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View Full Version : Felicia's BESTEST Christmas Present - RSM130 SEAHORSE tank!!!


SeaHorse_Fanatic
12-30-2011, 07:25 AM
So, Felicia is another reefer-in-training and she's been wanting either jellyfish, an octopus tank or seahorses. Guess which one I decided to set up for her as her Christmas present (hint - look at my screen-name;))

An ex-reefer friend pmed me on Tuesday about a RSM he wanted to sell. Went over there 3:00pm Wednesday out in Kits area. Tank was dirty and had been sitting dry, but uncleaned since being drained several months ago. Brought it home and scrubbed it down and hosed it off. Washed a half bucket of sand outside as well.

Here's what the empty tank looked like when I got it home.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/SeaHorse_Fanatic/DSC_0103.jpg

Had a 50g barrel of sw mixed and ready for a water change so placed the washed tank on stand. Added sand and placed bowl on sand before pumping in roughly half newly mixed water (3 days mixing) and half water from my 165g reef.

Added fully cured live rock (been sitting in my sump for months) and continued filling up tank.

Plugged in all the equipment and made sure tank was running properly.

Added some macro algae and a few frags. Went out to J&L to pick up a couple of "ponies" for Felicia that Jeff had saved for me (thanks Jeff & John at J&L).

Full tank with stand shots:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/SeaHorse_Fanatic/DSC_0105.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/SeaHorse_Fanatic/DSC_0106.jpg

And here they are:

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/SeaHorse_Fanatic/DSC_0108.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a322/SeaHorse_Fanatic/DSC_0109.jpg

Two yellow females but I can't remember what species they were listed at although the same "looking" seahorses at King Ed's were listed as captive bred Kudas.

Thanks for looking.

Anthony

Delphinus
12-30-2011, 07:59 AM
:lol: Everytime I start to feel addicted, all I have to do is remind myself of you and suddenly I'm not worried anymore. :lol:

Just kidding. Great looking little setup there Anthony! :cool: Cool little ponies too.

Lance
12-30-2011, 04:04 PM
Well Done Felicia! Enjoy your ponies.

lastlight
12-30-2011, 04:04 PM
Looks great but this is one I won't be sharing with my wife. She wants the horsies REAL bad!

ScubaSteve
12-30-2011, 04:59 PM
Looks awesome Anthony! Lucky kid!

Bblinks
12-30-2011, 10:15 PM
Looks good buddy. keep those pictures coming.

msjboy
12-30-2011, 10:21 PM
Nice tank! Now the newborn also needs a tank....how about a nocturnal biotope tank...saves cost on lighting.

Msjboy

jjntm
12-30-2011, 11:21 PM
hey Anthony, nice set-up... I'm jealous...lol... just noticed the koralia in the tank and was curious if you have ever had any issue's with them in the tank... I have attempted h.erectus' once and lost one to microbubbles and the other to a koralia... is was a koralia 3 in a 135 gal mind you... but just wanted to hear your experience with them... I have been dying to try again, but not willing to until I figure out the perfect set-up for a few in a larger tank....

paddyob
12-31-2011, 12:48 AM
So you never let it cycle at all?

Not worried? I know you said cured rock and all. But the sand you washed could still cycle. I washed mine back in the beginning. And it definitely cycled.

Nice set up. I am curious to try horses.

SeaHorse_Fanatic
12-31-2011, 03:19 AM
hey Anthony, nice set-up... I'm jealous...lol... just noticed the koralia in the tank and was curious if you have ever had any issue's with them in the tank... I have attempted h.erectus' once and lost one to microbubbles and the other to a koralia... is was a koralia 3 in a 135 gal mind you... but just wanted to hear your experience with them... I have been dying to try again, but not willing to until I figure out the perfect set-up for a few in a larger tank....

The HK is NOT turned on. I added in there before the seahorses but am going to pull it out soon. No need for extra flow. Just one RSM powerhead is enough flow for the seahorse tank.

