Diver's Pony Paradise - New photos! (pg. 64)

[Felicia]

Hi everyone! I finally caved to seahorse fever (I blame Zia) and got this Oceanic 30 gallon glass cube and stand used from a member of the local reef club. Since my living room is occupied with my 30 gallon mixed reef tank and 10 gallon frag tank, this tank is located in my bedroom where I can view it from my bed or my desk

Tank established 8/4/13.

Most Recent FTS - 2/25/14

 

 

 

Most Recent Video - 2/25/14

 

Specs
Tank
30 Gallon Oceanic Glass Cube - 20"W x 18"D x 20"H (DIY AIO)

Lighting
- Maxspect Razor Nano 60W 10K LED fixture

Light Schedule:

- JBJ Nano Glo LED refugium light

Filtration
- AIO modification with back chambers

- Media basket with filter floss

- Tunze Nano DOC Protein Skimmer 9002

- Refugium with rubble rock and chaeto (seeded with Tisbe copepods)

- BRS Dual Media Reactor

- Cobalt MJ1200 Pump

- BRS Large Particle Lignite Carbon

- BRS Bulk GFO

Heater
Finnex HMO-100 - 100 watt titanium heater with digital controller (set to 72 F)

Flow
- Blue Box MP10 with foam guard (replaced bearings Dec. 2013)
- Maxi-Jet NJ1100 return pump (max 294 gph) with 2.5" flare return nozzle

Auto Top-Off
- JBJ ATO Water Level Controller
- Rio Plus 800 Pump
- 5 gallon RO/DI reservoir

Rock and Sand
- 15 lbs of BRS reef saver dry rock
- 3.5 lbs of tonga branch live rock
- 30 lbs of live aragonite sand

Miscellaneous
- Titanium grounding probe

Schematic of back chambers


Livestock
Seahorses
- 2 H. Erectus seahorses (1 male and 1 female)

Fish
- Mated pair of yellowhead jawfish (Bonnie and Clyde)

- Yellow coris wrasse (male)

Invertebrates
- Colony of multi-colored Christmas Tree Worms
- 3 nano serpent stars

CUC
- Scarlet hermits
- Blue leg hermits
- Astrea snails and ninja star astreas
- Nassarius snails
- Nerite snails
- Cerith snails
- Marginella snails

Corals
Gorgonians
- 3 Purple feathers (Pseudopterogorgia bipinnata)
- Purple plume (Muriceopsis flavida)
- Yellow sea whip (Pterogorgia citrina)
- 2 Yellow sea feathers (Pseudopterogorgia bipinnata)
- ORA Grube's Gorgonian (Pinnigorgia flava)
- Purple Candelabra EcoGorg (Plexaura flexuosa)
- 3 Purple Blades (Pterogorgia guadalupensis)
- Spiny orange sea rod (Muricea elongata)
- Red finger (NPS) (Diodogorgia nodulifera)
- Yellow finger (NPS) (Diodogorgia nodulifera)

- Knobby sea rod (Eunicea)

- Corky Finger (Briareum asbestinum)

Black Corals
- Yellow-green spiral wire coral (Cirrhipathes spiralis)
- Orange spiral wire coral (Cirrhipathes spiralis)

- Dark orange spiral wire coral (Cirrhipathes spiralis)

- Purple/blue base with pink/orange polyps spiral wire coral (Cirrhipathes spiralis)

Sponges
- Red ball sponge with encrusting zoanthids (Pseudoaxinella lunchearta + Parazoanthus swift)
- Red tree sponge (Ptilocaulis sp.)
- Yellow filly sponge (Halichondria sp.)
- Yellow ball sponge (Cinachyra alloclada)

- Blue photosynthetic sponge

Soft Corals
- Assorted St. Thomas mushrooms (Discosoma sanctithomae)
- Assorted Florida ricordea
- Ricordea Yuma
- Assorted mushroom corals
- Green polyp toadstool leathers
- Yellow Fiji Leather
- Miami vice-type zoanthids
- Neon blue Caribbean zoanthids
- Yellow eyed Caribbean zoanthids
- Blue sympodium
- Pulsing xenia

Macroalgaes
- Caulerpa Sertulariodes
- Red Dragon (Cryptonemia sp.)
- Blue Ochtodes (in refugium)
- Dragon's Breath (Halymenia sp.)
- Rigid, branching red macro (Galaxaura sp.)

[Zia]

Wow it cleaned up so good! Dang that light thats on it looks plenty bright for macros and softies. Its looks wayyy brighter than i expected it to be. Is that the power compact that came with it? What a good fit in the corner there. Looks so good with the rest of your furniture.

[thekookie]

a tank sitting next to the bed! better than Television.

[Zia]

a tank sitting next to the bed! better than Television.

Seriously! And a seahorse tank to boot. I'm so excited there's going to be another epic seahorse tank on NR. This thread will be funnn!

[Felicia]

Wow it cleaned up so good! Dang that light thats on it looks plenty bright for macros and softies. Is that the power compact that came with it? What a good fit in the corner there. Looks so good with the rest of your furniture.

