Coral Maternity in Portugal

[Machado deSousa]

Starcase construction

[Machado deSousa]

Raised stairs to allow eventual access to the tank bottom to catch fallen plugs



Steps articulations

[Machado deSousa]

Stairs already inside the day-care tank



Final general view



I hope you enjoy it.

[TCU Reefer]

Simply awesome.

Can't wait to see more pics.

Wish you were close so you could sell me frags.

[laomedon]

simply amazing, one could even wonder what will you do with your babies when they need grow up even from the day care ???

[stephencraig]

Awesome Machado!

Question: Do you make the side panels of the staircase from a single piece of eggcrate and just cut out the openings (i.e. you are not gluing pieces of eggcrate together to form the side panels)?

Stephen

[Machado deSousa]

TCU Reefer: You are close (some hours, by plain). Fly to Lisbon and I offer you some frags, i promise

laomedon: I’m not worried about that. I still have available space for more 6 day-care tanks! All I need is health and get money to do that.

Stephencraig: Yes, side panels are made from a single piece of egg crate. I don’t use glue at all. When I make stairs articulations, as you can see in the pic, all pieces of staircases are fixed together.

[redox]

Machado that is an awsome look at how you did your eegcrate. I hope you dont mind me copying your idea. Its like a grandstand of corals Do you have problems with it floating up when empty? I quess you must weight it down untill you place enough frags on it .

[NorthernCF]

Looks like a cheerleader convention

[Machado deSousa]

Hi Redox!
Thanks for your comments. If people copy any my idea is because it is useful and this make me feel happy for that. The egg crate doesn't float up because the material it is made of is heavier than salt water.

Cheers,

[H.a.Z]

Very nice again!

Seems my timing is no good

Here is a picture from something i made last week (somewhat inspired from you earlier pictures). After seeing your last pictures I think I should do some minor changes (water is in though), in particular the way you made it possible to lift the shelves.

This is my second tank, partly Clown hotel and frag tank.

Also, I was in Lisbon the very same weekend as you started this thread. So I perhaps missed an opportunity to see you tank

[fatrip]

great stuff machado, very informative on egg creat grand stand. i like how you can lift the shelves. i was wondering if any one know where online in the us preferable we can get "Ultra-Bio and Ultra-Bac (Fauna Marin products)" or something that is similer to these products. thanks

[Machado deSousa]

I made a movie of my prop system garage:

http://br.youtube.com/MachadodeSousa

I appreciate your comments,

[delphinus]

It looks even more fun than Lego!

[bobbet43]

SWEEET, now i need a new keyboard from all the drowling

[imyoraven]

unreal....I'm wiser for having read this thread.

[magnoliarichj]

zeo prodcuts are similar to faun products. zeo bac and zeo start.

[stephencraig]

Machado,
Can you show or explain how you mount the babies in the florist tubes? Do you slit the rubber top and stick the end in the sand in the tube, glue them into the top, or what?

Fatrip,
You can get Fauna Marin products online at Aquarium Obsessed. They are in Canada, but ship here and I think are the only distributors for North America. I tried them for two months and didn't get the results I was looking for (however, I was using all 4 components and trying to reduce Nitrates in one of my tnaks, not dosing it for the general health of the corals as Machado does). There are similar products out there as well that supposedly do the same thing: System Reef-resh (polyplabs.com) - that I am testing/using now, Zeovit, and Probidio.

Stephen

[Machado deSousa]

NorthernCF: nice observation

H.a.Z: Nice idea to make hotel and frag tank, two in one! How do you make water inlet and outlet? In the shot i have not perception. If you were two months ago in Lisbon we could talk and you might see my prop place.

Fatrip: As stephencraig suggests, you can find diverse similar products in your country. Take a look on online too. Biodigest and Bioptin (Prodibio products) make the same effect. I prefer these than Zeovit products because there is no way to know composition of last ones (Mysterious…may be dangerous!) is only my opinion...of corse.

Cheers,

[stephencraig]

Machado,
In case you didn't see it:

"Can you show or explain how you mount the babies in the florist tubes? Do you slit the rubber top and stick the end in the sand in the tube, glue them into the top, or what?"

Stephen

[stephencraig]

Reason I'm persistenting is that I have a lot of small frags I need to mount, and more to come, and I would like to try your system to do it.

Thanks again for all your help. This thread is an inspiration for me.

Stephen

[Machado deSousa]

Stephencraig: Take it easy, my friend! The rubber of the florist tubes has a hole in the center where the flowers are inserted. In this hole you have to introduce the frag so that it is fixed in a stable and permanent way and after put the rubber with the frag on the tube. Do not forget to fill the tube with aragonite and osmosis water to avoid air inside the tube otherwise it will fluctuate in the aquarium.

[zurk666]

Sousa's Axe ..... you already have the 4 aquarium almost ready. Hey Oh .... let's go ! Full power in the project. Maybe next time I won't miss the correct road, and make you a visit.

[stephencraig]

Thanks Machado! I was thinking that may be how you were doing it, but its good to hear you verify it.

Stephen

[jaws_too]

man that is one peice of artwork.

that video also man thanks that is on my favorites now.


jeff