Sea Horse Tank Plan

T

TJay

Ok so I looked at nanocubes, and I looked at aquapods and well. I just cannot imagine using one for sea horses, though I am sure they would work fine.

We have our old 40 gallon tall acrylic that was the life boat out of New Orleans for our fish.

I have a sunpac PC light fixture for it. I have sand for it. I will need some live rock and maro, coral and rock for hitching posts.

My concern is how to filter the tank well with low enough flow for the horses and keep the nutrients exported so I dont end up with algae covered mustangs.

I could put a sump under it, but would need to drill the tank and put in some sort of an overlfow. Looking for some of the bright reefers here to throw some ideas or recomendations.

Thanks
 
TJay,

I would definately use what you have versus a cube as horses need height. There is a glass shop in Allen that drills for $15/hole if you are SURE the tank is not tempered. You are welocme to come check out our 37-gallon seahorse tank we had drilled at the glass shop in Allen, but in the meantime, feel free to check out the pics at: http://www.dfwmas.org/Forums/viewtopic.php?t=12344

Lee
 
A HOB filter will work just fine. And you'll need a small powerhead low in the tank to keep some circulation down there as well.

You should use dark sand so the seahorses can spot the food.
 
TJay, is this the acrylic tank that you had in the corner? If so I still have those hole saw bits for you to borrow if you want to drill an overflow. It would be simple to bond a overflow box externally and have water flow from slots inside to the external overflow and down to a sump if you go that route or instead of the external overflow make a whole filter unit (like a hang on back style). Then the heater and a maxijet to pump water back.

Small acrylic tanks are so easy to modify. This will give you a chance to put that new saw to good use!
 
Good points.
Salty, yes I would love to borrow the hole saw bits. I think I want to do an external overflow, and yes it is the acrylic tank.

I already have pink fiji sand, how bad is that going to be?

I do have a small sump I could use already. So doing a sump and skimmer would not be a problem if I get the tank drilled. So long as I can find the correct acrylic to build the overflow and find some bulkheads local.

I even have an old backpac clone I could use as HOB as Marc suggested. I am hoping that I wont have to, and we can have that clean look for the tank.

Thanks everyone for the help. Keep the suggestions coming. I will post pics as I build this thing out.
 
TJay let me when and I can let you borrow those bits anytime and if I'm around maybe I can help you with it if you want. I have seen some of those external overflows and they are sharp looking.

Below is a pic of a small tank setup I was thinking of. The overflow is on the end so all plumbing goes outside on end, including two returns split from return pump since you don't need much flow. The overflow would be external on end in the center w/ returns outside of overflow box.
 
Salty
That would be great. I have some very thin black acrylic, I wonder if it would be thick enough to build an overflow?

I am off weekends, the tank tour is next weekend so just let me know when you are available and we will drag this thing out into the garage and do it.

Does Home Depot sell acrylic thick enough to make the overflow? I could swing by there and pick some up then all I would need is overflows

Anywho just let me know when your up to messing with it and we can do it.

I do like the end design, but dont think it would work in this application. It might though.
 
The home depot by me only sells 1/8" and that is not thick enough IMO. There is a acrylic place up by you in Richardson, I can't think of who it is, but I would get 1/4"

The nice advantage to the end unit is that the end w/ overflow can back up to wall and make a nice viewing presentation. Second thought it is your tank so do as you please, so don't listen to me.

I am open on Saturday, but have Sunday morning booked. Call me and we can talk.

I am trying to watch the Rose Bowl now and man is it tough for me to cheer for those longhorns, but I am.
 
Well Saturday would be great so just come on by, The end would be great if I were backed up to a wall on one end. I really do like the look of end overflow tanks.
Since this one is going to be back to the wall, I guess I should configure it as normal.
Marc has me reconsidering substrate though. Just dont know what else I would use. What kind of Dark substrate is available?
 
I wouldn't use dark substrate. Seahorses like to blend into their surroundings and dark substrate could influence them to turn black. I have had no probems with seahorses finding the food on regular sand. Besides many people are using dishes to feed their seahorses now. I have recently switched to this method and I love it. I just fill their bowl up with food and they eat whenever they want.

Here are a couple of pictures. I drilled a hole in a small piece of live rock and glued some hitching posts to the rock.

http://nickiderrick.tripod.com/nickis_fish/index.album?i=9&s=1
http://nickiderrick.tripod.com/nickis_fish/index.album?i=10&s=1
 
@TJay wrote:
Well Saturday would be great so just come on by said:
I've been planning to put black substrate in Casper's tank, which Frank can get for me easily. I was told that seahorses need to be able to spot the food and white mysis floating over white substrate does seem like a potential problem. The feeding station is a nice idea.

Nice pictures, Nicki.
Click to expand...
 
I have had several seahorse tanks. I had black substrate in one and didn't like it - it gets dirty looking pretty quickly. I have regular white sand in my other tanks and none of the seahorses have problems finding the mysis - it rarely gets to the sand before it's eaten.

Feeding stations are good especially in larger tanks. My only problem with them is you have to turn off the circulation to keep the food in place. I'd worry about remembering to turn the power back on. Now if you buy one of those count down timers you'd have it made!
 
Ok tank plans have changed. We decided we did not like the look of that 40 high on the table, so I am researching a 1/4 cylinder corner tank. That would be viewable from the couch or the loveseat and look better in the room.

So I pulled out the extra sump and skimmer I have and Will do a test run on those today. I have several pumps I can use for the return and since the tank will be reef ready with a single overflow in the corner I have new concerns.

How will I get the water back in the tank at a flow rate that will work for the sump but not cause major currents in the tank for the horses. Would a spray bar or manifold work to diffuse the return enough? Also what are the concerns associated with an overflow in the pony thank. Do I need to gaurd the return with adittional screening or protection to prevent a pony suck out?
 
Tjay;

I am by no means a plumbing expert, so hopefully someone will chip in who knows about that side of things.

I have a Mag 3 on my 40cube/sump system. By the time the water returns into the tank, it is pretty gentle. A spray bar would be good too, mine just uses one of those loclines (two spouts) for a return.

I have plumbed my pump externally because for seahorse tanks you want to keep the temperature down around a max of 75-76. Having a pump plumbed externally lets it dissipate heat to the air and not the water (and also means you have to have your pump/plumbing connections good and tight or else you have to contend with microbubbles!).

Most overflows are gentle enough that the pony's don't get sucked in. Fry on the other hand are another story - you'll need to either remove any pregnant males to a birthing tank or put netting/sponge over the overflow.
 
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