Hi guys!!

I finally got my Marine tank!! It's a Jewel Vision 180, one of those bow-fronted ones!! And I got a brand new Prizm Protein Skimmer for £80! It's all in place so it just needs setting up now! After a very long conversation with my friend's brother, who breeds Seahorses, I've decided to keep Seahorses instead of fish. I was quite dubious about keeping them at first, but I've been reassured that they're not that difficult to keep, and I've always got my friend Lisa and her brother on hand to help me out as and when I need! I've wanted Seahorses for years now and I'm finally going to have some!!! I've been told that it's best to kick start the tank with regular water with dechlorinator added, then use RO water for water changes. Is this true? How long do I leave it set up before I put my Damsels in? I'm going to leave them in for a couple of months at least, I think, just to make sure that the water's in tip top condition ready for my Seahorses

I'm so excited about this tank!!! I'll definitely have to get some photos for you guys when I set it up, hopefully, this weekend!!!!

Hi there, I know absolutely nothing about marines but just wanted to say congratulations and good luck - it sounds like a great project!

Marine tanks always look very impressive and I'm sure a seahorse tank will look amazing!

Ist let me say congrats on the new tank....I can imagine that you are real excited and rightfully so!

No, don't kick start it with regular tap water.... Us RO/DI water from the get go...or you will battle nuisance algae for a long time....

I will say that is a lot of water volume for sea horses??? Are you going to use Live Rock??? What are you planning to use for a substrate??? What do you have for lighting??? What are you doing for filtering your system??? A prizm works but it isn't the best skimmer for that size of a tank...Or in my opinion for any size of tank!!! ...For about the same money you could get a much better skimmer.... What are you going to use for water movement??? Do you plan on using a sump or refugium????

Why do you want damsels in the tank if you are going to go with Sea horses??? If all you are wanting to do is cycle the tank get some Live Rock and place a couple pieces of krill in the tank or a prawn or two in the tank. No need to cycle with live fish. Sorry for all the questions but these are things that you need to figure out before putting water in a tank and keeping sea horses....

I agree with Reef Man–you need to concentrate on building up the 'pod population in your tank. You'll need to pack it with live rock and rubble and make plenty of pod piles. You definitely dont want damsels. They get big, mean, ugly and when they grow up no one will want them.

And also make sure you know with seahorses you wont want any other fish in that tank.

Hi all!!

I don't know if I'm being really thick now, but I thought that if you bought Damsels to cycle the tank, you take them back once it's all ready and take the value of the Damsels off the fish/Seahorses you're actually keeping? But if there's no need for them, then I won't get any I'll get some RO water ordered then and just use that all the way!

The tank is exactly the same as the one in my friend's brothers shop, he's got 3 pairs of Seahorses in there. I'm going to try and set it us exactly as he has it. I think he does have some live rock in there, but I'm not entirely sure and he just uses the filter that's built in. I'm going to have an air stone in the tank, too. Would that be okay? I'm going back to the shop tonight to get some bits and pieces, so I'll ask exactly what he has in the tank!

I might get there eventually! lol!!

You have had some excellent advice here. Your tank sounds roomy- and sea horses sound great . I'm looking forward to seeing the first pics. Good luck

If you use Live Rock....You won't even need to use krill or a prawn to get the cycle going...the Live Rock will do that for you!!! The problem with damsels - you get them in the tank....and you can't get them out...they are hard to catch in a tank with any kind of rock...live or lace...it makes no difference....And I am very big on being humane when it comes to a cycle...the ammonia and nitrite can kill fish...it is very uncomfortable at the least and deadly at the worst.... No point in using live critters to cycle a tank....

Would love to hear all the details of the tank...Kind, Filters, lights, Power heads, etc..... Substrate, etc.....

Hi there and congratulations on the marine tank.

I hope you are successful with the sea horses

Not quite sure what will happen with an airstone in a marine tank. I suspect the bubbles will froth up and make lots of micro-bubbles. I tried to keep the bubbles out of my marine tank, but you may like the effect.

Good luck

Slugger

Any updates on the new set up???