bigjohnson
Member
So I have an extra 14gal tank I want to start up.
Is this to small for Seahorses?
If not which species would be best?
Is this to small for Seahorses?
If not which species would be best?
14gal. to small?
- Thread starter bigjohnson
- Start date
darthtang aw
Active Member
Not to small, can be done, I would recommend reidi for that size and water quality WILL be an issue for you
bigjohnson
Member
Why do you think that will be an issue?
bigjohnson
Member
So more frequent water changes then?
autofreak44
Active Member
Originally Posted by BigJohnson
So more frequent water changes then?
no, just what ever you need to do to keep the water quality stable and good. if that means more frequent water changes, then yes. but the most important thing is consistency, keeping the temp, ph, at a stable level, keeping trite and ammo at 0, and keeping nitrate at the lowest possible level (0-5 ppm is prolly a good range for horses). lemme know how it turns out, once i get my reef stocked all the way i want to turn my qt into a horse tank. its only 12 gallon
So more frequent water changes then?
no, just what ever you need to do to keep the water quality stable and good. if that means more frequent water changes, then yes. but the most important thing is consistency, keeping the temp, ph, at a stable level, keeping trite and ammo at 0, and keeping nitrate at the lowest possible level (0-5 ppm is prolly a good range for horses). lemme know how it turns out, once i get my reef stocked all the way i want to turn my qt into a horse tank. its only 12 gallon
bigjohnson
Member
Is this lighting to strong for horses?
CoraLife 1x65W Actinic 03 + 1x65W 10000K
CoraLife 1x65W Actinic 03 + 1x65W 10000K
darthtang aw
Active Member
lighting won't matter to the horses, unless it heats up the water...
bigjohnson
Member
Whats the best temp to keep the tank at?
Please bear with me, Im doing my research now on horses.
I know horses like to cling on to branches etc.
What should I put in the tank for them to cling to?
Please bear with me, Im doing my research now on horses.
I know horses like to cling on to branches etc.
What should I put in the tank for them to cling to?
poniegirl
Active Member
Originally Posted by BigJohnson
Is this lighting to strong for horses?
CoraLife 1x65W Actinic 03 + 1x65W 10000K
I do think lighting can be an issue for seahorses. Just a personal theory based on the animal's design. Not only for temp. Their natural prey prefer dim or no lighting. The fact that we feed them processed foods ensures they receive nutrition. But by design, they are adapted for hunting in low visibility conditions. So to my mind, it would stand to reason that intense, prolonged lighting is not best for them.
130W is 10W per gallon? I'm not great at this stuff, but that seems high. I would at least keep the lighting unit as high as you feasably can.
Is this lighting to strong for horses?
CoraLife 1x65W Actinic 03 + 1x65W 10000K
I do think lighting can be an issue for seahorses. Just a personal theory based on the animal's design. Not only for temp. Their natural prey prefer dim or no lighting. The fact that we feed them processed foods ensures they receive nutrition. But by design, they are adapted for hunting in low visibility conditions. So to my mind, it would stand to reason that intense, prolonged lighting is not best for them.
130W is 10W per gallon? I'm not great at this stuff, but that seems high. I would at least keep the lighting unit as high as you feasably can.
bigjohnson
Member
Originally Posted by PonieGirl
I do think lighting can be an issue for seahorses. Just a personal theory based on the animal's design. Not only for temp. Their natural prey prefer dim or no lighting. The fact that we feed them processed foods ensures they receive nutrition. But by design, they are adapted for hunting in low visibility conditions. So to my mind, it would stand to reason that intense, prolonged lighting is not best for them.
130W is 10W per gallon? I'm not great at this stuff, but that seems high. I would at least keep the lighting unit as high as you feasably can.
Well that makes total sense to me.
Any suggestions?
I do think lighting can be an issue for seahorses. Just a personal theory based on the animal's design. Not only for temp. Their natural prey prefer dim or no lighting. The fact that we feed them processed foods ensures they receive nutrition. But by design, they are adapted for hunting in low visibility conditions. So to my mind, it would stand to reason that intense, prolonged lighting is not best for them.
