H3dgehog's SPS Elos Midi Diamond

[h3dgehog]

It was not long before I decided to upgrade to a "bigger" tank from my 12" cube. I will be sharing my journey of building an SPS-only tank with my new Elos Midi Diamond line here. Here goes nothing! :rollface:


Update #1: "New Tank is Here!"

Here is a picture of Elos Midi Diamond Line being shipped directly from Italy. It shipped and arrive at my doorstep over the course of ~24hours... The speed of delivery was pretty amazing! :thumbsup:

I got my tank and stand through Scott and his team over at Aquarium Specialty. When deciding on the tank setup to purchase, I was pretty scared about going Elos since there seems to have been some fallout in customer service over the past few years (per my google search results). That being said, Scott and his team made me feel comfortable about dropping $$$$ on this set up. His communication was great and I never felt like I was left in the dark. This is why I went with his store over the two Elos dedicated stores in the US. I had to nag the store reps at both Elos stores to get quotes and product information. If service was going to be like that pre-purchase, I can only image how bad it would be post-purchase.. So far, I'm glad I went with Aquarium Specialty.

Now onto the details! I got the package is 3 days time from payment but literally took <24hours from pickup of item in Italy to my doorstep. Everything was packaged well. If I had any complaint it would be the packaging on the stand materials. There was no styrofoam of buffer inside the box. There was a slight tear int eh corner of the stand box but luckily everything was in perfect condition. I set up my stand today but didn't have the time for a full on photo shoot. That will come later and soon~ keep your eyes out for the pics! This tank is gorgeous with the new overflow system.

Now I'll spend the next two weeks trying to figure out the equipment I need to get. Currently thinking about getting a BAO 16" sump, Coral Box dc300 skimmer, Jebao DC3000 return pump and other things. For lighting I'm leaning towards halide or T5. Sucks that both types of light don't have nice designs like LED fixtures. But with my experience with LEDs, I will say that the shadowing is the biggest reason for switching. My acros browned out but regained some color after I set my prime to 100% on blues and ~40% on white. But the parts being shadowed are still stinky brown.

 

[paal]

Grats! I had a mini some years ago. Beautiful tanks!

I've been trying to find detailed information on that new 'quiet drain' overflow for some time now.
Care to explain how it works? Is it like a herbie?

 

[h3dgehog]

Things have picked up at work so I haven't been able to get this new tank set up but I did manage to fill er up with some fresh water for a leak test and beacuse I wanted to test out this new "quiet drain".

Currently using a RODC 3500 return pump as my return and I can say with 100% (rated for 925gph with no pressure) that this thing pushes out TONS of water and flow without making much noise. First of all, well done to Reef Octopus because their RODC pump is virtually silent. I'm saying that there is no humming, no whirring, no noise what so ever. It's my first time with a DC pump and I'm glad I went with one because it make having a tank in the bedroom so much more rewarding. Back to the Elos quiet drain... The return pump is currently running at 100% at~3.5-4ft of head using 2/4" rubber hosing provided by Elos. Once the quiet drain is dialed in, it is pretty quiet. The only noise is coming from the bubbles being dumped into my temporary sump and the high flow being run through the ribbed hose. I expect that this will slowly go away as slime builds up on the piping and such. Will let you guys know if it gets any louder (unlikely at this point). The burping sound that was common in the older Elos models is no longer as well.

Can't wait to get the rest of my equipment so I can hurry up and fill er up!

 

[h3dgehog]

Grats! I had a mini some years ago. Beautiful tanks!

I've been trying to find detailed information on that new 'quiet drain' overflow for some time now.
Care to explain how it works? Is it like a herbie?

Thanks! Yeah details are hard to come by with this tank right now given that it's fairly new. I'm no tank expert by any means so I do not know the different types of overflows. But I can tell you that it has a single hole for the drain. It is drilled at the bottom. There is two piping pieces that are a part of the drain. There is one that is connect to the actual hole of on the bottom of the tank. Then there is the pipe that goes into the first pipe mentioned. It has ribs and depending on how you turn the pipe (left/right), it will decrease or increase the volume of water allowed to enter the drain. Sorry if that doesn't make much sense.

I'll have to write something up with pictures later when I get more time. But for the time being, hope that is somewhat helpful... :thumbsup:

 

[moondoggy4]

Tagging along, it is going to be fun. What is the dimension of the tank?

 

[h3dgehog]

Tagging along, it is going to be fun. What is the dimension of the tank?

