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I am currently helping a friend set up a new seahorse tank. She\’s new to horses, but very eager and willing to learn and set up her tank properly. She\’s been asking me a lot of advice, most of which I can answer, but I\’m stumped on one point:
How safe are Koralia standard powerheads?
I\’ve looked EVERYwhere and can\’t seem to find anybody who has posted experience on this! What I\’m curious about is the necessity of any covering over the rear of the \"egg,\" or the water inlow area. Because Koralias are not impeller-based, their intake flow is much weaker than a normal powerhead. If she was throwing in a maxi-jet or aquaclear, I\’d tell her to cover the intake with foam….but it seems difficult, and frankly unnecessary, to do with a koralia p-head.
Does anyone have experience with horses + koralias?
So far she\’s keeping a standard 45 gallon tank, with a HOB filter probably in the Emperor-400 range, plus a HOB fuge+skimmer combination for skimming and increased O2 levels. I wanted to recommend a single Koralia-100 on the side of the tank near the bottom rear to reduce deadspots, probably on the opposite side of the tank from the HOB filter, pointed at the far wall. I briefly considered her using a second p-head near the surface of the water, but I think the combination of the HOB filter return and the fuge return should adequately agitate the surface of the water for gas exchange.
Hopeing someone can chime in and help. Oh, and if Pete reads this, my two H. reidis are still doing wonderfully, and they\’ve had a new friend for a month now: a refugee H. erectus from a family members tank. She was a full grown H. erectus in a small Eclipse tank…but she\’s MUCH happier and healthier in the 2-ft tall 37 gallon tank, and is back to eating like a piggie. :laugh:
Dear Nova:
It’s great to hear that your Brazilian seahorses (Hippocampus reidi) are still going strong and that your new rescue pony is doing so well! I’m sure the new H. erectus really appreciates being liberated from the small Eclipse tank and allowed to join the rest of your herd in your more spacious accommodations. Well done!
I have never purchased any of the Koralia powerheads or seen them in action, so all I know about them is what I can gather from the advertisements I have come across. I understand that they are available in a number of models ranging from 400 gph up to 1200 gph, so the amount of suction at the in tank probably depends on the size of the powerhead in question. And I know that there are also controllable Koralia powerheads with variable output, so that may make a difference as well.
In general, whenever the intake for a powerhead is large enough to allow a curious seahorse to get its tail inside, it’s a good idea to shield or otherwise screen off the intake, regardless of how strong the suction may be, just to be on the safe side. I know it would be difficult to shield the entire "egg" for the Koralia-style powerheads, but that may not be necessary if you can position it amidst the rockwork and anchor it in place with the suction cup where there’s no possibility for a seahorse to perch on the Koralia or wrap its tail around the inflow/intake for the unit.
Best wishes with all your fishes, Nova! Your friend is lucky to have someone that’s willing to mentor and help her set up a new seahorse tank so that it’s optimized for seahorses.
Happy Trails!
Pete GiwojnaPete,
Thanks for your response. I went and measured the openings on the pair of koralia-1’s I have in my reef tank, and the vets are less than 1/8th inch wide…..way too narrow for most seahorses to do much. I’m going to try adding a K-1 to my seahorse tank just for the time being, and I’ll see if there is any difficulty with my horses before I go mentioning it to anyone else. She ended up getting a 46 gallon bowfront, so I would definitely like to see her add something to keep a current along the bottom. I’ll post my results and let you know if I encountered any problems with the powerhead in a couple weeks.
Progress so far:
Saturday morning I pulled a spare Koralia-one and placed it in the seahorse tank. Before I turned it on I let them examine the head first. The yellow H. reidis went up to the p-head, "sniffed" it, then ignored it. The black H. erectus recognized a kindred color, hitched with the power cord leading to it, and said "mine?"
Turned it on. First impressions: a single Koralia-one is not necessary for a 37 gallon cube. VERY strong flow…until I took the director nozzle off, then it settled down. The nozzle went back on for other reasons, however — see below. I would rather recommend two Koralia nanos over the K-1’s for this sized tank (20"x20"x24")
The horses took a little time adapting to the flow, but adapt they have. The black erectus has hitched to the power cord and the back mount of the egg, and she has never looked like she was even slightly phased by the suction back there…it’s just too dispersed to cause any problems! My yellow reidis aren’t the most pelagic of horses, so they rarely swim up high enough for me to get a good analysis of their reactions. After that initial sniffing period, they’ve ignored it completely.
I’m going to let it run another day or two to see if there are any behavioral changes. I’ll probably turn it off tonight to make sure there aren’t any midnight accidents, though! In the meantime, the initial results look promising!
One final note for today: Koralias have a sort of "flow focuser" that you can snap on the front of the egg to help direct the flow. I would recommend keeping this collar ON. It als acts as an additional barrier if a seahorse was to try and hitch to the very front of the egg. It seems improbable given the strength of the flow, but I’d rather be safe than sorry!
Post edited by: Novahobbies, at: 2008/10/19 22:29
Dear Nova:
Thanks for the update regarding the Koralia powerheads! It’s beginning to sound like the Koralias are tailor-made for seahorse keepers, with their unique "egg" design that surrounds the mechanism with tiny slits that are too small to allow the tail or snout of a curious seahorse to enter.
A properly sized Koralia powerhead might be just what the doctor ordered for seahorse keepers that want to add a little extra water movement and circulation to their tanks to eliminate dead spots safely. Please do keep us posted regarding how things work out in the long run.
Best wishes with all your fishes, Nova!
Happy Trails!
Pete GiwojnaI have a Koralia that works great in my anemone tank(no seahorses). Just in case I bought a piece of Tulle(bridal veil material)to cover it. I got the purple tulle that looks just like coraline algae. Just cut it into a square and put it over the Koralia and secure the ends with a zip tie. Think of it like a lollipop wrapper-if the pump is the lollipop the tulle is the wrapper and instead of twisting the paper at the bottom like a lollipop you secure with a zip-tie. I have H. fuscus and H.barbouri and they could definetly hitch on the Koralia(and I have the nano) The pump still works great and nothing can get in it.:) 🙂
Excellent news about the tulle, arcprolife! Now, where were you when I first started looking for people who had done this! 😉
I’m taking the Koralia one down and putting it back in my reef tank today. I think we can safely say that this has been a sucessful preliminary experiment. The horses enjoy the extra flow, the Gorgonians love it, and of course the added water motion helps clear the detritus that much faster. As powerheads go, I think this is a safe choice for our seahorse friends.
I still feel that, if there is no covering over the water outlet, then the flow collar should definitely be in place to prevent little tails heading in this way. Now I just need to go find a pair of Koralia nanos on the cheap so I can test those! Happy Horsing!
Post edited by: Novahobbies, at: 2008/10/22 23:28
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