Leonardo's Lagoon

[Leonardo_]

Recently I completed my dosing regimen for the bacterial driven system.

I now use:

Prodibio Biodigest Bacteria, 1 vial/2weeks
1 ml Vinegar a day
1 ml Vodka a day
0.5 grams of Tablesugar
2 grams Reef-Actif twice a week

HUFA-rich blender mush ("pappone") blended with Reef-Actif before dosing. I will keep increasing the carbon sources and feeding for some time at least.

Leonardo

 

[jnarowe]

where are you getting the Albert Hein vinegar??

 

[Leonardo_]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14890170#post14890170 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
where are you getting the Albert Hein vinegar??

At the Albert Heijn grocery-store of course! Shall I ship you a pellet Jonathan?

Leonardo

 

[jnarowe]

:lol: Didn't know you had them around there.

 

[Leonardo_]

Didn't know they had stores in the US

 

[Tritonian]

Hi Leonardo, The tank is looking sweet

I finally built my shallow rimless (not as shallow as yours) and the corals do so much better. The narrow space of spread flow is definitely helping their growth formation. The staghorn acros seem to be thickening up more rather than forming long branches.

And my millipora's and other plating corals are finally starting to...well...plate! hehe. I have also removed most of my LR - put most of it in my tiny sump and the rest is getting cooked in an effort to kill off my aiptasia forest from my last tank... :?

This method is very advantageous just in terms of flow and light intensity on the corals.

I don't plan to post anything yet as the tank looks horrible at the moment, and I found new inspiration for a patch reef style. I had a look at Reefscapers http://seawayblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/coral-propagators.html.

I plan on creating a single platform without LR, made from PVC and coat it with aragonite/cement mixture. I'm no engineer, but I think this will help eliminate deadspots completely. The rest of the aquascape will be an open seabed can't wait to get it done.

Any chance you could show us your sump setup? I know sumps aren't the most attractive, but I bet yours is slick.

 

[bebereef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14954603#post14954603 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Tritonian
Hi Leonardo, The tank is looking sweet

I finally built my shallow rimless (not as shallow as yours) and the corals do so much better. The narrow space of spread flow is definitely helping their growth formation. The staghorn acros seem to be thickening up more rather than forming long branches.

And my millipora's and other plating corals are finally starting to...well...plate! hehe. I have also removed most of my LR - put most of it in my tiny sump and the rest is getting cooked in an effort to kill off my aiptasia forest from my last tank... :?

This method is very advantageous just in terms of flow and light intensity on the corals.

I don't plan to post anything yet as the tank looks horrible at the moment, and I found new inspiration for a patch reef style. I had a look at Reefscapers http://seawayblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/coral-propagators.html.

I plan on creating a single platform without LR, made from PVC and coat it with aragonite/cement mixture. I'm no engineer, but I think this will help eliminate deadspots completely. The rest of the aquascape will be an open seabed can't wait to get it done.

Any chance you could show us your sump setup? I know sumps aren't the most attractive, but I bet yours is slick.

<

Sorry, the page you were looking for in the blog SeaWayBLOG does not exist. I,m interested in seiing that!
Thanks.

 

[Leonardo_]

Tritonian; thanks for chiming in. Also thanks for posting that link! It is exactly the look I imagined for this tank, but executed in nature.
What will be the dimensions of your tank? I also experience it is very easy to provide all the corals with enough, even spread light and flow. The corals certainly appreciate it We'll keep in touch!

The sump-setup is the still the same as a few months ago, so it is ok to post a few months old picture?

Sump

Balling Jerrycans, Grotech Dosing pumps and pH controller for Kalkwasser Reactor.

bebereef; just remove the dot at the end

Leonardo

 

[Tritonian]

My tank is 90cm X 90cm X 45cm...(um, I forgot the inches as we don't use inches where I'm from hehe )

I probably could've got with a shorter height, but my water level sits around the 40cm mark anyway as the light are very low.

