nnewhouse Posted January 3, 2010 Share Posted January 3, 2010 This project has been in the works for quite some time. We are trying to combine my wifes love for seahorses with my obsessive compulsive disorder for doing things right the first time. We purchased a 60g hex from a local pet store back in Kansas before we moved. It's about 29"tall and 24"wide. It has a custom built overflow drilled through the bottom. I built the stand and canopy which I will never do again for a hexagon shaped tank. Wow it was pain in the butt! The tank will be illuminated with a 250w MH and power compacts for sunrise and sunset effects. It has a 29g sump donated by Clay (thanks again dude). We have done a lot of research on seahorse setups and have found many incomplete resources on tank and equipment design. We are hoping this build will shrink the gap and get more reefers involved with a really cool species. I am currently working on the plumbing and will post some pictures soon. Input and questions are always welcome! (clap) Peace, love, and espresso! (That's our Midwestern outlook on Eugene) Nick and Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobkat330 Posted January 3, 2010 Share Posted January 3, 2010 contact woody at seahorse in portland and ask him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevman Posted January 3, 2010 Share Posted January 3, 2010 Keep the info coming. I too have been interested these little guys but have never ventured to do the reaserch... Good luck, and keep us posted;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nnewhouse Posted January 4, 2010 Author Share Posted January 4, 2010 Here are some pictures of the stand and canopy when they were being built. I don't have any pics with the stand skinned but I will post some pictures of the full setup when I get the tank into position. The stand is about 5" wider on every side than the actual tank. I am going to lay tile around the edge when it is up and running. My wife still needs to pick it out. Well, it has been a long weekend plumbing and I am still not even close to being done. I had one of those awwww chit moments today when I realized I had plumbed the closed loop pump backwards (inlet going out and outlet going in). Oops! Luckily I got it figured out without having to redo the entire thing. I will post some more pics of the plumbing within the next few days. I am looking forward to getting some feedback on my closed loop I built inside of the overflow. More to come . . . . . . . . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClayTheSavageFraser Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 I can't wait to see!! You will have to get with my buddy jon! He just built a cylinder tank and wants to get into the seahorses!! Maybe he can pick your brain a little!! Clay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 This should be cool....I am anticipating the updates already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badguitarist Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 Ha I've done the old plumb the closed loop backwards thing before, I feel your pain! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pledosophy Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 If you have questions about seahorses you should ask me. I've been keeping them for about 9 years, have tried many different setups. We kinda helped pushed the bar past live foods and 3x turnover from when I started. I have also bred many species. I'm sure I can help you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nnewhouse Posted January 4, 2010 Author Share Posted January 4, 2010 I can't wait to see!! You will have to get with my buddy jon! He just built a cylinder tank and wants to get into the seahorses!! Maybe he can pick your brain a little!!Clay WOW! He built a cylinder tank? Yeah, I thought the hex was a headache. Ha I've done the old plumb the closed loop backwards thing before' date=' I feel your pain![/quote'] Yup, I felt pretty stupid.DOH! This was quickly followed by some choice words. If you have questions about seahorses you should ask me. I've been keeping them for about 9 years, have tried many different setups. We kinda helped pushed the bar past live foods and 3x turnover from when I started. I have also bred many species. I'm sure I can help you. Thanks a bunch. Our setup is pretty standard but if you don't mind hanging out I would appreciate your input. If you see something please don't hesitate to speak up. I can't imagine how many mistakes I would have avoided in my reef tanks if someone would have said "STOP maybe you should do this." Thanks again for the help and I am sure we will bombard you with questions about livestock, aqua-scapeing, and breeding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pledosophy Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 Can you post pictures of your plumbing design. The rumor is seahorses need low flow tanks, my experience differs, I have run tanks up to 50x turnover and the horses were fine. They do need the flow broken up where it is not a jet stream style and it is effeicent at keeping build up out of the rocks IME. Seahorses are messy but if you get the flow right you can eliminate the hair algae thing that so many seahorse keepers go through. Rock and aquascaping wise, look for things that are branchy, seahorses will move around more if there next hitch is in site, I try to have a branch or hitch every couple of inches JME Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nnewhouse Posted January 4, 2010 Author Share Posted January 4, 2010 Thanks for the info Pledosophy! Here is a picture of inside the stand before I began plumbing. You can see the space was increased dramatically with the over sized stand. Here is a picture of the first trip to the hardware store. Ha Ha! The little helper As stated earlier we wanted to have good flow but hidden, so we cut out the overflow and plumbed a closed loop into it. You can see from the picture the intake is ran through the overflow to the outside of the tank. The outlets are 3/4" pvc. We used larger pvc outlets to disperse the flow to a wider area. (instead of 1/2") I would have used 1" but there wasn't room with the stand pipes I was going to use. It was a real pain getting this thing together and glued into place!