20 Gallon Seahorse tank

While I would love to have more flow in our pipefish / seahorse tank, the Hydor Koralia Nano we had in there when starting it blasted so hard it was a bother even to the 7" Dragonface Pipefish. So now it's just the standard return pump's flow on the 14g BioCube. The little 2½" H. Kelloggi in there probably couldn't deal with more than just the return pump. Drs. Foster & Smith say "Spray bars may be used to create gentle flow while eliminating stagnant areas in the aquarium." That may be an option to pursue.

 

After running the korelia in there I completely agree with you. Its a korelia 1 so I think its way too much. Im going to be adding a HOB filter so I can run carbon. It combined with the fuge pump and UV filter pump should be enough. I recently read online that 5 times turnover per hour is good for sea horses. That combo should give me close to that.

 

Heres another shot of the tank. On the right back is the korelia and right front is the UV filter. Im probably taking the korelia out and adding a HOB filter on the left side. Ill have the QT fish out of there and the live rock back in by tonight. Should be about ready by the end of next week.

 

I'm assuming you are getting a damsel to cycle the tank. IMO you might want to cycle without the damsel. Damsels are generally used to start the cycle of tanks because they are hardy. They are also fast and very hard to catch. This is especially true if you have live rock and mangroves. The last damsel I had to catch made me have to breakdown a good portion of the tank. And since you are creating a seahorse tank you can't leave the damsel in there, it will stress out the seahorses too much.

 

Its already cycled and running good. Only had a mini cycle because I used very established live rock from my reef. Just had all my fish in QT in there for a few days and still cant detect any ammonia nitrates or nitrite. I ordered the plants today got a HOB filter with bio wheel mainly for flow and the ability to run carbon. My heater is on its way. By the time the heater gets here and I get my temp stable at 73 if I still cant pick up any ammonia or nitrates Ill be ready to start trying to find some sea horses.

Oh and the clean up crew is in transfered over from my reef.

Almost there!!!

 

Heres the final view of my equipment. All Im waiting on is a more precise heater and plants. Water is almost clear finally.

 

well its looking really good so far. Good luck and cant wait to see the finished product!

 

Thank you and I cant wait either. Seems to be what this hobby is mostly about.

 

The water is finally clear. Still getting good test readings. Im going to pick up a few more cleaners today. Thinking about a goby and pistol shrimp, peppermint shrimp and maybe a little dry base rock to go along that back wall. I also think Im going to frag some zoo's from my reef for this tank. Should look nice and Im really curious how this LED will do for coral. I currently have a torch coral hiding in the built in fuge because my fish was eating it in the reef tank.

 

Why a heater???
Do you have the tank set up in a cold room?
Most seahorse tanks don't use heaters because the real problem is getting rid of heat.
In a room kept at 70, with lights and pumping equipment that transfers heat, the tank temperature will be higher than that and you don't want over 74°F.
You mentioned possibly getting a chiller so that would be fighting the heater and increasing the energy required for the tank.