| This is my 54-gallon corner
bowfront seahorse tank. It was set up in December 2002, and
was an upgrade from a 26-gallon. The tank contains approximately
50 pounds of live rock, a 3-4" deep sand bed, and several
different kinds of red and green macroalgae. The only tank
mates are a 6-legged maroon 'linckia' sea star, and a peppermint
shrimp to help control a little aiptasia. My clean-up crew
came in with my live rock and consists primarily of hundreds
of tiny brittle stars, spaghetti worms, and bristle worms.
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This set-up utilizes a sump, which is located
in the cabinet below. Due to the space constraints of the
curved cabinet, a 10-gallon sump is the largest standard-sized
tank that can be housed. However, even with the small size
of the sump, all the tank equipment is located down there,
leaving the main tank uncluttered and equipment-free.
Equipment in the sump consists of an AquaC EV-120 protein
skimmer driven by a Mag 5 pump, a titanium heater, and a
second Mag 5 pump to return the water to the main tank above.
I also have an airstone in the sump connected to an air
pump that resides on a nearby windowsill to assist with
keeping the pH in an acceptable range. I have a problem
with CO2 build-up in our house, and, consequently, fought
a battle with low pH until the problem was discovered. The
air pump by the window, which draws in outside air, solved
the pH dilemma.
All the tank circulation is provided by the return pump.
Factoring in head pressure, the pump is pushing approximately
250-300 gph, which is returned to the main tank via a 1"
hose. Water returning to the main tank travels from the
back to the front of the tank just below the water level,
down the front glass, and then flows back across the substrate
to pick up any detritus. This leaves the middle area of
the tank relatively turbulence-free for the horses to move
about, and I have never noticed any horses, even small juveniles,
having a problem with too much water flow.
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Since
this tank contains no corals, the lightling consists simply
of NO 50/50 fluorescents.
In addition to the 54-gallon, I also have 72-gallon bowfront
tank that is currently undergoing a bit of a renovation. It's
another seahorse tank, but I'm in the process of adding seahorse-friendly
polyps and mushrooms, and removing the caulerpa and most of
the macroalgae. The set-up and equipment for the 72 is exactly
the same as the 54 with a minor exception -- the sump is a
15-gallon, as opposed to a 10-gallon.
Current seahorse occupants of the 54 and 72 are erectus, of
which half of them I raised from birth. I also hope to get
a couple pairs of reidi in the near future. |
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