Build Thread - Elos 160

[TYC]

Nice build!

 

[Zaffor]

Thanks!

 

[reeksreef]

Nice build. The baffle design for the QT, did you DIY that?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

 

[Zaffor]

Yes I did
I cut it out with cardboard and test fit. Once all good I had a local acrylic shop cut the pieces and I glued and siliconed in place.
Works great

 

[Zaffor]

I have been a bit hesitant to update because things have been looking a little down. Our daughter had a baby (a month early) and we had to fly out with short notice to go see her. I thought tank would be fine on cruise control with someone handling the feeding of the fish but after 8 days I returned to a tank looking sick and unhappy.

My large monti looked pale and had several spots where it looked like necrosis set in and smal brown algae spots had emerged. My colors were way off from the week prior. Several colonies had multiple dying tips. And my back glass showed excessive brown stringy algae growth ( i regularly clean my rear glass pane and it will normally have some film algae on it after a few weeks-this just looked a bit worse than I have seen it in the past). My Alk tested fine (around 8ish DKH where it was 8 when I left) the day I returned but climbed a little the days following likely from the stressed sps not consuming as much 2 part. It never exceeded 9 before I lowered the dose. The days following things deteriorated and I lost several smaller frags and a few colonies. I removed the large Monti because it was so pale and damaged I thought it would only get worse and cause more harm. My nitrates were a tad high at around 12 but nothing crazy. Phosphates tested at 0. I did a large water change, ran some poly filter and carbon, and sent a sample to Triton which came back not showing anything way out of the ordinary.

A few days before we left I gave my water tank a good cleaning but rinsed with RO water and then dried before filling and mixing new salt. I switched to FRITZ salt but the auto water change was only changing 1 gal per day. Too insignificant to blame on that. I installed new carbon blocks and flushed before making new water which tested at 0 tds. I had taken in a few colonies from a friend who had a tank crash while on vacation and having his skimmer fail but those pieces were already pale and stressed and looked about the same.

Only thing I can assume is that the tank was perhaps overfed even though the person watching it isnt prone to that. Maybe the live blackworms died and were still being fed to the tank. OR I was regularly dosing aminos, flatworm stop, coral vitalizer, and coral booster and that week the dosing was suspended. I really have no definitive answer. I guess this is the mystery of reefkeeping.

Anyways it has now been just over 2 months. My grandson is doing great but the tank is still just sub par. Some things are great and others are still recovering. I increased my daily water change amount a tad and have been running a little carbon every 3 weeks. I am hoping things will get back on track soon and be able to report some good tank news.

Thanks to all who follow along - i figure its not a bad idea to post the bad with the good as so many other tanks on here that I myself follow.

 

[Bandomo]

Update?

 

[Zaffor]

I have to update my thread it has been a while. Tank is doing well. I chickened out and ditched the Calcium Reactor. I just had so little room and things were soing fine with dosing that I just kept it as such.

I purchased a third DOS and have been trying out Triton's Core 7 (other methods). Needed doser #3-4 for Triton's 4 jugs. It seems to be working just as well as the BRS 2 part but I am almost out and BRS rarely has it in stock. I will try C-Balance by two little fishies for a few months and see how tank does. CBalance seems to include Mag and some trace elements so it should work as well as triton core 7.

I switched out my closet water container that I use to mix my saltwater from a 90gal to a 105gal. Since Instant Ocean comes in 50gal bags (LOVE THAT IT COMES PACKAGED LIKE THIS!!) I wanted to be able to mix 2 bags all at once while still leaving a small amount in the container. IO 50 gal bags really makes around 45gals so I wait until I am down to 15gals and then stop the auto water change, fill container from RO system and then slowly dump in 2 bags of IO salt. I switched circulation pump to a sicce 10HF which moves way more water compared to the mag drive i had in the old container. I installed 1.5" pvc for pump inlet and 1" out. Inside the water container I installed a pvc 90degree fitting with several feet of pvc directing the water flow back down towards the bottom to keep salt from settling when I mix water.

Its a bit late so I will drop another update soon.

 

[Zaffor]

As I previously mentioned I am back on Instant Ocean salt mix. Tank seems to respond positively to this, and as a bonus, the 200gal boxes come packaged in 4 50gal bags.

If i remove 58oz from one of the bags, it will make exactly 80 gals (which is what I try to make up every time with my 90gal container). Makes mixing salt a breeze!

I had previously purchased a Milwaukee digital refractometer to make my verification easier as well. Seems to mix at 1.026 on the first try for several mixes already.

 

[Zaffor]

Also recently purchased an ARID to grow algae in although I am still not sure on how I will run it. I picked up a Neptune ATK for topoff - and LDK for leak detection and possibly makeup water level sensor. I had purchased a PM1 to run Calcium Reactor which I sold off.

I found a nice spot to install the ATK and FMM under my stand and just need to clean up my wiring (and update photo without PM1)

I also installed a flow sensor on my return line only to find out how little flow actually made it through the sump from the display

Around 325gph is what its reading. I guess with the 2 MP40s creating circulation this is not critical. I re ran dosing lines to incorporate the new ATO line and sensors

 

[Zaffor]

I will finally get to posting some photos I had taken for my thread. Here is the extra DOS I installed for the Triton core7 2 part.
Triton is always out of stock so I switched to C-Balance.
I am currently using 2 little fishies C-Balance so the newer DOS now sits idle.

