please help on new set up of seawater aq for seahorses

[jennie]

hello;


I have a 55 gal aquarium that use to be freshwater but now i have transferred it into a saltwater tank. I bought the sea sand, added the salt, added around 30 pounds of live rock one being fiji but i am not too sure if they are cured or not. I have seen feather dust tube worms on the rocks and in my sand, opening and closing, which i hope is a good sign. I have tested my water all seems to be ok except a small trace of nitrite which i did a water change immediately. I have no gotten my canister yet and i am still using my regular filter from before. My hydrometer is just above the red line at around 1.025 - 1.026. My temperature is at 78. I would like to know if it possible if i can just buy the astro canister instead of a ehiem canister as the price is a huge difference. Also When can I start adding the seahorses? Around a month?

thanks jennie

[Loverotties]

Seahorse tanks need to be cooler and very light flow,you also need branches for the to wrap there tails on. the tank needs to have good water quialty ,so you need to waite for it cycled for a long time.

[Jnicho]

This is not what you will want to hear...seahorses are tricking little buggers to keep...if this is your first saltwater tank I would STRONGLY suggest you get your feet wet with some hardy marine fish...get a feel for looking after a saltwater tank for at least 6-9 months...once you have survived all the bumps and bruises of learning about water chemistry, algae blooms, etc. you'll be in a much better position to keep seahorses successfully...while you're waiting, do some more research on the seahorse's needs...they're care and feeding are quite specific, and I just don't think without prior experience with a saltwater tank you will be successful.

[YLChik]

Jnicho give you some sound advice there.

I have tired horses in the past and will share what I learned.
You need to create the environment in your tank for the seahorse - every piece of equipment you chose should be for their survival - this is a species tank. SO you will need to decide what kind of seahorse you would like to keep.

As to your question about the hang on filter - generally those aren't used in reef keeping except for a short time after a water change to help polish the water. The reason for this is that too much organic material builds up in them and then breaks down into the things that fuel algae blooms and higher nitrates ( both things we reef keepers try to avoid.)
Can you use one, sure, but you need to be faithful about cleaning it once to twice a week. Possibly more.

Seahorse tanks are "dirty" tanks, or higher in organic waste due to a lower flow in the tank and the 2-3 times a day feedings of the seahorses. So you will want to look into good skimmers - oversized for whatever tank you have.

I hope that helps you get started!

[aquawolf]

Welcome to TRT!!!

You are getting very sound advice from Jnicho and Amy. To further research the needs of seahorses and the different species, you can check out www.seahorse.org as well.