Coral Maternity in Portugal

[frankandmaura]

Hi Machado,
I have a similar problem to what you had with your newest prop tank. I had just noticed there is a chip in the rear corner of my 125 gal in about the same place as yours was. I was wondering exactly how they went about repairing your tank. Did they glue a piece of glass to the inside and outside where the chip had occured?

Here is a pic of what mine looks like.

[teen]

Machado,

im curious. did you study coral propagation at a university of some type? do you have a degree in propgation or something similar? you seem very knowledgeable on the matter of coral propogation.

[skeeter-doc]

generally all prop knowledge comes from reading and doing things yourself and trying out new manners with which to propagate! I think if you have done it long enough, you do tend to seem like a professional coral propagator. I am not taking anything away from you machado, just my experiences with it, ...

[teen]

i understand that. ive fragged plenty of corals just from reading/ experimenting. im just curious if he studied it at a university or something.

[Machado deSousa]

Frank,
I reinforced the corner outside the tank because i had no access to the rear and I had to glue three plates in the corner (one of them on the bottom pane). In your case, the chip you noticed is not exactly in the corner, so you have to glue only pieces on the vertical panes, with the same thickness of these panes. In terms of resistance it doesn’t matter if you strengthen inside or outside the tank. Good work.

Teen,
As I said before I’m degree in Civil Engineering and my studies helped me a little bit to understand some physical and chemical parameters associated to the reef keeping, nothing more. Diving helped me too. As Sheeter-doc said, experience, trying new manners, reading a lot allow us to do this and look like a professional propagator. Net give us a good help. In my opinion to have success propagating corals you need to maintain a reef aquarium successfully for long before.


Cheers,

[Machado deSousa]

I was playing with paint and camera to show you the prop air renovation system


Air circulation scheme



Ventilator encapsulated for noise reduction. Garage and WC had no air renovation at all before. As you can see in the previous scheme this device is localized in the WC to ventilate both prop and WC properly.

[Machado deSousa]

Views of the large air tube (1 feet diameter) to conduct vitiated air to the exterior

[Machado deSousa]

Fan on the ceiling to improve gas exchanges and to avoid air stratification in the room





Outside view of the exhaust tube in the window

[Machado deSousa]

Just got out…



And i’m going away… to have the pleasure to be back tomorrow! See you.


I’m wondering your comments.

[redox]

Wow Machado I would have never guessed the outside looked like that. That is a nice building. I see the marble door jambs and you are right by the fire main. Good water pressure That ventilator is what I need as well. Did you place an air filter at the air intake points ?Is that green door made of accordian shutter blades? I see the above windows all have roll shutters.

[Machado deSousa]

Redox, that´s true, I have no problems with water supplies for consumption and for fire combat because I have springs close the door… About doors, the bascule-door is rigid and made of steel and was projected for entrance and exit of cars. When it opens is kept right by the ceiling. The narrow service-door was mounted lately by me to facilitate entries and exits of persons. The air intake lines are all localized around both bascule-door and service-door such as trough some cracks you see underneath the doors. I don’t use air filters at the air intake points because there is no pollution in the area and the street has insignificant traffic of vehicles.

[redox]

Hello Machado the air filters I was refering to was the hvac home type.Mainly for dust not polution. It will help your ventilator stay clean as well as the air inside will stay dust free. A simple homemade box that a store bought filter can slide in and out of will help.

[Machado deSousa]

Hi redox, i understand what you are saying but unfortunately i have no a single air intake point to install an air filter to get a room dust free. The ventilator creates a depression in the WC and the quantity of the air that is exhausted to the exterior is the same that is forced to enter through lots of points such as cracks and openings all around the doors. I know that i gonna have to do some maintenance in the ventilator from times to times such as cleaning dusts.

[panic]

Amazingly simple and beautiful system! Thanks for sharing your journal with us. I apologize for redundancy, but for flow in each tank there is a wavebox and 2x 6100s on a controller? Thanks Machado

[xenon]

Excellent work Machado!!!!

You have inspired me to make changes to my new prop setup.

I have two 30g breeder tanks (36"x18"x12") that I am going to use for SPS propagation and I have been struggling on my lighting choices.

I would like to use T5 only but I dont know how many bulbs to use. I am limited to the 36" 39w bulbs. I was thinking about getting the ATI Powermodule 8x39w fixture for each tank or the Sunlight Supply Tek fixture since its 2X cheaper than the ATI.

I was also wondering if I need live rock at all. I am going to add a 60lb caribsea remote deep sand bed for filtration for each tank. Would that be enough for natural filtration?

Sorry for all the questions but you are the god of coral propagation in my opinion.

[xenon]

Also.