Yeah, it really is in good shape for being an old tank. The person I bought it from got it back in 2005. Unfortunately though, even after soaking in vinegar all day, I can't get a bunch of the hard water stains off the glass. I spoke to someone in the club who had the same issue with a used tank and she ended up polishing the glass with cerium oxide. I will probably have to do that before I can proceed any further with the build because the stains are going to interfere with viewing the tank. They're hard to see if the photos, but there are a lot of spots on the fronts and sides where it looks fuzzy from the hard water etching.

 

Right now the stand looks like that last photo from the manufacturer. I don't like the lighter wood sides since the rest of my bedroom furniture is black, so I'm going to paint it so the entire stand is black. And yep, that's the power compact. That's a super old bulb that's in it and the blue portion is almost out, so its mostly just white right now. Its brighter than I was expecting. The guy I bought it from said he was able to grow LPS under that light in this tank. Maybe I'll keep it if I decide I like the color balance ok once I get the new bulb for it.

 

And yep, it fits great in the corner there. I removed a bookcase that matched my desk to make room for the tank. Now I can look at the front of the tank from the bed or a large part of the side from my desk when I'm working.

 

a tank sitting next to the bed! better than Television.

Yep! That's the idea

[Kfmmartin19]

Subscribed! I may be following in your footsteps with a Biocube remodeling...

 

[Felicia]

Subscribed! I may be following in your footsteps with a Biocube remodeling...

Yay! You should do it!

[RC1313]

I cannot wait for this!!

[Kfmmartin19]

Do you know where you are getting your ponies yet? Still trying to decide where I could order from...I know diver's den sometimes has a pair for $99...don't know if there are any better deals

[RC1313]

When I was looking at doing a seahorse tank I was thinking seahorse source or ocean rider

[Kfmmartin19]

When I was looking at doing a seahorse tank I was thinking seahorse source or ocean rider

Yes, I saw those.

 

I also came across this site: http://www.seahorsecorral.com/#2813 that sells pairs for $100. Anyone heard of/know of anything about that site?

 

Also if u don't want the ponies to breed can u just get two of the same gender or will they fight?

[Zia]

Yes, I saw those. I also came across this site: http://www.seahorsecorral.com/#2813 that sells pairs for $100. Anyone heard of/know of anything about that site? Also if u don't want the ponies to breed can u just get two of the same gender or will they fight?

I spoke with them at seahorse corral and they seem to have great quality seahorses and awesome service. 100.00 for two Captive Bred seahorses is dirt cheap. But your only gonna find black ones for that price. But those are beauts to. If you don't want babies than you'll need to go with two females. Thats what i currently have in my tank.

[Felicia]

Do you know where you are getting your ponies yet? Still trying to decide where I could order from...I know diver's den sometimes has a pair for $99...don't know if there are any better deals

I'm probably either going to go through Seahorsecorral.com or Southwatchseahorse.com. I want brightly colored seahorses, which will make them more expensive than the standard black ones. Seahorsecorral is more expensive, with a pair of the bright yellow ones being $230 plus shipping. They have awesome customer service though from what I hear. Southwatch is cheaper, but Zia said their customer service wasn't as good. I'm going to talk to both of them when I'm close to ordering the seahorses and then decide which to go with. Or I may decide to go through somewhere else.

 

Yes, I saw those. I also came across this site: http://www.seahorsecorral.com/#2813 that sells pairs for $100. Anyone heard of/know of anything about that site? Also if u don't want the ponies to breed can u just get two of the same gender or will they fight?

I plan to get two females like Zia did so that I don't have baby seahorses in the tank all the time.

[Felicia]

Ok, the first post is updated with actual information now

[Felicia]

I just ordered the new bulb for the light fixture. I'll use it for the next couple months until I sort out if I want to change the lighting. If I want to upgrade to LEDs, then I'll need to save up some money anyway. This light is surprisingly nice, so I'll be fine keeping it for the time being. Here's the bulb it uses:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002AQ3N6/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Oh and I got the plastic feet for the fixture so that it won't be sitting directly on the glass lid for the tank. I'd like it up off the tank for air circulation and so I can get in the tank without removing the fixture. Amazon is amazing. This fixture is discontinued so Marine Depot and the other big online stores have stopped selling the mounting legs. Amazon however had them for $11 and free 2 day Prime shipping. Yay!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000256DZ4/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Ebn]

Glad that tank made it into someone's hands that's gonna put it to good use.

[Felicia]

Glad that tank made it into someone's hands that's gonna put it to good use.

Its a great tank! Thanks so much! I'll be posting a thread up on BAR as well when I get to work on it some more.

[zhuangcg]

I'm probably either going to go through Seahorsecorral.com or Southwatchseahorse.com. I want brightly colored seahorses, which will make them more expensive than the standard black ones. Seahorsecorral is more expensive, with a pair of the bright yellow ones being $230 plus shipping. They have awesome customer service though from what I hear. Southwatch is cheaper, but Zia said their customer service wasn't as good. I'm going to talk to both of them when I'm close to ordering the seahorses and then decide which to go with. Or I may decide to go through somewhere else.

 

I plan to get two females like Zia did so that I don't have baby seahorses in the tank all the time.

