August 2012 Tank of the Month!

[offshored]

Carlos - How have the Yellow and Purple tangs got along long term? Also how have the Powder Brown and Blue got along long term?

I'm adding a Yellow and Purple into a 240g at the same time, and would like to add an Achilles and Powder Blue at the same time down the line.

Heard that the Purples/Yellows need to go in the tank in 3's, and the Achilles/Powders should never be kept together.

Just curious, thanks!

[piercho]

Carlinhos, I've been a fan a while, your opinions carry a great deal of weight with me. I was pleased to see your tank selected for TOTM, and interested to see that you'd gone BB.

There are a lot of ceramic-based media choices. What were the factors that made you choose the Siporax?

Do you think the Siporax is mostly accomplishing nitrification, with the nitrate absorbed by the coral/clams, or do you think that the Siporax is providing a lot of denitrification? Or do you care? - I take it your main purpose is to keep phosphate as low as possible, and maybe you don't worry about N...

I also noted that you don't mention any "live" media: sand, rock, or plant filter (refugia). I take it that you are relying on the skimmer, detritus settling in the sump, and bacterial breakdown in the Siporax to remove/detoxify waste.

My favorite feature in the tank is that blue tort (I think) in the top-middle-back. I remember when those were so rare, and they are still really pretty. Just keeping tanks of the caliber you keep in operation for so many years is a tremendous feat. Congratulations, well-deserved.

[Dogby]

Beautiful tank!! I'm very new to salt water aquariums and am simply blown away by how nice your tank looks! Any chance you can lend some
Tips from a veteran to a newbie?? I would greatly appreciate it! This is basically my inspiration at this point.

[Kahuna]

Hello, Carlos. Your tank is... simply amazing.

Can you please point me to a link or explain further regarding the material that you used to make your rockwork with?

Best,

Kev

[carlinhos moreno]

[jigsaw1982]

Originally Posted by carlinhos moreno

Hey Carlos,
What kind of blue fish with white stripes is this in this picture from your tank?

Thanks,
Jigsaw1982

[carlinhos moreno]

Originally Posted by jigsaw1982

Hey Carlos,
What kind of blue fish with white stripes is this in this picture from your tank?

Thanks,
Jigsaw1982

jigsaw1982.

Pomacanthus imperator (Emperor Angelfish)

[Kahuna]

Hello, Carlos:

I keep looking at the diversity of the corals and am just amazed.

On an earlier post, you said that the rockwork was "natural and cement for making floors". In the US, it's hard to find a cement for making floors. Do you have a brand that you use? Also, your rockwork looks pretty white, like cream. Hydraulic cement here is dark grey. Did you have to paint the cement, or was it white after drying?

Last, you said that you made a faux sandbed out of sand and polyester resin. Can you talk about this a little more? I like the look of a sandbed without all of the crashes from phosphate. I'd like to do something like you did, but don't understand fully. Also, does the sand in the resin also become a phosphate issue after some time?

Best,

Kev

[Gary Majchrzak]

I have known of you for a long time. This aquarium is fantastic!
It is like looking at some beautiful pristine reef through a diving mask.

I have a kind of simplistic question for you: could you please list the order of aggession of your Acanthuriids?

Is leucosternon or lineatus most aggressive.. or perhaps another?

graci and CONGRATULATIONS!

[Neoz]

Awesome looking reef Carlos,

Do you have a build thread with pictures on this tank?

Again, stunning tank.

[wbuzatto]

Originally Posted by Neoz

Awesome looking reef Carlos,

Do you have a build thread with pictures on this tank?

Again, stunning tank.

This is his tank's thread in Reef Central:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1744289


.. and this is his original thread in our Brazilian forum, IPAq: http://www.ipaq.org.br/vb/showthread...1rio-Carlinhos (in case you can read Portuguese; there are lots of pictures, anyway, but Carlinhos usually posts the same pictures here and there).

[dotcommer]

.. and this is his original thread in our Brazilian forum, IPAq: http://www.ipaq.org.br/vb/showthread...1rio-Carlinhos (in case you can read Portuguese; there are lots of pictures, anyway, but Carlinhos usually posts the same pictures here and there).[/QUOTE]

Thanks for posting the link, Lots of great pics there. When you click the link you should get prompted to have Google translate it to English. Works great and you can see it in English.


Carlos,

I still would love to know what causes the sand bed to crash after a few years and did you loose all your corals, fish etc... Please explain.

[carlinhos moreno]

[reinaldo licciardi]

Parabens, Carlinhos, voce esta honrando o aquarismo brasileiro, fiquei muito feliz em ver seu aquario como o aquario do mes. parabens

[ryan1985]

amazing tank. you clearly know what you're doing, but curious how you can build something so time-consuming (with a lot of $ invested i assume) without the peace of mind of a chiller? i know you said climate doesn't really play a role, but what if a heat wave hits sao paulo? or a heater sticks on? i assume they're on a controller that's set to turn off the outlet if the temp reaches a certain level? maybe i'm just over-thinking it, but when i see a reef of this caliber i would probably not even be able to enjoy it because i would be kept up at night scared something bad would happen to it haha

[carlinhos moreno]

Originally Posted by dotcommer

Carlos,

Amazing tank.

Per your article, every 3 years you had a sand bed crash. What were the tank symptoms prior to the crash? Did you loose all your corals and fish or were you able to place them in another tank etc...?

What causes a sand bed to crash? Is this something that happens a lot. Only being in this for under a year, I am curious to know if this happens to most tanks after a few years.

Dotcommer.

When using sand in the tank for biology filtration, after some time due to settling of the debris, a lot of organic matter will accumulate affecting the aquarium, the time for this to happen varies with the amount of fish, being between 2 and 4.
The first signs are the appearance of cyanobacteria, elevated phosphate, SPS corals become brown and stop growing.
I didn't lose anything, I moved to another aquarium before it happens.
This happens with most aquariums, I solved this problem by not having sand anymore to make biology filtration.
I mean for aquariums with LPSs and soft corals, corals are not affected because they will need a water a little dirty.

[carlinhos moreno]

[carlinhos moreno]

Originally Posted by acurro

I am interested as well in how the rockwork was done. Was it some type of concrete? (In Italian, because I don't speak Portuguese) Sono interesso in come il pietro era fatto. E' un tipo di concreto? Quale tipo

The rocks were shaped and fitted, I used a tool to cut the rocks with a diamond saw, then I put all together with white cement based tile adhesive (in portuguese: argamassa).

[carlinhos moreno]

[carlinhos moreno]

Originally Posted by Announce

Awesome tank! I'm fascinated by your aquascape, what did you sculpt it out of?

Made with natural stone, white cement based tile adhesive.

[carlinhos moreno]

[carlinhos moreno]

Originally Posted by offshored

Carlos - How have the Yellow and Purple tangs got along long term? Also how have the Powder Brown and Blue got along long term?

I'm adding a Yellow and Purple into a 240g at the same time, and would like to add an Achilles and Powder Blue at the same time down the line.

Heard that the Purples/Yellows need to go in the tank in 3's, and the Achilles/Powders should never be kept together.

Just curious, thanks!

I had no problems putting the yellow and purple tang. Firstly I put the yellow tang. Then the purple tang which is more aggressive. I put several fish of this family, there is always a few squabbles, but nothing too serious, the ideal is place all at once.

[carlinhos moreno]

[bonzanin]

carlinhos,
What is this last coral? - qual é esse último coral?

[carlinhos moreno]

Originally Posted by bonzanin

carlinhos,
What is this last coral? - qual é esse último coral?

Bonzanin,

Acropora loripes.

Regards.