Elos 160XL Build

glad to find another Elos owner thread! I just found yours and dg3147 while searching for some info on my own 160.
 
Hi Zaffor! Point me to your thread... would love to see yours too!

Yes, not too many 160 threads out there. Maybe we need to start a sub-forum? ;-)
 
We've done a bit of redecorating in the tank to accommodate six additional Acropora sp. Five of the six are moderate sized maricultured frags, and the sixth is a large wild colony (I think it is A. loripes... you can see it middle-left over the sand laying on a piece of clear plastic.) I'm excited about the wild colony, it started very pale, and is getting quite purple at the tips, hopefully it will keep color without browning out... Oh, and the "smudges" on the glass; those are clutches of Nassarius eggs. Our best grower in the tank continues to be our Seriatapora sp -- if you compare to the last FTS, you'll see it has grown markedly in the past month, with splits and growth on every branch. It has an insane growth pattern going.

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mackirdy/22837902494/in/dateposted-public/" title="Our ELOS 160XL, 28 November 2015"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5659/22837902494_f77017d983_c.jpg" width="800" height="352" alt="Our ELOS 160XL, 28 November 2015"></a>

Below are two pics of my favorite new pieces from Bali... yellow and purple examples of Cirrhapethes spiralis, a stunning (IMHO) maricultured species of Black Coral. They are reportedly photosynthetic, but they take brine shrimp and my zooplankton slurry without complaining. ;-)

I think these guys look like they are straight out of a Dr Seuss book, personally, and I can't get enough of them! Hoping to get some additional pieces in the next shipment our LFS gets in from Bali.

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mackirdy/23357728952/in/dateposted-public/" title="Purple Cirrhapethes spiralis in our Our ELOS 160XL, 28 November 2015"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/761/23357728952_545ff5cfc6_c.jpg" width="539" height="800" alt="Purple Cirrhapethes spiralis in our Our ELOS 160XL, 28 November 2015"></a>

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mackirdy/23357709732/in/dateposted-public/" title="Yellow Cirrhapethes spiralis in our Our ELOS 160XL, 28 November 2015"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/721/23357709732_3b1d94cd3d_c.jpg" width="800" height="500" alt="Yellow Cirrhapethes spiralis in our Our ELOS 160XL, 28 November 2015"></a>
 
Looking good! I Dig the spiralis as well!

I see you have some Caulerpa macro algae growing in the tank. If it is problematic, I got rid of it once when it took over an old tank of mine by adding two decorator crabs.
 
Tank looks great!

Why did you move back to Russia? One of these days I need to visit. I was born in Minsk, Belarus and moved away when I was 5. Sadly, I haven't been back since.
 
Great process, i see You found some nice inhabitants in Russia.
I"m at The Moment salt free(( may i statt a nano next year)
 
@Gveng -- I'm not originally from Russia, I have been moved here for work. It is a long-term assignment, so we decided to get back into keeping a reef tank while we are here.

@Martin -- THANK YOU for the tips on where to shop. We have found that Морской Аквариум on Chisty Prudy has fantastic live stock, good equipment, reasonable prices, and excellent service. For odds and ends I occasionally shop with АкваЛого, but we have found their livestock tanks are usually really poorly kept. I have also found Russia distributors for Neptune Systems controllers and EcoTech parts, both of them are in St Petersburg, but delivery is 300-500 rubles!
 
@DG ... I will definitely think about the crabs if the macro becomes a problem... thanks for the tip! . . . That said, I have not had any issues with the Caulerpa yet, and I honestly like how it looks in the tank the way our aqua-scaping is set up currently.

What was previously an issue for me was red turf algae (which love ULNS and high-flow), but I've gotten that completely under control with two tuxedo urchins and a Sail Fin Tang. The urchins love the stuff, and the tang eats any veggies it can!
 

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