bluebastion Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 My wife's birthday present is really a sneaky way to get her into the hobby. One day recently, my wife and I were at a LFS, and we were talking to the owner... we started discussing this and thats of reef keeping. (mostly the owner and I were the contributors to the conversation)... Anyways, midway through the discussion, my wife busts out with, "So what would it take to keep a sea horse..." (or something to that effect)... and I was left speechless, with just a look of "Did you just say what I thought you said?" Anyhow, it was a birthday idea... and here it is: Your standard AGA 20H complete w/ AGA standard stand and crappy canopy lighting (15W Florescent bulb... [are you kidding me?]) Here's some photos of the horsey: Originally the set up was only going to have a shallow cove of LR (tank has 6lbs now). Now that everything is set up, I think that will change as feeding mysis twice a day needs more "filtration", though tank is pretty stable right now. In the making, is a 5.5 gallon sump. It's a very small "sump" but has a good amount of room for a refugium that will hopefully brood some live mysis when all is said and done. Believe me, if I could use a 10g I would, but Mr. Fosi can testify that it won't fit in the stand. Here's some pics of the sump after being chamber leak tested. The silicone job isn't pretty, but it will be well hidden "under the hood": BTW do you think cookies can be fed to a refugium? There are still a couple things I'm waiting for to get the sump up and running... the big thing being the overflow which I've ordered from Aquatraders to pinch a penny. I still need to get the rest of the plumbing, as Mr. Fosi helped me build the stockman drain and other major plumbing parts. T5 lighting is supposed to come in this week I think... it's a Finnex 4x24 T5 fixture that I ordered from nanotuners.... (almost 50 bucks cheaper than other vendors!)... And a return pump for the sump... I'll be going the MJ 1200 route, since Sea Horse tanks only require 5X flow. More to come soon... this will be a predominately softy tank as most softies are sea horse safe and don't require a ton of flow. I'll leave you with a photo of this awesome NEON green polyp Toadstool I purchased from purecaptive.com. Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted March 20, 2007 Share Posted March 20, 2007 Lookin' shweet! Can wait to see the sump and overflow plumbed. Link to comment
travisurfer Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 very nice. good luck with YOUR tank Link to comment
bluebastion Posted March 21, 2007 Author Share Posted March 21, 2007 Hey now.... It's my wife's tank. I'm just putting it together for her. Some more stuff just came in.... New macro algae... The tank needed more color than just greens from the razor caulerpa and chaeto. Here are some pics: Red Feather Macro Red String of Pearls Finally, worked on the return plumbing after I got home from work. Here's a photo... Doesn't look like a lot of flow, but mind you, the pump in the pic is only an MJ 400 and the soft pvc is at least 8 ft long. The return pump will be an MJ 1200 as I don't need alot of flow in the Sea Horse tank. Link to comment
Izzue Posted March 21, 2007 Share Posted March 21, 2007 I lOve it Blue... Your Wife should be proud !!!! Send me the cookies and Ill take care of them...lol I like the setup...cant wait to see it mature. Good Luck And Welcome Mrs Blue to the world of Reef Keeping... Izzue Link to comment
SeeDemTails Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 I got my wife in the hobby the same way. She got a 40 gal in wall reef that is vewiable from both sides for our anneversary. Worked great! Link to comment
quy_nquyen Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 great idea! nice looking tank! Link to comment
Fishfreak218 Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 nice seahorse! did you get him from an online vendor? If so which one? Also how many do you have in there? Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 That horse actually came from one of our LFSs, rather than an online vendor. Link to comment
kismetsh Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 I like it! Can't wait to see how this one develops! Link to comment
arwndsh Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 I wish my fiance would have done something like that to get me into the hobby. I guess I'm just too easy, all it took for me was a look around the lfs. Man did I let him off easily. The only perk I get is being the first person to get frags from his corals. Link to comment
RBuddha Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 I wish this worked in the case of bringing home another girl and getting your wife into menage a toi(sp) Link to comment
