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Felicia's 30 Gallon Seahorse Tank - Seahorses have arrived!!!

You guys have been so much help! Based on all your input as well as the input from members on N-R, I think I've come up with a final design. I ended up deciding against the split design because it added a 4th chamber which made everything tighter. Also, I'd prefer the return be off to one side so that its not what you see right smack in the middle of the tank. I talked to my friend on N-R who has a 30 gallon tank with 2 H. Erectus seahorses and after hearing how dirty the tank is going to get from feeding the seahorses, I think the fuge would actually get too dirty in the split design. The split design would skim uneaten mysis and masticated particles down into the fuge where they would settle and become a nitrate factory. I think having the fuge after the filtration will be fine because with as messy as the seahorses seem to be, there still should be nutrients left in the water after a pass through the filtration. Case in point, my main tank has an AC70 HOB that I modified to have a fuge section. The water pulled into the filter passes through the filter floss, chemipure, and purigen before going into the fuge section with the chaeto. That chaeto still seems to get plenty of nutrients and grows fine there.

So anyways, here is what I'm thinking as my final design:


I ended up reversing everything because I have better access to the left side of the tank (left side when facing the tank). I want the skimmer and media, which have to be accessed regularly to be on that side so that I can get to them more easily. Also, yes I realize the media rack isn't accessible unless you lift up the skimmer. The skimmer is going to be a nano skimmer that is small and light, so it will be easy to lift it up to grab the media rack and then clip the skimmer back in place.
 
The only issue I see is the heater placement. Whenever I move my heater into the return chamber, it doesn't heat the tank properly. It needs to be in a good amount of flow to keep warming the water. The top 1/2 of my return chamber is actually quite stagnant. Just food for thought!
 
tr1gger said:
The only issue I see is the heater placement. Whenever I move my heater into the return chamber, it doesn't heat the tank properly. It needs to be in a good amount of flow to keep warming the water. The top 1/2 of my return chamber is actually quite stagnant. Just food for thought!
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Good to know! A friend on NR recommended moving it there because that's where she has hers. Luckily the heater will fit in any chamber so I'll just figure out how my flow works and then stick in the best spot. It can squeeze in next to the skimmer if needed or there will be plenty of space in the fuge area.
 
Cool design. Makes me want a seahorse tank soon too.... ^_^


Why do you even need the "wall" between the refugium and return pump? If goal is to help create a "tight channel" for the waterfall to prevent bubbles, that makes sense.

But then again, I expect your water level to never really be "too low" so most of the cascading water shouldn't cause bubbles that ready that far down to the return pump?

Worst case, you can put some "rough" filter floss on top of return pump to help "cushion" the waterfall downward.
 
FeliciaLynn said:
Good to know! A friend on NR recommended moving it there because that's where she has hers. Luckily the heater will fit in any chamber so I'll just figure out how my flow works and then stick in the best spot. It can squeeze in next to the skimmer if needed or there will be plenty of space in the fuge area.
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Totally, I think its a case by case scenario. Then again, I am working in a pico that is 5 times LESS water volume :p Interested to see how this turn out. Who is doing your acrylic work?
 
zeroinverse said:
Cool design. Makes me want a seahorse tank soon too.... ^_^


Why do you even need the "wall" between the refugium and return pump? If goal is to help create a "tight channel" for the waterfall to prevent bubbles, that makes sense.

But then again, I expect your water level to never really be "too low" so most of the cascading water shouldn't cause bubbles that ready that far down to the return pump?

Worst case, you can put some "rough" filter floss on top of return pump to help "cushion" the waterfall downward.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, honestly I put in that second wall after seeing other people's sump designs. Maybe I don't need it at all. Although if it will help with bubbles, that would be good because bubbles in the water can cause diseases in seahorses. Do you think it will make that much impact on the bubbles, or should I just pull it out?
 
zeroinverse said:
The heater next to return pump is an issue if you have too much evaporation, the heater will be exposed and can burn.
Like if you go on a break and forget to topoff, etc.
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Good point! I'm going to put an ATO on here and the heater will be on a controller and will shut off if that happens, but not worth the risk! I'll stick it in the fuge section most likely. There will be a constant water level in there and plenty of space.
 
tr1gger said:
Totally, I think its a case by case scenario. Then again, I am working in a pico that is 5 times LESS water volume :p Interested to see how this turn out. Who is doing your acrylic work?
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Yeah, a lot of it seems to be case by case. Everyone has such different opinions! I'm just trying to listen to everyone and sort out something that will work well for me. Yeah, the water volume could make a huge difference.

I hope it turns ok out! I'm planning to do the acrylic work. I'm going to have TAP cut the rectangular pieces I need and then I will be drilling the return hole and siliconing everything in place. I'm not sure how much TAP will want to charge for the rectangle overflow cut-out, so I may do that myself as well if its expensive.
 
That was my whole thing, I was going to have them (TAP Plastics) cut my pieces too. I was going to have them do the slots or teeth on my overflow wall. It bums me out that Angela's access to her college just ran out (Graduated in 2011). They had a laser CNC that did plexi up to 3/8" that could cut anything you wanted. I made a bunch of custom water cooling parts for my PC a few years ago. Ugh, if we had access to that, I would just cut stuff for people all the time. Its only the cost of the acrylic. It was a certain type that would work with laser cutting, it was so damn cool!
 
tr1gger said:
That was my whole thing, I was going to have them (TAP Plastics) cut my pieces too. I was going to have them do the slots or teeth on my overflow wall. It bums me out that Angela's access to her college just ran out (Graduated in 2011). They had a laser CNC that did plexi up to 3/8" that could cut anything you wanted. I made a bunch of custom water cooling parts for my PC a few years ago. Ugh, if we had access to that, I would just cut stuff for people all the time. Its only the cost of the acrylic. It was a certain type that would work with laser cutting, it was so damn cool!
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I have a friend who has access to a laser cutter that will do acrylic so I was all excited but it can only hand pieces up to 12" x 12", which means it can't handle the stuff for my tank. Bummer. Means I'm stuck with TAP and their expensive! I only need like 3-4 baffles, and then the big partition with one rectangular cut so hopefully that won't cost much. I bet they charge a ton for teeth. I'm just skipping the teeth.
 
You can use their site to get a rough idea on price. I know my back wall, just the wall with no baffles, teeth or return cutout was going to be $73.00!
 
Ok, so as Ron pointed out, I may not need that second baffle between the refugium and the return pump. In that case, I can free up another inch of space and make a separate chamber for the skimmer, while still keeping the refugium an ok size. This makes the media basket much more accessible. Here's what that looks like:
 
tr1gger said:
You can use their site to get a rough idea on price. I know my back wall, just the wall with no baffles, teeth or return cutout was going to be $73.00!
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What?! Just a rectangle? That doesn't make any sense. I've gotten lots of stuff cut there and that seems way too high. Is the black acrylic really expensive? What thickness was that quote for?
 
tr1gger said:
Sorry, 18" x 16" x 1/2" was 55.00. I then thought that 1/2 was going to be WAY too thick. Same dimensions in 1/4" is $27.50.

You can do it here.
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Shew! I'm planning to use 1/4". Its plenty thick and WAY cheaper. I've notice they seem to be a bit cheaper on the quote you get in the actual store. I'll check that out and then go in this weekend and try to get this all cut. My goal is under $50 for the whole set of acrylic.
 
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