First and foremost, Advanced Aquarist thanks Ricardo Pinto of www.h2oplusomething.com for sharing his blog with us.

Machado de Sousa’s system was started in 2007.   Here is a brief summary of his impressive coral farm:

• A 650L (~170g) Maternity Tank where the parent colonies are housed.
• A 450L (~120g) Nursery Tank where new polyps and tiny frags are kept until they are moved to …
• Daycare Tanks (what USA hobbyist would refer to as “grow-out” tanks).  Machado de Sousa uses a total of six 780L (~200g each) Daycare Tanks! (see photo to the right)
• A 100L (~25g) aquarium to temporarily house freshly glued frags
• A 200L (~50g) quarantine aquarium used for treatment and observation.
• A 2000L (~500g) sump system consisting of “live rock, DSB, mangrove, skimmers, calcium reactor, degassing calcium reactor, reactors for bio-pellets and zeolites, heaters, etc.”

I was surprised to find this coral farm is a non-commercial project.  Machado de Sousa is a civil engineer by day.  This is what you call passion and dedication!

Please head over to www.h2oplusomething.com’s outstanding blog post for a lot more information (including detailed equipment lists) and pictures on this amazing system.

As Richardo Pinto describes it to us: “This is a non-commercial project and it has inspired many reefers in Portugal and Spain.”  Correction, my friend: It has inspired many reefers around the world!

Photos of the Portugal Coral Farm

The Maternity Tank

The Sump System

Added:  Here is a video by Machado de Sousa (primarily of the Maternity Tank).