 

You don't want baby seahorses? Ooowaaaaaaahhhhh??!??

[HVani]

Ponies!!

[eitallent]

Congratulations! Your placement of the tank looks perfect! You will have such a nice time falling asleep watching the tank.

 

You will have to be extra careful with water changes not to spill too much. I am so messy whenever I work on the tanks!

 

Following!

[Kfmmartin19]

I'll probably just wait and see where you get your ponies from and then decide. U think u will go with the black ones or something else?

 

Also, have you thought about tank temp.? Seems like it's a controversial subject with these guys lol. Some people seem to think you need heavy-duty chillers while others say that all that's necessary is a heater

[Felicia]

You don't want baby seahorses? Ooowaaaaaaahhhhh??!??

They're super adorable, but I won't have the equipment to raise them so I'd hate to let them have babies and then just watch them die off. It takes a lot of special food and care to keep the babies alive and I just won't have the system for it. That's why I'll get too females and they can be buddies

 

Ponies!!

Yep yep!

 

Congratulations! Your placement of the tank looks perfect! You will have such a nice time falling asleep watching the tank.

 

You will have to be extra careful with water changes not to spill too much. I am so messy whenever I work on the tanks!

 

Following!

Thanks! I think its a great place for a tank! My friends won't see it much since its back in my bedroom, but this one will be just for me and Lily to enjoy. I like reading in bed at night and it will be nice to also be able to watch the tank then. I plan to put moonlights on it so that even when the main lights are out, I can still somewhat see what's going on.

 

Luckily I have tons of practice with not being messy when I do water changes. The main tank is sitting on carpet right by a bunch of my nice furniture, so I can't be messy with that tank either. Its hard but I've gotten good at not spilling much water.

 

I'll probably just wait and see where you get your ponies from and then decide. U think u will go with the black ones or something else? Also, have you thought about tank temp.? Seems like it's a controversial subject with these guys lol. Some people seem to think you need heavy-duty chillers while others say that all that's necessary is a heater

Yeah, I'll keep you posted as I make my decision. They're a ways off though since I have to do more work on this tank before its even wet, then the cycle, and then I want to add other things before the seahorses. I want the tank to be a couple months old before I put the seahorses in to make sure the water is stable and everything is doing well. I really want some nice yellow ones, but they're so expensive. Maybe I'll splurge on one yellow one and also get a black one. That would probably look cool!

 

H. Erectus seems to do well up to about 76 degrees. I think the ideal they usual say is 74, but they also do fine at 76. Since I plan to keep corals in this tank too, I'm going to just keep the tank at 76 which should be ok for the seahorses and the coral and then other tropical fish. Where I live doesn't get very hot, so I definitely won't need a chiller to keep the tank at 76, so I'll just use a heater to keep it stable. Maybe Zia can chime in on this too. I know his is plumbed into the other reef tanks so his water must be at least 76.

 

My local reef club had a tank tour today where we went from house to house to see each other's tanks. It was super fun! Anyways, we ended the tour at one of the LFS and I bought some stuff to eventually go in the new seahorse tank. I got 2 nice big gorgonians for only $15 each. They're both purple and one is a plume or feather type and the other is a rod type. They're hanging out in the main tank for the time being. I also picked up a rock with 3 BRIGHT iridescent teal mushrooms for $8 and a superman mushroom (red with blue speckles) for $8. And I found some seagrass! Got a nice piece of it for free with my purchase! The seahorses are going to love that stuff. The mushrooms and the grass are on the sandbed in the frag tank. I'll get some photos of them later when everything has finished acclimating.

[Kfmmartin19]

Ya I was thinking about doing one yellow and one black too, but wasnt sure if that'd be ok to do (although its the same species so idk why it'd be a problem)

 

My tanks in my basement so I would imagine that I wouldn't need a chiller either

[Felicia]

Ya I was thinking about doing one yellow and one black too, but wasnt sure if that'd be ok to do (although its the same species so idk why it'd be a problem) My tanks in my basement so I would imagine that I wouldn't need a chiller either

Yeah, I think the black and yellow ones do just fine together. Seahorsecorral has photos on their website where the black and yellow ones are together in the same tank. I just want at least one bright one and the black ones look nice too.

 

Yeah, you should be fine without a chiller. There are some temperate seahorse species that need even lower temps, but H. Erectus is ok at the slightly higher temps so a chiller seems like overkill.

 

So after talking to a ton of people in my local club today, I'm definitely leaning towards putting a false wall in the back of this tank to make chambers. It will be more work to get it set-up but I think it will look nicer and will keep the seahorses away from the equipment. I also think it will be nice to have a little fuge in the back where pods can breed to feed the seahorses. I'll do a sketch sometime in the next couple days of the design and I'll get feedback from you guys. This will definitely be my first time designing anything like this.

[Kfmmartin19]

I know in your other build you said that for lighting you were thinking LEDs and probably DIY to fit your budget. Idk what your budget is but the Nano Razor is only $289 and would be sick on this tank. Would be plenty for softies, macros etc. I just got a Razor and love it. Had I been thinking about a pony/softie set-up then I probably would have gotten the 10k instead of 16k...oh well