Scrubbers and Seahorses

[johnarky]

Does anyone have any experience running a scrubber on a seahorse tank? My scrubber's been doing great on my mixed reef tank so far (1 month in and Nitrates at 0). I've been wanting to convert my tank to a seahorse tank but I don't know if anyone's had any luck using an ATS in this application.
Everything I've read about seahorse tank's is to have huge skimmer and overskim as much as possible for 2 reasons.
1. People tend to overfeed seahorses
2. Seahorses are very prone to bacteria infections from decaying food

Just to be clear, I am not making these statements, it's just what I've heard. So anyone with any input on this?
Thanks!

[SantaMonica]

1. The reason others say "run huge skimmers" is because since skimmers don't remove the "smoke" (ammonia/ammonium, nitrite, nitrate or phosphate), they have to remove the food (the "steak") immediately before it decays. Of course, this removes the food from the seahorses too. And still these people have nutrinets problems from (A) just the little bit of time the food is in the water, and (B) the waste from the seahorse. Both of these produce the "smoke" (ammonia/ammonium, nitrite, nitrate or phosphate) that is not removed by skimmers, at all. Not even a little. A scrubber will remove "all" of the "smoke" (ammonia/ammonium, nitrite, nitrate or phosphate), and leave all of the "steak" in the water for the seahorses to eat.

2. Decaying food does not "produce" pathogens. Decaying food produces ammonia/ammonium, which is deadly to any marine animal. At best, it severely weakens them, which lets the pathogens have a much easier time attacking the seahorses. So ironically, the skimmer people are actually killing off their own seahorses by (A) starving them by removing the food, and (B) reducing their resistance to pathogens because of the higher amounts of ammonia/ammonia in the water (because skimmers don't remove ammonia/ammonium).

A scrubber-only tank fixes both of these situations. Because of course, algae is what filters and feeds the water where the seahorses naturally live.

3. Don't forget pods... a scrubber will grow millions of baby white copepods which look like white dust... perfect for seahorse fry.

[johnarky]

Thanks SM.
I guess my main worry was if decaying food would produce any sort of pathogens or lead to any sort of bacterial problems in horses. Thanks for answering.
There doesn't really seem to be a lot of people out there who have done a seahorse tank with an ATS (I say "a lot" to be safe, I can't find anyone so far). I'm excited to try it. I think it will work out quite well. The biggest problem people seem to run into with horses is the "overfeeding" issue which mucks up the tank. It seems as though you really have to overskim to compensate for the amount of food you need to put in for horses.
Obviously using an ATS should rememedy this issue quite well and render the skimmer unnecessary. I would just like to find a way for the pods to mature beyond the tiny baby copepods. It would be nice for the horses to have a supplementary live food sourse in the tank. Do you think providing a substantial amount of live rock rubble beneath the ATS would give the pods a place to mature?

[SantaMonica]

Rubble yes, but put it in the tank. If you have a sump, keep it as open as possible so no food settles there. And try a double power scrubber, so you can really overfeed:

Feeding Guidline:

Each cube of frozen food you feed per day needs 12 square inches of screen, with a light on both sides totaling 12 watts. Thus a nano that is fed one cube a day would need a screen 3 X 4 inches with a 6 watt bulb on each side. A larger tank that is fed 10 cubes a day would need a screen 10 X 12 inches with 60 watts of light on each side. If you feed flake, feeder fish, or anything else, you will need to blend it up super thick, strain out the excess water, pour it into a cube, and see how many cubes it is.

[johnarky]

Here's some specs on my tank:

90gal tank w/ about 20 gal in the sump
4 Bulb T5 Fixture with ATI bulbs
2 Koralia 1050 gph power heads in tank
Return pump is rated 1100gph, probably putting out around 700-800gph with head loss.

ATS Info
13.5" wide by 11" tall
Fed through the overflow
2 Plastic Canvas screens sandwiched together and "cactus rough"
Lights on Both sides
Side 1 = Has 1 light, 42 Watt CFL bulb 4" from Screen
Side 2 = Has 2 lights, CFL 26 Watts (each) 4" from screen

[SantaMonica]

That's some good wattage. So if 12 watts and 12 square inches can filter 1 cube a day, yours should be able to filter 96 / 12 = about 8 cubes per day.