chatfouz Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 ok so apparently the last one didnt post. so ill start this from the begging. Moved onto Texas State University and I looked for a way to bring seahorses into the dorm. this presented several problems, the school's rules say no tank over 10 gallons. because I love overfiltration there is no way i would keep a few ponies in just a ten gallon tank. the logistics would be so difficult to keep the tank clean when feeding frozen mysis. so the plan was to add a sump, how to do that without adding more glass? use a rubbermaid storage container. so i will try to describe the set up as best possible. i will add photos later. i had the ten gal tank sitting on 6" of 2x4 i bought from homedepot. this was to raise it up 6". on the tank was an 18" tall hang on the back trickle filter filled with biomedia. i had a whole drilled in the back with a laser by a trophy shop. (by the way if you ever need anything drilled call them, the cut took 2 min and was perfectly round clean and no sharp edges! 10$. i put in a bulkhead (pain in the butt as aquadome sold me the wrong size...) then had that gravity drain down to a 55 gal rubbermaid tub. i used a rena XP2 to push water back to the tank, but that caught fire. always thought it was a terrible filter. well then i replaced it with a magnum 350. wonderful filter, quieter, no airleakes, easier to clean, no water spills, primes better. ah! i love marineland, that and kent. the tank had three light strips on it, sitting on a 2 by four. the sump had a 55gal pc light on it. in the tank i had some lr, inch and half sand, 15 mangrove trees, dragons breath macro, cheato, grape calurpa, blade calurpa, 3 pepermint shrimp, and 4 tiger tailed seahorses or H. Comes. everything went wonderfully for a long while. then the tank broke. yea the ten gal tank cracked while i was on the phone telling a girlfriend how everything was going great. yea just like you would see on tv... somehow in the transfer of everything to a bucket a seahorse fell out and died. transfered everything to 2 30 gal tanks in an over under setup. the rubbermaid was thrown out. i think the ten gal was jsut not able to handle the weight of the trickle filter. waited a week for everything to settle, moving a sand bed can be messy. well that is my adventure so far.. only recent developments has been a cyno outbreak. i have no noticable ammonia, nitrite and 20 nitrate. but i have cyno everywhere. ill try to see if i can find more plants to absorb the nutrients. the really odd thing is that i have that and diatoms on the glass in the main tank but the tank below, has NOTHING growing. really odd the sump grows nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chatfouz Posted November 23, 2007 Author Share Posted November 23, 2007 the dorms closed for thanksgiving. so that means the ponies are comming home with me for the holiday break. not really a problem, but what worried me was the corals I jsut started to get into. what would happen in 5 days? in the end i have some light on a 5 hour timmer. left the filter and heater on. so hopefully nothing leaks or super evaporates. the ponies came home in a 5 gal bucket. but the problem was when i got home i realized i did not have the supplies i thought i had. i had no bubbler and no heater. so i stole the heater from my mothers tank, the tetras will be ok. it is a 40 gal heater for a 5 gal bucket. the temp is right its just kinda uneasy haveing so much power. and all i have are 30+ gal filters. it turns out all my ten gal filters and bubblers are broken... i have one that sort of drips water? so the ponies had incredibly low water flow. i also forgot the food. so i have to got to go to the store today and buy some food. but that is not so terribly bad. well what is to be expected? nothing is terribly easy. least not with seahorses. its not that it is difficult. i just find a way to make the simple thing into a terribly difficult endevor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ACampbell Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 So how did it go? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chatfouz Posted December 13, 2007 Author Share Posted December 13, 2007 plenty to update. ill finish from the last blog. so thanksgiving went well. they ponies did alright in the bucket. but that was a pain in the butt. i didnt have any sort of filter and just a heater. i forgot the bubbler down here at school. but they did alright i shook up the bucket twice a day. and feed them once every 2 days. they survived just fine. i dont think they liked it but they did alright. when i got back home however all the xenia had died. i dont know what the deal is. ever since i moved up to a thirty gal tank i cant for the life of me keep the xenia alive. in the ten gal i had no problem. i dont have a clue. not a clue at all. so between thanksgiving and now nothing happens. now i have the BIG MOVE! i have to leave the dorm for 3 weeks. so now the tanks ponies everything goes! so now i have a big plan. get mother's dorango. take all 60 gal and transfer into 5 gal buckets. remember to keep the pepermint shrimp seperate for joe. so load all htat, the tanks, my speaker system, projection system, clothes, etc. that should be a load of fun. then go home and then reset up the tanks. let it recycle for a week. then have it set up till the third. then i move back to campus. but i cant take them yet because ill have a roomate. so i may have to go 3 weeks without my babies. oh man this is so not cool. the campus is empty as of wed but i have to stay here till fri. and i have to be back on campus on the fouth when school starts on the 17th or somthing close to that. its amazing how no one will tell you stuff about a job untill after you have it. man what a week eh? anyone else had a week that just wont end? I did pass chemistry 2! 