bluebastion Posted March 23, 2007 Author Share Posted March 23, 2007 New photo update: Got most of my shipments in this week for the tank set up. Due to poor planning, and things just not turning out the way we wanted... we decided to get more LR for the tank.. a bit more. So instead of just the existing ~7 lbs of LR... we upgraded to about 20 total. This is more for areas around the tank that the in-display-pods can hide in. I ordered the rock from Premium Aquatics as they have never let me down with their rock... they always let me request the type of rock I'd like to see in my tank, and they fulfill those requests perfectly. The new LR also means a very good chance for another cycle... so horsey (my wife hasn't figured a name for him yet) has been vacationing in my CPR fuge enjoying live meals. The corals frags have been basking in 250 watts of MH light @ the bottom of my 20g SPS tank. I left the macro algae in the tank for some nutrient consumption. Needless to say the tank smells foul again. Also, the new light came in yesterday, from Finnex (ordered from www.nanotuners.com). We ditched the AGA 15w (wt???) light that came with the combo and added a 24Wx4 T5 HO Finnex light on the tank. Viva la difference!!!! So beautiful... Lastly, our Marine Depot drygoods shipment came in... The MJ1200 for the sump return. A Tom Aqualifter and filter for the overflow box (Overflow is scheduled to arrive on Monday) to ensure the overflow stays working. And a Tom 13W Adjustable Length Compact Fluorescent light fixture... the only one that I know that is made to fit a 5.5 gallon AGA. I also can extend to fit a 10g!... This will work as the fuge light. My wife has actually been learning everything as she watches by my side.... and even has started to test her water daily since putting the LR in as I have explained to her the ammonia spike and cycling process. She's starting to get the hang of it. And though it is her tank, I'm ready to get this overflow "ball" rolling.... Monday's shipment where are you? Nothing says: "I need an overflow, now!" like an empty refugium/sump underneath a full display tank. Link to comment
Needreefunds Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 Very nice blue, having fun following along. I wonder if perhaps my wife would like a frag tank?? hhmmmm..... Link to comment
bluebastion Posted March 24, 2007 Author Share Posted March 24, 2007 Very nice blue, having fun following along. I wonder if perhaps my wife would like a frag tank?? hhmmmm..... "Yeah, uh babe.... I know how you wanted that pearl necklace... well umm... I got you a clam so you can make your own!" "You wanted a diamond for Christmas??? ohhhhhhhhhh..... I thought you wanted activated charcoal... see? it says BLACK DIAMONDS...." ..... Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 "Yeah, uh babe.... I know how you wanted that pearl necklace... well umm... I got you a clam so you can make your own!" "You wanted a diamond for Christmas??? ohhhhhhhhhh..... I thought you wanted activated charcoal... see? it says BLACK DIAMONDS...." ..... LOL!!! Man, I love it. This is looking very promising so far, me likee. Link to comment
bonsai reefer Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 ANOTHER AWESONE TANK! .My wife dropped a hint at the sea horses also at that lfs Hummmmmm maybye a good aniversary present and more frags for my tank .Keep up the good work. Link to comment
Izzue Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 LookS Great Blue... My wife wants a Shark tank... NOt...just something else for me to take care of and her to admir... Izzue Link to comment
bluebastion Posted April 6, 2007 Author Share Posted April 6, 2007 Flora (my wife named the female sea horse), has now got a friend. His name is Hercules. Here are some pics.... I'd take updated pictures of the tank now if there weren't so many micro bubbles from the breaking-in Remora Skimmer.... Anyway, here is Herc: He's the big yellow one, with the pooch for a belly. Link to comment
firstimereefer Posted April 30, 2007 Share Posted April 30, 2007 I have been following your tank thread, and we just lost a tank of Angels (freshwater) and the fiancee gave me permission to start a sea horse tank with it once the fish passed a way. It is a 20G but it isn't your normal one it is a tall rectangular tank which I think might be perfect for the a pair of seahorses and maybe some small gobies. I am going to only put macro algae in it. I dont think I am going to use put any corals in at all. Link to comment
Needreefunds Posted November 24, 2007 Share Posted November 24, 2007 Hay (<< horse joke) Blue!! How is this tank doing? Or should we ask your wife? Link to comment
bluebastion Posted November 24, 2007 Author Share Posted November 24, 2007 It's still up and running Both the sea horses are still alive and kicking. To be honest these guys get boring really fast.... still nice to keep at least once though. They are very peaceful and relaxing... just sometimes too relaxing as I can easily fall asleep watching them. Now, my over 1k GPH SPS aquarium is a different story. BTW my webcam is up on my SPS tonight: http://www.bluebastion.endoftheinternet.org/myreef.html click on the link. Link to comment
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