Macro Advice

[Kevin Roen]

First off, thank you all for all of this information on the site - has been very helpful! I've done some searches but all of the macroalgae-related info I found was several years old.

I'm in the process of building a 50 gallon seahorse tank w/ a 20 gallon sump. I'd like to skip the skimmer if possible (to keep the tank as cool as I can without a chiller - recommended for seahorses is around 72 degrees).

Has anyone had any luck with a scrubber and macros? It'll be a dedicated seahorse tank, nothing else besides the cleanup crew and some live (well-cured) rock. I'm not sure how many mysis shrimp are in a cube (haven't had a tank in 20 years), but each seahorse eats about 10 shrimp per day, and by the time the tank is fully stocked I'll probably have 6 to 8 seahorses.

Should I go as small as possible on the scrubber, 1/2 cube per day, and just run it opposite hours of lighting vs the tank? Or do you think even that will prevent the tank macros (aka hitching posts) from growing?

Thanks for any thoughts - really appreciate it!

[SantaMonica]

Welcome, and glad you like the info.

Seahorses are great, and were the original reason for me building the first scrubber in 2008. Sounds like small horses; at least you don't need live ghost shrimp for them. Yes you can scrub and have macros; many people do.

You certainly don't want a skimmer or anything else if you want the mysis to circulate around. Matter of fact, if possible you would not want a sump at all, as far as seahorse-feeding goes. The sump will only reduce the amount of mysis they get. A scrubber will add to the pods that the mysis eat, too.

I would build a 2-cube, and just run it normally. If you slow down the macros, it's just less for you to trim; but you'll have less or no nuisance algae too. I don't think opposite hours are important, but you can do it if you want.

If you do an upflow, you can keep it behind the macros, or decorate it to blend with the macros.

[mulcmu]

I’d check with the seahorse breader to get their thoughts on feeding live mysis. Once they get a taste for live shrimp they might not eat the frozen. Might be able to catch the mysis in the sump and freeze yourself.

I’d estimate the H2O Life Frozen Mini Marine Mysis Shrimp product to have 50 to 75 shrimp per cube but most are partial bits. This brand is very small as they are marine; the fresh water mysis are bigger. I’d guess 25 per cube.

I’d limit the clean-up crew to smaller sized snails and a sand sifting sea cucumber. No crabs or shrimp.

[SantaMonica]

With a display full of macros, there is going to be live mysis just growing. Also they'll grow in the scrubber if you don't use FW for cleaning.

[Kevin Roen]

Thank you both for your feedback :). To clarify, I definitely was planning on the frozen PE Mysis shrimp (planning on the larger horses, not the dwarfs). That estimate of cube content is great, I really appreciate it!

Thanks for the advice on the cleaner shrimp too, I've seen some (sort of) funny pictures of seahorses snacking on their shrimp tankmates!

I'm thinking I'll start with one scrubber and add a 2nd one as the tank gets established and the feeding gets heavier if the macros are still doing ok. Should provide a great little pod farm for them too.

Thanks again!

[Infusionluke]

Sounds like it is going to be a really unique tank. keep us posted on how everything works out!