A reef on the 10th floor

JMacedo · Nov 17, 2016

cutty_chris said:
Sorry if I missed it, what what type of camera are you using?

Hi there. I am using an old Foscam FI9821P and the Foscam App for Android.

Paulooliveira · Nov 17, 2016

Amazing Reef My friend ...

Abraço De portugal ...

Ljaus · Nov 17, 2016

Absolutely beautiful, everything looks so happy colourful and healthy. Love that they are all grown under hydra's

renato120 · Nov 18, 2016

Gorgeous reef you have it!

JMacedo · Nov 18, 2016

Paulooliveira said:
Amazing Reef My friend ...

Abraço De portugal ...

Thank you so much, Paulo. / Abraço desde este outro lado do mundo.

Ljaus said:
Absolutely beautiful, everything looks so happy colourful and healthy. Love that they are all grown under hydra's

Thank you very much! Hydras are great for sps. I am having a hard time after changing to balling but hope colouration and growth will improve shortly.

renato120 said:
Gorgeous reef you have it!

Thank you very much, Renato!

MmmmBalf · Nov 20, 2016

Had so much fun reading through this thread and watching your videos. Spectacular tank!

JMacedo · Nov 21, 2016

MmmmBalf said:
Had so much fun reading through this thread and watching your videos. Spectacular tank!

Thank you.

JMacedo · Nov 29, 2016

My latest fish... a Banded Snake Eel. This is no easy eel to feed. Clams, shrimp, Silverside, my blend... no success. I might have to release her (named "Sally" by my kids) back to a nearby reef.

lifesbetterunderwater · Dec 6, 2016

Hi Macedo,

I came across your thread and from the video I see you are using the new gyre controller. Can you share with me what setup you are running for the 2 gyre at the moment?

For the balling,

Do you mix your own ca,mg,kh(from powder with rodi) and supplement trace with fm? Or all three are ready mixed fm solutions?

Thanks!

Riz.

JMacedo · Dec 7, 2016

lifesbetterunderwater said:
Hi Macedo,

I came across your thread and from the video I see you are using the new gyre controller. Can you share with me what setup you are running for the 2 gyre at the moment?

For the balling,

Do you mix your own ca,mg,kh(from powder with rodi) and supplement trace with fm? Or all three are ready mixed fm solutions?

Thanks!

Riz.

Hi Riz,

Sorry for the late reply. I think I am now settled on using the random flow mode. as always my sps seem to prefer random flow. Here is a short clip of the settings:

Yes, I have to mix Mg, Ca, and Kh with RO/DI water and add the trace elements to the mix, they are not ready mixed.

Hope this helps.

Be102 · Dec 8, 2016

Amazing tank! Could you possibly explain the sump a little more? I was looking to purchase one however I am under the impression yours is built custom? I don't have as large as a tank as yours unfortunately however still have a decent amount of room in my tank. Is there a reason why you chose to not add in a refugium?

revhtree · Dec 8, 2016

JMacedo said:
My latest fish... a Banded Snake Eel. This is no easy eel to feed. Clams, shrimp, Silverside, my blend... no success. I might have to release her (named "Sally" by my kids) back to a nearby reef.

I seriously love this eel and your tank!

Chuckie · Dec 8, 2016

Hope this doesn't happen!!!! LOL

Wonf · Dec 9, 2016

Wow... I'm just a newbie to this hobby, but your tank is.... wow... You just gave me a goal to work towards... May not ever get there, but a man can always dream...
I've always wanted an eel, but someone said its not possible with most smaller fish. Are you worried he'll eat any of your fish???

lifesbetterunderwater · Dec 9, 2016

JMacedo said:
Hi Riz,

Sorry for the late reply. I think I am now settled on using the random flow mode. as always my sps seem to prefer random flow. Here is a short clip of the settings:

Yes, I have to mix Mg, Ca, and Kh with RO/DI water and add the trace elements to the mix, they are not ready mixed.

Hope this helps.

Thank you! Definitely helpful and you went out of the way to record a video that is very kind of you.

Do you know what are the name for the 3 main powders? Are they from a specific brand?

For Nopox how much and how often do you use them?

Do you go for wet skim and how much is collected from the wet skim? ie. 1 litre per week?

Many Thanks again.

Regards
Riz.

JMacedo · Dec 9, 2016

Be102 said:
Amazing tank! Could you possibly explain the sump a little more? I was looking to purchase one however I am under the impression yours is built custom? I don't have as large as a tank as yours unfortunately however still have a decent amount of room in my tank. Is there a reason why you chose to not add in a refugium?

Thank you. Yes, it is custom made but very simple, there are no baffles, so it is really easy to clean! After a couple of years treating water for a living, I am done with calibrating probes, complicated automation, no more dosings of 100kgs of limewater (kalkwasser) per day, no more testing 2 times a day! An SPS tank is much nicer and easier to deal with! lol

Basically the the water from the display tank enters the sump through the blue pipe straight into the nylon filter sock. The drop-in coil is connected to an A/C compressor outside my balcony and it cools the water, then there is the Tunze 9430 skimmer and a small eheim pump (left hand side of the pic) pumping water through 2 UV units and back into the filter sock. The UV keeps the parasites under control, gives me the needed water clarity for certain sps and kills the bacteria in the water column aiding the export of PO4 and NO3 via the skimmer.

The sump is drilled and I use an Eheim pump externally to the sump as can be seen in the below pic to return the water back into the display tank. I know... I need to connect another return pump in case this one fails.

Then there is only the dosing and the diy ATO.

Simple!

JMacedo · Dec 9, 2016

Wonf said:
Wow... I'm just a newbie to this hobby, but your tank is.... wow... You just gave me a goal to work towards... May not ever get there, but a man can always dream...
I've always wanted an eel, but someone said its not possible with most smaller fish. Are you worried he'll eat any of your fish???

Thank you very much for the very kind comments.

The Banded Snake Eel is harmless towards any fish unless fish are tiny and already dead. It is very shy and also very hard to feed. I still don't know if I am able to keep it or if I will release it back to a reef at the end of the month... I haven't seen the eel in days, I know this is normal as this is my second and also I am leaving some shrimp in the sand during the night until my red coris wrasse wakes up, smells it and helps himself! Have to wait and see.

JMacedo · Dec 9, 2016

lifesbetterunderwater said:
Thank you! Definitely helpful and you went out of the way to record a video that is very kind of you.

Do you know what are the name for the 3 main powders? Are they from a specific brand?

For Nopox how much and how often do you use them?

Do you go for wet skim and how much is collected from the wet skim? ie. 1 litre per week?

Many Thanks again.

Regards
Riz.

Hi Riz,

I am using the Fauna Marin Balling Lite Method and the 3 main powders are from the same brand and you also have to add their trace elements to the mix, please use Google to search for "Fauna Marin Balling Method manual" and you will see all you need for this Balling method.

14ml/daily of NOPOX via dosing pump. The amount is dependent on each one's system.

The skimmer produces over 1 litre PER DAY! It is a two fold thing... quickly removes what is left dissolved from my feedings, and the ro/di water needed to replace the skimmate compensates for the increasing salinity from the balling salts added.

Here is a pic of some 18h of skimming: