mkregs CADLights 39 Pro Seahorse Ranch

[Cali-girl]

Beautiful Seahorses Mkreg!!

 

What supplier did you get them from? Your tank is exactly what I want mine to emulate. Keep up the good work

[mkregs]

Beautiful Seahorses Mkreg!!

 

What supplier did you get them from? Your tank is exactly what I want mine to emulate. Keep up the good work

Thank you!

 

I bought them from seahorsecorral.com. Another reputable supplier is seahorsesource.com. Both of those suppliers sell captive bred seahorses, which is what I would suggest you purchase.

[tex5620]

Where did you get your macro from.

[Cali-girl]

Thank you!

 

I bought them from seahorsecorral.com. Another reputable supplier is seahorsesource.com. Both of those suppliers sell captive bred seahorses, which is what I would suggest you purchase.

 

Awesome! I've read a lot about both those guys. Havent decided which to use yet tho, I still have a way to go before the tank is turned over for them. Glad to see some of their stock from a buyer first hand. Thanks for posting those wonderful pics.

 

I'll definitely be tagging along

[mkregs]

Where did you get your macro from.

Most from reefcleaners. The ochtodes and red grape I bought from a guy in Illinois who also has a SH tank.

 

 

Awesome! I've read a lot about both those guys. Havent decided which to use yet tho, I still have a way to go before the tank is turned over for them. Glad to see some of their stock from a buyer first hand. Thanks for posting those wonderful pics.

 

I'll definitely be tagging along

I'm not an expert (yet)...but would be happy to share with you what I've learned.

 

On another note, I was lucky to be home yesterday when the wind knocked out the power at my house. I was able to quickly get my generator fired up. The first thing I plugged in was both of my tanks. I still don't have power, but the tanks' pumps and heaters are doing their jobs. The power is supposed to be restored late tonight.

[spanko]

Hey bud,

The wind was wicked yesterday!!! What part of the state are you in?

[mkregs]

Hey bud,

The wind was wicked yesterday!!! What part of the state are you in?

Hey Henry,

I live on Grosse Ile. You're right though, the wind was crazy.

Mark

[spanko]

Yup, up here in Chesterfield Township. Kept waiting for Dorothy and Toto to fly by the window.

[molsen187]

that tank is sweet. i can't wait to start a horse tank. are you going to put any fish in there like a mandarin or anything or just keep it horses. also i've heard that they get better with getting the eggs where they supposed to be the more they do it. practice makes perfect.

[mkregs]

that tank is sweet. i can't wait to start a horse tank. are you going to put any fish in there like a mandarin or anything or just keep it horses. also i've heard that they get better with getting the eggs where they supposed to be the more they do it. practice makes perfect.

Thanks for the compliment!

 

About fish...when I was in the planning stage, I thought I would add a mandarin or scooter blenny. I may still do that, but want the tank to age for a while longer, let the macroalgae grow in, and let the pod population build. Instead of a mandarin, I may go with a zebra catalina goby. I'm really in no hurry. I will probably add a couple more horses in a few months.

 

About eggs...my horses have attempted 2 egg transfers so far. The last one was a couple days ago, so I've been keeping an eye on the male's pouch to see if there was some success. If so, I'll have to get the nursery tank going.

 

About corals...I was wondering how well they would do in this tank vs my reef because of the lower temps in the SH tank. In the SH tank my blue xenia and montipora have shown significant growth. I have a sun coral in there as well and it is healthy, but not really growing as quickly as the others. However, the Fla rics and blue st. thomas ric were not liking the SH tank at all, so I put them back in the biocube where they are much happier. I also had to pull one of my acan colonies out of the SH tank as one of my peppermint shrimp had an appetite for it. Eventually, I plan to glue some pulsating xenia to a small mag float I have and placing it in one of the back corners of the tank.

 

That's kinda the plan for now...

Mark

[Jimbo7]

Awesome build man. I have been outta the SW world for awhile, its nice to come back and see quality tanks like this sprouting. Makes me want to start up all over again. Ponies look great, never seen that kinda coloring on H. Erectus. I had a pair of H. Reidi, they really are awesome creatures.

[mkregs]

Awesome build man. I have been outta the SW world for awhile, its nice to come back and see quality tanks like this sprouting. Makes me want to start up all over again. Ponies look great, never seen that kinda coloring on H. Erectus. I had a pair of H. Reidi, they really are awesome creatures.

Thanks man. That's really a great compliment. It took a long time to plan this build out and get it set up the way I want it. Now to just watch it grow in.

 

I hope you get one started. If so, drop me a note so I can stop by your thread and look.

