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

Thanks again to Denzil for polishing the tank! It looks soooo much better! Like he said, there were some spots etched deep enough that they wouldn't come out, but they're mostly around the corners of the tank so they don't impede the view too much.

The polishing happened Saturday evening and then yesterday I gave the tank a good scrub down. I realized some of the silicone seams have gotten brittle (probably from the tank sitting dry) and were flaking off pieces of silicone while I was cleaning. I leak tested the tank and its water tight, but I worry about how long that will last with the old silicone seams. I have black silicone from BRS coming tomorrow, so when I silicone in the acrylic wall, I will also replace some of the seams.

Yesterday I painted the stand black using spray paint that was paint and primer in one. Hopefully that will hold up well since I didn't sand the stand before painting it. I used satin finish paint and it turned out really nice. I also spray painted the back of the tank and left a small window for the refugium light.

This evening I'll probably make the screen lid since I got the supplies over the weekend. Tomorrow I'm supposed to get 4 boxes of goodies from BRS and Dr. Foster and Smith. I'll spend my evenings this week working on getting the silicone done and getting the sand and rocks in the tank. I plan to have water in it by this weekend at the latest.
 
I decided I didn't like the look of the acrylic feeding station box. I decided I wanted something natural looking that I could build into the rock work as a feeding station.

I ended up ordering a 5-pack of abalone shells off ebay for $5, and they arrived today. I'll just build one of the shells into the scape. Then at feeding time I can put the frozen mysis in it like a bowl.

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I also snapped a few photos of the build progress for you guys.

Back of the tank is painted with a window for the refugium light.
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Screen lid frame is made. My BRS order is coming tomorrow and includes the 1/4" clear netting that I need to finish the lid.
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I have to say, the Berkeley public library is awesome! They have a completely free tool lending library for anyone with a library card. You just stop in and check out the tools you need. Makes DIY so much easier and cheaper. Here's the stuff I picked up for this build. The hacksaw and miter box were for cutting the screen frame pieces. The caulk gun is going to be used for applying the silicone. The metal files were for rounding down the edges of the acrylic baffles to get them to fit snuggly against the tank's existing silicone seam.
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Ok, a couple more photos for you guys:

Here's the stand after I painted it. Not much to see, but its all black now instead of having a black top and medium wood sides. It matches my bedroom furniture much better now. Btw, if anyone is planning to spray paint an aquarium stand, the Rust-Oleum Paint and Primer in satin finish works really well. It went on very evenly with no dripping and the finish is just the right amount of shiny.
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Inside of the stand. I've got a power strip on either side of the back opening and the 5 gallon bucket is going to be the FW reservoir for the ATO.
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Ok, so what do you guys think of this as the cover for the overflow to keep fish and seahorses out of the back chambers? I was thinking about using Gutter Guard or the 1/4" netting from BRS, but I worry that something small like a neon goby could still go through those. This is the bottom of an AC110 media basket. I could cut a piece of it to fit right in the overflow. I just worry that this may reduce the flow through the overflow. The return pump I got is adjustable though, so I could turn it down a bit if I needed to.
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Also, I wanted to let everyone know that Hydor has awesome customer service. I e-mailed them last week because my Koralias had been flowing in reverse part of the time before I upgraded to the MP10. I want to use one of them in the seahorse tank, so I wanted to get new front covers and bumpers to fix the problem. Even though mine are out of warranty, they sent me two new covers with bumpers for free. Also they answered my email within an hour and had the replacement parts to me within like 3 days. Wow!
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Your refugium light opening seems a bit small? Maybe? Either you wanted to minimize light leakage into room and/or you had only a small fuge light.

I suggest painting the inside of your stand a light color.
1) salt creep may or may not cause white trails, even though you are sumpless. Also, easier to see into tank when light is dim. Black is just "too black" to see anything.

Also, too bad you're not doing bare bottom or you could also cut a hole in your stand top for light to "leak down".
 
zeroinverse said:
Your refugium light opening seems a bit small? Maybe? Either you wanted to minimize light leakage into room and/or you had only a small fuge light.

I suggest painting the inside of your stand a light color.
1) salt creep may or may not cause white trails, even though you are sumpless. Also, easier to see into tank when light is dim. Black is just "too black" to see anything.

Also, too bad you're not doing bare bottom or you could also cut a hole in your stand top for light to "leak down".
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I'm using the JBJ Nano Glo that sticks onto the back of the tank and its dimensions are 5"x3.5". I left the whole in the paint exactly that size.