130W is 10W per gallon? I'm not great at this stuff, but that seems high. I would at least keep the lighting unit as high as you feasably can.
Well that makes total sense to me.
Any suggestions?
rykna
Active Member
Color of Lighting - Kelvin Temperature (FYI 0 K = -273 C = -460 F)
Our sun is a red star which provides the standard for aquarium lighting. As stars go, they exist in different colors. Look into the heavens on a clear night and you can actually see this. Very simply, the "cooler" stars are at the red/orange end of the spectrum while the "hot" stars are at the blue end. A more earthly example would be a propane torch's flame. The inner blue cone is hotter than the outer yellow cone.
Our sun is 5,500 Kelvin (9440 Fahrenheit) temperature = red/orange light
A blue star is 10,000 Kelvin (17,540 Fahrenheit) or more
Aquarium lamps come in Kelvin rated temperatures, recognize these?
5500 K = Requires lots and lots actinic (blue) lighting to color correct
6500 K = OK white color for reef aquariums, needs lots of actinic
10000 K = excellent white color for reef aquariums. Often actinic is added and recommended - simulates shallow water
14000/15000 K = more blue than white use with actinic for deeper water corals - best for the average coral tank
20000 K = very, very blue - requires adding white light to color correct. Very deep water simulation. Few corals live under this light.
Why Blue Light aka Actinic aka 7100K aka /03
Did you ever wonder why the ocean is blue? Hint: Water reflects blue light and our eyes only see reflected light.
When you light your aquarium, the water reflects blue as in the ocean. Our way of compensating for this phenomena is to include a blue light in your hood or canopy commonly called actinic (ak-tin-ic). A good ratio of actinic to white light is 60-75% blue : 40-25% white. In fluorescent lights, common white lighting is 6700 K while actinic lighting is 7100 K (with other colors removed so you see only blue). Together they let your tank inhabitants show their true colors. Turn off the blue light and the tank looks yellow.
To create various colors in fluorescent light, the ******** coating of the tubes is changed. These coatings are called phosphors. Without out a phosphor coating, all bulbs would glow a soft, pale blue.
Metal Halide bulbs - starting for the first time
Brand new metal halide bulbs may take up to 15 minutes to start the very first time. Occassionally the bulbs go off - this is fine - let them set and they will restart. Let them run an hour before turning them off. It will also take 2 or 3 days of operating 6-7 hours to establish the correct color. So if it looks yellow in the beginning, be patient. Sometimes the center tab in the socket doesn't make contact with a new bulb. UNPLUG THE BALLAST, then pull it out ever so slightly. Retry your new bulb before calling me. - For you electricians out there - it won't light if it isn't plugged in.
WARNING - IF ADDING METAL HALIDES TO A CORAL TANK FOR THE FIRST TIME - START WITH 1 HOUR MAX OF LIGHT. YOU WILL BURN YOUR CORALS AND PROBABLY KILL THEM WITH THE SHOCK. Set timers to come on for 3 or 15 minute intervals to start. Increase slowly. Watch your corals, they will tell you how you are doing.
Our sun is a red star which provides the standard for aquarium lighting. As stars go, they exist in different colors. Look into the heavens on a clear night and you can actually see this. Very simply, the "cooler" stars are at the red/orange end of the spectrum while the "hot" stars are at the blue end. A more earthly example would be a propane torch's flame. The inner blue cone is hotter than the outer yellow cone.
Our sun is 5,500 Kelvin (9440 Fahrenheit) temperature = red/orange light
A blue star is 10,000 Kelvin (17,540 Fahrenheit) or more
Aquarium lamps come in Kelvin rated temperatures, recognize these?
5500 K = Requires lots and lots actinic (blue) lighting to color correct
6500 K = OK white color for reef aquariums, needs lots of actinic
10000 K = excellent white color for reef aquariums. Often actinic is added and recommended - simulates shallow water
14000/15000 K = more blue than white use with actinic for deeper water corals - best for the average coral tank
20000 K = very, very blue - requires adding white light to color correct. Very deep water simulation. Few corals live under this light.
Why Blue Light aka Actinic aka 7100K aka /03
Did you ever wonder why the ocean is blue? Hint: Water reflects blue light and our eyes only see reflected light.
When you light your aquarium, the water reflects blue as in the ocean. Our way of compensating for this phenomena is to include a blue light in your hood or canopy commonly called actinic (ak-tin-ic). A good ratio of actinic to white light is 60-75% blue : 40-25% white. In fluorescent lights, common white lighting is 6700 K while actinic lighting is 7100 K (with other colors removed so you see only blue). Together they let your tank inhabitants show their true colors. Turn off the blue light and the tank looks yellow.
To create various colors in fluorescent light, the ******** coating of the tubes is changed. These coatings are called phosphors. Without out a phosphor coating, all bulbs would glow a soft, pale blue.
Metal Halide bulbs - starting for the first time
Brand new metal halide bulbs may take up to 15 minutes to start the very first time. Occassionally the bulbs go off - this is fine - let them set and they will restart. Let them run an hour before turning them off. It will also take 2 or 3 days of operating 6-7 hours to establish the correct color. So if it looks yellow in the beginning, be patient. Sometimes the center tab in the socket doesn't make contact with a new bulb. UNPLUG THE BALLAST, then pull it out ever so slightly. Retry your new bulb before calling me. - For you electricians out there - it won't light if it isn't plugged in.
WARNING - IF ADDING METAL HALIDES TO A CORAL TANK FOR THE FIRST TIME - START WITH 1 HOUR MAX OF LIGHT. YOU WILL BURN YOUR CORALS AND PROBABLY KILL THEM WITH THE SHOCK. Set timers to come on for 3 or 15 minute intervals to start. Increase slowly. Watch your corals, they will tell you how you are doing.
rykna
Active Member
Here's a very brief rundown on lamp types for the curious:
.
Electric lamps can be divided into incandescent (conventional and quartz-halogen) and discharge. Incandescent lamps (of either variety) put most of their energy out in the infrared, and so are of little interest here (think of them as tiny expensive electric space heaters that happen to light up).
.
Discharge lamps include fluorescent, mercury, metal-halide, low-pressure sodium, and high-pressure sodium. They all produce light by passing a current through a gas, exciting the odd electron here and there. The electrons emit light as the return to their ground state, and this directly or indirectly is the source of the illumination.
.
Fluorescent lamps use low-pressure mercury, which emits primarily up in the ultraviolet, and (except for blacklight and germicidal lamps) fluorescent's are coated internally with phosphors that glow under ultraviolet. The visible light they produce is almost all from these phosphors. Some types of fluorescent's make excellent light sources for aquariums.
.
Mercury lamps increase the pressure, which shifts more of the direct output into blue and green emission lines (these can be supplemented with phosphors to produce better color rendering); these are the blue-green lights you see illuminating parking lots and the like.
.
Metal-halide lamps introduce metal halides into the mercury lamp; this adds all sorts of nice emission lines to the spectrum, and greatly improves color rendition.
.
Low-pressure sodium lamps are not seen much, at least in the United States. They are the most efficient light source, because they put almost all their energy into one yellow-orange emission line (and the human eye is pretty sensitive there). Unfortunately, you can't see colors under this illumination; everything looks like shades of grey illuminated by a fairly ghastly yellow light.
.
High-pressure sodium lights are very widely used in the United States for street-lighting. If it is bright, kind of yellow with purple overtones, and you can pretty much distinguish color under it, it is high-pressure sodium. GE, at least, has some "white" sodium lamps that actually render colors fairly well (but nowhere near as well as MH or fluorescent), so perhaps someday these will make reasonable light sources for tanks (but I don't think "someday" is today).
