Setting up 5gal seahorse tank

Any tips or suggestions? The tank has been running for about a month or two now. I put in two damsels for a week then took them out and it has been sitting there for a while. The tank is cycled and has about 10lbs of live rock and a deep sand bed. I do not have a skimmer on it, but the parameters are really good. There is VERY little water flow.. practically no water flow.

I was thinking of getting 50/50 lighting for it and putting in some anemones with the seahorses, if they will work.

 

Sounds like you are about ready. Do you have a fuge? if so, you could probably go without a skimmer. Do you have at least a small powerhead? Don't seahorses like low flow? Or do you have enough flow from your filter/pump? Lighting, I am not sure on for sea horses. If you are experienced you could also have a sponge &/or sea fan.

 

Have you done any research on seahorses? The only species you'll be able to keep in a 5 gallon is H. Zosterae and they require feedings of live baby brine shrimp 2X per day. A nem and any kind of pony can't be kept in the same tank because the seahorse will eventually try to hitch to it and get stung.

www.seahorsesource.com
www.seahorse.org

 

+1

Also, if you took the fish out of the tank and didn't put anything else in there that produces ammonia, it's likely that your bacteria has starved to death and you'll have to start the cycling process all over again.

 

Didn't see that it was a 5g. That will make things a bit more difficult, as you will need to be spot on with WC & params. Seahorses are already somewhat, weak, I guess you could say, against that kind of thing.

 

:/ If your nitrates are high and have to cycle, maybe move up to a bigger tank? Maybe a 14-20g?

 

A bigger tank won't solve the problem. If you let a tank go "fallow" with no ammonia producing critters in it, the bacteria that consumes that ammonia will die. No ammonia eating bacteria means no nitrate which means no denitrifying bacteria either.

 

Just an idea. You said he would have to cycle the tank again, wouldn't this be with be sand?

"...it's likely that your bacteria has starved to death..."

 

The sand, the rock, the sponges in your filters. With out the critters in there pooping and food you feed them rotting there's nothing to feed the colonized nitrifying bacteria so they die off. This is why ppl who leave qt's and hospital tanks set up 24/7 either put the sponges in the sumps of thier main tank or feed the bacteria a squirt of mysid or something similar every couple weeks.

 

What he said