Leonardo's Lagoon

[Leonardo_]

Nick; I'm busy putting together a (few minute) video of the tank. Already upgraded my Photobucket account for it
But I want it to look good, so it will take some time I think.

Paul; The fish were used to 92x turnover in the Formosa Forest, so they're getting pretty lazy lately

Leonardo

 

[Ginzo]

Hi Leonardo,

I love the concept of your shallow reef !! I haven't been this excited for a while !

Myself, I would love to build a "Shallow tank / no plumbing" concept of a tank.

 

[Leonardo_]

Thank you Ginzo! A free standing or three side viewable shallow tank without visible plumbing would be beautiful indeed.

I also tried to keep the visible plumbing to a minimum by creating the front to back-overflow and tunze on the left (wall) side of tank. The rest of the tank is free of any plumbing or powerheads.

Leonardo

 

[RoWall]

Hi Leonardo!

I follow Your threads from the begining, You make an awesome work!

BTW I'm in the process of gathering equipment to a shallow and wide tank without plumbing. It will be sth between 300-500 liters (75-125gal) with 10x54watt T5 light and supa high flow (allready have the lamp and some other stuff).
Plumbing will be not visible because there will be no plumbing at all .
Skimmerless tank without fish, SPS and little LPS.

Keep up the good work Leo, waiting for the video.

Peter

 

[Simon44]

What are your MH bulbs' name ?

 

[Ginzo]

Hi Leonardo,

I was wondering how high is your stand ? When your in front of your tank, at what high does the tank start ? I'm trying to plan mine and with a reef so shallow, I'm having difficulty to find the right viewing high. I'm 6 feet tall.

How tall are you ? (if you don't mind asking) and what would be the best high for viewing this kind of tank..would you say ?

Thanks,

 

[Leonardo_]

Simon: I use Aqua Connect 400 Watt SE bulbs on Lumatek E-ballasts.

Ginzo: The stand is high; 43". I'm a tall guy, about 6,3' When I sit behind my desk my head is on the same hight as the tank

I wouldn't go lower then a 40" stand with this kind of tanks.

Leonardo

 

[GSMguy]

agreed my stand is 44" inches tall.

 

[FUA]

thanks for the FTS....... cant wait to see this thing grown out and matured. Already looks great though and just as your other tank the fish look so healthy and have great coloration. keep the pics coming leonardo_

 

[Leonardo_]

FUA: Thanks, you're welcome!

Last weekend I bought 4 new colonies:

*Acropora Millepora, beige base + light Blue Tips (wildcap)
*Acropora Millepora, pink base + golden tips (maricultured)
*Acropora Valida, Red/Purple base, Purple tips (maricultured)
*Acropora Spec. (fine branched tabling Acropora) beige base, Lightblue tips (wildcap)

The fine branched Wildcap Acropora developed some RTN in the base, but I decided not to chop it up yet. I hasn't spread since yesterday, so I hope the whole piece make it.

Besides that I'm still thinking about my aquascape, I just don't like it. I have a few days off this week, so I'll start playing with liverock the next days...

I'll post some pics when I dit some rescape and of course I will post some pics of the new colonies!

Leonardo

 

[Leonardo_]

Next to that I will get rid of the Schuran Jetstream II Calciumreactor. It is a fantastic piece of equipment, that's for sure. But there are also a few downsides. (compared to the Balling-Method)

*Constant addition of PO4 coming out of the media
* Lowering the pH of the tank
* Powerconsumption of the large Eheim of the reactor
* Noise of the gas entering the diffusor (remember, it is in my bedroom )


So... I will switch to the Balling Method. I already have a 3-channel Grotech dosing pump, so all I have to purchase are some large canisters and the Balling salts+trace elements.
Of course there are also a few downsides of this method, like the slightliy higher costs on long term and the process of making the Balling Solutions. But I will give it a try and see if I like it, I already have the most expensive equipment lying on the shelf.

I won't sell my Schuran Jetstream so I can always switch back!

Leonardo

 

[GSMguy]

what brand balling salts will you use?

can you outline the whole thing? At this point i have a loose understanding but most in the USA have never heard of Balling. my Girlfriend wants me to get away from daily dosing of 2 part and automate it better.

 

[GSMguy]

what brand balling salts will you use?

can you outline the whole thing? At this point i have a loose understanding but most in the USA have never heard of Balling. my Girlfriend wants me to get away from daily dosing of 2 part and automate it better.

