Aid and inspire me!

[Oceanminded]

So I'm strongly considering seahorses in my 55g tank (55 long). Any species recommendations welcome, I want to have seahorses with a couple seahorse friendly fish and corals (rated 0 on seahorse.org) -- so probably a mandarin, maybe another species of fish, and polyp/mushroom/sea fan corals. I also want to do some live kelp.

My tank currently has water ONLY -- is live rock ok for a SH tank? I feel like this could pose difficulties (namely hitchhikers), but would also provide benefits such as filtration and food source for the other tank inhabitants. Does substrate (sand) size matter? I was going to go with either fine (sugar sized) or medium (slightly larger) black live sand. Snail only CUC with the exception of a sand sifting star or two.

Correct me if I'm wrong: seahorses like only about 3-5x the flow of the tank volume, will this conflict with what the corals need?

Now the inspiration!

I haven't aquascaped yet (since I don't know if I'll be getting live rock or not) and I want to see your seahorse tanks for inspiration and ideas on providing plenty of hang-out and hitch spots. I'd especially love to see tanks with similar dimensions to mine (long vs tall) but any will be helpful! :p

[DanU]

H. erectus, H. reidi or H. kuda from a reputable breeder will typically be the hardiest. H. erectus being easier to breed if you have any breeding aspirations.

A 55 would work fine for seahorses. It has enough vertical space. I prefer tanks with horizontal space as well as vertical. I have always done better with this type of tank over taller narrower tanks.

Live rock is fine with seahorses. Live rock is a great biological filter but you will also need a very good mechanical filter as well.

I prefer fine sand such as the sugar sized. Courser substrates can collect more detritis.

Higher flow is better for seahorse tanks than lower flow. I shoot for 10X or more. The key is to break up the flow. Better flow will make them exercise more, remove more particulate matter and generally make the tank healthier. IME seahorses are more active in higher flow tanks.

Dan

[Oceanminded]

H. erectus, H. reidi or H. kuda from a reputable breeder will typically be the hardiest. H. erectus being easier to breed if you have any breeding aspirations.

A 55 would work fine for seahorses. It has enough vertical space. I prefer tanks with horizontal space as well as vertical. I have always done better with this type of tank over taller narrower tanks.

Live rock is fine with seahorses. Live rock is a great biological filter but you will also need a very good mechanical filter as well.

I prefer fine sand such as the sugar sized. Courser substrates can collect more detritis.

Higher flow is better for seahorse tanks than lower flow. I shoot for 10X or more. The key is to break up the flow. Better flow will make them exercise more, remove more particulate matter and generally make the tank healthier. IME seahorses are more active in higher flow tanks.

Dan

Great to know, thank you Dan! If I end up going this route I'll be ordering from Seahorse Source.:bounce3: