Seahorse temp. question

[JoeSpeez]

I have two horses and two pipfish. i have a few zoas, some gargonians and a couple of other corals. My question is do i need to keep the tank at a certain temp. and if so what would that temp be. and if it would affect everything differently? i do know that they like cooler water but i dont know a specific temp. any help would be very appreciated.


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[funkejj]

Keep it 74 degrees or under to prevent bacterial issues with the horses. He corals will be ok we have the same.

[JoeSpeez]

thanks very much. now like i said im new to all of this so this might sound stupid but i do that with a heater or something else like a chiller? and if so where would i get something like that at


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[rayjay]

Latest recommendations temperature wise are to run seahorse tanks between 68° and 74° to LESSEN the influence of bacteria like vibriosis.
These bacteria grow exponentially with each rising degree in temperature, especially above 74°.
That is not to say that there aren't successes at higher temperature, but the odds of success diminish as the temperature rises.
You are already bucking the odds by mixing seahorses and pipe fish which again is not recommended but sometimes works.
As I don't keep my home below 68°, I don't have heaters in any of my seahorse tanks, but for those who have homes that get above 74°, then a chiller is the way to go. You could buy one online or from an LFS.

[JoeSpeez]

Do you have any chillers in mind that you could recommend? if not its ok ill do my research.


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[rayjay]

Sorry, my tanks stay well within the recommended temperature range so I've never had to investigate chillers.

[MarineGirl411]

Fans also accomplish the same task as a chiller, depending on your house temp/where you live. That being said, you will need to top off your tank quite a bit. Or use an ATO.

[MarineGirl411]

I keep my tank at 75* but I am aiming for 74. I use a JBJ fan that I bought from Marine Depot. I currently own Erectus.

[JoeSpeez]

I dont know what an ATO but i have a HOB. and im in florida so it gets hot and moy house could be anywhere fron 76-78 so i want to make sure my animals are ok. i will look up those that youve mentioned but are they quite? the tank is right next to my bed.


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[funkejj]

ATO is automatic top off. We keep our house around 72 year round. We have a heater in there purely in case something happens in the winter with the furnace. I don't get how Flordia folks live with out a AC even in the summer I keep my place at 72 degrees when it is 100 outside.

[JoeSpeez]

"Us folks" do have AC lol. but its different temps in different places so here in florida 76-78 is a good cool temp. in contrast to the heat outside. but anyway it is that temp inside the house so could you suggest a chiller than for my tank? it is very appreciated. i dont want tp buy something the lfs is trying to sell just to sell. my lfs are all garbage when it comes to advice..


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[funkejj]

How big of a tank?

[JoeSpeez]

10 gal half moon


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[rayjay]

You are lucky you still have them.
Recommended tanks size for the first pair of seahorses is 29g, with an additional 15g for each additional pair.
As I already mentioned, you are bucking the odds having pipe fish in there, and doubly by having them in a tank that is so small.
You are either lucky, or are doing a heck of a lot of water changes, or, you have just recently got them.

[JoeSpeez]

oh.. i have had them for about 6 months and they look as if they are doing great. at first i was doing a 50% water change every week and recently i have cut it down to about 15-20% every week. it seems small when u hear it but its a good size as it looks for them.. but im not the expert.


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[JoeSpeez]

oh.. i have had them for about 6 months and they look as if they are doing great. at first i was doing a 50% water change every week and recently i have cut it down to about 15-20% every week. it seems small when u hear it but its a good size as it looks for them.. but im not the expert.


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[JoeSpeez]

ok i have been thi k about what you said ray. so i do have a 46 that would work great for what i have plus more. my next question is what extra things would i have to get for the tank. like a new filter of course i like the hob filter because i dont know anything about a sump so ill juat stay away from that, a new light of course. do i need a skimmer? do i need a chiller for something that big? what else what i need ? powerheads?


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[JoeSpeez]

i dont know how to do what you did but idk how do you have a tank without a filter? is it the sump/rock that subsitutes the filter? and if so how do i get one of those and set it up like yours? and what about the water flow or the gph, how do i get that if i have no filter?


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[rayjay]

The live rock I have in the sump is the biological filter converting the ammonia.
A pump returns the water in the sump to the tank.
A power head in the pump has a filter attached and is on a timer with the return pump and they shut down for feeding and start up later and remove the food remaining in the water column.
I clean the filter on the power head, and siphon anything left on the bottom, once a day.
There is also a mini power head that stays on all the time to try to keep food in suspension.
An open ended air line tube provides extra turbulance to the waters surface for gas exchange improvement, and, it also helps with keeping food in suspension.
Water flow when not feeding is at least 15X.

[JoeSpeez]

wow thats sounds complicated and hard to do... thanks i appreciate it if i can ill try to replicate what you got going on over there but if not would my plan with the hob work? ill have plenty of rock in the tank...


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[rayjay]

You need to investigate how others do it rather than just try my way because not too many do it my way.
Cannister filters and HOB filters do work but they need to be cleaned at least once a week so the nasty bacteria beds don't lead to deaths.
If you get more rock than you need it will be a waste and you may have a harder time viewing the seahorses. That's why I moved my rock to the sump.

[JoeSpeez]

of course makes sense . but as for the cleaning of he filter once a week i was always told change the filter cartridge once a month


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[rayjay]

Seahorses aren't like other fish. They can't handle the nasty vibriosis strains that develop in the pads/filter material of HOBs and cannister filters, so clean them frequently.

[funkejj]

I have live rock in my display tank. I run a skimmer rated for almost triple the size of the tank. Do to where it is located it wasn't practical to have a sump. I personally do not like hob filters as it is to easy to forget to change filters. What you learn about a fowlr or reef tank doesn't really apply much to a horse tank. You should keep a horse tank cleaner than a fish tank due to bad bacteria feeding and causing disease. Read in this forum. Look at people's tanks and get a feel as it will take some time to fire up a 46 gallon tank.

[rayjay]

With me, it's not that I "forget" to clean the filters, it's that I get lazy and complacent about it.
I get so I would let it slide an extra day and then when nothing goes wrong, it eventually over time gets to be a few more days over, and then, ZAP, it's too late, I'm loosing my seahorses.