faerl Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 I've been wanting to start a thread on the tank for a while but I could never get decent pics of the blue lights. Well, my wife got a new camera recently so I was finally able to do it. I'll try to update this first post with the latest images for better viewing. My Background Been reefing for a bit under a year. This tank is ~6 months old. I had a spot right next to my desk that I wanted to keep seahorses in (anywhere else and I doubt I'd spend as much time monitoring/admiring it). The Tank The tank is a custom job built for the seahorses. It's ~16x19x24 if memory serves. Works out to 35 gallons. Plus there's and overflow on the back right leading to another 15 gallon sump in the cabinet beneath giving me 50 gallons of water flow. So, for the tank. Here's what it looks like with the whites on. These images are close, if a little more purple than they should be (took the pictures at night, for these they really should be during the day). And... here's what it looks like with the blues on. This is the main reason it took me so long to get the thread up. I finally got a camera that could capture the blues properly. This is really really close to what it looks like in real life. This would be why I love the Maxspect LED's. The Stand My office is all modular furniture (probably 6 pieces between both desks) and I had this spot next to the computer that was perfect. Well, they didn't have anything that would fit there exactly so I bought a 2 door cabinet and then spent a day or so in the garage modifying it to fit. Worked pretty well actually. Originally I had the electronics in the cabinet but pretty soon found that with evaporation and such I needed to move them out or they'd get destroyed. They're mounted beneath the desk now where you can't see them. Equipment Maxspect 110v LED LIght (Love this thing) Bubble Magus Protein Skimmer Carbon/Phosphate Reactor 1/10 Chiller UV Sterlizer 2 MP10 Vortech's 3 Pumps (1 to upper tank, 1 to chiller, 1 to reactor) I'll need to come back later and update with model's etc Critters 2 Erectus Seahorses 1 Scooter Blenny 1 Cardinal 1 Watchman Goby (rarely comes out) 1 Pistol Shrimp 4-9 Sexy Shrimp (not sure these days as they've decided they like a cave so I rarely see more than 4 at a time right now) 2 Porcelain Crabs Various snails Corals Zenia Lots of Zoas/palys Various Ricordea Coco Worm Feather Dusters Flower Pots (found out yesterday these can be risky with the seahorses, had them for months though and no issues so far) Spiral Wire Coral + Hitchhiker I'll put another post or two up with close up's of the coral along with the most recent guest star of the tank. Anyway, thanks for looking! Link to comment
faerl Posted January 14, 2011 Author Share Posted January 14, 2011 Ok, so here are some close ups of the corals along with some critters. Putting them in a new post since I'll be updating that first one periodically with new images. Here are a couple of side by side images with the 'normal' (white & blue) vs just the blues which stay on morning/evening. Note that the normal light came out a bit purple in this one (taken at night). I'll try to get some new ones this weekend of the day time lights. The other side of the same rock. Overall tank shot. Link to comment
stshy Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 WOW, that tank looks awesome with just the blues on. The tank looks great! Link to comment
faerl Posted January 14, 2011 Author Share Posted January 14, 2011 And lastly. Here's one of the seahorses on his buddy the coco worm. Special Guest Hitchhiker So, the special guest. I bought this spiral wire coral the other day and it had this little shrimp/crab thing on it. Did some research and it turns out they live on wire corals. http://sealifeimages.smugmug.com/Western-P...162752319_yTm7J Pretty cool find. I'm trying to get a good profile image of him but here's a link of basically what he looks like. Ok, done for now. Link to comment
ermartin Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 I thought seahorses didnt like a lot of flow. i see you have 2 mp-10 how far down do you turn them . .... Very nice looking tank Link to comment
faerl Posted January 14, 2011 Author Share Posted January 14, 2011 I thought seahorses didnt like a lot of flow. i see you have 2 mp-10 how far down do you turn them . .... Very nice looking tank Yes and No. It's a fairly common misconception. I've seen information posted that they like little to no flow and others that say they put almost what they would for a full on sps tank. Somewhere in the middle is more accurate. They like flow, it just can't be so much that it pushes them all over the place. Plus, they need lots of hitching posts and low flow areas as well. The MP10's are overkill really but I use them because on their lowest settings they blow less water than even the koralia nano's. So I have two of them in there, but they're set almost as low as they can go and just hit the sides. That gives me a nice even flow in the tank without blasting one area. With the vortech's and the return up top that entire front section has movement in the gsp/coco worms etc but it's not enough to push the seahoress around. They'll get pushed a bit if they jump in front of the vortech (as they would in front of any jet) but there's no rock in the path so they just get a bit of a ride. Some days I think they run over there just for the ride. Link to comment
anemone fan Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Awesome. Just awesome. Link to comment
R33F_NANO Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 wow very nice tank I love the color Link to comment
Bio-Reef Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Did you custom build this beast? Or is it sold somewhere? Link to comment
faerl Posted January 14, 2011 Author Share Posted January 14, 2011 Did you custom build this beast? Or is it sold somewhere? I had to build (well, modify) the cabinet. Only one I found was twice the width so I adjusted it down. The tank is custom (had a group in so cal build it for me). It's Sapphire glass on 3 sides, black on the back with a floating overflow on the back right. The sump is stock. Link to comment
faerl Posted January 14, 2011 Author Share Posted January 14, 2011 Thanks all. Just picked up a little baby coco worm and hopefully some more spiral corals tomorrow. If my schedule allows I'm going to try to do a good cleaning this weekend to get some better pics in the daylight. Link to comment
anemone fan Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Thanks all. Just picked up a little baby coco worm and hopefully some more spiral corals tomorrow. If my schedule allows I'm going to try to do a good cleaning this weekend to get some better pics in the daylight. Macros of everything please. After that starting sending me all your zoas. Link to comment
faerl Posted January 14, 2011 Author Share Posted January 14, 2011 Macros of everything please. After that starting sending me all your zoas. Yeah, I'll get right on packaging them all up for ya. Funny thing is, other than bam bam's and radioactive dragon eyes I don't think there's anything named in there. Just like to pick up ones with bright colors. Link to comment
anemone fan Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Yeah, I'll get right on packaging them all up for ya. Funny thing is, other than bam bam's and radioactive dragon eyes I don't think there's anything named in there. Just like to pick up ones with bright colors. I don't care about names, I care about fluorescence baby! Link to comment
jeirdo Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 Where did you order your seahorse from? Link to comment
faerl Posted January 29, 2011 Author Share Posted January 29, 2011 Where did you order your seahorse from? seahorsesource.com It's a lot safer to order them from one of the places that breed them. They're healthier that way. Link to comment
w1dude Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 I am very jealous of this tank! I have added a 20g H onto my main system and want to make it a seahorse tank! Link to comment
faerl Posted February 4, 2011 Author Share Posted February 4, 2011 Thanks. I haven't posted any recent pics because I had a bit of a rough week or so with the tank. I was cleaning out/reorganizing some things and I pulled the skimmer out a bit too hard (it's a very tight fit) cracking the sump. So.. I've been running for 5 days with lowered water, no skimming/cooling etc. All fixed now, water tested last night and will get it all happy tonight/tomorrow. On the brighter side of things I think I've figured out a way of reorganizing the sump so that I can get a coepod population down there that can actually make it to the tank above. To date all I keep down there is a little chaeto since the filters are in place such that coepods wouldn't be able to populate or make it to the tank anyway. We'll see how the new setup works. Link to comment
epicfish Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Nice setup. Where did you get your spiral corals from? They're neato. Link to comment
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