56 Gallon Seahorse tank (NEW FISH)

Blog about the start of my sea horse tank. First time owning them and taking my time making sure everything is in order for them. Just tonight we got a 56 Gal tank (tall) and some dead live rock that I plan on bringing back to life (ps, if you have any suggestions on bringing it back please do share). Will be updating as I go with pictures. Enjoy

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Working on getting more stuff. Was thinking of black sand (harmful??). Still need to get a filter, heater and live sand.

Tite! That will be a great conversation piece. Any particular seahorse you have in mind when your ready? I'll be watching!

Yep! the Mustangs - Hippocampus erectus. It is suppose to be their harder of the ponies (though they all are fragile) and if I'm not mistaken, could even change colors with it's background. I plan on getting two of those and from there I have no clue.

oh, once I have a feel for things I would like to get Zulu-Lulu Hippocampus capensis. They look really cool to me.

Sweet I can't wait to see how this turns out...Good luck!

stierwalt3 wrote:Sweet I can't wait to see how this turns out...Good luck!

Thanks!!

UPDATE:
scrubbed rock and set the tank up.
Have a protein skimmer going, but no filter or heater. (going out tomorrow for those)
Added three cupfuls of live sand from my other tank. Would have my live rock, but have Aptaisia (sp?)on it and I don't want to spread it to the new rocks.
Even added a piece of raw deli shrimp to get the cycle going (rumors have it that it helps, guess we will see).
Keeping it in master bedroom. It stays dark most of the time.

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Water is still settling from sand.

Day 2:

Set up the cascade canister filter and heater. Tested water..
PH: 7.8
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate:0

Day 3:
PH: 8.0
Amm: 1.0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0

Day 4:
PH: 8.0 (even added PH buffer, but didnt come up any. Adding another dose tonight)
Amm: 50.-1.0 (what ever number that would be)
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0

went to the LFS today and picked up a nice piece of live rock (dead coral) that looked really cool. Helps out with the cycle and will be an awesome resting place for the seahorses. Here some pics of the tank and rock set up. Prob pick up some more rock later on. Do plan on putting some fake colorful coral pieces to bring in some color.

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sorry. I could have wiped down the glass first. lol

Sweet. I can already imagine it with seahorses in there. Great job so far inspirational aswell.

Day 7

Did 10% water change today.

PH: 8.4
Amm: 1.0
Nitrite: 0.25
Nitrate: 5.0

Day 8

PH: 7.4
Amm: 0.50-1.0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10

Day 9

PH: 8.4
Amm: 0.25
Nitrite: 1.0
Nitrate: 10-20

Looking good so far

Question;

Only seahorses or are you planning on corals also

I've found PH doesn't matter nearly as much (in SW) as all the other parameters;

Amm
Nitrite
Nitrate
Ca
Mg
Alk
Sg

Just an FYI

just seahorses. I didn't know that. Thanks. I only have the test for ph, amm, nitrate and nitrite. Not for the rest you had mentioned. I plan on going to a lfs and seeing what I can find. Do you mind telling me the recommended measurements for the CA MG AK and SG? Thanks again reefer!!

Since you are only doing seahorses you should be fine, but if you do add corals the others are much more important.
SG Salinity, they say 1.022 but NSW is closer to 1.025-26
Alk- 8-11dkh
calcium 380-460 (I run mine higher)
Mg - 3 times calcium or 1200-1400-ppm

A little nitrates are okay but very low

Havent gotten a new test kit yet, but here is an update of the current test kit I do have:

Day 14

PH: 8.4
Amm: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0

These numbers actually made my night. First tank to be set up by me from scratch. (sigh of relief)

Water parameters have been good.
Added some black sand and fake plants tonight. Fixed up the rock work as well. Think I might stick with it now. Trying to upload pics, but camera being sucky.

soo...what do ya think??

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still a little cloudy, but its getting there. Think I am pretty much happy with the rock work (suggestions welcomed!).
All thats left now is
power heads
more fake plants
glass top to place the light on (didn't come with it)
and in hopes of eventually looking for some lights suitable for coral (no rush).
Think of anything I need or should add please feel free to make suggestions!!!

Looks good

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FINALLY!! Got my glass canopy (a tad bit big, but oh well).
Like my FAKE coral, huh Still looking for a nice light fixture so until then, the fake will have to work. Going out tomorrow to get some Copepods and maybe a nice fish just to get things moving. Almost there!!!

FINALLY!!! We have life in the tank.
Added a Banggai Cardinal to the tank to just liven it up some.

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that little guy looks awesome
When are you going to get the sea horse's??