 

[Ginzo]

I suggest you look at:

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/

It's pretty much the Balling method.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14139133#post14139133 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by GSMguy
what brand balling salts will you use?

can you outline the whole thing? At this point i have a loose understanding but most in the USA have never heard of Balling. my Girlfriend wants me to get away from daily dosing of 2 part and automate it better.

 

[GSMguy]

Ginzo the balling method is 3 parts, the MG is combined with either the CA or ALK and the third part is trace elements, they are dosed continually throughout the day with a doser its not the same as 2 part +MG i already do that wit DTs 3 part.

there is also balling and Balling light, i want to know what Leonardo is going to do, so i can copy it.

 

[Leonardo_]

Nick, I will explain.

The Balling method contains three solutions, best dosed by a automated 3-part doser like the one from Grotech.

*Solution one contains CaCl (Calcium part)
*Solution two contains NaCo3 (Carbonate part)
*Solution three contains MgSo4 and MgCl (magnesium part)

I buy the salts for the solution in Germany. These are Pharmaceutical-grade salts. That means they are extremely pure and almost free of any heavy metals etc.
Brand-name Balling salts can also be used but you pay a higer price for the same product.
IMO it is not safe to use salt that is ment for your driveway etc. since it isn't pure enough for aquarium use.

Beside the salts there are also three mixtures of trace-elements. Two of the mixtures are added to the Ca-solution and the other with the Co3-solution.
I use half of the prescribed amounts and dose extra by hand. I like to have some control and I can never overdose this way.

Solution One and Two (Ca and Co3) are always dosed in the same amount. (for example; 30 ml solution one + 30 ml solution two per day)
Magnesium is dosed seperately.

To determine the exact dosages check the Alk daily and the Mg weekly for some time untill parameters are stable.
In time the demand for Ca, Alk and Mg can rise so check all the parameters frequently to ajust the dosages.

Because only Ca and Co3 is taken up by corals, Na and Cl ions will build up in the tankwater.
Thats why you have to add a small amount of NaCl-free salt to your regular salt when you do a waterchange. This way you prevent the buildup of Na and Cl ions.

with this "Balling-Rechner" (German for Balling-Calculator) you can calculate the amount of NaCl-free salt you have to use in relation to your solution dosage: Balling Rechner

Leonardo

 

[ajroy03]

Isn't Laboratory grade rather low quality? Usually pure enough for most laboratory experiments but not certified for food or drug uses. You should check around for U.S.P or U.S. Pharmaceutical grade chemicals. More suitable for use when life forms are living in the system because of lowered heavy metals and harmful impurities.

 

[Leonardo_]

Sorry, I translated it incorrect. It has to be Pharmaceutical grade.
The analytic certificates of the salts are on the website and all the salts are food-grade.

Thanks for the correction!

Leonardo

 

[Leonardo_]

Some new pictures. My colors have improved since the last pictures because my alk. is finally stable and has the right value (8-9)

I also has been able to set the white balance better so colours are more realistic.

I will give an explanation for each photo, enjoy!

New A. Valida (maricultured) frag I bought last weekend. It's a unsharp (bad) picture because I coudn't reach it with the camera easily.

Bright (neon) green Acropora. I can't capture the really neon glow that this coral has, even under normal lighting. Does anyone have an ID?

A. Millepora (wild cap) I bought last weekend. Obviously need to colour up, but what can you expect in a few days

A. Millepora (maricultured) I bought last weekend. I really like this piece and have great expectations of it.

Autofocus decided to focus on the A. Millepora Table You can see the big colour improvement of the staghorn, and also a bit on the A. Millepora table.

A random shot of my Favia globe with the large Seriatopora colony behind it.

I bought this wildcap colony this weekend also. Like I wrote before, it had a little RTN, but that has stopped. I hope I can save this colony. Does anyone have an ID?

Leonardo

 

[Nowell York]

I would love to see a video of the surge. This tank has great potential.

It seems that we are still trying to apply reductionist science to water chemistry--just as with Western diet nutrition. A little magnesium here, a little omega-E fatty acid there. When focusing on a few minerals we create huge holes in trace elements. When adding trace element solutions we risk spikes in compounds that may prove damaging. Hopefully, within a decade, we will develop a robust, natural solution to reef water chemistry. Having been involved with reef aquariums for the last decade, I have seen little progress on this front.