A reef on the 10th floor

andys

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

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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. :)
 

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Nice thread!
 

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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!
 

mmw64

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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.

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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.
 
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JMacedo

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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. :)
 

RUSKI

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

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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.
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DMan

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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
 
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JMacedo

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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!
 
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JMacedo

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Thank you very much! :)

Stunning Tank! Do your neighbors envy it?:D

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:
 

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