WHEN WIRING VHO BULBS
Use only the 3 piece German end caps rated for VHO's. The slip on type caps are notorious for slipping off and on due to warming and cooling of the bulb and are not rated for the heat of VHO's. When installing lighting, it is best to use what they call "stand-offs" that are attached to the bottom of the end cap and these are screwed directly to your canopy. Ends caps can't slip off when these are installed properly. If you're using clips to hold your bulbs, have someone put pressure against the end of the bulb so that you tighten caps correctly. Old style end caps have 8 positions for adjusting the position of the light bulb. 2 of the positions are such that the pins align with the slot used to install the bulb. This is a poor contact position for the pins and a definite design flaw. Also remember that Ice Cap and Workhorse are different types of ballasts. Ice Cap uses specific circuitry and wiring patterns. Both pins on the end of the bulb require contact to function. Workhorse uses a common for all bulbs and individual power leads. Only 1 pin on each end of the bulb is needed to light the bulb.
.
Electric lamps can be divided into incandescent (conventional and quartz-halogen) and discharge. Incandescent lamps (of either variety) put most of their energy out in the infrared, and so are of little interest here (think of them as tiny expensive electric space heaters that happen to light up).
.
Discharge lamps include fluorescent, mercury, metal-halide, low-pressure sodium, and high-pressure sodium. They all produce light by passing a current through a gas, exciting the odd electron here and there. The electrons emit light as the return to their ground state, and this directly or indirectly is the source of the illumination.
.
Fluorescent lamps use low-pressure mercury, which emits primarily up in the ultraviolet, and (except for blacklight and germicidal lamps) fluorescent's are coated internally with phosphors that glow under ultraviolet. The visible light they produce is almost all from these phosphors. Some types of fluorescent's make excellent light sources for aquariums.
.
Mercury lamps increase the pressure, which shifts more of the direct output into blue and green emission lines (these can be supplemented with phosphors to produce better color rendering); these are the blue-green lights you see illuminating parking lots and the like.
.
Metal-halide lamps introduce metal halides into the mercury lamp; this adds all sorts of nice emission lines to the spectrum, and greatly improves color rendition.
.
Low-pressure sodium lamps are not seen much, at least in the United States. They are the most efficient light source, because they put almost all their energy into one yellow-orange emission line (and the human eye is pretty sensitive there). Unfortunately, you can't see colors under this illumination; everything looks like shades of grey illuminated by a fairly ghastly yellow light.
.
High-pressure sodium lights are very widely used in the United States for street-lighting. If it is bright, kind of yellow with purple overtones, and you can pretty much distinguish color under it, it is high-pressure sodium. GE, at least, has some "white" sodium lamps that actually render colors fairly well (but nowhere near as well as MH or fluorescent), so perhaps someday these will make reasonable light sources for tanks (but I don't think "someday" is today).
WHEN WIRING VHO BULBS
Use only the 3 piece German end caps rated for VHO's. The slip on type caps are notorious for slipping off and on due to warming and cooling of the bulb and are not rated for the heat of VHO's. When installing lighting, it is best to use what they call "stand-offs" that are attached to the bottom of the end cap and these are screwed directly to your canopy. Ends caps can't slip off when these are installed properly. If you're using clips to hold your bulbs, have someone put pressure against the end of the bulb so that you tighten caps correctly. Old style end caps have 8 positions for adjusting the position of the light bulb. 2 of the positions are such that the pins align with the slot used to install the bulb. This is a poor contact position for the pins and a definite design flaw. Also remember that Ice Cap and Workhorse are different types of ballasts. Ice Cap uses specific circuitry and wiring patterns. Both pins on the end of the bulb require contact to function. Workhorse uses a common for all bulbs and individual power leads. Only 1 pin on each end of the bulb is needed to light the bulb.
bigjohnson
Member
Originally Posted by PonieGirl
Can you fit your current unit with lower wattage?
How tall is a 14 gallon tank? Realize that the hardier seahorse species should attain a height of at least 7 inches.
I believe its 20" tall
Can you fit your current unit with lower wattage?
How tall is a 14 gallon tank? Realize that the hardier seahorse species should attain a height of at least 7 inches.
I believe its 20" tall