Ahh ok. I don’t live near a beach unfortunately
Though I am hoping to keep dwarf seahorses, which I hear are especially sensitive to other things being introduced to the tank.
If I did do a dwarf seahorse tank, I can’t get any live rock or live Sand.
Why can't you get live rock or sand?
Dry rock and sand turns into live rock and live sand after a few months in an aquarium. As long as you don't have too much rock so the seahorses can't move around, you are fine.
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Is there a specific brand of salt that is good? Has anyone here used Instant Ocean Fast Dissolving Sea Salt? It says it only needs to be mixed for a few minutes?
I am just doing a bit more research and digging and pricing, and was just curious about marine plants? I Know there are different sea grasses and seaweeds and such, does anyone know what kind of lighting these things need? I am looking into dwarf seahorses, and while they can’t live with anemones they can live with small mushrooms and zoa, is it possible to mix algaes and corals? What kind of lighting would be needed?
(In other words, HELP ME WITH LIGHT I DONT KNOW ANYTHING)
Most artificial marine salts are the same. Just get whatever is available to you.
There is no such thing as fast dissolving salt. It's a gimmick to make people think the salt is safe to use straight away.
All mineral salts need time to dissolve completely before they are added to the tank. This means mixing the mineral salts with dechlorinated water for at least 24 hours before using the water in an aquarium.
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You can get macro algae like Caulerpa and Halimeda. Caulerpa species are easier to keep than Halimeda species.
You don't keep macro algae with corals because the algae smother the corals and the corals die.
In a seahorse tank, just have some rocks with macro algae growing on them. Don't keep corals with seahorses.
Everything on the planet requires the same light. Our sun does not change the light it puts out just because there are plants or corals or whatever. Lights on aquariums are the same for fresh water, salt water or anything in between.
Get globes with a 6500K rating (K is for Kelvin). There should be equal parts of blue and red light, along with some green and any other colour they want to through in. But red and blue are the main wavelengths of light used by plants. Corals have a symbiotic algae in their cells, which use the same wavelengths of light as higher plants.
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A refractometer measures the salinity, correct? PK, are you happy with the one you bought? What bottled bacteria did you use?
Yes, a refractometer measures the salinity (amount of salt) in the water.
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is wild organisms a good idea? like some small tide pool corals, crabs, barnacles?
Not really. Crabs should never be kept with other creatures because they are nocturnal scavengers that will hunt and eat shrimp, fish and most other things in the tank.
Barnacles are hard to keep alive.
Some shrimp are fine but some get big and will attack smaller creatures if they get hungry. Big seahorses will eat small shrimp.
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Avoid buying huge bags/ buckets of salt because it sweats over time. The salt draws in moisture from the air and some of it dissolves in the bucket. It doesn't all dissolve but you can get moisture in the bucket with the salt if there is too much air exposed to the salt, or if the salt is left open for any length of time (a month or more). You can buy enough salt for a few months but don't have open buckets of salt sitting around for a year.
