seahorses: my first sw setup

jbradt

jbradt

this is bat country
May 9, 2008
3,197
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outback, NY
Real Name
I. P. Daily
So I've been doing a lot of research lately, and talking with a friend who's an experienced sw/reef keeper and I'm contemplating setting up my first sw tank for seahorses. My friend has offered up some equipment and his help with the setup/cycling, etc. I've been keeping fw tanks for almost a year quite successfully, so I understand basic cycling, maintenance, water chemistry. I've been reading the stickys here so I'm getting the feel for cycling a sw tank.


Equipment:
29g tall tank
25g sump with baffles, etc already in place
protein skimmer rated for 75 gallons (Aqua C remora)
unknown ammount of live rock
a few seahorse safe corals: zoanthid/mushrooms/xenia

stuff I'll need to get:
heater
plumbing supplies for sump
enough live rock to bring it to 30-35lbs
sw test kit
powerhead (of some sort) for appropriate flow for the sh

I know that these guys are hard to keep, but feel good about my chances between being a bit OCD about my tanks and having an expereinced mentor. I'm thinking of keeping the tank fowlr at least at first to avoid lighting/flow requirements of corals and keep the tank as simple as possibe..

I'm wondering what other equipment I'll need, and looking for any advice I can get before I make the decision to jump into this kind of tank. I'm especially wondering about what sort of filtration I'll need over and above the sump, and what kind of powerhead to maintain the proper flow for the sh. Would a canister filter provide both these things?

Any and all advice is wholly appreciated!
 
I'm certainly not a seahorse expert, but it's my understanding that they are best kept in a well established tank (not necessarily one that's just freshly cycled). While corals are not completely out of the question, seahorses do not typically fair all that well in a true reef tank with high amounts of flow.

If you'll be running a sump with additional live rock in it (2+ lbs / gallon total), there's little need to buy a canister filter. You could use it to run carbon or other media, but you can just as easily put those kinds of media into a media bag and place it in between a couple of the baffles in the sump.
 
I keep SeaHorses and they are more active under low lighting/lowflow conditions,this becomes especially important when feeding them as the flow will blow their food out of reach etc. The type of habitat that you want to simulate is a densely planted area with lots of space to wrap their tails around. and I agree with the above statement you should put live rock in the sump for your filtration,an extra filter would just add unwanted flow.and additionally you should diffuse the flow from the sumps output.When facing currents seahorses can get knocked into your aquarium glass and corners.So the main thing im trying to say is Lowlight/lowflow.
 
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So it sounds like keeping it simple is the way to go here... =). I like that. It also sounds like the sump with live rock and filter media would be perfect.

What kinds of plants should I use? Both my fw tanks have been pretty heavily planted for some months now, so I get the basics of that end of things. I'm not familiar however with marine plants... any suggestions?
 
Ask your local fish store if they can get you any sea grass or caluerpa/macroalgae(Macro algae is the good kind),Plastic works well too,and you don't have to worry about it. Remember its all about creating hitching post's.But the live plants will cut out nutrients that algae would otherwise thrive on,so I would ask the pet store for live plants,and if you can't get them, get plastic.
 
Awesome... thanks for the replies. I was thinking about putting non-functional air tubes for hitching posts as well, it sounds like I won't need to with the plants/macroalgae.
 
I've been looking at h. erectus. I've read that they're pretty hardy and a good choice for beginners, and I talked to my lfs... they get all captive bred specimens, trained on frozen food.
 
Yeah... I do a lot of business with this particular lfs. They already know that I'm going to be picky about the purchase... =) And they're still willing to work with me!
I'm thinking of getting a pair, with some inverts/clean up crew, and maybe a small goby or blenny to hang out with them.

The more I think about it, the more feasible it seems. Dang, I can't help but get excited about it!
 
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