 

[Zaffor]

Here is the new large (105gal) saltwater storage bin. I upgraded my 90g because Instant Ocean ships in 50g bags and to use 2 bags I needed 90gals of RO water. I run daily auto water changes and wanted a reservoir that could hold the 90 gals ( to be able to mix 2 50g bags ) but not have to completely drain the container. Now i can stop the auto water change when I get down to 15gals. Fill with RO which takes less than a day with my RO filter and booster ( 90 gals ) Then just simply pour in two bags of IO salt (slowly). Easy and minimal hassle.

I always had a switch wired to my breakout box to manually run my mixing tank pump so I upgraded it to a double throw switch and added a light. Up runs pump and light down turns on only light.

Pump also auto runs twice a day for 10mins to keep things well mixed and aerated.

I installed a large bulkhead and a large pump (Sicce 10HF) to really mix the salt well. I used to use a medium sized mag drive but this is far more flow. I hope this will minimize the sediment layer I used to get after a while on the bottom. The pump outlet goes to top of container but then diverts back down towards the bottom of the tank.

 

[Zaffor]

I installed the ecotech diffusers to my G4 pros. The disco effect never bothered my but I read several favorable posts praising the even spread so I gave it a go.

 

[Zaffor]

The KLIR FILTER we preordered came in last weekend. I didnt see many youtube videos on it so I had my wife film a quick unboxing and I filmed one loading the fleece.


https://youtu.be/HpIRdQnIWSk

https://youtu.be/vVb5jTMK5s8

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vVb5jTMK5s8" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HpIRdQnIWSk" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Zaffor]

As I posted in a separate thread regarding the Klir
Just a note of caution
When I loaded the fleece I weakened the paper when I pulled the taped end away from the roll. The tension within the rollers was too great and it tore right at the weakened area. I cut it off and reloaded the fleece.

ALSO
make sure when you set it inside the sock hole that the folding mechanism of the KLIR does not pinch the fleece paper within its seam. I caught it as I was re-loading mine.

Last issue is with my neptune ATK
The optical water level sensors being a bit too close to each other combined with the small change in water level when the fleece advances (when the water before the Klir raises to the eye it slowly advances fleece until the level drops under the eye) this causes the return chamber to rise slightly activating the High level sensor and an alarm in apex. With a large enough return chamber this may not be an issue. I thought about making some thick covers for the un-used socks to help displace some of the water thus making the change that much smaller. This would be the easiest solution.

 

[Zaffor]

https://youtu.be/03h-4V-Owyo

 

[Zaffor]

Okay so after watching some other folks update their threads, I feel compelled to update mine as well.

The KLIR auto filter roll is working well, but I only get about 3 weeks out of one roll. I am eager to try a 75 or 100 micron fleece to see if I can get a whole month out of it which would be fine for me. I definitely do NOT miss cleaning socks.

To solve the problem with the water in my return chamber from fluctuating so much when the KLIR advanced new fleece, i swapped the flat covers for my 2nd and 3rd filter sock hole with marble squares that I cut to help displace some of the water that would otherwise cause the return chamber level to rise just enough to touch the high ATO sensor.

It works well now with no high water alarms whenever the fleece advances.
(KLIR works by advancing fleece after water level behind the filter rises as fleece gets dirty. The KLIR advances a small segment of fleece every time the water rises and reaches the optical sensor causing the backed up water to flow more easily thus rising the return chamber a tad)

...

 

[Zaffor]

Took some photos with the TruVu filter on my iphone. It definitely makes for some interesting photos.

WD Under all blue lights

and under AB+ schedule lights

 

[Zaffor]

FINALLY installed my ARID with some soft silicone tubing with quick disconnects that you can order as an upgrade to the ARID. Makes removal for maintenance very easy. I had to plumb it through the center wall in my sump but I already had some penetrations drilled from before.

and added some algae to get it started

Getting around 150gph through the ARID and the display stays around 300gph.

I am dosing the iron supplement at nights to help the algae grow.

 

[Zaffor]

I am condensing the last several weeks into these few posts so I apologize that they come one after the other.

Because of the KLIR filter installation, I had top remove one of the large reactors I had on the side of the sump. I usually only run a small amount of carbon (or carbon mixed with a small amount of GFO) so it was not being used much.

To simplify maintenance I decided to swap out the large reactor for the small ones. I had the space so I opted for a pair of small "mini reactors" from BRS.

I removed the inlet of one and the outlet of the other and joined them with a 1/2" NPT threaded nipple.

I had a piece of heavy aluminum angle and cut a segment to mount the 2 reactors to so I could mount them high up in the stand.

I then painted the bracket and mounted the reactors back where the old ones were.

this is the amount of carbon I use, so this makes it much easier to maintain. I dont have to deal with sponges or spacers. I just fill to cartridge to the top and install the lid.

EASY!

 

[Zaffor]

I started dosing Flatworm Stop by KZ also.

I used this in the past and it seemed to help growth and encrust speed. (who knows)

I added it to one of the empty DOS heads.

Here is a shot of how the sump space looks now.