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Scott - Red Sea Max - Seahorse & fish reef


aero_reefer777

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aero_reefer777

Hi All !! Welcome to our nano reef !!

Our Red Sea Max has been up for almost three months now. This is our (my wife & I) first reef tank. We had a predatory tank (75g) a few years back so saltwater is familiar territory. But let me say, reefin' is the bomb!!!!

 

I learned everything about corals & reef fish from nano-reef.com, IMO THE best resource for research about every predicament of the hobby.

 

Special thanks to StevieT, whose thread is a "how to" guide for the RSM. Also to the Reef Hot Spot in LA for importing rarities and selling them for 1/3 the price of every other LFS (also does web business)

My local reefer, EDGRAY, who gave me a few select slices of his beautiful tank

 

Anyways, about the tank itself. The master plan (what the wife wants) is a seahorse variety tank. Meaning that we want to house & breed sea horses, but not at the expense of a species only tank. We plan to add sea horses at month 5, but here is a glimpse at its current state, 3 months in.

 

I have a bunch of pics that I would love to post, but I try to limit it to only my fav :D

I have some build up pics, but many others have documented it pretty well IMO

 

side view at 2 months

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my superman & amazing orange/red mushrooms (thanks to EDGRAY)

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more pics in next post

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aero_reefer777

7 week FTS

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Purple Firefish "Mel"

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feeding Ricordea, Yummy...

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open brain, purchased at Reef Hot Spot $25!!!

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aero_reefer777

Side view - from the couch

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Purple sea plume gorgonia - for the sea horses (eventually)

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one more couch shot

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Looks really good already, nicely done. This tank has a lot of potential. The contch shell looks really cool, I like the idea.

 

Good luck with the gorgonia, it looks like it is doing petty good.

 

Hint: upload your pics on photobucket, then use the code and paste them in your thread. That way the pics will show up on the page and we don't have to click on them.

 

B)

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aero_reefer777

Thanks for the compliments. We are very excited to see this tank develop.

 

Thanks for the tip on the photo bucket, I will use that for my next post (coming soon)

 

StevieT, did you lose your gorgonia?

We have it directly in front of the power heads, and got pretty lucky by picking up a beautiful specimen.

 

The contch shell is from the Bahamas. My wife & I picked it up on our honeymoon (5 years ago), it used to be in our predator tank. We like to pick up sea treasures from our travels and place them in our tank. It adds to the whole experience.

 

More photos soon...

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I lost my purple one, it was a stupid buy since it is the harder kind to keep, filter feeder kind. But I do still have my orange ones and they are doing great still. Polyps are always extended. Yours looks amazing!

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  • 2 weeks later...
aero_reefer777

Hey All,

Been down and out for a little while dealing with ich. We seem to have that under control, it forced us to buy some needed items anyway (QT Tank etc.). I recently installed an inline chiller for the coming summer, a MINI Artica, works fabulous. We live close to the water so it does not get too hot, but it also means that we have no A/C. Looking to get Sea Horses some time this summer, will sporadically stock coral until then.

Here are some updates! Happy reefing till next time

 

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The clowns in their favorite sleeping quarters, the flower pot and zoa colony

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
aero_reefer777

Updates coming this weekend!!

Maybe a new pair of sea horses, if my wife gets her way...

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aero_reefer777

Hey All,

I thought I would post a tribute to my brain. He is a bit bigger than 4" in diameter and kind of looks like an ash tray that Picasso would have made. Please post your favorite brain shots in my thread, I would love to see them!

Happy Reefing!

 

with the top down...

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top down sunset (my tank gets ~1 hour natural light in the summer)

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enjoying some eats

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out all night, check out the bristle worm!

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macro feeding

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one more sunset

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my tank gets snow too (don't mix calcium & carbonate )

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That's all for now B)

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one more sunset

IMG_2655.jpg

 

Early morning and late evening light is like magic. You've really taken advantage of it here.

 

Thanks for the update.

 

-hank

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aero_reefer777
Early morning and late evening light is like magic. You've really taken advantage of it here.

 

Thanks for the update.

