Elos Classic System 100 build

[Steve Ruddy]

following. Also, you can look at my mods on my Elos for ideas....

Regarding the overflow; is the nose from the drain hitting the sump or the overflow itself?

The sump drain can be made almost 100% silent using a reverse durso.
The overflow drain can only really be silenced by dialing the return way back. Let me know if you have any other solutions that you find.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=23482778#post23482778

Without any mods my measly 430 gph flow made a lot of noise from both places. I'm not sure if I ever knew about a reverse derso. I found images on the web though as I couldn't find one in your thread. Anyway I shoved a few small hoses into my drain hose and that took care of all the noise coming from below. For above I didn't like how low the water line was so I inserted a modified schedule 80 45% fitting,. This gave me a higher water level and almost eliminated any trickle noise. The only way to hear it is to turn everything else off and listen hard. Another thing I had issues with was surface skimming. I kept accumulating dust. Altering the surface water flow direction only fixed it until hair and very small particles accumulated on the very thin slots in the overflow cover. It only took a few hours before they would need cleaning again so I opened them up a bit and now there is no problem. FWIW the fitting I used was not responsible as it did the same with it removed. Photos coming in a few. I'm going to ask the manufacture about the overflow noise and see if they just didn't care about it or designed it for a specific flow rate for low noise. Right now it's the worst overflow I have ever had. As I said before I knew I would have to modify it but thought the rest of the system looks and build would be worth the hassle. Now I would go with a Lee Mar diamond edge with an overflow built to my specs. I like the LeeMar diamond edge better as well and they also don't fill the corners with silicone like an Elos tank which becomes a maintenance issue.

For now the loudest thing is the skimmer air intake. which I have a mod for that I will try shortly. I'll let you know how well it works.

 

[Steve Ruddy]

The Waterblaster 2000 I was using as the main pump started making a rattling noise yesterday. Upon inspection I noticed two very soft plastic washers on the shaft. One of which had already shown wear. After several attempts at installing different washers I eneded up breaking the impeller shaft. I'm going to try a Tunze Silence next.

 

[frost0fractal]

FWIW I'm a huge fan of DC pumps, they are much quieter. I use a Jebao DC 9000 and a DC 12000 for my two tanks. I've had Mags, Quiet Ones, and a couple others and these are quieter by far. They have speed settings, 10% increments from 50 -100% flow, and when they start up they gradually increase the flow so you don't get instant water and air bubbles shooting out.

 

[Steve Ruddy]

FWIW I'm a huge fan of DC pumps, they are much quieter. I use a Jebao DC 9000 and a DC 12000 for my two tanks. I've had Mags, Quiet Ones, and a couple others and these are quieter by far. They have speed settings, 10% increments from 50 -100% flow, and when they start up they gradually increase the flow so you don't get instant water and air bubbles shooting out.

Thanks I ordered a 3000 and will use the quietest one between it and the Tunze. I'll save the other for a backup. I'll also report which one I like the best. FWIW the original Quiet Ones that had a metal body were actually silent. Not quiet silent, but silent, silent!

 

[Steve Ruddy]

Just received the Jebao. I either got a bad example or they are pos. Definitely louder than the Water Blaster before it developed a rattle. The hum is higher pitched so it's more noticeable to me. There is no access to the impeller if cleaning is needed and the input screen doesn't fit it just falls off. It would need some teflon tape or something to hold it on. Also the speed control back cover has a very noticeable bulge and the hole init just looks and feels cheap. I may no even keep it as a back up.

 

[frost0fractal]

Interesting, this makes me wonder what your definition of "quiet" is as it may differ from mine, haha, in which case I apologize. Did you order a DC or a DCT (the newer ones)?

 

[Steve Ruddy]

Interesting, this makes me wonder what your definition of "quiet" is as it may differ from mine, haha, in which case I apologize. Did you order a DC or a DCT (the newer ones)?

lol, no worries and yes without any decibel readings it's all subjective. I got the DC didn't know anything about DCT. It can be heard along with the skimmer air input which drowned out the Water Blaster. The WB has a lower frequency hum that obliviously added to the whole system noise but couldn't be picked out with everything running. This pump has a higher frequency hum which is probably much different than than the other noises. so I can hear it. Will report if the Tunze is any better, meanwhile I have ordered a new shaft for the WB.

 

[jthao]

Quietest pumps on the market are the askoll based pumps. Atb airstar, red dragon, or swc with the askoll block. Of all the pumps I've ever used, which is pretty much eveything on the market, askoll based pumps are the quietest. But in your system it may not work because they are all above 1000ghp.

Nice set up btw!!

 

[dg3147]

How did you finally silence the overflow? Did you have to dial the return way back, or did you end up dropping a hose down it? Did this work? pics?

 

[Steve Ruddy]

Turns out this is a counterfeit Elos System. The only part that is Elos is the sump. Here is the Elos document about it.

I can't believe the one and only North American Distributor did this and when I questioned them about the stand differences they chose not to answer. Now I know why.

 

[northbay-reefer]

That suxs Steve

 

[swk]

Wow that is crazy!

 

[Ssteve]

Can we see a full tank shot?

 

[Steve Ruddy]

Can we see a full tank shot?

Hopefully you meant just the tank.

 

[Swimwiththefish]

Any Updates?

 

[Steve Ruddy]

Any Updates?

Anything in particular that you would like to know or see? Since my last post I have several natural reef shelves installed, an additional Tunze stream, A DOS and I will be modifying a DDR to double it's capacity. I'll definitely post shots of that. I have also added starter colonies of zoanthids, acropora, and a few ORA clams. Thanks for your interest.

 

[Alberth napa]

Nice tank!

 

[mav3rick478]

Hey Steve,
I was at Fish Pros yesterday and found out that you have anemones there being housed, very nice coloring on the big main one. Is it true that the original anemone was from the 70's?

Yuri

 

[FNHFan]

So, what transpired after you discovered it was a counterfeit?

 

[chem-e]

So, what transpired after you discovered it was a counterfeit?

Steve - Sorry to hear about your situation. Have you tried contacting your credit company about the purchase? Not sure if they'd be able to do much, but wouldn't hurt to try.