150 gal Seahorse cube!

[Kyuubi]

Hi everyone! I’m starting a project for my adorable captive bred seahorse herd.
I found an amazing 150 gal 36” cube on offer up for $200! It had a stand but it was way too tall for me (5’1” person here), so I decided to build my own! I made it so the stand had a 1” lip on 3 of the 4 sides. The total height of the stand is 28”, a little lower than I originally planned but my door frame had other plans (had to trim it down by 2” so it could fit).

Found a nice 20 gal tall tank for $20 on offer up which I plan on converting into an ATO reservoir.

Found an awesome deal at a local glass shop for a custom tank for the sump, $350 for it assembled with proper bracing (33”L X 23”W X 18”H). Water volume for the sump would be roughly around 50-60 gallons I think (I’ll have to recheck the dimensions on BRS). I’m going to make my own baffles for it (tips very much appreciated!!!) with most likely a colored acrylic.

I’m not sure what to do for plumbing yet, it does have two drilled holes on the bottom left back corner, I think they’re about 2”.

Right now my herd is at 4 horses (Hippocampus Erectus) I have three females and one male since I got them as juveniles. Just a few days ago, my male was courting my piebald female! I definitely need two more males and I hope Alyssa at Seahorse Savvy updates her wysiwyg soon. I’m looking to add some orange males, and some extreme cirri males.I have more photos of my seahorses on my Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/kyuubis.creatures/

I hope you enjoy this build as much as I am going to! ;Cat

 

[OldRed1]

What a cool project! Best wishes on the build!

 

[New&no clue]

Jumping on. I love sea horse tanks, something I would like to try at some point.

 

[Devaji]

nice!!
I have been wanting to do a SH tanks for years and years now. part of all the Fb groups too. almost did in a few months ago but decided to go a planted FW tanks for my 2nd tank. but every time I see SH tanks makes we want one. ha

fallowing!

acrylic does not hold very well on glass. glass is prob. cheaper and much easier to silicone in to a glass sump.

that is a nice size tank for a SH setup. great score.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Hi everyone! I’m starting a project for my adorable captive bred seahorse herd.
I found an amazing 150 gal 36” cube on offer up for $200! It had a stand but it was way too tall for me (5’1” person here), so I decided to build my own! I made it so the stand had a 1” lip on 3 of the 4 sides. The total height of the stand is 28”, a little lower than I originally planned but my door frame had other plans (had to trim it down by 2” so it could fit).

Found a nice 20 gal tall tank for $20 on offer up which I plan on converting into an ATO reservoir.

Found an awesome deal at a local glass shop for a custom tank for the sump, $350 for it assembled with proper bracing (33”L X 23”W X 18”H). Water volume for the sump would be roughly around 50-60 gallons I think (I’ll have to recheck the dimensions on BRS). I’m going to make my own baffles for it (tips very much appreciated!!!) with most likely a colored acrylic.

I’m not sure what to do for plumbing yet, it does have two drilled holes on the bottom left back corner, I think they’re about 2”.

Right now my herd is at 4 horses (Hippocampus Erectus) I have three females and one male since I got them as juveniles. Just a few days ago, my male was courting my piebald female! I definitely need two more males and I hope Alyssa at Seahorse Savvy updates her wysiwyg soon. I’m looking to add some orange males, and some extreme cirri males.I have more photos of my seahorses on my Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/kyuubis.creatures/

I hope you enjoy this build as much as I am going to! ;Cat

Beautiful ponies!

 

[zirky]

You seem to be off to a great start. Looking forward to seeing this come together

 

[reeftwincities]

The stand looks great and so do the seahorses! Excited to see updates!

 

[Eric R.]

Nice work on the stand, very pretty ponies!

Curious about the police cruiser in the background of the first pic, did you get the tank from the department?

 

[Kyuubi]

Nice work on the stand, very pretty ponies!

Curious about the police cruiser in the background of the first pic, did you get the tank from the department?

The person on offer up was a police officer who was getting rid of his tank because he upgraded!

 

[Kyuubi]

nice!!
I have been wanting to do a SH tanks for years and years now. part of all the Fb groups too. almost did in a few months ago but decided to go a planted FW tanks for my 2nd tank. but every time I see SH tanks makes we want one. ha

fallowing!

acrylic does not hold very well on glass. glass is prob. cheaper and much easier to silicone in to a glass sump.

that is a nice size tank for a SH setup. great score.

I’m thinking acrylic because it’ll be easier to drill holes for the chambers, I’ve been watching so many diy vids on YouTube, I’m going to try a silicone that binds to both glass and acrylic, and I was going to scuff both surfaces so it hopefully bonds better if it doesn’t work I’ll have to find alternatives!!

