The new Formosa Forest

[Leonardo_]

Hello everyone,

I've been absent for quite some years on the forums, mostly focussing on running the coral farm and post on the socials. Thinking back I always enjoyed boards like these for the quality input I get from other members and because it's possible to give back experience and knowledge to others, creating a community and share the passion for reefkeeping! We decided to setup a new display tank in the lab, to honour one of my first SPS projects many years ago, the Formosa Forest.

You may know me from several previous projects like the Formosa Forest and Apogon Reef, but its time for a new adventure now!

Apogon Reef

Formosa Forest

Pocillopora Garden

I don't want to go into detail about the farm too much, as this will be a non-commercial thread. Of course I will try to treat you with the occasional eye candy, and explain a bit more about our ways of Acropora husbandry. Let's focus on the display setup to start!

FORMOSA FOREST

Tank: Custom all glass peninsula 180G tank with coast -to-coast overflow 60" (150cm) x 40" (100cm) and 18" (45 cm) high.

Flow: 3 Jebao CP-150 cross flow pumps and two Jebao SOW-16M wave pumps. About 100x per hour turnover.

Light: ATI Hybrid 8x80 watt T5 and 4x75 watt LED (T5 all blue+, LED all channels 100%)

Rockwork: 100% 12 months dark-cured Indo liverock

Corals: The leading role in this tank will be Staghorn shaped ("A. formosa") corals. Branching Acropora. For some balance we will add a mix of high-end Acropora and some of the classics (my favorites).

Fish: Only small fish for balance and aesthetics, Chromis viridis and some other grazers probably.

Since the tank will be plugged into the farm system, it wont have a dedicated sump and will make use of the filtration and stability of the overall main 1000 gallon system.

We will select and add the colonies out of our farm systems next week, so stay tuned!

Its good to be back, let me know your thoughts, regards Leo

 

[IKD]

Following and welcome back!! Would love to see a separate thread on your farm sometime also.

 

[spsick]

But it’s so shallow! The stags will need weekly haircuts

 

[Leonardo_]

But it’s so shallow! The stags will need weekly haircuts

Haha ideally! That's why we kept the rockwork low, and they can grow all directions, not only vertically My old Formosa Forest was just a bit less shallow!

 

[Leonardo_]

Following and welcome back!! Would love to see a separate thread on your farm sometime also.

Thanks! Yeah, maybe at some point that's an idea. If you have questions just let me know, we will answer them here for now

 

[Moonfruit777]

Following along! Can't wait to see it come to live with corals <3

 

[Leonardo_]

Following along! Can't wait to see it come to live with corals <3

Thanks Felix!

 

[Matthijs]

Following this thread

Grtz,
Matthijs

 

[Perry]

Good to see a new build!
Following along

 

[kingsizereef]

following the thread Leo!

best regards,
Manuel

 

[Leonardo_]

Thank you all for the reactions!

Made some progress today. We added two Radion XR-15 Pro in the middle of the tank for some more light from the sides of the islands, making the Staghorns flare out a bit more instead of only growing straight up. We have to lower and angle them a bit more to optimize the coverage.

I also start selecting the colonies I want to add to the tank, Formosa style Acropora to start with and some nice tabling Acropora for contrast and additional colors. There is no better feeling then to shop around in your own farm and picking 3, 4, sometimes 5 year old colonies and add them to a blank canvas. It's a lot of fun!

When the aquascape is "finished" (is it ever?) I will shoot some photos with a decent DSLR instead of these cellphone photos.

~Leo

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Build is already looking great, can't wait to see where it goes from here!

 

[Tonycass12]

I've been following you on Instagram for a while now, im super excited to watch this tank grow. Its not gonna take long with those big chunks of coral going in!

 

[ScottB]

This build reminds me of somebody... a Brazilian guy that goes from zero to hero in a few months. Who am I talking about? Read my mind -- which is a pretty simple ask.

 

[ScottB]

This build reminds me of somebody... a Brazilian guy that goes from zero to hero in a few months. Who am I talking about? Read my mind -- which is a pretty simple ask.

Here I go replying to myself again.

This guy's build is much smaller, but stylistically has some strong similarities to your opening pictures IMO.

At least I finally remembered his name @Roberto Denadai

 

[ReeferHD]

following!

 

[Leonardo_]

Here I go replying to myself again.

This guy's build is much smaller, but stylistically has some strong similarities to your opening pictures IMO.

At least I finally remembered his name @Roberto Denadai

Ah yes, he has been around for a long time also. Remember him from his reefs in the 2005-2010 period, when I had the first Formosa Forest. Thanks!

~Leo

 

[rahger]

omg the formosa forest was the tank that got me into SPS. (I'm still trying to have remotely 1% of that tanks's success )
I'm so excited to see this.

 

[Leonardo_]

Hey all,

A small (promised) update on the new Formosa Forest. Last week we selected and placed some mother colonies from the farm. Mostly Staghorns of course!

Key for coral placement is that the whole coralscape looks natural, like it grew together this way. This can be quite challenging working with larger colonies; branches, tables etc. But overall I'm happy with the result.

We still have some algae growing on the bottom glass, but the tank and corals are doing really well in their new environment!

Some more close-ups next time! I will also make some photos of the lighting setup, and other equipment. Just ask

Thanks for reading and happy reefing!

~Leonardo

(stilll a crappy Iphone photo...)

 

[Genetics]

Hello everyone,

I've been absent for quite some years on the forums, mostly focussing on running the coral farm and post on the socials. Thinking back I always enjoyed boards like these for the quality input I get from other members and because it's possible to give back experience and knowledge to others, creating a community and share the passion for reefkeeping! We decided to setup a new display tank in the lab, to honour one of my first SPS projects many years ago, the Formosa Forest.

You may know me from several previous projects like the Formosa Forest and Apogon Reef, but its time for a new adventure now!

Apogon Reef

Formosa Forest

Pocillopora Garden

I don't want to go into detail about the farm too much, as this will be a non-commercial thread. Of course I will try to treat you with the occasional eye candy, and explain a bit more about our ways of Acropora husbandry. Let's focus on the display setup to start!

FORMOSA FOREST

Tank: Custom all glass peninsula 180G tank with coast -to-coast overflow 60" (150cm) x 40" (100cm) and 18" (45 cm) high.

Flow: 3 Jebao CP-150 cross flow pumps and two Jebao SOW-16M wave pumps. About 100x per hour turnover.

Light: ATI Hybrid 8x80 watt T5 and 4x75 watt LED (T5 all blue+, LED all channels 100%)

Rockwork: 100% 12 months dark-cured Indo liverock

Corals: The leading role in this tank will be Staghorn shaped ("A. formosa") corals. Branching Acropora. For some balance we will add a mix of high-end Acropora and some of the classics (my favorites).

Fish: Only small fish for balance and aesthetics, Chromis viridis and some other grazers probably.

Since the tank will be plugged into the farm system, it wont have a dedicated sump and will make use of the filtration and stability of the overall main 1000 gallon system.

We will select and add the colonies out of our farm systems next week, so stay tuned!

Its good to be back, let me know your thoughts, regards Leo

Formosa Forest was one of my all time favorites!