post a pic of my rockwork, just added it yesterday. I was told it's uncured but I can go right over the tank and there is hardly any smell at all. I will leave it and start testing next weekend to watch my perameters.
Oh, just a note that yes I am removing that sponge filter, it's just so useful for clearing up the water when it's stirred up.

[Jordan55]

Thank you all!

CJ- I used a scroll saw to cut out the notches... pretty easy. Thanks for the compliments. Are you going to be able to set upa SH tank?

Dusty- Thank you! I do not think I am going to culture mysis or pods. The horses eat frozen very well. I will however hatch some baby brine shrimp eggs after the cycle and let them grow for about month or 2 before the horses go in. Hopefulyl some pods will turn up in the back fuge so a little snack. Plus with CJ and Hollback, I can take some from them!

I understand what you are saying about the rock.... atleast I think I do, and I like the idea. I will do it in a little bit and see if our ideas are the same.

Debsisterflow- Thank you and nice tank! I like the PVC idea... wish I had room to do it! You're not highjacking at all..... please post more pictures later on!


Thank you everyone.... new rock work will begin in a little bit followed by pictures!

[trailer]

as for the rockwork, i made an arch out of similar pieces. i drilled a 1/2" hole thorough my rock and stacked them on top of each other. the supports were a 7/16" lee's rigid tubing i found at my LFS. the rock will lean toward the centar and the two pillars will rest on each other. when i get my camera from my girlfriends house i will post a pic. it look awesome.