HMA’s 115 gal. Reef Tank

[ScubaDrew]

Heinz, anytime I want to be amazed, I just swing by your chronical.

[Techno-Vicki]

Heinz, this is awesome! Tell me about your parent tank:
size
flow
how long running before ponies introduced?
equipment
corals in it
feeding routine of tank and inhabitants
sand bed or bare bottom
longevity of the parent stock

lets see....hummmm....anything else you can think of that is important.

Again, you are a master!

[hma]

Originally Posted by Techno-Vicki

Heinz, this is awesome! Tell me about your parent tank:
size
flow
how long running before ponies introduced?
equipment
corals in it
feeding routine of tank and inhabitants
sand bed or bare bottom
longevity of the parent stock

lets see....hummmm....anything else you can think of that is important.

Again, you are a master!

OK Vicki .... more info..... :

My Seahorse tank (2001 – 2006)


I started with the seahorse tank in the summer of 2001 (June) with 1/3 water as well as approx. 5 kg live sand from my coral tank and 2/3 fresh seawater. I added the first crabs, shrimps and snails in august 2001 and the first soft corals in september. In the end of september the gorgoninas came in to the tank and at the end of november the first pair seahorses (Hippocampus reidi). In january 2002 the pair of Hippocampus barbouri and end of february the pair pipefish.

I fed 3 times a day artemia (mix from living and frozen) as well as Mysis (1/2 living 1/2 frozen) into a fodder bowl in the tank.

The seahorses began with their first brood in September 2002. In the distance of approx. 3-4 weeks the ponies tried it again and again. Unfortunately I had still no success with the raising. I could not offer suitable food for the young ponies.

Around to change I started in the summer 2002 with a artemia breed tank in my garden. Other reefer her in germany had thereby already success, why I not? Starting from 2004 I had very good success with the artemia breed in the garden and could so feed living artemia as well as artemia nauplien.

I had a considerable success first as I the living artemia enriched with Lipovit etc. . I gave the nauplien approx. 1/2 hour before feeding simply in with Lipovit (etc.) enriched sea water, the artemia nauplien took up the lipovit and other fodder additives .










Technology:



Tank: 100 x 60 x 60 cm (39,3 x 23.6 x23.6 inch) = 360 Liter / 95gal


Flow: 2 x Tunze - Turbelle powerhead 800/2 840 l/h (224gal/h)



Skimmer :

Tunze DOC Skimmer Water throughput: 800 l/h (211 US gal./h) air capacity:500 l/h (132 US gal./h)



Light:

FAUNA MARIN SOLARIS T5 4 x T5 54 Watt
2 x 54 Watt T5 AQUA Science Special 15.000 K
2 x 54 Watt T5 AQUA Science Blue



Heater:

Titan 200Watt in a guard (PVC lattice)



Rocks:

Live Rock 30Kg / 66lbs



Sand:

45Kg / 99lbs Live Sand (0.1 – 1mm)

Different Caulerpa algae, several red algae and sea-grass


Livestock:


Corals:

2 x Gorgonia ventalina
2 x Lemnalia sp.
1 x Sinularia flexibilis
1 x Lobophytum sp. (yellow from Tonga )
1 x Biareum asbestinum
1 x Muricea pinnata
1 x Plexaurella dichotome



Snails:

6 x Nassarius vibex
2 x Plakobranchus ocellatus
6 x Tectus fenestratus


Hermit crabs:

4 x Paguristes cadenati
4 x Calcinus elegans


Crustaceans:

2 x Lysmata wurdemanni



Seahorses:

2 x Hippocampus reidi
2 x Hippocampus barbouri



Pipefish:

2 x Doryrhamphus pessuliferus

[Techno-Vicki]

Heinz, thank you for the information. I saved the web page to refer to someday when I am ready for ponies. I do have one pipe fish I just love. What started you on your reef addiction?

[hma]

In my study time in Japan (6 months) I saw unite beautiful sea water tanks. I wanted to try that also once and so I started with my first FO in the spring of 86, since than the hobby going wild on me.

[Melanie]

I love your stories and photos so much!

[lcstorc]

Wonderful details and information. Thank you so much.
I have a 90g tank cycling now which will be my new seahorse tank. Hopefully someday I will be able to raise some of the fry. Your information here will certainly help in my efforts.

[hma]

Originally Posted by lcstorc

Wonderful details and information. Thank you so much.
I have a 90g tank cycling now which will be my new seahorse tank. Hopefully someday I will be able to raise some of the fry. Your information here will certainly help in my efforts.

Hello Lynn,

thank you very much for your nice comment. Perhaps still another information. If you breeds artemia in seawaters with higher density (1,027 - 1,030) remains the nauplien smaller. They are better taken up however by the little Ponies. Also food additives are better taken up in this way. You can achieve a higher food density with the smaller nauplien, thus the Ponies takes up automatically also more vitamin and other food additives.

[AQTCJAK]

Heinz, Funny how people paths take the same journey sometimes. My addiction started going crazy after swiming with Great Hammer Head Sharks in the Philippines Seas

[hma]

yepp… Jack.

I had my first experience with sharks in my last vacation in South Africa (2005).

We were dip in the “Storms River Mouth”. That is in the Area of Nature's Valley, Plettenberg Bay, South Africa. It was so unbelievably impressing.



Unfortunately (or thank God) these guys also always were around us. Thus we could see the white sharks only far away, to me it however handed. There one already gets giant respect for these animals.

[ScubaDrew]

Originally Posted by hma

In my study time in Japan (6 months) I saw unite beautiful sea water tanks. I wanted to try that also once and so I started with my first FO in the spring of 86, since than the hobby going wild on me.

Hey Heinz! I spent 3 weeks in Japan last year and got to see Yu-chan - Osaka's giant whale shark!

Where did you study in Japan?

Drew

[AQTCJAK]

Originally Posted by hma

yepp… Jack.

I had my first experience with sharks in my last vacation in South Africa (2005).

We were dip in the “Storms River Mouth”. That is in the Area of Nature's Valley, Plettenberg Bay, South Africa. It was so unbelievably impressing.



Unfortunately (or thank God) these guys also always were around us. Thus we could see the white sharks only far away, to me it however handed. There one already gets giant respect for these animals.

One day I will make it there for a Shark adventure, When I was in the Marines we went around the cape but we were to far away.
I am anticipating Vicki & I going to the Caribean in the early summer for the shark & dolphin dive

[hma]

Originally Posted by ScubaDrew

Hey Heinz! I spent 3 weeks in Japan last year and got to see Yu-chan - Osaka's giant whale shark!

Where did you study in Japan?

Drew

Hi Drew,

I had my foreign practical course in Osaka. During my study I worked for a subsidiary company of the Mitsui group in Germany.

[hma]

Originally Posted by AQTCJAK

One day I will make it there for a Shark adventure, When I was in the Marines we went around the cape but we were to far away.
I am anticipating Vicki & I going to the Caribean in the early summer for the shark & dolphin dive

Hi Jack,

Plettenberg Bay is a wonderful place to be and a very good choice if you would like to see the large white shark. There are true giants around the cape of good hope

In the Caribean was I not yet, it is still another white point on “my map of the world". 2006 was I in the Red Sea dip, also a mad experience.

Some pictures from there:

[AQTCJAK]

Great pictures Thanks for the heads up. The shark in the picture aka Guitar Fish, Shovel Nose shark I have had those they are really cool to watch them hunt prey & eat it.