Ocean Rider Seahorse Farm and Tours | Kona Hawaii › Forums › Seahorse Life and Care › Dwarfs/Pixies? › Re:Dwarfs/Pixies?
Dear Nigel:
I’ve been doing a little more research regarding the modified Azoo palm filter you were considering using for a small dwarf seahorse tank, and I found the following posts from another hobbyists who has been using such a system for his dwarf seahorses that I thought you might be interested in. Here is how he describes his desktop dwarf seahorse tank, which uses an Azoo palm filter:
Ken’s Office Dwarf Seahorse Setup (2.5 gallons)
I set up a 2.5 gal tank at my office, and have had a pair of dwarf
seahorses in since June 20. They mated in the first week, and I
already have 8 healthy looking babies. Nitrites were a little high
this week, so I did two 25% water changes this evening and need to do
one more. The test says it is still in the low end of the "stress"
zone.
I have been decapsulating small batches of brine shrimp eggs daily
and setting them aside to hatch in large pill bottles. I use a
baster to siphon out the hatchlings. This has worked okay, but I
think I will set up the 2 liter bottle hatchery thing for better
results.
On the weekends when I am away, I will allow eggs to hatch directly
in the tank. When I come back in after the weekend, I will switch J
tubes on the palm filter to allow full force of the filter to suck
the trash out of the tank, watching carefully to make sure no horses
get sucked through the strainer end, then replace the retroffited J
tube and sponge back into the filter, replace the poly filter, do a
water change and add freshly hatched brinies.
This is a pretty easy method, and only takes about an hour a week to
maintain, (aside from doodling with brinies a couple times a day).
I hope I can raise those babies up to adults. 🙂
Ken. (continued below)
I like to use the Azoo palm filter with a Poly filter in it instead of
the using the little fitler pads that come with it. The flow of the
filter is too powerful for my tastes, so I put a baffel in the J tube
to slow the water down. A sponge filter on the intake keeps the baby
brine from being sucked in.
See my design here:
<http://us.share.geocities.com/ken_mcguire/Filter.bmp>
I am happy with this design and thought others might like to see it.
These were taken with my cell phone camera. Not the greatest, but good
enough to share.
http://www.geocities.com/ken_mcguire/seahorses.bmp
http://www.geocities.com/ken_mcguire/tank.bmp
Ken. (continued below — another update)
I have been keeping 2 adult h.zost in a 2.5 gallon tank for 2 months
now. They are happy little horses. I have removed the baffel from the
filter arrangment and I am letting the Azoo palm filter run with it’s
own flow regulator on the low setting. Still have the azoo bio sponge
over the intake. I change about .5 gallon of water per week and
change the poly filter in the Palm filter once a week. I also squish
out the sponge once a week in clean salt water to remove the junk.
I am finding that this little tank is pretty manageable, but I test it
every day to make sure.
Feeding baby brine and some 3 day old brinies fortified with algea
paste once a week.
All is well.
Ken.
Best of luck with your new dwarf seahorse setup, Nigel! It sounds like the Azoo palm filter can be modified and used successfully on a small dwarf seahorse tank such as you are planning.
Happy Trails!
Pete Giwojna