Coral Maternity in Portugal
- Thread starter Machado deSousa
- Start date
Young Frankenstein
New member
ah Thats how we doit here in the US also:beer: :dance:<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11351813#post11351813 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Machado deSousa
chris wright: you are attentive! Beer bottles for scale!! (and we needed a whole lot more of them to do the job...).
Machado deSousa
New member
Konadog: My thanks to you and to RC team for the nomination of my thread to the April's Thread of The Month. I,m honored for that.
BallaBooyeaH, mhaith and JCTewks : I appreciated your words and support. Thank you.
216@aqua: presently, monthly costs associated with maintaining my prop, are: space rental (US$200), electricity (US$240), water (US$80), synthetic salt (US$90), Co2, Calcium reactor media or additives such as Calcium chloride, Magnesium chloride, sulphate chloride and NaHCO3 (US$160), gasoline (US$240) prop is localized 16 miles from my home. With all this costs, every month, empty pockets are all i have left.
Ding2daDong, Fishdisease, Thhitman, mburke: thanks for your comments.
0 Agios: for scale sometimes i use coke cans too (to do the job…)
Mothra: BERSERKER??? What does it mean? I hope it mean good things…
Cheers,
BallaBooyeaH, mhaith and JCTewks : I appreciated your words and support. Thank you.
216@aqua: presently, monthly costs associated with maintaining my prop, are: space rental (US$200), electricity (US$240), water (US$80), synthetic salt (US$90), Co2, Calcium reactor media or additives such as Calcium chloride, Magnesium chloride, sulphate chloride and NaHCO3 (US$160), gasoline (US$240) prop is localized 16 miles from my home. With all this costs, every month, empty pockets are all i have left.
Ding2daDong, Fishdisease, Thhitman, mburke: thanks for your comments.
0 Agios: for scale sometimes i use coke cans too (to do the job…)
Mothra: BERSERKER??? What does it mean? I hope it mean good things…
Cheers,
Last edited:
Machado deSousa
New member
Re: Algae free
Re: Algae free
Sorry to answer to your question at last.
To keep my prop tanks free of algae i make use of grazers like some shelled grazers (snails like Turbos, Trochus, Astraea, stomatellid, etc.), eremit crabs, sea urchins, herbivorous fishes, i don’t feed heavily fishes and corals, i use adequate skimmer according to the water volume and organic matter inputs, i try to have low or null levels of phosphates and nitrate in the system, when i notice some algae i close CO2 supply to the Calcium reactor and i stop using all kind of aditives such as trace elements, iron, etc., i provide strong water flow, i don´t explore tubes too much, etc., i avoid contaminations, regular water changes, and so on...
Cheers,
Re: Algae free
Hi mburke!
Sorry to answer to your question at last.
To keep my prop tanks free of algae i make use of grazers like some shelled grazers (snails like Turbos, Trochus, Astraea, stomatellid, etc.), eremit crabs, sea urchins, herbivorous fishes, i don’t feed heavily fishes and corals, i use adequate skimmer according to the water volume and organic matter inputs, i try to have low or null levels of phosphates and nitrate in the system, when i notice some algae i close CO2 supply to the Calcium reactor and i stop using all kind of aditives such as trace elements, iron, etc., i provide strong water flow, i don´t explore tubes too much, etc., i avoid contaminations, regular water changes, and so on...
Cheers,
virginiadiver69
New member
Yeah... me too.
The point is to inspire as well as to highlight techniques and ideas to reef hobbyists around the world.
Machado... you have done some stunning work and should be very proud of yourself. Those pictures of your prop tanks is art work Monet could be proud of and are worthy of framing. I believe it's people like you that take reef keeping from a mere expensive past time to a pursuit that will eventually benefit the worlds reefs in general.
Thank You.
Can you recommend some books or sources of info that has helped you? After reading Calfo's new book and seeing your success, I would like to try my hand at propagating corals.
earthboy17
New member
Wow, this is amazing. Very well done sir. Tip of the hat to you.
You mention an algae filter several times. Can you please expound upon this? What is an algae filter?
Thanks. You're doing a great job.