 

Thanks,

Mark

[timdanger]

Thanks man. That's really a great compliment. It took a long time to plan this build out and get it set up the way I want it. Now to just watch it grow in.

 

I hope you get one started. If so, drop me a note so I can stop by your thread and look.

 

Thanks,

Mark

 

i demand pics of baby seahorses.

 

 

you had mentioned you were interested in hearing about the eheim -- question for you, though -- is that much flow really what you want for a seahorse tank (I have no idea, I know very little about seahorse requirements)? Preliminary report on my experience thus far with my eheim is in my thread, but let me summarize for you by saying that

 

1) it's cooled my tank considerably (about 1.8 degrees) as compared to the stock pump;

 

2) it's certainly quieter than the stock pump, but it really appears to be vibrating a fair amount. That could be because I've restricted the flow somewhat with a ball valve. I wouldn't say it's as dead silent I was expecting, but it appears that there are several things I could do to quiet it down that I just haven't done yet.

 

3) flow is greatly, greatly improved. however, I haven't been able to get the drain plumbing quiet since installing it.

 

4) i appear to be getting some bubbles in the tank since installing the eheim -- not sure where these are coming from.

[mkregs]

i demand pics of baby seahorses.

They're trying...but, it just hasn't happened yet. Heck, it's fun trying, so I'm sure they aren't too down on themselves

you had mentioned you were interested in hearing about the eheim -- question for you, though -- is that much flow really what you want for a seahorse tank (I have no idea, I know very little about seahorse requirements)?

It would be fine for my tank. I have enough areas of rock and macro to break up the intensity. So, if they want to get breezed, they can go up top, but if they want to relax, they can head under the shelf or in the macro. They actually like the heavy current sometimes (funny to watch).

 

Besides, if I were to switch out pumps, a little more gph would be good as I want to split off the pump output in 2 directions (1 to pump through my chiller and 1 to return to the tank).

 

Preliminary report on my experience thus far with my eheim is in my thread, but let me summarize for you by saying that

 

1) it's cooled my tank considerably (about 1.8 degrees) as compared to the stock pump;

 

2) it's certainly quieter than the stock pump, but it really appears to be vibrating a fair amount. That could be because I've restricted the flow somewhat with a ball valve. I wouldn't say it's as dead silent I was expecting, but it appears that there are several things I could do to quiet it down that I just haven't done yet.

 

3) flow is greatly, greatly improved. however, I haven't been able to get the drain plumbing quiet since installing it.

 

4) i appear to be getting some bubbles in the tank since installing the eheim -- not sure where these are coming from.

I read your thread and you must be pulling your hair out. About the gurgling and flushing noises...this usually happens when the durso tries to full siphon. Instead of trying to restrict the airflow into the durso, try pulling the air tubing out. If you still have the flushing sound, the hole at the top of the durso is too small. Increase the size of the hole in small increments. I know your intention is to go with the Herbie drain (which I think might get you the results you want), but I suggest you try this in the meantime.

 

Also, are you getting air bubbles because the top of the pump is too close to the water surface in the sump? If the pump is 6-3/4" in height, and your sump is a little over half full, you have to be getting close.

[LebaneseDlight]

Hey there!

 

My 34 gallon Solana was dedicated to H. Reidi until my chiller broke during a heat wave while I was on vacation . I had my tank established for 4 months prior to adding 3 pairs. All did wonderfully for a year before my tragedy (and had grown to 7-8" each). However, I was CONSTANTLY in a losing battle with hair algae. I tried everything from a macro fuge, to a HUGE CUC, to vodka dosing. Bottom line, sea horses need to be fed twice daily, and even with a feeding station, their waste is a HUGE burden on the biolode of a tank. Although the seahorse remains my favorite sea critter, I decided to NOT restock with sea horses. Just my $.02, for what it's worth.

 

Greg

[mkregs]

Since I haven't updated in a while and I have something very newsworthy to report.......

 

It appears that the 3rd try is truly a charm...2 days ago, Pinto and Snake attempted their 3rd egg transfer. It looks to have been successful as Pinto is pretty chubby down below. I'll get a picture of him (with chubby belly) later today. Needless to say, I have been planning out my nursery setup which I will get up and running by Monday.

 

Although I haven't updated in a while, things have been good on the ranch. I bought my 2 seahorses as juvenilles 3 months ago and have been amazed at how quickly they grow. Here is a recent picture of Snake (excuse the junky pics as they were taken on my phone):

 

For you macroalgae lovers, this is a hitchhiker that has been growing at a pretty good rate:

 

This is one that I picked up from a LFS. They had it in a tank where it was getting chewed on by a couple of fish :confused: . I bought it as it's too beautiful to be fish food and I want to see what it looks like grown out.

