So i have wanted a saltwater tank for several years, and earlier this year i decided that the time was right! So i spent several months researching and finally put it together at the end of August.
Here it is after the cycle. I got really freaked out that the rock i had was volcanic and i couldnt get a good answer from where i bought it from so I pulled it all out and replaced with live rock.
Here it is looking very empty and sad, so i went and got some more. This guy was breaking down his tank so i got his corals as well.
At this point i decided that i was going to do a seahorse tank so the damsels had to go. Getting those little beast was horrible, i had to remove EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But then i rearranged everything. Surprisingly everything made it through that traumatic event (including myself), although the leather isnt super happy, but it is also shedding so i think that might also be the issue.
So in the mean time the seahorses have been in a training tank. They came from seahorsesource.com in florida. They are used to a bare bottom tank so i have been adding things like rocks and sand so that they adjust to them and to train them to eat from a turkey baster. They also had to figure out they could eat the shrimps that had hit the floor and werent moving. I have really enjoyed them so far, they have tons of personality and are very smart. In the next few days they will be moved into the big tank.
Here they are when i first got them. Notice how sterile the tank is. Just tubes running the filter and airstone, being held down by glasses.
Over time I added little bits of the tank elements. So now it looks like this:
Currently the little girl does not like the sand, and is sulking on the other side of the tub. However i plan on spreading it all over tomorrow and im not removing it from the big tank so she is just going to have to suck it up and accept it.
Future plan include an algae scrubber instead of skimmer because of stand constraints and because seahorses like to live in herds i plan on ordering 4 more sometime in November. The tank also needs to have hitches put in for the ponies, which will probably be plastic tubs until i can get some good macro growth and put in some sort of hardy gorg, branching coral or finger leathers.
Here it is after the cycle. I got really freaked out that the rock i had was volcanic and i couldnt get a good answer from where i bought it from so I pulled it all out and replaced with live rock.
Here it is looking very empty and sad, so i went and got some more. This guy was breaking down his tank so i got his corals as well.
At this point i decided that i was going to do a seahorse tank so the damsels had to go. Getting those little beast was horrible, i had to remove EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But then i rearranged everything. Surprisingly everything made it through that traumatic event (including myself), although the leather isnt super happy, but it is also shedding so i think that might also be the issue.
So in the mean time the seahorses have been in a training tank. They came from seahorsesource.com in florida. They are used to a bare bottom tank so i have been adding things like rocks and sand so that they adjust to them and to train them to eat from a turkey baster. They also had to figure out they could eat the shrimps that had hit the floor and werent moving. I have really enjoyed them so far, they have tons of personality and are very smart. In the next few days they will be moved into the big tank.
Here they are when i first got them. Notice how sterile the tank is. Just tubes running the filter and airstone, being held down by glasses.
Over time I added little bits of the tank elements. So now it looks like this:
Currently the little girl does not like the sand, and is sulking on the other side of the tub. However i plan on spreading it all over tomorrow and im not removing it from the big tank so she is just going to have to suck it up and accept it.
Future plan include an algae scrubber instead of skimmer because of stand constraints and because seahorses like to live in herds i plan on ordering 4 more sometime in November. The tank also needs to have hitches put in for the ponies, which will probably be plastic tubs until i can get some good macro growth and put in some sort of hardy gorg, branching coral or finger leathers.
