thinkin about a change

In my nano, I want to set it up as a seahorse tank but I was thinking of going with all macro algae and moving all the corals, however I've never kept macros with the exception of filtration macros for my fuge, anyone have any experience with SW planted tanks? Was thinking of doing an assortment of the better looking macros from reefcleaners.org and keeping the standard JBJ filtration setup (sponges, carbon, porcelin rings)

 

I've always liked seahorses myself, so I vote go for it and post lots of pics.

 

i've read that the best approach is like a freshwater planted tank,, start with a boatload of plants in there so they can outcompete the algae that you are going to make perfect conditions for,also from what i've read i think you'd be better off with no mechanical filtration in this setup,why make the plants compete with your filtration? different supplements to like iron etc..this is a site for marine planted some cool pics/ideas there...
Marine Planted Tanks - Powered by vBulletin

 

Good luck with them. They need pristine water and very little flow. If I remember correctly, they are messy eaters too. Keep us posted. Luna

 

Sea horses are very hard to keep. My horses fell after 3 months when my nitrates hit about 1ppm. They are very sensitive. I should have put macros to absorb any and all nitrate and phosphates. I also had them in my JBJ nano. Small tanks are tough, the params sway too easily. They aren't too messy, I fed them mysis shrimp and they just swallowed them whole.

 

hm, well i may just do something else wit it then

 

Nano's are bad tanks for seahorses to small for them in the first place, seahorses need room to move, especially vertical or head room. the minimum tank recommended for a pair of seahorses is a 29, but a 20 tall will work. its all about the height. Nanos can also be very hard to keep at the temperatures that required to keep seahorses healthy, My tanks are both kept between 72 and 76 degrees. As far as removing all the corals that isn't needed. there are lots of corals and fish that are perfectly compatible with seahorses. Most softies, Leathers, Zoa's and such are great, I have those and mushrooms in my both of my seahorse tanks. And the planted tanks is a great Idea, many use Macro algae in their tanks, I have a few and am getting more slowly but they can be rather expensive or so I have found out.

As far as being hard to keep I completely disagree with that, they are no more harder than any other Marine Coral, fish or invertebrates. All they require it the time to do water changes and feed them, mine get fed 2 times a day and if I am home and can feed them they get it 3 times a day.

I am sorry to say but I really don't think that it was the nitrates that did them in. My tanks because of the volume of food I feed them are both really high in Nitrates and Phosphates, it just comes with the territory.

Water changes and good filtration help keep it from getting completely out of hand. And if your feeding Mysis, especially frozen yes they are messy due to the fact that they push the excess out of their gills and into the water, it looks like a white cloud which is why they are considered messy eaters.

sea horses do not require "pristine" water, they just require the same water as any other coral or fish do. As far as flow goes they like less flow than a SPS tank would but they like some. I use 2 MaxiJet 1200's with Hydor FLO Rotating Deflector's on them plus a HOB filter that pumps about 350 GPH in my biggest tank.

More information about seahorses can be found at www.seahorse.org, and although I am not an expert, I can answer allot of questions. I also have access to a couple of friends that are both moderators on seahorse.org and very accomplished seahorse keepers.

 

my 24g nano is as tall as a 20g tall I beleive it's the 12g tanks that are short the 24 is pretty good size

I know I can have corals in there to, I just dont want to, was going to move them all to my 90 and do a straight saltwater planted tank, including some chaeto to start with for pods to grow in, I was actually thinking about ditching or customizing the hood so I can replace the micro sponge filtration in one of the rear compartments with a big mass of chaeto or something simular

anyway it was just an idea I was tossing around, I already have the 24g tank and I want to use it for something so I'm trying to figure out what, currently I have corals and fish in it but I really want a seahorse setup and dont want to do another tank

 

I don't know if it was something else other than the NO3, but something got to it. The tail one the male turned white, like it lost some scales. All my other params checked out to zero, except the NO3. The nano it was in was a 24G JBJ that I gave to my ex-gf when she moved out. My horses were pretty large, about 7-8" when erect. When they ate the mysis, they never pushed anything out of their gills, not that I saw anyway.
I'm glad you are having success with your horses gazog, they are wonderful creatures. I had a stroke of bad luck with them, whatever caused them to die.