2.5 dwarf seahorse tank

[twiggyb]

So, I've been wanting to keep seahorses for a while and had bought a 30g hex to do so, but have since scraped it due to the other tanks I have taking up space. I've been reading up on dwarf seahorses however and can do a little tank of them without the space issues, now I just gotta practice my brine shrimp hatching/de-capping skills and I should be good to go. I've started this project already, but won't put in any seahorses until I'm confident I can maintain their food source for a while, but in the mean time I'll setup their home and let the pod population grow and get the minor tweaks I will need to make to make it work.

 

I bought a little 2.5g tank from petsmart,

 

 

 

Also bought a Marineland LED light that goes over the 2.5 perectly along with a Marineland maxi jet 400

 

 

 

Then bought some paper holding trays from office max that were made out of black acrylic and broke off the false walls for the tank

 

 

 

The small piece of acrylic is for keeping the pump from twisting around in the back too much

 

 

 

 

The other two walls will contain the macro, one wall to separate it, the other to hopefully stop any microbubbles from getting back to the main display if my thinkings right? I'm using Loctite to hold the walls in place first

 

 

 

 

Then I'll use silicone to seal up any gaps between the walls.

 

Worlds worst silicone job

 

 

 

I meant to get clear, but it doesn't really matter since I'm going to black out the outside of the tank where everything behind the false wall is. So far that's all I've done. Giving the walls time to heal before I shove my clumsy hands back in there to do the other two. Then I'll test for any leaks and test out the pump to figure out my flow situation. Thanks for looking updates soon to come!

[twiggyb]

Some pics of the lights

 

 

[lljdma06]

I saw that light at Petsmart the other day, how do you like it? I've got a 2.5g tank up too, but I opted for another type of LED light. Same price, though.

 

llj

[twiggyb]

It seems like I'll like it, but until the tank is actually up and running I'm not sure. As long as it stays cool it should be fine. Kind of wish there was a little more blue lighting, but that's ok.

[28g nano noob]

How much are u in on the tank I was thinking about getting a 10g and making it an aio for dwarf horse

[twiggyb]

Money wise?

Tank- $14

Light- $40

Pump-$50

paper holding trays (for walls)- $13 ea. I bought two just in case.

 

Total: $130+ minus the glue and silicone

[28g nano noob]

Money wise?

Tank- $14

Light- $40

Pump-$50

paper holding trays (for walls)- $13 ea. I bought two just in case.

 

Total: $130+ minus the glue and silicone

not 2 bad

[pico-reefer]

Money wise?

Tank- $14

Light- $40

Pump-$50

paper holding trays (for walls)- $13 ea. I bought two just in case.

 

Total: $130+ minus the glue and silicone

 

That maxi-jet was 50.00?? you can get them on ebay for 10.00

[twiggyb]

Added the other wall tonight, didn't silicone it though as I'm too tired to try and mess with that.

 

 

 

[twiggyb]

Here's a pic of my setup for making brine shrimp for the SHs. I plan on getting one or two more hatcheries.

 

 

 

Finished putting all the walls in the tank and siliconed it all up, then painted the outside of it today. It took a whole can so the light wouldn't shine through anymore. I'll test it for leaks tomorrow.

 

 

 

I had to re-tape it to put more coats on and I guess I missed a few spots this time

 

 

 

I'll also trim some of the ugly off as well

 

 

 

[twiggyb]

I'm thinking a small rock pile for some shrooms or zoos, some macro and a gorg or dead sea fan in the rest of the room for hitching posts.

 

 

 

 

[KellyRRoberts4]

Love the setup and the work you've already put into it.

I've always loved the dwarf seahorses, but never had enough guts to do anything like this!

Looks great to me!

What all are you planning on having in the back?

[twiggyb]

The back of the false wall? Well in the first chamber I'll do either chaeto or caulerpa, leaning more towards caulerpa since I have a harder time keeping chaeto, then I guess either carbon or something else to buff the water before returning to the main part of the tank. I tested the flow out the other night and I think I'll have to cut a couple of propellers so it's not as strong. Haven't put water in it just yet, I'm still thinking of putting more sand for the macros.

[maxwell]

Thats swweeeeeeetttttt!!!

[twiggyb]

Thanks Maxwell, just put water in it this morning. I'm going to see what the temp reaches when I get home tonight then decide what to do if it's too high. It's already digging a hole in the sand at the far end so I know I'll have to slow down the flow. Tomorrow I'll try decapsulating brine shrimp eggs.

[twiggyb]

I just got back home with a new pump, mini jet 404, and snapped a few pics of the different flow coming out of them. The baffles combined with the new pump, which has a built in flow control, is perfect with a little bit of surface agitation and no more sand dunes. I'd like to hear from someone if 80 is too hot for dwarves.

 

 

 

without baffles

 

 

 

with baffles

 

 

 

[Rosti]

do you think that light is capable of growing some sps or frogspawn in a 2.5 gal?

or will it even grow zoas?

[lljdma06]

With my LEDs I probably have enough for mushrooms, and you have an extra row of LEDS, I think, but I'm making my 2.5g an NPS tank.

[twiggyb]

Rosti, I'd think with enough flow you could do sps, but I'm not sure with the LEDs I have. I have LEDs on my 65 and sps does great, as well as my Frogspawn towards the bottom so I'd imagine in a 2.5 the lighting should be plenty. lljdma06, do you have a thread on your nps tank? I asked on another forum and they made it seem like it would be impossible to keep such a small tank as an nps.

[Rosti]

Rosti, I'd think with enough flow you could do sps, but I'm not sure with the LEDs I have. I have LEDs on my 65 and sps does great, as well as my Frogspawn towards the bottom so I'd imagine in a 2.5 the lighting should be plenty. lljdma06, do you have a thread on your nps tank? I asked on another forum and they made it seem like it would be impossible to keep such a small tank as an nps.

 

sounds decent,well my dream was to keep a frogspawn in a 2.5,do you think those marine land led fixtures would be enough for that,flow wont be a problem for me i have an idea that would generate a bunch of flow.

im just confused on those led's honestly i just want to know if you think the fixture can pull out enough juice to supply frogspawn with enough life to flourish.

[twiggyb]

If it didn't, I'd be surprised. If pc light can keep frogspawns kicking, I shouldn't see why there would be a problem with this led fixture. Unless if someone here has this fixture and knows otherwise?

[Daleo]

I've been thinking about doing a 10g dwarf tank. I'll be following this. Do you think that light could sustain some macro algae?

[brandon429]

got pics or video of feeding them? thats the hardest part in keeping dwarfs

[twiggyb]

Daleo, here's a link to the specs on the light. Looking at that, I don't think these are a good choice light for stuff to grow. I might look around at something else.

 

 

http://marineland.com/uploadedFiles/Marine...ium%20Light.pdf

 

Brandon, I don't have any yet. Tank is still cycling. I probably won't have any for a while until I establish a good pod population and get some good macro hitches going.

[brandon429]

thats good planning can't wait to see it.