Anthony

SeaHorse_Fanatic
12-31-2011, 03:28 AM
So you never let it cycle at all?

Not worried? I know you said cured rock and all. But the sand you washed could still cycle. I washed mine back in the beginning. And it definitely cycled.

Nice set up. I am curious to try horses.

I washed it out completely so I don't expect it to cycle at all. Its almost like sterile sand I washed it so much. When I set up a tank using cured live rock from my sumps, it is always an "instant" tank. Not what I recommend for others to do, but it's worked for me since the cured live rock was out of the water for 10 seconds max.

I now have some Purigen in each of my tanks as insurance. Weird, but the only tank that I ever had a cycling issue with was one that was set up and left running empty for a month. My "instant" tanks are done with cured live rock that has usually been in my sump for months and have been out of the water for 10 seconds or less while being transferred 5' across the room.

Of course I don't recommend instant tanks but it's a case of "do as I say, not as I do".:wink:

When I sell any cured live rock, I usually have a bucket of aged sw to fill the bucket or cooler so any mini-cycle will be minimal.

Anthony

Casey8
12-31-2011, 04:40 AM
Very nice tank. I am thinking of setting up a seahorse tank in the future too, just waiting for a good priced used tank from someone here for sale. What kind of food are you feeding it ? I have read people say if you want to keep your seahorse with a bright color, do not put live rock in your tank because it will change its color to gray to match with its surrounding, is that true ?

Ken
12-31-2011, 06:07 AM
Hey Anthony, does she get to ride them? Regards Ken

SeaHorse_Fanatic
12-31-2011, 06:18 AM
Very nice tank. I am thinking of setting up a seahorse tank in the future too, just waiting for a good priced used tank from someone here for sale. What kind of food are you feeding it ? I have read people say if you want to keep your seahorse with a bright color, do not put live rock in your tank because it will change its color to gray to match with its surrounding, is that true ?

I usually have all types of macroalgae in any seahorse tank with only one live rock tower, so that way there is lots of open space for the ponies to cruise around. I had one yellow female that turned pink while hanging out on red halimenia all the time. Otherwise, most of my ponies pretty much stayed the same colour that I bought them at.

SeaHorse_Fanatic
12-31-2011, 06:19 AM
Hey Anthony, does she get to ride them? Regards Ken

Of course. Why get your daughter ponies if she can't ride them?:wink::lol:

SeaHorse_Fanatic
12-31-2011, 06:34 AM
Stefan (aka TheKid)

Thanks for the RSM. Felicia loves her new seahorse RSM 130.

rayjay
12-31-2011, 01:42 PM
I would caution you to watch the temperature of the tank.
Being covered over like that may possibly lead to elevated temperatures that can be problematic for seahorses in captivity.
In their natural habitat, bacteria are not contained and ones like the vibriosis don't become a problem. In our tanks though, vibriosis and some others are in a captive, nutrient laden tank that make their numbers increase exponentially with each rising degree, especially above 74°F. Some succeed not too bad up to 78° but it means excessive husbandry, especially when you have to keep the tank cleaner than a reef tank even at lower temperatures.
While most of our other salt fish are able to deal with this, seahorses don't have the same ability.
Dan Underwood of seahorsesource.com explains it best in "A Commentary by Dan Underwood" which is linked to at the bottom of My Thoughts.... (http://www.angelfire.com/ab/rayjay/seahorsekeeping.html) page which is also linked in my signature.
As a side note, the only TRUE captive bred seahorses coming into Canada at this time are reidi and comes from Aquamarine International, and dwarfs and erectus coming from Seahorse Corral in Florida.
The remainder are "tank raised" or "net pen raised" in ocean water that has not been sufficiently treated and filtered for pathogens as the ones for the hobby are just a small percentage filtered off from the millions that are being bred for the Asian medicine trade.
True captive bred seahorses are raised in commercial salt water like I.O. or in ocean water that is sufficiently treated to remove the pathogens.