 

[Kyuubi]

nice!!
I have been wanting to do a SH tanks for years and years now. part of all the Fb groups too. almost did in a few months ago but decided to go a planted FW tanks for my 2nd tank. but every time I see SH tanks makes we want one. ha

fallowing!

acrylic does not hold very well on glass. glass is prob. cheaper and much easier to silicone in to a glass sump.

that is a nice size tank for a SH setup. great score.

You should definitely plan a SH tank!! My first one was a 30 gal AIO for two horses, it’s so rewarding especially since they have their individual personalities, I definitely recommend captive bred horses, I planned for a year before setting up the first tank! Cycled and left it empty for about 6 months before I looked into the pair I wanted.

 

[fishguy242]

hi ,along for the journey, love the ponies...

 

[minorhero]

Awesome stand! I am extremely jealous of how much space you have in your shop.

I am building out my very first seahorse tank right now, your ponies look awesome!

With 2 holes in your tank its pretty clearly setup for a herbie style overflow. Unless you want/can drill more holes that's probably your best bet. If it were me, I'd be tempted to get rid of the corner overflow, plug the holes, and install a bean animal style overflow box instead. You are probably not interested in that though since I see your stand is built to take advantage of the current layout.

Putting in acrylic baffles in a glass sump is super easy. It's true the silicone doesn't stick super well to the acrylic, but it doesn't need to. You are going to be putting down silicone on both sides of the baffle creating a fillet. The silicone will wedge the baffle in-place between the two fillets. The only way its coming out is if you cut it out. You will need thick enough acrylic to not bend under the water pressure though. I'm guessing (and really just guessing here) at least 3/8" thick, and maybe need 1/2".

 

[Kyuubi]

Awesome stand! I am extremely jealous of how much space you have in your shop.

I am building out my very first seahorse tank right now, your ponies look awesome!

With 2 holes in your tank its pretty clearly setup for a herbie style overflow. Unless you want/can drill more holes that's probably your best bet. If it were me, I'd be tempted to get rid of the corner overflow, plug the holes, and install a bean animal style overflow box instead. You are probably not interested in that though since I see your stand is built to take advantage of the current layout.

Putting in acrylic baffles in a glass sump is super easy. It's true the silicone doesn't stick super well to the acrylic, but it doesn't need to. You are going to be putting down silicone on both sides of the baffle creating a fillet. The silicone will wedge the baffle in-place between the two fillets. The only way its coming out is if you cut it out. You will need thick enough acrylic to not bend under the water pressure though. I'm guessing (and really just guessing here) at least 3/8" thick, and maybe need 1/2".

Do you think applying reef superglue (I m not sure if regular superglue is safe) to the acrylic and tank, and then siliconing it would secure them a bit more? Maybe also scuffing the edge of the acrylic to create a better bond? Just got the acrylic sheets in and a laser cutter that I haven’t tried yet.
I’m super lucky my dad owns a construction shop/warehouse that he lets me use for my projects
Here’s the finished glass sump I made, I’m thinking I might need a brace in the middle after I add the baffles. I have a stainless steel frame on it, the top I covered it with a thin plastic border and the bottom I coated it in a marine primer, I might paint it black to match.

 

[The Farmer]

One of your cats looks like it has a mustache!!
but awesome tank I love cubes, how many horses will you have in your herd?

 

[Kyuubi]

One of your cats looks like it has a mustache!!
but awesome tank I love cubes, how many horses will you have in your herd?

Yeah she does! She actually went viral for a bit, if you look up “Mostaccioli Cat” or “Freddie Mercury Cat” she’ll pop up!

alyssa at Seahorse Savvy recommends 15 gal per horse so at 150 I’m think a max of 10 horses (tot water vol will be around 200 though), but I think I might go with less depending how they all interact. I have 4 right now and need two more males for pairs. I’ll see how I like the look of my future herd total of 6 in there with some compatible fish, and live feeder shrimps. Any babies they produce I might keep as well for a breeder stock since I’m working with some nice variations of morphs

 

[The Farmer]

How much flow will you need for that big of a tank? I know that you can’t have as much flow as a normal reef tank right?

 

[Kyuubi]

How much flow will you need for that big of a tank? I know that you can’t have as much flow as a normal reef tank right?

I’m thinking a few gyres since it’s a bit more spread out, rather than other power heads that blast the water out. Horses actually seem to enjoy more flow than people think! The key is non random flow that can catch them off guard. Nice easy waves that are predictable for them are best! When the flow is right, you can see your horses even play in the current. I have my boy Icarus, who loves to play in the flow.

 

[The Farmer]

Oh really? The current has to be in one direction pretty munch right?

 

[Kyuubi]

Oh really? The current has to be in one direction pretty munch right?

Yup! That’s all there is to it, only thing to be aware of are dead spots, but a good cleanup crew, spot cleaning, and arranging the power heads to minimize those spots are your best bet.