Four years ago, a Portugal-based extreme aquarium hobbyist named Machado de Sousa showed off his stunning and intricate coral farm and frag nursery for the first time on Reef Central. At the time of the first online unveiling, the 5000L system held around 1600 parent corals and frags, and was illuminated almost exclusively by T5HO lighting. Fast forward a few years and the system has grown to a total volume of 8000L and now houses over 6000 SPS corals. The filtration on this beast of a setup remains relatively unchanged. All of the tanks feed into a centralized sump that houses two Deltec AP903 skimmers, two H&S 400 protein skimmers, one 1000ml biopellet reactor, two 5L zeolite reactors, and a group of 18 year old mangroves. Providing coral building calcium is a Deltec PF1370 reactor, with an additional PF1001 reactor being used to soak up any excess CO2. No wonder the tanks looks spotless and the corals are growing like weeds, Machado has a full blown arsenal of high end equipment and amazing husbandry techniques keeping the coral prop system running.
We could go on for days talking about the equipment and livestock list, but we suggest that you go read the extremely detailed interview Machado did for H2O Plus Something back in April of this year. It is incredible to say the least and will keep your eyes busy for a few hours, no doubt.
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