so yea
first post, hopefully gna be a seagrass and coral seahorse tank, but i dunno no plans


budget to come

Seahorse contest tank is a great idea!!!!!! Tagging along here.

Add a 3 gallon refugium and you're good to go!

i thorght that u had to have within 1/2 a gallon to be eligaball for the contest

the tank itself is 7, but im going to add a 3 gallon fuge i just need to figure out how im doing it

and yeah i cant wait i really am proud of my concept
just doing some schoolwork then ill set out a budget and aquascape and stuff today
exciting

need aquascape pic

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...p;#entry2550883

i added a top layer of silty sand, it took 3 days to settle so no pic till now, but i like it
its got a purple lobster so far i need to get a pic but hes shy


so budget so far
tank - free
powerhead - 7.50$
23 watt power compact bulb and ghetto fixture - 5$
LED strip and converter - 20$

hardware total so far - 32.50 but i need to build a hood still, plus i wanna do a skimmer

livestock
live rock -15$
sand - free
seagrass 2$ x 4 = 8$
coral lobster thing 12.50$
livestock total so far - 35.50 $


gna add a 3 gallon fuge and a skimmer, and build myself a hood. seahorses are gna set me back BIGTIME ther like 60$ each here

I didn't know you could put a seahorse in something that small.

its actually recommended to keep them in a small tank. something about food density when you feed them

Well, the only recommended species to keep in a tank that is of this size is dwarf seahorses. Of course you can always try to break the rules, but they're there for a reason.
Personally, by the way this tank was set up (live rock, live sand, purple lobster), I wouldn't deem it suitable for dwarfs.
The lobster for obvious reasons, and the LR/LS because of hitch hiking hydroids that would be dangerous to the dwarf seahorses.


East,
very interesting tank, I like it! What species of seagrass is that? Beautiful plants! Where did you order the seagrass from? do you think they have enough substrate to establish a root/rhizome system?

we can use 75% of the liveaquaria price so if the budget, and not actual cost, is the issue then you can use that. The generic ones are like sub $30

yeah its not set up for dwarfs, also by the fact i have a powerhead. it was set up for Hippocampus capensis which reach a maximum size of 4 inches, and would have ample space in the tank. im still debating between them and a pair of banded pipefish, but ill figure it out closer to the time.

the seagrass i believe to be Halodule wrightii, and i have two small clumps of H. decipiens or H. ovalis both known as paddle or oar grass, and growth has already started on these. the grass was collected by myself there is a beach here that has a large grass meadow, but is detoriating as it went from being an open beach to a lagoon due to construction, and is alot siltier than it was a year ago, so i didnt feel as bad about collecting, anyhow, all of the grass was colleccted with at least part of the rhizome intact with mud around the root as well, and i think but im not sure, that growth has started already


oh no i didnt mean the budget but i need to fix that, but i ment the actual cost im cheap

Looks awesome I love seahorse tanks!

thanks
getting the seagrass myself was a good move, the rhizome structture is intact and as a result the grass seems to be doing ok even under PC lighting. i was looking to upgrade my lighting to LED, and i got some cheap LEDs from ikea (3.5W each, got 6 for 75$, and a cheapo powerpack thing that drives all of them at 2.5A for 10$)
connected it all and then left it on for a minute and they where SOO DAMN HOT, the light they get out is crazy but the heat is something else. gonna go tomorrow and get a heatsink and screw them to the heatsink or something, cant wait though

link to leds?

i cant find a link but ther Ikea LEDs the product name is Lack if that helps, its got a converter and its rated to 350mA with 2 white 3.5w LEDs
i cut off the 350mA thing and connected a 2.5A to 6 of them in parallel instead, crazy bright, lovely shimmer and crisp white, but they get far to hot,i need to heatsink them or something.
they have the circutry and everything done already however which is really cool its pretty much plug and play

for the aquascape shots if you did'nt like the one you had PM me a new one