(flame) I will post more pics of the overflow and closed loop later tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pledosophy Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 Did I read right that your closed loop intake is inside of the overflow box? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nnewhouse Posted January 5, 2010 Author Share Posted January 5, 2010 Did I read right that your closed loop intake is inside of the overflow box? Oops, sorry about that. The intake is plumbed through the overflow. The actual inlet is on the outside of the overflow. (inside the main display with a spa strainer) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pledosophy Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 Oh good I was worried. I tried to get clever once and plumb my closed loop intake in the overflow box, in a power outage teh tank would drain to the highest point on the closed loop return. Glad you didn't make the same mistake. The spa strainers are dope. I have a blood shrimp that lives on mine, just cleaning it all day long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nnewhouse Posted January 5, 2010 Author Share Posted January 5, 2010 Oh good I was worried. I tried to get clever once and plumb my closed loop intake in the overflow box, in a power outage teh tank would drain to the highest point on the closed loop return. Glad you didn't make the same mistake. The spa strainers are dope. I have a blood shrimp that lives on mine, just cleaning it all day long. I bet you freaked when you saw your water level quickly going down in your overflow. Thats really cool about your shrimp. Its funny how every invert and fish has a unique personality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nnewhouse Posted January 5, 2010 Author Share Posted January 5, 2010 Here are some more plumbing pics Here is a picture of the overflows. I had to use some ingenuity when it came to plumbing these. I was originally going to use only stockman stand pipes but the holes for the overflow weren't drilled even with my closed loop plumbing. I had to incorporate an angled durso instead. It's easy remember which one goes to the fuge now. (Durso=fuge Stockman=skimmer chamber) If it couldn't get anymore congested here is the final setup. As I said earlier it might look funny because I had the intake backwards DOH! I made it work though. (clap) You can also get a size comparison of the tank in relation to the stand in this pic. It should be just the perfect size to lay down some 4" tiles. Let me know what you think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 i love the tile idea, it should look great when you have it up and running Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nnewhouse Posted January 5, 2010 Author Share Posted January 5, 2010 i love the tile idea' date=' it should look great when you have it up and running[/quote'] I will have to give my wife props for that. It was her idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 i gotta give my gf props for the scene that will be painted on my stand, it was her idea, an she gets the fun job of doing it lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nnewhouse Posted January 5, 2010 Author Share Posted January 5, 2010 Maybe I should talk my wife into doing the tile . . . . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pledosophy Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 Sooooooooooooooo. .. . . You better watch out buddy, I have made a deal for a new tank and I'm gonna give your thread title a run for the money Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 Bring it on Pledo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nnewhouse Posted January 29, 2010 Author Share Posted January 29, 2010 Sooooooooooooooo. .. . . You better watch out buddy, I have made a deal for a new tank and I'm gonna give your thread title a run for the money (laugh) I guess I should start with updating the thread a little more huh? I can't wait to see it Pledosophy! If it's anything like your other tanks I'm sure it will be spectacular! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nnewhouse Posted January 31, 2010 Author Share Posted January 31, 2010 Well its been a while since I have updated so here are some new pictures. I built a water storage unit out in the garage to make water changes easier. I figure with our seahorse tank and a small nano we will be doing water changes on both every weekend. I didn't want to wait for a new batch of salt water to mix every weekend. With this setup I am hoping we won't have to make a new batch of water for 2 months. YAY! In ourlast setup we changed the water every two weeks and it was still a pain. This method will be much easier. All three storage containers have air stones. The blue and green barrels have heaters keeping one at 78 (nano water) and the other at 72 (seahorse water) We can also keep the salt mixes seperate since I will be using D&D on the nano tank and the seahorse tank will have instant ocean. Here is the return plumbing. I shot a picture before I put it against the wall. The water is going to have a long way to travel since the tank is so tall. We are using a Quiet One 6000 for a return pump. It will also be valved for the chiller and reactors. One pump runs everything.(clap) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pledosophy Posted January 31, 2010 Share Posted January 31, 2010 Looking good. Now you just have to plumb the salt water reserve tanks directly into the there respective displays so you can flip a switch and refill the tanks then turn the pump off via remote control. Sorry, I saw it at Randy's house today and was jealous. Really he has it in his garage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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