76! ho rah only took two tries! that was good. but then i got rejected by a crush, boo... but im goin home soon! oh boy i cant wait for real food. im here working the desk watching lost eating a can of mixed fruit... alright, i will try to post after i get home. these ponies are near military brats being moved around so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chatfouz Posted December 16, 2007 Author Share Posted December 16, 2007 so i finally got home. wow i need to learn to tell girls no and not volunteer to stay and work an extra 4 days at school than need be. but i made it. packed up the tanks and animals and went. of course it did not go easy. one of the ponies fell out into the sump and was wigglin around on dry rocks for 15 min. but after she coughed up some bubbles today she seems just fine. im letting the tank cycle for a day or so to let aything disturbed settle etc. so now its watch some lost while i wait for the tank to cycle. plus any chores mother comes up with. dont tell her that... alright!! christmas time. merry christmas yall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chatfouz Posted December 19, 2007 Author Share Posted December 19, 2007 ok this may sound odd buti am not sure if i lost a seahorse. she was wiggling around under all the macro algee. i thought abye she got pushed under it. so i moved it and she stoped movin too uch. now she litterlally looks like a dead horse, no movement and just is floatin along the sand? did me moving her shock her into death? or could she be in like a coma? im ganna let her sit here for an hour see if she recovers. good lord at this rate im loosing one every 3 months. i dont know what about this move killed her. everyone else is doing just fine. eating just fine. she was doing fine then the moment i move the algee off her she stopped moving... ill see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chatfouz Posted December 19, 2007 Author Share Posted December 19, 2007 so im looking at my ponies now and im starting to really concider if i have to give up on my ponies for the time being. in the move i think i just lost a seahorse. now im down to half of what i started with only a few months ago. so i dont think this college dorm llife is stable enough to maintain these seahrses. im thinking i may have to leave the be for the time being. i may look at sellling them. this saltwater and moving the tanks. it just doesnt seem so honestly doable with this dorm living. i may have to try something that will do ok with less "stable" conditions. especially since im starting to apply to work abroad next year and this summer. my family doesnt have a clue how to deal with saltwater. so i;d have to give them up anyway near may. if i reallly care about em i should do in thier best interest and not risk them the dorm conditions. i have 2 comes, some coral, 50lbs of rock, 20lbs of sand, lots of macro, and a handfull of little crabs and snails. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenM Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 What is it about dorm life that's not stable for them? I was wondering if loud noises bothered them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chatfouz Posted December 19, 2007 Author Share Posted December 19, 2007 What is it about dorm life that's not stable for them? I was wondering if loud noises bothered them. one is just life in college, sometimes when somehow i have 5 test in a week i hardly get a chance to feed them. much less remember that hey today i forgot to check salinity, or wc, or clean the skimmer. but the bigger is the breaks. for holidays i have to pack and move them. tanks and fish are not designed to be "moved" much less moved and stored in a bucket for a week or whole systems like this holiday break. and every 3 months a move happens. that means the tank is basically always cycling to some degree... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenM Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 Yep. I can see how that wouldn't work. How's the little tomato doing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chatfouz Posted December 20, 2007 Author Share Posted December 20, 2007 Yep. I can see how that wouldn't work. How's the little tomato doing? he is doing just fine. eating well. still not used to the set up too much but he hasnt eally been anyplace stable for long so i understand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefer Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 It could have gotten stung by a hydroid. www.seahorse.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefer Posted December 28, 2007 Share Posted December 28, 2007 It could have gotten stung by hydroids. www.seahorse.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoo's aquarium services Posted April 2, 2008 Share Posted April 2, 2008 xenia love iodine and a little organic waste Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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