I forgot about this thread. I'd really encourage you to wait a few months before considering seahorses. I'm not saying to never do it, but I forgot you were new to the hobby and still getting this one worked out. They require extremely stable conditions and pristine water. I'd wait until this tank matures, at least 6 months and track how stable your parameters are.
Tank crashed...
- Thread starter Sarra
- Start date
Actually, I think that's his point. Things aren't supposed to change in a month. For consistency, you want your parameters the same, month to month.
I have a nano, and other than CA and ALK going up and down, everything else stays the same....all the time.
Anyway, you sound young and brash...you'll get it all figured out! :grinyes:
Two weeks to decide, then a month and a half to get the tank setup properly is my current timeframe.
I'm going to need to get something to eat my amphipods, they're clearing out my purple algae faster than it can grow! Not to mention keeping the glass clean. maybe I'll just leave 'em alone.
I'm finished with losing animals. I just lost a Zebra Cape gecko, it ate a cricket that was too large for it, and it got impacted.
I'd take a wee bit longer than that to decide on something as fragile as seahorses. Unfortunately too many of them die to being taken on by novices. And I'm including myself in that novice group by the way so it isn't a slam on you personally.
And why do you need to get something to eat pods? Don't you have fish?
And why do you need to get something to eat pods? Don't you have fish?
I absolutely agree. 2 weeks is not enough to decide and a month is not enough to fully educate yourself and make sure your tank is stable.
It's more like 2 months, probably will be longer since I have to wait for stuff to ship.
And no, I have no fish at current other than my avatar fish, which leaves pods alone. There are not many fish that stay small enough to live in a 10 gallon reef with 16-17 lbs of live rock in it. I got a Fire Fish, but took it back. It wasn't eating anything I could see, and I wanted it to live.
Right now, I htink I'm going to simply set up the extra 10 gallon tank, stuff it full of LR, and get another Pistol Shrimp and some kind of shrimp goby. Probably going to avoid another Yellow Rose Antenna Goby, I'd like some diversity. Though, my YRAG has been extremely easy to care for, we'll see. I think if I go Seahorse in the future, it'll be a 20X10X36 tank, I'll have it under my current tanks. Or maybe I can buy back the 20X18X46 tank that I used to have and put a trio of larger seahorses in it.
In other news on my tank, there are about 40 baby feather dusters popping up in my sand. I'm impressed and a little scared, I'm going to have to put a huge dose of food in the water for them now! I've got at least 100 of the little (and big) things in my tank, most are really small with just a few small feathers. My coral is taking off as well, as well as my Zoa colony, it's expanding. I also found my two rogue mushrooms, they've survived the tank crash and are considerably larger.
I also found a hitchhiker, a red clawed crab has managed to find its way into my reef tank, I'm a little sad because I know I'll never catch her and she'll probably die in the high salinity level water (brackish critter).
And no, I have no fish at current other than my avatar fish, which leaves pods alone.
There are not many fish that stay small enough to live in a 10 gallon reef with 16-17 lbs of live rock in it. I got a Fire Fish, but took it back. It wasn't eating anything I could see, and I wanted it to live.Right now, I htink I'm going to simply set up the extra 10 gallon tank, stuff it full of LR, and get another Pistol Shrimp and some kind of shrimp goby. Probably going to avoid another Yellow Rose Antenna Goby, I'd like some diversity. Though, my YRAG has been extremely easy to care for, we'll see. I think if I go Seahorse in the future, it'll be a 20X10X36 tank, I'll have it under my current tanks. Or maybe I can buy back the 20X18X46 tank that I used to have and put a trio of larger seahorses in it.
In other news on my tank, there are about 40 baby feather dusters popping up in my sand. I'm impressed and a little scared, I'm going to have to put a huge dose of food in the water for them now! I've got at least 100 of the little (and big) things in my tank, most are really small with just a few small feathers. My coral is taking off as well, as well as my Zoa colony, it's expanding. I also found my two rogue mushrooms, they've survived the tank crash and are considerably larger.
