A reef on the 10th floor

[andys]

What is that green coral with the multi colored feather dusters. I like that

 

[JMacedo]

Looks great. Man I hate when the scape crumbles!

Very nice!

Beautiful

Many, many thanks.

 

[JMacedo]

What is that green coral with the multi colored feather dusters. I like that

Hi,

It is a Montipora Spongodes. I bought two Porites heads with Christmas tree worms at the same time. The Porites on one of the heads/rocks died and I glued a 2" Montipora Spongodes on top of the dead Porites and it is growing well and the Christmas tree worms seem to like it.

 

[reefwiser]

Montipora Spongodes A very good coral can put up with a lot. And very colorful too.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Nice thread!

 

[Neptune1707]

Jim Dandy Roof Candy!!!!

 

[Bronc]

Hi,

It is a Montipora Spongodes. I bought two Porites heads with Christmas tree worms at the same time. The Porites on one of the heads/rocks died and I glued a 2" Montipora Spongodes on top of the dead Porites and it is growing well and the Christmas tree worms seem to like it.

I was wondering the same thing. Those are awesome. You have a fantastic tank!

 

[mwilk19]

Beautiful tank. I feel better now about my 120 gallon in a second floor apartment.

 

[mmw64]

Hi all,

This is my 60"x24"x24" or 150x60x60cm tank (about 142USgal, 119UKgal or 540litres).

The tank was rebuilt five months ago after the chiller had let me down while I was on a holiday. When I arrived home the water temp was at 95ºF (35ºc) and I had no choice but to frag most of my colonies. The chiller has been replaced with an AC compressor with a drop-in coil since.

During the process of fragging and removal of the dead corals using a flat screwdriver and a hammer, the rockscape collapsed and I almost threw the towel and called it quits!... but, as all you know this is no simple hobby... this is an addiction!... an addiction I have since the first time a friend of mine invited me to see his saltwater tank and I was green with envy and then started my first saltwater tank 200USgal circa 1990.

This tank is smaller... because I now live on a 10th floor and the lifts are small!

Removed everything from the tank, gave it a good cleaning, placed new rocks, new sand, new everything, my frags, a few surviving colonies and the fish.

Cycling has been a nightmare (water is done but rocks take usually no less than a year). Nonetheless here is my humble reef as it looks today.

The sump is a custom made simple tank with no baffles (30"x 18" x 15")
Return pump: Eheim Compact+ Marine
Skimmer: Tunze 9430
Calcium Reactor: Bubble Magus
UV: Eheim Reeflex 800
Lighting: 6x AI Hydra52 modules.
Flow: 2x Maxspect Gyre 150
Power Backup: APC Pro 1500 with Battery Pack
ATO: Small tank with DIY system
Cooling: 9000BTU AC compressor with drop-in coil (I am going to install a second one as backup)

Old salt: (more than one year in use until end of February this year: RedSea (blue bucket - the Pro version is too rich and far from NSW parameters, I tried the pro but the non-Pro gives me better results and less algae)

Carbon source: RedSea NoPox

Feeding corals and fish: Fish poo and home made recipe (nori sheets, clams, salmon, shrimp, squid eggs, brine shrimp)

Water changes 10% weekly

This month I am in the process of changing things using some Fauna Marin products:

Fauna Marin Professional Salt
Reef Vitality
Coral Balance
Color Elements

Water parameters:

Calcium: must be alright.
Magnesium: Just fine, the corals tell me.
Alk: 7.5 - 8.0 dKh (tested every other day)
Phosphate: must be close to undetectable.
Nitrates: Very close to 0 (tested every 4 days)
PH: Not tested.
SG 1.025
Temp 77ºF (25ºC)

I will be updating.

If this is humble I hate to think what my tank is.

 

[JMacedo]

Montipora Spongodes A very good coral can put up with a lot. And very colorful too.

Nice thread!

Jim Dandy Roof Candy!!!!

I was wondering the same thing. Those are awesome. You have a fantastic tank!

Beautiful tank. I feel better now about my 120 gallon in a second floor apartment.

ah ah ah Have you seen this one? https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/juans-300-gallon-apartment-tank.241860/

If this is humble I hate to think what my tank is.