 

-hank

 

 

Thanks for the feedback Hank!

 

We are eagerly anticipating the arrival of a pair of Redi Seahorses this Friday!

Hope to have photos posted this weekend!

Matt

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aero_reefer777
great picks

 

what is up with the "snow" picture?!

 

did you mix something incorrectly?

 

Thanks StevieT

 

yeah, little lesson from Chemistry 101. Calcium & carbonate form a precipitate when mixed. I add my doses to a small bowl with my top-off water, and accidentally put both in the same bowl. Ooops! :o

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  • 2 months later...
  • 5 months later...
aero_reefer777

We have been away for way too long, but still living up to our reefing dreams. We recently passed 1 since we introduced fish :D. I have to say this is the best/most rewarding hobby ever. Anyways, we have pushed on with our seahorse variety reef tank. The seahorses are a mating pair (tried very hard to raise a few litters - very difficult and time & $$$ consuming) and very personable. They will latch onto your finger to grab a bite to eat. Hope you enjoy the photos!

 

scottsreeef.jpg

 

fullshot.jpg

 

clownandcandycane.jpg

 

cutie.jpg

 

xeniaandclown.jpg

 

mandyandtheredshroom.jpg

 

maleandfemaleseahorse.jpg

 

femalewithzoa.jpg

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aero_reefer777

Thanks Nanobuds

I have 6 fish: 2 Redi Seahorses, 2 Clowns, 1 Chromis, 1 Mandarin Goby.

And no, I am not worried since this balance has been stable both chemically & symbiotically for a while. The only real "swimmer" is the Chromis, everything else just chills. Every critter has their space and they get along very well in a social community. Of course, you have to be very selective in picking tank mates for seahorses. They are the largest creatures in the tank (4" tall+), so that helps weigh the pecking order in their favor.

If you have the time to feed the seahorses every day and are committed to weekly water changes, seahorses are not that delicate IMO (I do have a chiller though).

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AnnafromtheLBC

hey neighbor, I agree- ponies will do just fine in a reef environment with friendly fish so long as you can target feed them 1-2 times per day (they're so slow to get to the food compared to the fishies). mine seem to actually enjoy playing in the high flow required for corals...

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  • 1 month later...
aero_reefer777

Mandarin Training Success !!! Three months & eating frozen mysis !!! :D

I was sooo excited last night when I witnessed his first big bites of frozen mysis, I felt the need to share our story. As you may conclude from looking through our previous posts, we were basically breaking all the Mandarin rules as far as placing them with other species (2 adult seahorses) that will compete for pods (in only a 35 gal) . We successfully overcame this by hard work and probably spending too much money (money is made to be spent right?).

 

For hard work: We have tried (unsuccessfully) many times to raise seahorse fry, so we have a brine shrimp hatchery and know how to crank them out. This was key. About 5 days a week we would feed live baby brine shrimp mixed with cyclopeeze frozen food. Eventually, he gets used to tasting the frozen food and will stop spitting it out when he mistakenly eats it.

 

Spending money: We will spend ~$50 every 3-4 months to buy a pod starter kit (2000 pods) from seahorse source. I think this gave us enough time to train him to eat frozen. (took 3 months to eat frozen mysis)

 

The lucky part: The seahorses & mandarin seem to share a close symbiotic relationship. I often notice them in extremely close quarters (even touching). This has helped in his transition to mysis, because the mandarin seemed genuinely curious in what the seahorses were eating. Eventually, he must have had some moment of realization that whats good for them must be good for me, and tried eating with them. I will have to post a video of this soon!

 

Anyways, bottom line: You can have a mandarin in a nano (35 gal) if you are willing to spend 15 minutes a day tending to baby brine, mix the baby brine with cyclopeeze for each feeding (atleast 5 days a week), and occasionally boost the pod population.

 

Best of luck to you & your Mandarin, in our minds its totally worth it for this stunning fish!

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  • 3 years later...

What species of seahorse do you have?

 

Also, what is your temperature at because I thought they needed cooler temperatures than normal reef tanks.

 

Thanks- Wizzy :happy:

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  • 3 years later...

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