Have you tried the new ATI Pro Color T5 bulb yet?

http://www.atiaquaristik.com/index.php?id=146,0,0,1,0,0

Aqua-blue special and Blue plus


Aquablue Special, Blue plus and one Pro Color

[Machado deSousa]

Originally posted by panic
Amazingly simple and beautiful system! Thanks for sharing your journal with us. I apologize for redundancy, but for flow in each tank there is a wavebox and 2x 6100s on a controller? Thanks Machado

Panic, thanks for your words and participating in the thread.
One option is not good if its implementation is too much complicated. We must persecut simple solutions.
I mounted two skimmers, two calcium reactors, more than one filtering system, etc, but I’m failing in the most important aspect about redundancy: I only have one circulation pump associated to each tank and sometimes i spend some days without visiting the prop. If eventually one of the circulation pumps stopped (it never happened, thanks God!) I could have serious problems. Right now, for safety, i am installing one more pump distributing to all tanks.
I have a wavebox in each aquarium with a 6100 Tunze stream associated as slave.

Cheers,

[Machado deSousa]

Originally posted by xenon
Excellent work Machado!!!!

You have inspired me to make changes to my new prop setup.

I have two 30g breeder tanks (36"x18"x12") that I am going to use for SPS propagation and I have been struggling on my lighting choices.

I would like to use T5 only but I dont know how many bulbs to use. I am limited to the 36" 39w bulbs. I was thinking about getting the ATI Powermodule 8x39w fixture for each tank or the Sunlight Supply Tek fixture since its 2X cheaper than the ATI.

I was also wondering if I need live rock at all. I am going to add a 60lb caribsea remote deep sand bed for filtration for each tank. Would that be enough for natural filtration?

Sorry for all the questions but you are the god of coral propagation in my opinion.

Hi xenon, about how many bulbs to use I suggested you to begin with 3.8 watts per gallon. For your 30g breeder tanks it corresponds to three Blue Special tubes for each tank. After get familiar with effects on your tanks and corals and after attest that you not notice undesirable algae anywhere, you may gradually increase the number of tubes up to reach the light intensity you want. Take care with 8x39w fixtures you intent to buy because they emit too much light for your 30g shallow tanks.
Corals take time to adapt to t5 lighting and you should never underestimate T5 light intensity. Take care when you put any coral close T5 tubes, although under a single bulb.
About choice between ATI Powermodule and the Sunlight Supply Tek fixtures, each of them has their own advantages and disadvantages, as you know. Compare materials they are made of, quality and efficiency of reflectors, weight, tubes ventilation, aesthetic aspects, costs, etc. Decide observing the quality/price rate.
DSB and LR have similar utility in nitrification and denitrification process. The 60lb Caribsea remote DSB for each breed tank may be enough if your organic load is not too high and if you have a good skimmer. Don’t forget to remove phosphate also. Algae filter gives you a good help to remove phosphate and eventual remaining nitrates.
About god of coral propagation, I liked that!

Originally posted by xenon
Also.

Have you tried the new ATI Pro Color T5 bulb yet?

http://www.atiaquaristik.com/index.php?id=146,0,0,1,0,0

Aqua-blue special and Blue plus

About ATI T5 bulbs, when the goal is to grow corals and not gain colors, the best combination in my opinion is 60% Blue Special (10000ºK) as main lighting combined with 40% Blue Plus bulbs (20000ºk). Otherwise, using only 50% Blue Special tubes combined with Blue Plus or Pro Color you can emphasize colors with not so much coral growth.

Cheers,

[Ding2daDong]

Wow what an amazing setup! I have been lurking on this forum for some time and finally am posting with a few questions if thats okay.

1- Could you give a picture description of how you make your frag plugs? Or more detailed information on the process?

2- I really would like to see where and how you frag your corals? How big of a peice ( one polyp vs 5+ polyps), more from the top or side of acropora.

3- Also what you use to glue your corals down with? super glue gel or 2 part epoxy?

4- Are the t5 bulbs overdriven? or standard ballast?

5- What is your photo period like? How many hours do you run your lights on the coral tanks? Some actinic then daylight?

Thats all for now.

Thanks

-Matthew

[fatrip]

dont want to let this thread fall to low. any new updates machado???

[nancymccall]

Holly cow that is awsome, you have done a great job.

[Hingeback]

Hi Machado deSousa,
Have not been on here for a long time but what a welcome back. Your setup is absolutely stunning. I am in awe. As previous people have asked please could you post pictures of your actual propagation procedures.
What an absolutely outstanding thread. I have spent most of the evening with the wife lookin at this thread in pure amazemant and jealousy. I can only dream to have a fraction of the beautiful corals you have.

[blue sand]

Hi Machado
You have perform a nice Acro frag tank and also green peace mind.All the system look pro and very neat , sweet

Could you tell us , what brand of synthetic sea salt do you use and also the photosynthetic period of each tank. ( I mean how long you switch on the light maybe some guy has already asked )

Thank in advance

[katchupoy]

His Photo Period was....


"10% of the lighting is lit for 12 hours. Remaining lamps are lit for 8 hours. The cycle begins at 21h up to 9h of the day after. "

[Machado deSousa]

Hello friends,
I apologize for delay to respond to your kind comments and pertinent questions.
I've been installing pumps, making drainage, fixtures, frag plugs, and so on, to prepar the second day-care tank to run and only now I have some actualizations to the thread. Answering to one of the Ding2daDong questions, I leave you with a picture description of how i make Aragocret as well as my frag plugs.

In my existing Day-care tank I have reef plugs like this i made with Aragocret



This is the PVC mould i use to make them



Side view of the mould