I was thinking a month or two from now. I just ordered some Copepods and would like to have them populated before getting them. I still plan on feeding them frozen mysis though. I am getting excited though, I dont know if I can wait that long.

I'm super impatient, I don't think I could wait two months lol
but good luck

Looks great!!! I can't wait to see the finished project

Two months wait! Now that's devotion!!!

Added the Copepods to the tank on Thursday. Been watching and seeing tiny little critters on the glass.

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Got some nice pieces of rock and did some more aquascaping. Maybe one day I will get a hang of it and actually come out with a good structure. Not as creative as I was hoping, but it will do for now. Getting real close now. Lights are to be in sometime this coming week (old ones just pooped out on me). From there like to start some coral and get the SH.
Soon...I promise

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Just finished the back of the tank. Must admit it looks a whole lot better.

I'm digging the rock scape
what type pf lights did you decide to go with?
what did you use to paint the back of the tank, I'm thinking of removing my black paint and going back to blue lol

Thanks. The only 30" light fixture I could find was a Suns Lighting 250 watt Metal Halide w/ moon lights and such.
I used a basic flat black for the paint and you prob already know to do this, but use a roller so you dont get any streaks. My 125 gal we have deep blue on it, but this one is in my bed room so I wanted to do a darker look with the black sand.

Oh, The lights on top of the tank are not staying there. They came off of my old 55. I was just using them to see how it would look inside. My lights wont get here until this week.

FINALLY got my lights and now my FIRST piece of coral
Figured I would go with Pulsing Xenia since I've read it is pretty hardy and I have been wanting them ever since my first visit to my LFS, Aquarium Paradise, in their amazing display.
Now that I have lights I am on the market for some cool pieces of coral (location Tacoma or close). Thanks for watching so far...shes a coming along...
Pics to come..

nice ..set-up!!!cant wait to see the seahorses!!the best of luck to you!!

These pictures are from last night. Had trouble loading them until now. You can see the coral was still adjusting to my tank.

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This is from today...
Purchased some Red Mangrove Propagule (I believe) and some red stuff (sorry, forgot name). You can see quite a difference in the Pulsing Xenia. It actually has started attaching its self to my rock. I tried zooming in to show that.

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Sorry it has been so long. Have done a lot of changing and adding. No Seahorses yet, but moving a long any ways. Here are some pics....


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Finger Leather
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Green Alvaepora
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Green Birdsnest
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Purple Bonsai
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Any horses yet??

Guess you can say I have decided against that for now. Maybe sometime next year. Kind of gotten over whelmed with the coral idea and that has been keeping me busy. will be posting pics soon.

bummer on the sea horses
but good luck with the corals!!!

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Purple Hornets

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Eagle Eye

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Armor Of Gods

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Lolly Pops??

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Galexia??

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forgot name... :p

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Pulsing Xenia

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Kenya Trees

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swishy

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Huckle Berry Fin (my fav fish)

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Purple Bonsai

I really like this thread, and great work on the tank setup!

Thanks. I appreciate it. I am super proud of it. Its nice to see the before and after pics.

ya i have to say the tank has come along way. looking great. i love the setup u had when u first started getting the corals to be honest. looked very natural with all the holes and such in there. just my two cents. either way its a great setup.

Thanks. I actually did too. I am in the process of moving right now so actually excited to tear it down and set it back up. Pics will be soon to come by next month.

Its always fun to tear down a tank and set it back up good luck, I hope you don't loose any livestock. I'm actually thinking of doing the same thing, but I want a 40G now is not much different from my 38G but I like the foot print better

Well it is always nice to get more room We are moving like 10 mins away to Puyallup so I am hoping that it goes smoothly. Figured it would be similar to when you first buy your coral and bring them home in baggies. Ill be doing the same. If you have any tips do tell

I would probably dedicate one whole day to move the tanks
its better to take it slow instead of rushing things. and I now moving is quite stressful anyways lol. Styrofoam boxes work the best to help you keep the temp stable, and also make sure to have plenty of clean water for your tank. At least thats what I do

personally when i have moved in the past i just take care of the fish tanks first. makes me feel better about the whole rest of the move. (dont really have to worry about much else) also really dig the thread. hope the tank looks just as good when u set it back up.

Thanks you guys. I did exactly that. Dedicated the whole day to them. I ended up selling two and packed up this 56 gallon. I bought those plastic baggies (similar to ones you get your fish with from LFS) and bagged everything in its own bag placed them into half way filled tank water in a cooler. Wrapped live rock up in newspaper. I haven't lost anything yet, but my flowerpots are looking pretty bad. They are hard to keep any ways, so I am expecting the worst.