I also found a hitchhiker, a red clawed crab has managed to find its way into my reef tank, I'm a little sad because I know I'll never catch her and she'll probably die in the high salinity level water (brackish critter).
My 2 cents. I was you. I was very eager. The anticipation of having a great tank was too much. I had a few bumps in the beginning and turned to the message boards for help. I read the advice and took out the few optimistic comments and ignored the other somewhat negative (looking back they were really helpful) and ran with it. In the end it was disaster. I to tried to save a few bucks and go small and ended up spending more trying to fix things. After getting things in order it was great. My heater broke about a year ago and by the time I realized it again it was another disaster. I have always wanted corals. And I am lucky enough to live near Lancaster, PA and they have the greatest fish store I have ever seen. I go and look at the corals and are so tempted to get some. I have spent a lot of time researching and trying to decide if I could. My tank still has never really recovered from the heater incident. What I mean is it is just OK all my critters are in good spirits but I still have not got the parameters to be as steady as needed to be for coral or any other additions. I am still getting some algae like that I saw in your pictures. As for the pictures the tank does not look healthy at all. I base that on the clarity of the water and the algae on the glass. As far as the sea horses not many people seem to have them. At my LFS they had a tank and it was not connected to the live stock filtration system and you could not get to close to it. I would say to stay away until you have a bigger tank. If you do not listen to everyone and take the advice of them they will not be willing to help. Take a lot of time and enjoy what you have in your tank now. You will see many tiny miracles. After time things will look up and then you can start to add and build a wonderful tank that will be worth the wait.
Yeah, after getting the actual tank setup, I'm going to go with something more hardy than seahorses.
The back wall of my tank is covered with a light smattering of algae because I just can't get back to clean it. I have moved about a quarter of my live rock to my secondary tank, now that it's running, so I'll be able to clean some of that off.
Budget has suddenly become a huge issue, I'm quitting my job to go back to school, so I won't have the money to put seahorses into any tank, regardless of size, so I'm going to stick with something easier to care for, like hermit crabs and a pistol shrimp. Once I have a new job, this summer, I'll look into upgrading tanks and such.
One thing that bugs me is my lighting. I really need better lighting, I'm using full spectrum reptile bulbs right now, which actually seems to have enough oomph for my Zoas. The new tank will be an algae generator for copepods, so it'll always be algaed up.
I think the lighting in the pictures I posted was a little deceptive too, I used too little exposure time so everything looks darker than it really is.
I'll post some pictures of my new setup in the next few days when I get unlazy enough to actually get up and take them. It's pretty spectacular, the new tank looks great, and it's functional. I'll be spending my last paycheck on a pair of powerheads for the new tank, since there's such low flow through the tank itself.
The back wall of my tank is covered with a light smattering of algae because I just can't get back to clean it. I have moved about a quarter of my live rock to my secondary tank, now that it's running, so I'll be able to clean some of that off.
Budget has suddenly become a huge issue, I'm quitting my job to go back to school, so I won't have the money to put seahorses into any tank, regardless of size, so I'm going to stick with something easier to care for, like hermit crabs and a pistol shrimp. Once I have a new job, this summer, I'll look into upgrading tanks and such.
One thing that bugs me is my lighting. I really need better lighting, I'm using full spectrum reptile bulbs right now, which actually seems to have enough oomph for my Zoas. The new tank will be an algae generator for copepods, so it'll always be algaed up.
I think the lighting in the pictures I posted was a little deceptive too, I used too little exposure time so everything looks darker than it really is.
I'll post some pictures of my new setup in the next few days when I get unlazy enough to actually get up and take them. It's pretty spectacular, the new tank looks great, and it's functional. I'll be spending my last paycheck on a pair of powerheads for the new tank, since there's such low flow through the tank itself.
