critique my seahorse setup

[trailer]

hey guys, currently have a 55 gal FOWLR that has 2 ocellaris clowns in it with a cleanup crew. i immediately fell in love with Seahorses at the LFS and decided that i had to have a couple of my own. after many weeks of research here is what i am going with:
tank: 47 gallon column tank (20 wide x 18 deep x 31 tall)
set-up: 1-2 inch aragonite sugar sized sand bed
45 lbs of LR
grape caulerpa and red magrove and fake corals for hitching posts
feeding station with tube leading to it so i can just drop frozen in tube and not make a mess of the substrate
Filtration: CPR backpack skimmer and modified aquaclear 110 that use LR rubble and cheato for filtration instead of sponge and carbon
Livestock: 2 erectus to start with along with a cleanup crew consisting of 8 nassarius snails and a handfull of scarlet hermits. maybe 3 or 4 turbos to keep glass clean.
the one issue is that i am debating between a 37 (30x12x23) and the 47. not much difference in cost. i would like opinions on this as well.
what do you guys think?

 

[trailer]

anyone?

 

[aredmon]

I say go with the 47. Taller the better. Plus you will be glad you went bigger in the long run. Everything sounds good. You may not need a tube leading to the feeding station. A turkey baster does the job. Plus I have heard that you only need 1 mexican turbo for every 20gal so you will prob. need only 2.

 

[celacanthr]

Everything sounds good. I would go with the largest (tallest) you can find. I have a 37 gallon, and I love it, but a larger one would have been better.
one thing I would suggest, is that you research protien skimmer debates when used in a seahorse tank, which I think is something very important, to read about, the risks and benefits that is.
What kind of lighting are you getting?
Also, the tube is actually the best way to go IMO, because it is fairly difficult to keep the mysis from being blasetd out of the dish, when trying to feed them, the tube would probably work best.

 

[trailer]

Originally Posted by CELACANTHr
Everything sounds good. I would go with the largest (tallest) you can find. I have a 37 gallon, and I love it, but a larger one would have been better.
one thing I would suggest, is that you research protien skimmer debates when used in a seahorse tank, which I think is something very important, to read about, the risks and benefits that is.
What kind of lighting are you getting?
Also, the tube is actually the best way to go IMO, because it is fairly difficult to keep the mysis from being blasetd out of the dish, when trying to feed them, the tube would probably work best.

i am just going to use a 10000K i believe, i dont have the $ for any more at the time. i have a skimmer on my other tank and might get one for this one too, prob a cpr backpack. i had some clown today tell me that seahorses need long, shallow tanks as they spend most of their time on the bottom.

 

[celacanthr]

Originally Posted by trailer
i had some clown today tell me that seahorses need long, shallow tanks as they spend most of their time on the bottom.
:hilarious :hilarious :hilarious :hilarious
The business of skimmers, i s different on seahorse tanks, errr what I mean is that the cons, are different when talking about skimmers in seahorse tanks, mostly because of that bubble disease (gulp)

 

[sleeper]

DUde, I'm an h. kuda guy, I love seahorses. I've been through ups and downs with mine, but I feel like they're totally worth it.
I would reconsider putting hermits in with your horses though, especially if you're getting them small. I have hermits in with mine and they basically are always competing for food and can even be a a bit menacing.
You might want to consider a serpent star, which will just as effectively clean up the leftover food without being so dang mean.

 

[celacanthr]

actually, alot of people consider any type of serpent star, more dangerous than hermit crabs, and other crabs...

 

[jdragunas]

i agree, no star at all is better IMO... They're known for eating sleeping or slow moving fish, and as the seahorses are incredibly slow moving, they could become dinner. Now i'm not saying all serpent stars will eat fish, but there have been many cases when they do.
I think your setup is fine. As long as you have enough LR, you can have those hermits.