I've gone with T5 only mix. pink, purple, blue, white mixture. Gotta save up for the ATI tubes though. I'm using aquamedic at the moment. The only colors that don't come through that great are pinks and some reds.

There is a lot still left to complete. So it will be a while before I start a thread.

http://seawayblog.blogspot.com/2009...opagators.html ( sorry bout that.)

 

[bebereef]

Thanks...:worried:

 

[Leonardo_]

Tritonian, that's a great size, comparable to my previous tank. Where are you from? I don't use inches either
ATI or Aqua Science bulbs perform much better then AM bulbs, you will see a huge difference. I look forward to you build thread!

Leonardo

 

[Leonardo_]

After almost 1,5 month of using several Carbon sources, Reef-Actif and Prodibio I thought I could make some updated Top-Down shots. Also because this tread can use some excitement of course


I rebuilded the room where the tank is standing about a month ago, by removing a wall. This created a lot more room around the aquarium so I decided to rotate the aquarium so it will become a 3-side viewable Lagoon.
I'm very happy that I'm able to do this now because it is hard to appreciate the 44" depth when you can't walk around the tank
I planned to do the whole operation in June, so it will still take a while. First some photo's!

 

[Leonardo_]

Thanks for watching, Leonardo

 

[GSMguy]

OMG!!!! Those corals look happy

 

[uhuru]

beautiful! that's what you call eye candy!

 

[Leonardo_]

Thanks guys!

To clarify the plans for the relocation of the tank I explained in my previous post I've made some quick sketchup drawings.
The backside in this picture (where the overflow is placed) will be positioned against the wall, leaving the other three sides viewable:

I will build a hanging canopy for my lightrack that holds my Lumenarcs and T5-pendants. This will give the whole setup a cleaner, more finished look and prevent light spillage.
To prevent the buildup of heat inside the canopy I will install three 120 mm fans in the top on the backside of the canopy.
I'm also able to actively cool my T5 bulbs without all the messy looking fans easily viewable. To accomplish this I will use some additional fans inside the canopy that blow cool air from outside the canopy directly onto the bulb ends.

During the relocation of the tank I'm able to really think about my current " aquascape".
I'm leaning towards the addition of a SSB, together with a small amount of live rock to attach the corals.
The link Tritonian posted today was enough to take away most doubts I had about adding a SSB; It just looks a lot better.

Photo's courtesy of Cedric Guignard

I actually bought a few bags of Caribsea Reef-grade sand already, and testing it in the tank to see if it doesn't blow around. (you can see some sand in some of the top-down shots)
I'm pleasantly surprised that it stays where it's meant to be after a few days.

Feel free to give some input about the canopy or aquascape!

Leonardo

 

[pookstreet]

Leonardo, beautiful and healthy corals. I am always in awe of your simple and elegant design for everything.

 

[Denadai]

Just awesome

I don´t have words to describe how beautiful your tank is

Best Regards

 

[Ed Reef]

Great update Leo


Just something to think about....with your stand height, maybe you can leave your canopy top open on the top. This way you have better ventilation as the top will be hidden anyway.....!!



Love the corals picture you posted. Only hope one day my tank corals will look like your one day :eek2:


I think you will like having some sand in your set-up as IMO it will look more natural, especially in our shallow reef type tank as most of the time we look over the top. The pictures you posted on the corals set-up is exactly what I envision mine one day to be :eek1: and I can't wait to see you rescape your beautiful pieces !!

:rollface:

 

[Rodrigo_BG]

Very nice tank, congrats!

couple weeks ago I said in another forum that I would like to start dosing vodka with biodigest and one guy said that it will not work becouse vodka will act in a specific kind of bacteria that will compete against bio digest bacterias, and as far as vodkas bacs will reproduce so much faster than bios bacs, bio digest bacs will not survive so the produtc will not have any meaning. But looking to your corals I might say that there guy was wrong.