Both of my other stand have dark interiors and I don't have salt creep issues since salt never makes it down into my stands (no sump). I don't really need to see anything in the stand, since its just storage, so lighting in there is no issue.
 
tr1gger said:
Very cooooool! Water this weekend?.
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I wish...That was my original plan until work got crazy this week and I kept getting home too late to get anything done in the evenings. I wanted to have the silicone finished by Thursday so I could get water in the tank this weekend, but I didn't get that done. I'll finish the silicone this weekend, but then it has to cure for 48 hours before I can put water in the tank. My new goal is to get it wet by next weekend. It all depends on how crazy work is this next week. Soon though! :)
 
Great thread everyone!

Felicia, I'm sure this tank will look as amazing as your others.

I read somewhere (RC, maybe?) silicone takes quite a while to fully cure. Even when the odor is gone there is still more chemicals released. Anybody else have any real info?

As to bacteria growth, there is not much in the water. The good stuff likes to be attached to surfaces. Rocks and sponges from and established tank are much more useful that the water. I've used the Dr. Tim's stuff and saw no real 'cycle'. It just seemed ready to go right away. Since you have things you can transfer from the other tanks, perhaps the bottled bacteria (BB? :) ) is not needed.

And lastly (for now)...
Come on Ron. You saw Felicia's tanks and apartment on the tour. She's NOT going to let salt creep anywhere it doesn't belong! :D
 
aqua-nut said:
Great thread everyone!

Felicia, I'm sure this tank will look as amazing as your others.

I read somewhere (RC, maybe?) silicone takes quite a while to fully cure. Even when the odor is gone there is still more chemicals released. Anybody else have any real info?

As to bacteria growth, there is not much in the water. The good stuff likes to be attached to surfaces. Rocks and sponges from and established tank are much more useful that the water. I've used the Dr. Tim's stuff and saw no real 'cycle'. It just seemed ready to go right away. Since you have things you can transfer from the other tanks, perhaps the bottled bacteria (BB? :) ) is not needed.

And lastly (for now)...
Come on Ron. You saw Felicia's tanks and apartment on the tour. She's NOT going to let salt creep anywhere it doesn't belong! :D
Click to expand...

The silicone I bought is specifically made for aquariums and is labelled as aquarium silicone, so I figured if I followed the directions on the packaging then I would be good to go. It states not to add water for a full 48 hours. I would definitely like to know though if that isn't correct. I'd hate to have anything leaching into the water! I'll wait longer if I need to.

Yeah, you have a good point about the bacteria. There probably won't be much in the water since its a type that needs to grow on a surface. I unfortunately can't transfer any rock from one of my other tanks because the main tank is scaped in a way that most of the rocks are epoxied together to form the arch structure and the other rocks have corals growing on them that cannot go into the seahorse tank. The frag tank is having hair algae issues, and I definitely don't want to transfer any of that into the new tank, so I won't use any rock from there. I'm thinking my best bet is to use the dry rock and sand that I bought and then add about 5 lbs of well cured live rock from an LFS and the bottle of Dr. Tims that I bought. There shouldn't be much die-off from well cured live rock and the Dr. Tims is supposed to make the tank ready right away, so I doubt there will be a cycle. I'll just wait a week or two to make sure its stabilized before I try to add anything.

I love your comment about the salt creep! :D I am definitely a bit too OCD to put up with salt creep, haha.
 
aqua-nut said:
Great thread everyone!

Felicia, I'm sure this tank will look as amazing as your others.

I read somewhere (RC, maybe?) silicone takes quite a while to fully cure. Even when the odor is gone there is still more chemicals released. Anybody else have any real info?

As to bacteria growth, there is not much in the water. The good stuff likes to be attached to surfaces. Rocks and sponges from and established tank are much more useful that the water. I've used the Dr. Tim's stuff and saw no real 'cycle'. It just seemed ready to go right away. Since you have things you can transfer from the other tanks, perhaps the bottled bacteria (BB? :) ) is not needed.

And lastly (for now)...
Come on Ron. You saw Felicia's tanks and apartment on the tour. She's NOT going to let salt creep anywhere it doesn't belong! :D
Click to expand...