Thank you all so very much for your very kind comments and for the time. Really appreciated.

 

[mwilk19]

ah ah ah Have you seen this one? https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/juans-300-gallon-apartment-tank.241860/

Wow, what a project that 300 gallon tank is.

 

[RUSKI]

Have you got any more details you can share about how you made your drop in chiller using an A/C compressor ?

 

[JMacedo]

Have you got any more details you can share about how you made your drop in chiller using an A/C compressor ?

I bought the coil and the temp controller from a LFS. The same LFS gave me the contact of an A/C technician that sells the AC compressors and installs everything, basically as you can see from the pics. The A/C compressor is the smaller unit (9000BTU) in the pics.

The coil is mostly made of Titanium (I was told) and rated for 1HP. These pics were taken when I was testing the thing.

Main advantages: Cheaper electric bill if compared to my old 1HP chiller, no noise and no heat inside the room. I am very happy with it.

 

[JMacedo]

Most of my fish- The two Picasso clownfish and the long nose hawkfish refused to pose for pics!

 

[DMan]

Great story. Not that your tank went down, but that you had enough fire left to start over again. I know the feeling a.d as funny as it sounds I actually enjoy starting over. And I've done it enough times now lol.
Beautiful corals and aquascaping. But what I wanted to ask you, since you brought it up, was about living on the 10th floor. Did you have to jump through any hoops to get the landlords to agree. I rent an apartment myself but since I started this hobby I've always lived on the ground floor. Lol. I have always been paranoid about having someone living beneath me and having the ability to wipe everything out with a large tank leak/failure. One nice thing about high rise apartments the floors are usually concrete so nice strong base.
How do you deal with it? The paranoia I mean. Lol

 

[JMacedo]

Great story. Not that your tank went down, but that you had enough fire left to start over again. I know the feeling a.d as funny as it sounds I actually enjoy starting over. And I've done it enough times now lol.
Beautiful corals and aquascaping. But what I wanted to ask you, since you brought it up, was about living on the 10th floor. Did you have to jump through any hoops to get the landlords to agree. I rent an apartment myself but since I started this hobby I've always lived on the ground floor. Lol. I have always been paranoid about having someone living beneath me and having the ability to wipe everything out with a large tank leak/failure. One nice thing about high rise apartments the floors are usually concrete so nice strong base.
How do you deal with it? The paranoia I mean. Lol

Now that you mentioned it, I think my "paranoia" is peeking out again! lol The tank is close to the balcony glass doors, I just need to drill a hole and make sure the water goes there as there is already a water drain there.

Ok, I own the apartment or to be honest I own 49% of it and my wife owns the other 51% , by Thai law a foreigner can only own 49% of things and if my wife gets fed up with the tank and asks for a divorce I´d become an homeless reefer! lol (knocking on wood here)

I didn´t make any insurance but the Administration knows and have seen the tank and they didn´t object. Now the tank has been here for the past 3 years and my main concern is the building construction standards, how strong and solid is the floor as I can feel the vibrations when my kids are jumping while playing Xbox!

At least I didn´t have to deal with landlords. Previously, I was living on a rented 29th floor with a wooden floor and I didn´t dare to keep a reef tank there as I was very afraid of something going wrong, dealing with landlords, condo administration, and so.

When I had my first 200gal tank I was living on a rented apartment on a ground floor and the landlord knew and I never had a problem during the 10years I lived in there.

Anyway, to make us (apartment reefers) feel better I recommend reading this thread about a 300+ gallon tank on a 15th apartment floor! https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/juans-300-gallon-apartment-tank.241860/

Happy reefing!

 

[JMacedo]

No time lapse.

 

[dragonfish]

big like

 

[TheWhiteFord]

Stunning Tank! Do your neighbors envy it?

 

[JMacedo]

big like

Thank you very much!

Stunning Tank! Do your neighbors envy it?

Thank you so much! Some may envy it... others may be afraid of some saltwater one day enter their apartments... and others may look at the fish and think: Yummy! lol My neighbours and I are all of different nationalities... even once my wife ordered a batfish (a Platax Teira) with noodles at a restaurant and I couldn´t avoid felling sad as I used to have a Platax teira that outgrew my tank but was with me for many years

Some old footage where my batfish shows up: