My 29g bio cube seahorse tank

DRC Archive Member Tanks
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As I said before, this is a new venture for me. Since been bitten by reef bug 20 something years ago I’ve always wanted to do a seahorse tank. I’ve always thought that it’s a unique and interesting animal to keep and learned it habits’. I also learned along the way what people say about seahorses that they are hard animal to keep and requires a lot of attention more than a reef tank. With that being said, I’m always busy with maintain a reef tank and never really have time to even think of having a seahorse tank because of that. Now that I don’t have a big reef tank to maintain and I do miss having to do something with reefing. I figured now may be a good time to do up a small seahorse biotopes tank and learn something new.

The tank has been setup and running since the 6th. It is a 29g Coralife Biocube self contained. I think it took me longer to put together the stand than setting up the tank, so simple. I think it took me 5 minute. I took all the bio-balls out and replaced it with rubble rocks to help with biological filtration. I then added several rocks and about 2” of sand to help root the macro algae. Of course I wanted to do as close to its natural habitat as possible with the sea/turtle grass but, from what I learn this type of grass will require a lot more lighting then I can provide with this small tank. So, will do with what I got or can get.

At the moment the tank is cycling with added Seachem Stability for biological help. I don’t want to wait till the tank is cycled so I went ahead and add the c. prolifera anyways and hopefully it will be OK.

Here are some pics. Not much to this tank till I get the ponies in there.

At the house

Some assembly required

Done

Back with bio-balls

First setup

Current setup

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Very Nice A

Keep the pics coming ::thumbsup::

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Thanks Bill. I will, but it will probably be boring since nothing much in the tank other than the seahorse. Nothing like the coral tanks, of course.

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Oh good, you found some local prolifera. I will bring you a sprig of some other type at the meeting. if i got it. the dang chaeto crowded most of the other stuff out.

You know , back around 6 or 8 years ago we had a member, Greeneyedblackcat, Jim, who invented his very own, automatic sea horse tank feeding system. Sea horses have short digestive systems and need to eat at least 6 times a day. He invented a pnuematic feeding system built on a pressure cooker pot, with controls to both feed and then purge the lines, to prevent spoilage , on a timer. all contained in a mini dorm fridge to keep the mix of frozen brine shrimp fresh for about a week per filling.

feeding… No problem.

There might still be a post or two about the system on RC . we used to have the full schematic here on the site. not sure if its in an archive or what. But Jim always encouraged us all to try and build one too.

it looked exactly like this

and the vacuum pump, solenoid valves and controls on the back.

He was our first great auto controls reefer, before all this packaged electornics came about. his tank would send him emails, texts and voice messages if a monitored parameter went out of range. Really cool!

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Wow, nice looking contraption and great idea. I’m a DIY kinda person but, not an inventor. I’m sure if he can somehow make it smaller, he can patent it and make lots of money.

Ken, I can still use some more prolifera if you have it and what ever macroalgae you have. Thanks

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It was Good to see you and Casey tonight. cant wait to see some picks of the macro strung around the tank. Hey its almost Christmas. Like stringing lights!

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Cant wait to see the horsing around begin! I used a Bio cube 14 stand for my nano. PITA to assemble. Instructions were missing and the hardware was spilled in the box. verdict_in Hope you had an easier time than me.

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[quote=“kaptken, post:6, topic:6851”]
It was Good to see you and Casey tonight. cant wait to see some picks of the macro strung around the tank. Hey its almost Christmas. Like stringing lights![/quote]

Thanks for the prolifera Ken, it’s great. I think I now have more then enough in the tank for the ponies. I will post pics tomorrow.

[quote=“Scottman81, post:7, topic:6851”]
Cant wait to see the horsing around begin! I used a Bio cube 14 stand for my nano. PITA to assemble. Instructions were missing and the hardware was spilled in the box. verdict_in Hope you had an easier time than me.[/quote]

Me too Scott, I can’t wait. Tank is still immature and cycling. Mine is the 29g stand and it was easy to assemble. Instruction was clear and all the hard ware were there.

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You know A. you can put a couple really gentle fish in the tank with the SH also. Pipefish are always recomended. they eat the same food, and not aggressive. And i would think a little yellow clown Goby or two would add a bit of color and personality also. they are so cool. just hover in mid water or perch on rock or the glass. almost no extra bioload.

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I’ve been reading up on the ponies tank mates. Yellow gobies are one of my favorites as will to be added to the tank and some pipe fish as well.

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Looks good - always wanted a pony tank, just never had the time to dedicate to it.

I used Stability when I was cycling my tanks too - one thing to point out is you need to feed the tank if you aren’t otherwise their bacterial spores won’t do anything. Once I added some raw shrimp, the tanks cycled pretty quickly.

As for adding the macro during the cycle - should be fine. I did some reading on adding macros during a cycle and they eat the ammonium in the water to a point and allow the cycle to not be as harsh on the system. I added cheato to my systems during the cycle and it was literally just another day or two and they cycled. I was impressed.

Can’t wait to see more pics!

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14 Nov 2013 update:

Thanks for the info Sneeyatch. I also did and still use Seachem Stability on this tank and add half raw shrimp as well. I always and recommend the use of Seachem Stability when start up a new tank, helps cycling the new tank quicker.

After the recommended 7th day of dosing, I added two longspine cardinal fish to help further the cycling process and also took the shrimp out. Also added some zoos, xenia and some blue sympodium from Ken; thanks Ken. So far so good.

Here’s some updated pics and video:

Left side:

FTS:

Right side:

Animals:

Video:

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Hey, that looks like a pretty cool Mixed Salad! Lots of greens!

That’s gonna be a happy coral for the little guys. I hope the red grape is happy and grows well. that will make a nice bright red bush you can easily prune to keep small enough.

Nice!!

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Thanks Ken. I try to scape it the way I envision the seagrass bed with seahorses that I’ve seen before when I was station in Okinawa. Of course without the seagrass, but I like the setup anyway. Now just waiting on the horses.

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Well, you can’t get any betterthan that. It looks great. I hope the macro types take hold and thrive. That will help them a lot, and the prolifera almost looks like sea grass when it fills in.

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Looks great A, glad to see ya back at it.

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Thanks Casey. Something to do.

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Hi A. I was just doing some house keeping on my bookmark list and rediscovered this one. You might give them a call and see if they are still in business.

http://sealifeinc.net/catalog/index.php

down in the keys.

Oh, and i forgot about this one too. Sea Horses under Livestock tab.

http://www.livebrineshrimp.com/Index.htm

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Tank looks awesome! I love macros in the displays - looks so much more natural. Good job!

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Very nice A ::thumbsup:: Glad you have found a way to satisfy the obsession. lOl :BEER
Good luck with the ponies!!! YahoO