Generally the warning labels are more careful than advertised. So if anything, the actual cure time is likely to really be 24 hours instead of the directed 48 hours. It'd be rather unusual to advertise the minimum in a range of cure times, especially if inhabitants are involved.
 
denzil said:
Generally the warning labels are more careful than advertised. So if anything, the actual cure time is likely to really be 24 hours instead of the directed 48 hours. It'd be rather unusual to advertise the minimum in a range of cure times, especially if inhabitants are involved.
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Makes sense! That's kind of what I figured. If its specifically made for aquariums, then the cure time they provide is going to include a safety factor.


Ok, so here's what I'm planning for stocking for this tank. Is this too many fish? It seems like a lot but they're all so tiny.
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I only plan to get one black/white seahorse, but the breeder who sells locally states in his add that he prefers to sell them as pairs since they do better in groups. Hopefully when I explain to him that I'm going to be ordering 2 more yellow seahorses online, he will just sell me one.
 
Also, I just placed a ebay order for a 10-pack of Florida Ricordea, because I really want a nice ric garden in the seahorse tank and I found a really good deal. The seller I bought from had all positive reviews about sending a very nice variety of colors and plenty of large, multi-mouthed rics. For 10 rics, it only cost $109 with free overnight shipping. They should get here Wednesday and will be hanging out in the frag tank until the seahorse tank is ready for coral.
 
I love the neon gobys. I wish I would of got 1 or 2 at the same time I got my sixline. Stoked about your rics, I just recently became fascinated by them. Such a cool tank!
 
tr1gger said:
I love the neon gobys. I wish I would of got 1 or 2 at the same time I got my sixline. Stoked about your rics, I just recently became fascinated by them. Such a cool tank!
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They're great little fish! I've got a pair of blue ones in my 30 gallon and they are so much fun to watch. You should definitely get some when you upgrade.

I've always loved rics and I've got a little ric garden in my main tank. I love how they form a rainbow-colored carpet on the sandbed. I'm trying to keep the colors in the seahorse tank really vibrant to encourage the seahorses to stay bright colors, so I figured rics would be a good addition.
 
That looks like a great fish list to me!! My only tiny concern would be the two jaw fish and potential lack of substrate area? Maybe not, but I do know that they get to be a decent size, and hopefully you'll be getting a mated pair if you do plan for two? If that's the case, then there probably won't be any issues, but, considering that sea horses have similar water requirements to puffers (scale-less) I'd just plan on doing a water change every week (if needed). I mean, the bioload is small, and the softies do love a dirtier water, but I thought you mentioned H. erectus needed pristine water conditions... mebe I'm thinking of something else, and if I am, than don't mind me....

LoL, when I'm ready, may I hit you up for ric frags?? I <3<3<3 rics!! Can't wait to have a tiny little garden in the 210 myself. :D
 
goldielocke76 said:
That looks like a great fish list to me!! My only tiny concern would be the two jaw fish and potential lack of substrate area? Maybe not, but I do know that they get to be a decent size, and hopefully you'll be getting a mated pair if you do plan for two? If that's the case, then there probably won't be any issues, but, considering that sea horses have similar water requirements to puffers (scale-less) I'd just plan on doing a water change every week (if needed). I mean, the bioload is small, and the softies do love a dirtier water, but I thought you mentioned H. erectus needed pristine water conditions... mebe I'm thinking of something else, and if I am, than don't mind me....

LoL, when I'm ready, may I hit you up for ric frags?? I <3<3<3 rics!! Can't wait to have a tiny little garden in the 210 myself. :D
Click to expand...

Yeah, the two jawfish will be the heaviest bioload fish-wise, but I'm going to buy tiny juveniles, so hopefully it will be quite a while before they get big. There's an online retailer I really like that sells juveniles that haven't developed a gender yet, so if you buy 2 then they will become a mated pair. I got enough sand to have a 2-3" sandbed, which should be deep enough for the jawfish. Are you worried about sandbed area though? I thought once they made a burrow, they don't need much space because they just sit in that burrow all the time. With a mated pair, they should share one burrow.

And yes, seahorses are scale-less so they are pretty susceptible to bacterial infection. They do need really clean water, so I was planning to do weekly 10-15% water changes. They're water doesn't have to be absolutely pristine, but it has to be pretty darn clean.

Of course! If these rics split for me, then I will definitely share. The ones in my main tank don't split because the water is too clean for them to grow much. They're healthy and look nice, they just don't really grow much. I'm worried it may be the same in this new tank, since I have to keep the water really clean. That's why I went ahead and got 10, so I'd have a nice little ric garden even if they don't grow very fast.
 
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