New Seahorse tank

[bill-e]

Hey all, just installed my new seahorse tank. It's all set to go, cured live rock, black tahitian moon sand (and an inch of HD sand under it), Prizm skimmer, LOA 65w PC light, and UV.

The funny thing is that I wanted a Hex tank, my wife picked this tank. I got it home, and apparently she didnt mean this tank, she meant the hex tank!! Anyway, it was too small for the place she had chosen for it, so we put it here. The only thing in my rush, I didnt realize I had only a 2 prong outlet behind the tank. So I installed a GFI outlet with just 4" of working space behind the tank...real PITA, but I did it.

Here's a couple of shots of the tank.

[Brooke]

Hey Bill-

I like that little tank. Very good for a horse tank. I wish I had more height in mine. I'm still tempted to change to a different size. I don't like all the distortion you get with a hex tank, plus the whole lighting issue. Isn't the black sand cool!

BTW, the nassarius snails do just fine getting over and under the black sand.

I think we'll be ordering our horses soon. My tank is running a little hot though, so I might try to fix that first.

Brooke

[bill-e]

Brooke,

Thanks.

What's a little hot? I got mine set to 76F right now. Dont know what will happen in the summer. Hope I dont need one of those $169 electronis chillers

[Alice]

Bill;

Nice tank and it fits perfectly in that space, other than the outlet thing you had the planning down on that one

Is that a little in-tank refugium in there? And what are you using for water movement? I know there can't be much movement in a sea horse tank.

[bill-e]

Alice,

No, the thing I think you are referring to is the output of the Prizm skimmer.

As for water movement, the skimmer and a UV unit (glue is drying, will put in the tank tomorrow so some coralline starts growing on the inlet tube

That should be plenty, the skimmer alone creates decent top to bottom circulation.

[Brooke]

Well, unfortunately our tank is right by our furnace...about a foot away and has been around 80 degrees the whole time. Now that winter is over (well, almost anyway) I should be able to cool it down to about 76 degrees or so. So, who knows we may need one of those in-tank chillers for the winter. Or else we need to rethink where the tank is at.

How are you plumbing your UV w/o a sump?

Brooke

[bill-e]

How are you plumbing your UV w/o a sump?

Here's a depiction of the setup. It's a Aquanetics Hang on UV, so I made a siphon out of 1/2" PCV pipe, it comes out of the tank and attaches to the intake of the MaxiJet power head, then using flexible tubing, I connect the output of the MJ to the input of the UV. Then, obviously the UV exits into the tank.

[FishDaddy]

Nice Horse Corral, Bill!
How will the black sand work as a biofilter? I presume this will be the filtration as there is no mechanical filter shown. Are you going to use LR also?
I have a hex that is earmarked for a similar project someday (after the reef upgrade and the Moray tank upgrade ) so I'll be following your tank's development with interest.
Dick

[bill-e]

Dick,

I've already seeded the black sand with a few worms, and there's about 6.5lbs of cured LR in there as well as a Prizm skimmer.

I put an inch of home depot sand as the bottom layer to aid in buffering, but the black sand will be fine for a sandbed...after all, it's real tahitian sand

Through some food in there, no ammonia spike so I dont think there's going to be much of a cure.

I'm away this week so when I get back, I'll put some snails in there. Then I'm off again for a week and when I get back from there, in go the polyps and shrooms. Hopefully by then my LFS will haved ordered his OR seahorses.