New pony setup! Questions...

[NakiFantaki]

Hi guys!

So I promised my wife a seahorse tank. We currently have a 29 gallon freshwater tank that houses a few mollies and other freshly fishes. I plan to take the tank down. Rehome the fish, give it a good cleaning and setup the new tank. Anyways, this tank cannot be drilled so we have to go with a HOB filter. Can anyone recommend what I should be using? Brands and or links would be super helpful!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Chrisfish]

@SeahorseKeeper

 

[Waters]

As long as you are using live rock for bacterial filtration, the make or model of the HOB doesn't really matter. Are you using it for chemical filtration or just to remove particulates in the water column?

 

[vlangel]

Hi guys!

So I promised my wife a seahorse tank. We currently have a 29 gallon freshwater tank that houses a few mollies and other freshly fishes. I plan to take the tank down. Rehome the fish, give it a good cleaning and setup the new tank. Anyways, this tank cannot be drilled so we have to go with a HOB filter. Can anyone recommend what I should be using? Brands and or links would be super helpful!

Thanks in advance!

You can also use a hob overflow box if you want to add a sump. My seahorse tank has a hob overbox and it works great. If you carefully match the flow of the pump up to the top of the tank to the capacity of the drain you will not have any trouble. The dc pumps come with controllers to dial in the flow which is helpful to matching it with the drain. (The dc pumps are energy efficient and give off less heat too, which is good in a seahorse tank where you want to keep the temperature in the low 70s). Eshopps makes some good overflow boxes.

I know that I did not answer your question about a hob pump and the answer to that question is yes, you can use one. It is not the optimal solution because it must be cleaned diligently. If I were using a hob pump I would use filter floss and carbon and changed it religiously 2Xs a week. The reason for doing that is so that no excess uneatten food or detritus is trapped more than 3 days or so which gives pathogenic bacteria a chance to grow. Seahorses are much more prone to bacterial infections than other marine fish. So you can use a hob pump but a sump is a better option for a couple reasons. 1. You can use an oversized skimmer in a sump, which I highly recommend with seahorses. They are also sensitive to dissolved organics in the water column and a good quality oversized skimmer can effectively deal with that. I recommend getting one at least 2Xs bigger and 3Xs bigger is not overkill with seahorses. There are hob skimmers but they generally are not as effective as skimmers in a sump. 2. The added water volume in a sump is also helpful. 29 gallons is the bare minimum recommended for 1 pair of seahorses but a sump will give you a little more water to aid you in keeping up excellant water quality.

 

[NakiFantaki]

As long as you are using live rock for bacterial filtration, the make or model of the HOB doesn't really matter. Are you using it for chemical filtration or just to remove particulates in the water column?

I plan to only use about 10-12 pounds of rock in this tank. Mostly because that is what I have left over from my first build and my wife doesn't want a ton of rock in there. It is dry rock from BRS that I have already cured. The HOB would be for both I guess. More so for a place for our media to go but removing particulates from the water is cool too.

I was just wondering if I should get one that is rated for something that's way bigger then my tank needs. And if there was any model that performed better.

 

[NakiFantaki]

You can also use a hob overflow box if you want to add a sump. My seahorse tank has a hob overbox and it works great. If you carefully match the flow of the pump up to the top of the tank to the capacity of the drain you will not have any trouble. The dc pumps come with controllers to dial in the flow which is helpful to matching it with the drain. (The dc pumps are energy efficient and give off less heat too, which is good in a seahorse tank where you want to keep the temperature in the low 70s). Eshopps makes some good overflow boxes.

I know that I did not answer your question about a hob pump and the answer to that question is yes, you can use one. It is not the optimal solution because it must be cleaned diligently. If I were using a hob pump I would use filter floss and carbon and changed it religiously 2Xs a week. The reason for doing that is so that no excess uneatten food or detritus is trapped more than 3 days or so which gives pathogenic bacteria a chance to grow. Seahorses are much more prone to bacterial infections than other marine fish. So you can use a hob pump but a sump is a better option for a couple reasons. 1. You can use an oversized skimmer in a sump, which I highly recommend with seahorses. They are also sensitive to dissolved organics in the water column and a good quality oversized skimmer can effectively deal with that. I recommend getting one at least 2Xs bigger and 3Xs bigger is not overkill with seahorses. There are hob skimmers but they generally are not as effective as skimmers in a sump. 2. The added water volume in a sump is also helpful. 29 gallons is the bare minimum recommended for 1 pair of seahorses but a sump will give you a little more water to aid you in keeping up excellant water quality.

Thanks for the advice. I was trying to avoid the overflow/sump because in the future I plan to put my upgrade tank in the same room that this tank is going into and I'm worried about noise. Sitting in your living room with guests and the sound of rushing water... lol

BUT! You are right. And I do have an extra 10 or 20 gallon tank that I could use for a sump. I'll definitely look into Eshopps.

Luckily temperature is not too much of a concern for me.. the spot in my house where this tank is going to go stays extremely cold. We almost froze our freshwater fish in the past. Lol.

Thanks for your help!

 

[vlangel]

Thanks for the advice. I was trying to avoid the overflow/sump because in the future I plan to put my upgrade tank in the same room that this tank is going into and I'm worried about noise. Sitting in your living room with guests and the sound of rushing water... lol

BUT! You are right. And I do have an extra 10 or 20 gallon tank that I could use for a sump. I'll definitely look into Eshopps.

Luckily temperature is not too much of a concern for me.. the spot in my house where this tank is going to go stays extremely cold. We almost froze our freshwater fish in the past. Lol.

Thanks for your help!

You are welcome. If you have more questions as you go feel free to ask me.