Hope this turns out as awesome as it looks in my head right now! :dance:
The tank is ~23.5" (L) x 19.5" (W) x 20".

Custom sump being made by Advanced Acrylic as we speak now, placed an order for the Coral Box D300 Skimmer and currently on the fence about ordering a hamilton halide fixture to run 250W radium... Pretty productive for a Sunday!

 

[h3dgehog]

Update #2: "The Tank is Filled!"

Before I start my update, I want to ask you reefers if you share your reef obsession with anyone else. I am fortunate to share the interest with my significant other, who love to look at the tank and watch me do my shenanigans. I realized how much more enjoyable the reefing hobby is if you have someone to share it with. My S.O. had recently moved to a different city for a job and it made me realize how sharing the hobby with someone you care about make it 100x more enjoyable. But that isn't to say that I won't enjoy my new tank! :lolspin: So do you guys have someone you share your hobby with?

Well onto the actual update! So the tank and stand arrived with two high quality metal badges that say "Elos Aquariums". It's a nice piece of metal but am not sure if I want to add it to the tank and/or stand. What are your thoughts on this? Badge it up or no?

So I finally placed all my equipment orders and the last bit of it should be arriving this upcoming week. Below is the official list of equipment I'll be using on this new tank setup.

• Tank & Stand: Elos Midi Diamond Series
• Sump: Custom Advanced Acrylic Sump
• Light: Hamilton Fixture w/ 250W Radium & M80 Ballast
• Return Pump: RODC 3500
• Skimmer: Coral Box D300
• Reactor: TLF 150 w/Rowaphos
• Doser: Profilux 2 (4-dosing pumps)
• ATO: Tunze 3155 Top Off System
• Circulation: Vortech MP10 (might add another since I have an extra)

This is my first time using metal halide so I'll keep a close eye on how I like it compared to the LEDs I run on my nano cube. Another pice of equipment that needs close attention is the skimmer. With the lack of reviews online, I am hoping to shed more light on the performance.

The tank is going to be SPS-only with a sand bed. I was going to go bare bottom but I wanted a yellow coris wrasse to take care of pests and sand is a requirement. So I will be putting in 3.0mm Tropic Eden Reef Flakes. And on top of the sand, I'll be using Tampa Bay Saltwater rocks once again. I was so impressed with the "live-ness" of the rock and lack of die-off that I just had to get more!

I should be doing a larger update towards the end of the week when I get more goodies to share with you all.. :dance:

 

[h3dgehog]

Will be moving all my SPS from my nano cube to this tank once it's up and running!

 

[Bent]

Awesome looking tank.

If I could make a suggestion though, a small one.

Can you loose that power cord for the light? i would suggest just putting a new receptacle up top where the light is so the cord isn't hanging down.

Amazing though.

 

[h3dgehog]

Awesome looking tank.

If I could make a suggestion though, a small one.

Can you loose that power cord for the light? i would suggest just putting a new receptacle up top where the light is so the cord isn't hanging down.

Amazing though.

Got anything in mind? My immediate thought was to drill a hole in the wall near the light and another down below through where the wire could be hidden. But then again, I live in an apartment so I should probably keep the walls hole-free. Any ideas where I don't need to make any physical changes to the wall are appreciated!

 

[paal]

Maybe just pull the cable straight out from the fixture and over to the back wall, then attach the cable to some sort of simple single cable organizer glued to the wall (with matching color) Like the picture below.

Also maybe use some tape with the same color as the wall and wrap around the part of the cable that is "floating" in the air?

 

[h3dgehog]

Thanks for the picture reference! Having the wire lay flat up on the back wall makes it look less cluttered. I have some of those scotch brand wire holders but will probably look for a thin piece of white metal or plastic to conpletely conceal the black wire alltogether.

 

[h3dgehog]

I’m starting to put together a stocking list for the new tank and have some up with a list of fish I’d like to keep… Diamond watchman goby, yellow coris wrasse, yellow-striped cardinal fish (or any other nice colored cardinal fish other than the pajamas and black/white ones), and a sunburst anthias. That being said, I feel like It’ll be hard to keep all of these fish, especially if I have a group of cardinal fish. It’ll create too much waste in the tank and might get crowded… So what are some potential combos that will work?

Currently, I’m thinking the following combinations:

Option #1
-(1) diamond watchman goby
-(1) yellow coris wrasse
-(5) yellow-striped cardinal fish

Option #2:
-(1) diamond watchman goby
-(1) yellow coris wrasse
-(1) sunburst anthias

Thoughts?

