65 gallon seahorse tank

[sweat90lx]

I've had my 55 gallon reef tank for a little over 5 years and always wanted to have seahorses. I found a used 65 and decide to try seahorses.
[video]

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Looking good so far! I'll have to show my girlfriend what it takes to have a good seahorse tank, she keeps bugging me to build her one haha

 

[sweat90lx]

Thanks. My wife has told me no more tanks until I said seahorses. Lol.

 

[prsnlty]

Nice setup! If you have no previous experience with seahorses there are some great articles under the forum article tab and loads of info in the seahorse and pipefish sub forum [emoji12]

 

[Katrina71]

That looks great. Please update with lots of pics.

 

[vlangel]

If you have any questions feel free to ask in the seahorse/pipefish section. There are lots of experienced keepers there.

 

[sweat90lx]

Won't be long now. Cycle is done and nitrates are high. Done about 50% water change. Will do a couple more to get them down to under 10.

 

[vlangel]

Very cool. It looks great and seems like it wont be long now! Do you have a projection when you will begin to stock it?

 

[sweat90lx]

Thanks! Hoping for later this week.

 

[vlangel]

Thanks! Hoping for later this week.

How exciting. Do you know what you plan to stock? Soft coral, macro algaes or artificial decor'. Where will you get your seahorses? Seahorse Source is an excellant place to get them and for a very fair price for captive bred. Ocean Rider is another reputable seahorse farm that sell captive bred but you will pay more.

 

[sweat90lx]

Very excited. Will be stocked with gorgonias and macros. I'm going to St. Augustine later this week and will stop at Fins2Frags. I've heard Sonia is very knowledgeable about them and has captive bred.

 

[sweat90lx]

Added some gorgonias and macro algae.
Then ordered a pair of H erectus from seahorse source. They have been in the tank a couple days and are eating well.

 

[sweat90lx]

I'm not sure why people think seahorses are difficult to keep. Maybe because their requirements are slightly different than most reef tanks.
I feed them mysis twice a day and do a 10 gallon water change every two weeks. They are growing and changing to yellow.

 

[vlangel]

Your ponies are looking great. They are quite sturdy little creatures about some things. Its is just their susceptibility to bacterial infections, and dissolved organics. If measures are taken to deal with those issues then seahorses can thrive.

One word of caution...with seahorses it can take awhile for the dissolved organics to build up in the water column and detritus in the rock and or sump. You may not notice either of those things happening and parameter testing will not detect it either. It is common not to have trouble until the tank is up for 6-9 even 12 months later.