Deep and dark - Elos 120XL deepwater biotope

[mark54321]

Finally time has come that I can set up my Elos again. Last year and a half was an adventure for me, buying a house, moving and renovating. Having small kid also kept me super busy. Things are stabilizing and slowing down right now, so I can come back to my beloved hobby. Little history of my tanks, my first one was SPS dominated Oceanic Tech 120 gal., it was very successful with healthy SPS colonies and fish. It run for about two and a half years, it was taken down due to move. After that I bought my existing Elos and started again. First with SPS, but then I acquired beautiful colony of dendro and since this moment I was hooked. I got rid of my SPS and set up my tank with mostly sun corals and dendros, with some NPS corals. As far as fish deepwater anthias started to dominate. Here is a picture of that set up.

[/url]fts2 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

Two years later I moved again, now to my own house , I kept couple of colonies of my dendros, so I set up small 12 gal. tank to have something , before I could get my big tank again.

[/url]nano4 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

 

[Chrisrush]

Glad to see you back Mark. I always admired your NPS tank. Going for the same this time around?

 

[mark54321]

Build actually started late last year, but I was taking my time with it, so it went slow. Finally have it cycling.

This will be deepwater biotope with mostly NPS corals and deepwater fish. Water temp. is 68-70F, so the plan is to have pair of show fish, I am debating between Pair of Bandit angels or pair of Tinkeri butterflyfish, not sure which will be safer with my suns and dendros, and school of deepwater Anthias ( 7-9), Ventralis, Princess, Randalls and Central Pacific Anthias are my choice at this moment. I will choose one of those species.

Filtration will be accomplished with my ATI Powercone skimmer, biopellets, 10 liters of Siporax and GFO and carbon. Plan to change 20 gal. of water weekly or possibly set up continuous WC of 3 gal. daily.

Finally some pictures:

My basement "man cave" stand frame is in.

[/url]IMG_3890 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_3981 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_3996 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]FTS2 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

Working on my filtration closet

[/url]IMG_4208 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_4210 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_4271 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_4300 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_4303 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

 

[mark54321]

more...

[/url]IMG_4305 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_4322 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_4334 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_4335 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_4337 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_4338 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_4341 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_4344 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_4348 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_4350 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

 

[mark54321]

Glad to see you back Mark. I always admired your NPS tank. Going for the same this time around?

Thank you, glad to be back , yes only NPS and deepwater fish.

 

[choss]

Build actually started late last year, but I was taking my time with it, so it went slow. Finally have it cycling.

This will be deepwater biotope with mostly NPS corals and deepwater fish. Water temp. is 68-70F, so the plan is to have pair of show fish, I am debating between Pair of Bandit angels or pair of Tinkeri butterflyfish, not sure which will be safer with my suns and dendros, and school of deepwater Anthias ( 7-9), Ventralis, Princess, Randalls and Central Pacific Anthias are my choice at this moment. I will choose one of those species.

Filtration will be accomplished with my ATI Powercone skimmer, biopellets, 10 liters of Siporax and GFO and carbon. Plan to change 20 gal. of water weekly or possibly set up continuous WC of 3 gal. daily.

Finally some pictures:

My basement "man cave" stand frame is in.

[/url]IMG_3890 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_3981 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_3996 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]FTS2 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

Working on my filtration closet

[/url]IMG_4208 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_4210 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_4271 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_4300 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_4303 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

Wow - I'm in. Subscribed. I'm really looking forward to this build. I love the stand and the closet. I'd love to get some details on how you hooked up the plumbing. Can't wait to see the tank stocked.

 

[d2mini]

Dude... You just took the sleekest tank u can possibly get and then paired it with a more rustic type of stand... And created awesomeness. Well played sir... Well played.

 

[mark54321]

Wow - I'm in. Subscribed. I'm really looking forward to this build. I love the stand and the closet. I'd love to get some details on how you hooked up the plumbing. Can't wait to see the tank stocked.

Plumbing is done through the wall, going into the closet.

Behind the tank with panel off

[/url]IMG_4353 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

other side of wall, basement hallway , ATO container hidden there as well

[/url]IMG_4356 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_4357 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_4355 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

 

[mark54321]

Dude... You just took the sleekest tank u can possibly get and then paired it with a more rustic type of stand... And created awesomeness. Well played sir... Well played.

Thank you Dennis, it means a lot coming from you. I followed every build of yours

 

[mark54321]

Front panel of stand is removable, it is held by magnets. I will organize inside to hold my test kits, food and other small stuff.

[/url]IMG_4359 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_4360 by Mark Mikina, on Flickr[/IMG]

 

[choss]

That is one sweet scape!

 

[Big E]

Nice start.......that Elos tank is one of my favorites. My friend has that same tank.....looks like you sealed up the original overflow and made your own?

 

[kalosbios]

nice design

nice design

Wow...I agree with Dennis here. Really cool design that brings two very different elements together beautifully!

In the initial pictures (and on your older setup), is that a top trim (border) added that hides the waterline on the tank? I find that very interesting.

I have to admit that I don't really enjoy rimless tanks because of the waterline--while it's very attractive, esthetically, for the structural lines of the aquarium, it takes away (for me, anyway...) a certain sense of depth for the contents. Hard to explain. Comes from snorkeling experience, I guess--it's kind of like having your mask half in, half out of the water). It's OK...I know I'm probably in the minority here ;-)

Awesome build--I'll be following along for sure!

Gordon

 

[choss]

Mark,

Can you talk a bit about everything you have going on in that closet of yours? Plumbing looks interesting. Are the tanks in the shelf above for adding salt water and dosing or what is the plan. I love your choice of tanks by the way. The dimensions are fantastic. I will be adding a bigger than next to my Fusion 40 this fall and I don't quite have the width to go 30". Wish I did.

 

[ksigaekdb]

I love the unfinished wood look, makes for a very nice contrast to that Elos tank. I can't wait to see this thing stocked, especially given how incredible your initial setup was.

 

[blrrobinson21]

This is cool!

 

[d-man]

Really nice. I plan on doing a rustic stand when I get home from china

 

[mark54321]

That is one sweet scape!

Thank you, I want some vertical space for NPS corals, also being vertical and in the middle, I could create nice gyre flow around rocks,that NPS corals prefer.

 

[mark54321]

Nice start.......that Elos tank is one of my favorites. My friend has that same tank.....looks like you sealed up the original overflow and made your own?

Thanks, good to see you here, even I did not post much lately, I still follow your SPS thread, you achieved fantastic colors on your corals. You're right, actually this tank was delivered with cracked back panel to my friend. Elos was supposed to take this one back, when he got replacement, but they never did, so I got it from him and decided to fix it, and make it a little different. I just love to take on challenges,especially when people say that it is not worth or impossible to do it. Ordered new panel from local glass shop, drilled for my InOut Xaqua overflows from Italy. Worst part was to clean all old silicone, but at the end it came out nice. Still holding strong coming on 4 years. Best part it cost me under $500 for everything.
Few pictures documenting the process:

broken back glass

panel removed and overflow removed

dry fitting new glass

new glass siliconed, new overflow installed

water test

 

[mark54321]

Wow...I agree with Dennis here. Really cool design that brings two very different elements together beautifully!

In the initial pictures (and on your older setup), is that a top trim (border) added that hides the waterline on the tank? I find that very interesting.

I have to admit that I don't really enjoy rimless tanks because of the waterline--while it's very attractive, esthetically, for the structural lines of the aquarium, it takes away (for me, anyway...) a certain sense of depth for the contents. Hard to explain. Comes from snorkeling experience, I guess--it's kind of like having your mask half in, half out of the water). It's OK...I know I'm probably in the minority here ;-)

Awesome build--I'll be following along for sure!

Gordon

Thank you, yes that top rim is actually white self adhesive vinyl, in that set up I wanted to hide the water line, but in this one I want to keep nice rimless, open look. One of the design is, my rock pillars are sticking out above water level, I don't want to cover this, also tank is very low to the ground ( stand only 24in. tall) for look down experience.

Mark,

Can you talk a bit about everything you have going on in that closet of yours? Plumbing looks interesting. Are the tanks in the shelf above for adding salt water and dosing or what is the plan. I love your choice of tanks by the way. The dimensions are fantastic. I will be adding a bigger than next to my Fusion 40 this fall and I don't quite have the width to go 30". Wish I did.

Hey, my manifold has 3 outlets as you can see, the one that go up will supply water to refugium on top shelf ( 40 breeder), other two will power up my reactors. Return pump is new Jebao DCT 1200 pump, more then strong enough for this. No dosing in plans for now, just regular WC to replenish microelements. NPS don't need so much calcium as fast growing SPS.

I love the unfinished wood look, makes for a very nice contrast to that Elos tank. I can't wait to see this thing stocked, especially given how incredible your initial setup was.

Thank you, I wanted to have something different that you see everywhere, from all the responses i get here I guess I succeeded

This is cool!

Thanks!

Really nice. I plan on doing a rustic stand when I get home from china

Wow, China, I would love to visit this country one day, thank you and share your thread when you're back!