 

[h3dgehog]

Update #8: "Rocks and Such..."

After much thought, I decided to add sand to the tank since I wanted to keep a wrasse to keep potential pests at bay. But with the tank being an all SPS set up with high flow, I decided to go with the larger grain of sand - I went with Tropic Eden's Reef Flakes (3.0mm). After putting it in the tank, I have to note that I really like the sand. It's even, it's pearly white and just looks a lot clearner than some of the finer sands I've used in the past. With the MP10 on full blast and the RODC 3500 return pump at 3/5, the sand does not really budge. I'm hoping that the sand will maintain it's position on the bottom (not fly around everywhere) when I add a second MP10 once I tear down the other nano cube.

While I went a different direction with the sand on this tank set up relative to my ADA 30C, I decided to order live rock from Tampa Bay Saltwater. The amount of live rock and the little to no cycling that I personally experienced was a big plus. Currently, there is ~25lbs of live rock that are split into four pieces. All with tunicates, sponges, barnacles, coraline algae and other life was everywhere. Not to mention that I got a nice small urchin (cannot identify), a few snails, and 2-3 porcelain crabs. This is why I went with TBS live rock. If I got live rock from a LFS, it would've been $8-$10/lbs that is generic yellow rock with some speckles of purple here and there. The added creatures I get makes it that much more worth it. On the pest front, I did get amphipods (which my wrasse can gobbles up), a few tiny gorilla crabs and 2-3 pistol shrimps. While these are indeed pests, I think I will be fine. A few clicks here and there isn't too bad and the gorilla crabs can clean up some of the algae and detritus.

With everything in the tank, I am even more impressed with the Radium bulb. It's very crisp white but have a slight blue tinge that makes certain colors pop. I'm glad I didn't go with LEDs. But... I am considering the addition of 1-2 short reefbrite strips to add more pop to colors and so I can enjoy an additional 2-3 hours of viewing pleasure after the halides are off..

Oh and I forgot to mention that I got my custom sump built by John at Advanced Acrylics once again. He did a bombtastic job with my cube sump that I was certain that he would do a good job on this one as well. I went with this layout so that I can see every compartment of the sump. A cube jump with a front and back would've been painful to use (at least from my own experience with my cube sump on the ADA30C. I also had John add some dosing line management that has hard dosing line and a top part where you can simply connect your dosing line to.

Anyways, enough of the verbal diarrhea... Here are the pictures! :fun2:

Ignore the floating glass cleaner...

 

[h3dgehog]

So my Diamond goby jumped on me right onto my pillow... Was not a pleasant surprise this morning when I woke up :sad2:.

Anyways, I'm looking for suggestions on a new fish (I'm staying away from gobies now). I currently have a yellow coris wrasse and a sunburst anthias. Maybe a nice looking chromis? A pair of clownfish? I feel like I'm not thinking out of the box here.

 

[d2mini]

So my Diamond goby jumped on me right onto my pillow... Was not a pleasant surprise this morning when I woke up :sad2:.

Anyways, I'm looking for suggestions on a new fish (I'm staying away from gobies now). I currently have a yellow coris wrasse and a sunburst anthias. Maybe a nice looking chromis? A pair of clownfish? I feel like I'm not thinking out of the box here.

Oh no, that reminds me of The Godfather.

Have you considered getting one of these clear view mesh lids?
http://artfullyacrylic.3dcartstores.com/Elos-Lids_c_62.html

btw, crazy how sucky it is trying to deal with the Elos stores. We both had identical shopping experiences.
I just heard back yesterday from the Dallas store!

 

[h3dgehog]

Oh no, that reminds me of The Godfather.

Have you considered getting one of these clear view mesh lids?
http://artfullyacrylic.3dcartstores.com/Elos-Lids_c_62.html

btw, crazy how sucky it is trying to deal with the Elos stores. We both had identical shopping experiences.
I just heard back yesterday from the Dallas store!

I was considering the lids but I feel like it would defeat the purpose of having gotten the Elos for the sleek modern look... I'd rather let my equipment decide what I stock my tank with and not vise versa.

And what coincidence! I heard back from Dallas guys this weekend too... Literally after a month or so of putting in an email inquiry and even calling them...

 

[h3dgehog]

Quick shot of inside the stand...

Is still a work in progress... My OCD is coming out and these wires are frustrating.

 

[elositaly]

Nice job Yong,
shall you need any information/help don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Nick

 

[bitwise]

I'm really liking this setup. So much so I reached out to Aquarium Specialty