47 Tall, Questions, build thread

[-[AnThOnY]-]

Hey all I just got a 47 gallon tall, 18x20x30, im planning on setting it up for my girlfriend for her birthday with 2 seahorses, some live rock and a few long plants that will go the width of the tank (LFS has that covered :)) and well heres my plan so far for equipment, ideas? will this be good enough

Filter: Aqueon Power Filter (HOB) rated for 55 gal
2 Powerheads
Lighting: Nova Extreme SLR T-5 18" x 5-1/2" Saltwater; 40 watt

Going to be dosing calcium, magnesium and strontium, The seahorses need the calcium for their boney plates to develop good

I plan on creating a "column" of live rock right up the middle of the back wall with room to where i can hang the filter in the middle but not be able to see it, and possibly put the powerheads in it also, and the plants will go on both sides of it

Still have to build the stand, hopefully i will start that friday

Was also curious if anyone has any information on keeping sponges, i thought it would be cool to get some tree sponges for the seahorses to latch on too, but how would you supplement their feeding?

Any help much appreciate :)

[-[AnThOnY]-]

Just thought of something, could i use a 10 gallon as a sump? i have an extra one. How would i go about turning it into a sump without spending too much money

Thanks for any help

[Ace25]

I don't think there are many people on here that have seahorse experience. Not an easy species to keep. I know you really have to take special attention to getting the tank setup just right for them. Your tank size sounds perfect, just need to get the equipment part right. For powerheads your definately going to want to go with something really low flow, like 2 Koralia1s at most. I don't think a sump is really required and will add a whole new level of complexity. If you do go with a sump I would take out one of the powerheads and use the sump return for flow. Normally that is a bad suggestion, but in a seahorse tank, from what little I know about them, I think that would be good.

Sponges and another difficult thing to keep in an aquarium. Beyond the normal hitchiker sponges you get on live rock, ones you buy online or LFS usually perish pretty quickly because at some point from the ocean to your house it was mishandled/open to air.

That light should be very good for your needs, maybe overkill. Not sure what a seahorses preference is to lighting myself. I know they don't require light.. just saying I don't know if they like to hang out lower in the ocean, in shaded areas, etc, vs towards the surface near the sunlight.

I just read they are super sensitive to temperature changes and the temp in the water can not exceed a 2 degree difference within 24 hours. THAT is very hard to do. From reading that on www.seahorse.org (http://www.seahorse.org) , depending where you live, 2 very good heaters (one as a backup) as well as a chiller are probably required to accomplish that. If that is the case, then a sump would probably be a good idea to hide equipment.

[-[AnThOnY]-]

yea i figured to go with that light because of watever plant i find to put in there, im going to be setting it up a couple weeks early to make sure its cycled completely, i already have an 18 gallon with live sand so i can take my new sand and seed it with the 20 pounds i already have, so i can check to temperature over a couple weeks and see how it fluctuates before i actually buy anything, i might just take the light off of the 18 gallon thats 18 watts, should be enough?

[-[AnThOnY]-]

Alrighty finally some pictures :) got my shipment in from drs foster and smith, got the salt some additives, emperor 400 filter and a spiffy heater

tank with stand not finished yet, still needs door stain and hood
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r102/shinedown451/DSC02470.jpg
front view, and new net
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r102/shinedown451/DSC02471.jpg
side view, heater
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r102/shinedown451/DSC02472.jpg
back of filter (thing is HUGE)
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r102/shinedown451/DSC02473.jpg
bio wheels
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r102/shinedown451/DSC02474.jpg
media containers, and here is where i have a question could i use phosban and or kents nitrate sponge in these media slots or would that not be a good idea
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r102/shinedown451/DSC02476.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r102/shinedown451/DSC02475.jpg
so now it begins :dance: got all the supplies for now, ready to start planning the setup

[Ace25]

Very nice.. when I hear the term "seahorse tank" the tank you have is EXACTLY what I picture in my head. I think that is going to be absolutely perfect for what your planning. Wish you the best of luck!