You mention an algae filter several times. Can you please expound upon this? What is an algae filter?
Thanks. You're doing a great job.
Machado deSousa
New member
Hi virginiadiver69!
Thank you for your words.
I've read some passages from the first Anthony Calfo book of Coral propagation that inspired me to use the waterpics (flower tubes) in my prop. I haven’t consulted so many books specifically related to coral propagation but the same kind of books and reviews that most reef keepers read in order to keep a reef aquarium at home. When I had my 200g tanks at home, for more than 10 years, i always tried to expend the least money possible with corals purchasing smallest colonies or frags and hoping they grow. After grown i was doing experiments in spreading them and, in the course of time, my tanks ended full of corals. I'm trying do the same in my prop, but in a larger scale.
To have some control over parameters related to physical, chemical and biologic aspects, i recommend you some books: The Reef Aquarium by Julian Sprung and Charles Delbec, The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium by Svein A. Fossa and Alf Jacob Nielson, Reef Invertebrates by Anthony Calfo and Robert Fenner. About propagation techniques I suggest you, obviously, the last Anthony Calfo Book of Coral Propagation.
Cheers,
Machado deSousa
New member
Mothra, shred5, Nuuze and DM99: Thanks for your comments.
Hi earthboy17,
I mention algae filter several times because i consider it very important to the system and that’s the reason i use it. Is a compartment where we promote the development of algae with advantages to the reef tanks, because absorbs nutrients (phosphate and nitrate), produces chemicals that limit other algal metabolism, absorbs CO2 stabilizing pH in Reverse Daylight Photosynthesis (and limits photosynthesis in nuisance algal growth), enriches water with O2, gives refuge to many useful organisms, chelates substances decreasing the availability of some toxic levels of excess free metal ions, and so on…
Hi earthboy17,
I mention algae filter several times because i consider it very important to the system and that’s the reason i use it. Is a compartment where we promote the development of algae with advantages to the reef tanks, because absorbs nutrients (phosphate and nitrate), produces chemicals that limit other algal metabolism, absorbs CO2 stabilizing pH in Reverse Daylight Photosynthesis (and limits photosynthesis in nuisance algal growth), enriches water with O2, gives refuge to many useful organisms, chelates substances decreasing the availability of some toxic levels of excess free metal ions, and so on…
Ding2daDong
New member
Hey Machado deSousa,
I just read over that you don't rely on only your skimmer for oxygen upkeep in the aquarium. I wanted to know other methods that you use to keep the oxygen levels up besides the protein skimmer?
Thanks
-Matthew
I just read over that you don't rely on only your skimmer for oxygen upkeep in the aquarium. I wanted to know other methods that you use to keep the oxygen levels up besides the protein skimmer?
Thanks
-Matthew
Machado deSousa
New member
Hi Ding2daDongi,
I was missing you and your avatar!
Fatrip had the same question as you.
I was missing you and your avatar!
Fatrip had the same question as you.
Jiddy
New member
Great thread. I always come back to it and am just amazed.
1) Can you show us some shots of your plumbing. Do you have one drain and one return per tank?
2) For flow, you use 2 Tunze 6100 & Wavebox per tank?
3) Have you ever gone to Germany and brought back 20 corals?
4) I think if you proposed an idea to the creator of your "T-5 Tiger" to alter his design; making the ballast above the two bulbs, you both would win.
5) Eary on the thread you said you werent in the hobby to sell and make a profit, but to get in the Guiness Book, I understand you were half-kidding, but what is the record....
Once again, nice work and you have more patience than ive ever seen.
1) Can you show us some shots of your plumbing. Do you have one drain and one return per tank?
2) For flow, you use 2 Tunze 6100 & Wavebox per tank?
3) Have you ever gone to Germany and brought back 20 corals?
4) I think if you proposed an idea to the creator of your "T-5 Tiger" to alter his design; making the ballast above the two bulbs, you both would win.
5) Eary on the thread you said you werent in the hobby to sell and make a profit, but to get in the Guiness Book, I understand you were half-kidding, but what is the record....
Once again, nice work and you have more patience than ive ever seen.
