Dawn's 30g XH coral Pony corral!

[vlangel]

Any reef tank can cause anxiety when it comes to vacation time and leaving them in the hands of a sitter. Seahorse tanks can even present more challenges than the usual ones since they need lots of food but also excellant water quality. I am lucky to have a knowledgable sister willing to help me out. I will be on a 2 week vacation coming up and thats the longest I have ever left the ponies. There are lots of preparations to be made from ordering live shrimp to making a brute can of pre-mixed salt water. Hopefully the best laid plans pan out!

 

[melypr1985]

Good luck! Have a good vaca!

 

[vlangel]

Good luck! Have a good vaca!

Thank you, we will! My husband and are taking a motorcycle roadtrip from our home in PA to Eureka, CA and going through ID, Nevada, WA, and OR along the way. We have been on a quest to ride to the 49 states, (excluding Hawaii) and after this trip we will only have Alaska left.

 

[gettaReef]

Thank you, we will! My husband and are taking a motorcycle roadtrip from our home in PA to Eureka, CA and going through ID, Nevada, WA, and OR along the way. We have been on a quest to ride to the 49 states, (excluding Hawaii) and after this trip we will only have Alaska left.

So cool! Quite an accomplishment

 

[vlangel]

So cool! Quite an accomplishment

We always take a pic of one of us standing by the 'Welcome to' sign. We need to make a pic album of just that. Hopefully our bikes run well. We bought new to us 'his and hers' bikes last fall since our prior bikes were getting pretty high mileage.

 

[melypr1985]

We always take a pic of one of us standing by the 'Welcome to' sign. We need to make a pic album of just that. Hopefully our bikes run well. We bought new to us 'his and hers' bikes last fall since our prior bikes were getting pretty high mileage.

Oh gosh! I have an idea! Go to shutterfly.com and make a picture book of your travels and each picture of yall by the signs. That would be so awesome! I make these books all the time.. I have one for every year of my sons life (3 so far), family vacations and even my wedding. They just look way nicer than photo albums and last longer (cause your pics dont fall out all the time). Oh! and you never have to pay full price! They have sales all the time and you can usually get the books at 1/2 price or at least get stuff for free. Well, it's an idea and I got all excited and butted into your plan. Sorry!

 

[vlangel]

I had not updated my thread for awhile so here's a video. The seahorse tank is doing well and coming up on a year in the 36g bowfront. Its coming up on 2 years since I got the seahorses.

 

[melypr1985]

Great video! Your tank looks so good and clean. You must work very hard to keep it clean.

 

[vlangel]

Great video! Your tank looks so good and clean. You must work very hard to keep it clean.

Thanks for the kind words! Most of the time I do work hard to keep it clean but this summer was crazy so I had slacked off a bit. I did keep up with water changes so the seahorses would stay healthy. I had to do a really deep clean that took a couple of weeks to complete. I still have quite a bit of green bubble algae to deal with.

 

[melypr1985]

I still have quite a bit of green bubble algae to deal with.

I know all about the bubble algae problems! I have it in spades, but mostly in my overflow. Weird, but I can't complain too much since it's the whole "out of sight of out mind" thing.

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

Those seahorses look great! Very nice. Thinking about setting up a seahorse tank sometime down the road. I'll definitely have to hit you up for advice when I do.

 

[vlangel]

I know all about the bubble algae problems! I have it in spades, but mostly in my overflow. Weird, but I can't complain too much since it's the whole "out of sight of out mind" thing.

Just so it doesn't slow down the flow, and overflow the tank. That wouldn't be outta sight or mind, LOL! At least bubble algae doesn't sting like some pests.
My bubble algae is on the rock work and in the other macro algaes.

 

[vlangel]

Those seahorses look great! Very nice. Thinking about setting up a seahorse tank sometime down the road. I'll definitely have to hit you up for advice when I do.

Thank you, When you are ready for seahorses I will be glad to help. Also Lionfish lair has a lot of experience with seahorses too.

 

[shornik]

Thanks for the video update, the tank looks great and the seahorses look fat and happy!

 

[vlangel]

Thanks for the video update, the tank looks great and the seahorses look fat and happy!

Thanks for checking out my video! I should update more often but life gets in the way.

 

[vlangel]

I have some very sad news. Adam, my male seahorse died of gas bubble disease. I doctored him over a week trying multiple things but he just continued to decline. I may have contributed to his condition because I added sand from another tank and it was dirtier than I thought. I should have rinsed it well in clean salt water but I did not. That makes this doubly painful but I am sharing so none of you make this mistake.

 

[Paul87]

I have some very sad news. Adam, my male seahorse died of gas bubble disease. I doctored him over a week trying multiple things but he just continued to decline. I may have contributed to his condition because I added sand from another tank and it was dirtier than I thought. I should have rinsed it well in clean salt water but I did not. That makes this doubly painful but I am sharing so none of you make this mistake.

So sorry to hear this. May Adam rest in peace. I think he had a happy life in your care.

 

[shornik]

I was so sad to read this message this morning and appreciate you posting it to provide everyone following you with lessons. Sharing your lessons is the primary reason I felt comfortable with getting my own ponies. I think you are like me in that when one of our animals dies we blame ourselves - what caused it, what could we have done better, what can we learn so it doesn't happen again. I'm still making mistakes and learning, which is what I think makes this hobby so great. But I also have come to realize, slowly, that it isn't necessarily something that we did, sometimes things just happen so don't blame yourself.

And when the time is right, you'll have to share pictures of the new seahorse you get to keep Eve company.

 

[gettaReef]

So so sorry....

 

[vlangel]

I was so sad to read this message this morning and appreciate you posting it to provide everyone following you with lessons. Sharing your lessons is the primary reason I felt comfortable with getting my own ponies. I think you are like me in that when one of our animals dies we blame ourselves - what caused it, what could we have done better, what can we learn so it doesn't happen again. I'm still making mistakes and learning, which is what I think makes this hobby so great. But I also have come to realize, slowly, that it isn't necessarily something that we did, sometimes things just happen so don't blame yourself.

And when the time is right, you'll have to share pictures of the new seahorse you get to keep Eve company.

Thanks for the comforting response. I appreciate your kind words. I have been preparing myself for harsh responses but thankfully so far have not recieved any of those.
I will order a little girl to keep Eve company when I am sure the tank is settled and safe. Its a bit more of a mixed specie tank than I would like with Eve, the seahorse, Abraham, the pipefish, KB, the royal gramma and Baby, my hand raised clown. Baby is 7 years old and KB is probably 4-5 years old so it may be a while before I can make it a specie specific tank again.