[-[AnThOnY]-]

Thanks :) i hope all the research ive done leads me to keeping them succesfully

[DoN_WoN]

niceee keep us posted :)

[-[AnThOnY]-]

will do, :) anyone know what would be a good foam to use to create a structure, im not sure what kinds are fish safe

thanks for any help :)

[Ace25]

I believe it is called "Great Stuff" and comes in a grey color. One person that was in my reef club always insisted on using that on his back wall inside the tank to make it look like a rock wall vs flat and painted. Then he was able to put coral plugs in it with zoanthids and have the back wall grow with them. Unfortunately the guy was way to impatient and was changing out tanks and equipment almost monthly it seemed so we never got to see what an entire back wall of zoas would look like but it sounded cool.

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m151/jflip2002/010-11.jpg

[-[AnThOnY]-]

hmm thats pretty cool, i kind of want to do that, but i want to make a column going straight up the middle in the back that would hide equipment and could either stack or attach rock all the way up it

[Ace25]

If you go up the center I would advice making a PVC frame then coating it with the foam to hide the PVC. That will give it much more strength and stability than just making a foam tower.

[-[AnThOnY]-]

Thats a really good idea, didn't think about that, will have to start planning on that, and I was wondering if the media containers that came with the filter would be good to use for phosban media and or the "nitrate sponge" stuff by kent marine

[Ace25]

As long as you put the media in a bag and pre-rinse it then it should work great in those media containers. I would fill the back of the filter with as much live rock rubble as you can as well. Purigen is also another good media you could put in there and is actually reusable by soaking the bag in 10% bleach/water to "recharge" the media then rinsing in clean water with dechlorinator after bleaching.

Oh ya, since I don't know much about seahorses I want to make sure to give you this warning, GFO media like Phosban WILL lower your alkalinity when first put in the tank. It can drop it into danger areas for a reef tank if not monitored/corrected. I don't know if seahorses are affected by fast alkalinity changes but thought I would give that warning just to make sure.

[-[AnThOnY]-]

Ok thanks. Yea I will look out for that, i plan on hopefully setting the tank up within the next week or two, so I am going to be watching everthing
carefully for a good while before i add them.

was thinking about the pvc pipe structure, and what if i just make a "rack" type structure with the pvc so i can just sit the rock on it, that would provide good water flow through the rock and would prevent me from messing with the foam

[Ace25]

That is actually more common than using foam. One of the newer trends for aquascaping is to drill holes through your rock and use acrylic rods to hold them together. Here is an example of someone that used rods to make a "bonsai" reef as he calls it.

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s59/Thorly/DSC05389.jpg

And another example of someone using acrylic rods to make columns.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3396/3552023883_9b26b3a451_o.jpg

[-[AnThOnY]-]

thats actually pretty cool too, hmm ill have to experiment and see how it goes, i just bought some conduit pipe, its flexible but it holds its form, so im gonna play with that and see, that acrylic rod method might be the best bet for me though, what do they use to drill the rock with? would a drill press work?

[Ace25]

Usually just a regular drill like a Makita with the longest masonry bit you can find (reasonable, just make sure it can go all the way through the rocks you want to drill). If your drilling wet rock out of your tank rinse off your drill/bit with fresh water when your done so it doesn't rust.

[-[AnThOnY]-]

sounds good, ill have to give it a try, think i could use anything else besides acrylic rod, thats not really readily available here, unless you know somewhere i could find some, hobby lobby maybe?

[Ace25]

Ya, hobby shops is the most common place to find them locally. I haven't really heard of a substitute for acrylic rods because of the strength required by the rods to hold the rocks securely. PVC is obviously a little large to drill holes in rocks that big, and smaller diameter PVC is usually too brittle to support that type of weight.

[-[AnThOnY]-]

yea good point, i guess i will go check out hobby lobby tomorrow and see what they have to work with, would that base rock they have a petsmart or any LFS in general thats completely dry be a not so good idea to drill? should i soak it and or cure it before i try to do that?

[milesalive]

Hey I have this laying around at home that would work for a column
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=194970
ill give it to you for free just pay shipping and this will work for your column

[-[AnThOnY]-]

not exactly what i had in mind :) i want the whole thing to be rock, but i appreciate the offer, your really trying to get rid of that thing huh :)

[milesalive]

ya I changed my idea for the tank before i finished it. I know it looks like a p.o.s. I've completed some before with sand to cover it and it looked real nice. Then once moss started to grow up it it looked natural

[-[AnThOnY]-]

yea if it was for freshwater i would probably buy it from you and add some vine looking stuff coming out of it and moss it and add anubias and java fern, but im trying to go with a full on rock wall