One of our foremost macroalgae dudes is on the case to identify these 2 macroalgaes. If any of you have ideas on what they might be, please let me know.

 

Here are a couple of corals I added to the tank this week:

Xenia that I glued to a small magfloat which is placed on the back glass.

[timdanger]

Since I haven't updated in a while and I have something very newsworthy to report.......

 

It appears that the 3rd try is truly a charm...2 days ago, Pinto and Snake attempted their 3rd egg transfer. It looks to have been successful as Pinto is pretty chubby down below. I'll get a picture of him (with chubby belly) later today. Needless to say, I have been planning out my nursery setup which I will get up and running by Monday.

 

 

woo!!!!!

 

my demand for babies apparently made the difference here.

 

you're welcome.

[timdanger]

Hey Mark -- Tivo over on RC switched out his Rio 20HF return pump for the Tunze 1073.040 -- he says it's the best he's ever had, as well.

 

And, Aquabacs (who has a 50g Artisan) says they are his favorite pumps, and is using it on his, too.

 

in light of that post on the cadlights owners forum, just thought i'd let you know. i definitely feel your pain here.

[timdanger]

dude, let's get some details about these babies and your setup for them!

 

i'm excited!

[mkregs]

dude, let's get some details about these babies and your setup for them!

 

i'm excited!

Ok...so, when I bought my seahorses last Summer, they were juvies (i.e...unsexed). As it turned out, they grew up to be a very sexually active mated pair. The first couple egg transfers failed, but not due to the male's inability to perform . The female had to try a few times before she hit the target. About 5 weeks ago, she was able to hit the target and the male became pregnant. As the male was getting close to delivering, I had my Brother going over to my house to check on them while I was at work. Unfortunately, neither of use were at the house when he delivered and all of the fry were sucked into the overflow. Let me tell you...it was a bummer cleaning out a filter sock with a bunch of dead fry in it . To my surprise, a couple days after he delivered, they were back at it and courting. He became pregnant again and ultimately delivered his fry yesterday. This time, I was working from home and was able to shut off the pumps so that none of them went into the overflow. I netted them out and moved them to my basement where I've been working on setting up a nursery for the past 6~7 weeks. So far, I have a 10g tank which is being used as the fry tank...a 20g long sump, and 2 BBS hatcheries that I made from 2 liter pop bottles. I will be adding a 29g grow-out tank and will add additional 10g fry tanks and 29g grow-out tanks as needed.

 

These pics were taken as I was scrambling getting things going yesterday. I added some hitching posts yesterday afternoon and found approx 50 of the fry hitched up when I went downstairs to see them this morning.

 

What's good is the fry tank and sump have been wet for a few weeks and I did have BBS ready to feed them as I began hatching a couple days before delivery. At this point, there really isn't much in the way of biological filtration as both tanks are bare bottom and there is no LR, but I expect to be doing daily water changes and siphoning the tank bottom daily to keep up with the bioload. Eventually, I will add dry rock, that I have boiled the crap out of, into the sump...but, I haven't gotten there yet. I may just scrap that idea and go with a few of those ceramic rings bags. Although, I have enough to keep me busy right now.

 

Sorry about the crappy blurry picture of the fry. I will try to get some closer and more clear shots this weekend.

 

Mark

[timdanger]

As it turned out, they grew up to be a very sexually active mated pair.

 

go on...

 

What's good is the fry tank and sump have been wet for a few weeks and I did have BBS ready to feed them as I began hatching a couple days before delivery. At this point, there really isn't much in the way of biological filtration as both tanks are bare bottom and there is no LR, but I expect to be doing daily water changes and siphoning the tank bottom daily to keep up with the bioload. Eventually, I will add dry rock, that I have boiled the crap out of, into the sump...but, I haven't gotten there yet. I may just scrap that idea and go with a few of those ceramic rings bags. Although, I have enough to keep me busy right now.

 

why dry rock instead of something from your existing setup? aren't you worried about a cycle killing off fry?

 

(i don't know what i'm talking about here, so please excuse this if it is a dumb question)

[mkregs]

go on...

 

 

 

why dry rock instead of something from your existing setup? aren't you worried about a cycle killing off fry?

 

(i don't know what i'm talking about here, so please excuse this if it is a dumb question)

I want to avoid any hitchhikers/parasites getting introduced to the nursery setup.

[Cali-girl]

This is soooo exciting!!

 

Just checked ur thread after u posted in mine, This is amazing!

 

Totally let me know when they get big enough!

[zemuss]

I am following. I want a pair of horses.

[willyboy]

Nice tank! I love the horses!

 

How are the little ones?