zeldar's Elos Mini

[zeldar]

I have been keeping freshwater planted aquariums for about 9 years now and have got to where I know most of what I'm doing. A couple years ago I had 5 planted tanks setup! That got to be a little too much so I scaled down to where I now just have one planted tank. Its an ADA 60-P. Of course, now I have to start all over and become a newb again! Here is a picture of my current planted tank:

So here I am starting a reef. A lot of my knowledge and credit has to go to Paul who goes by onefang on most forums. Without him I would have never dove into saltwater.

Since I am a newbie to reef, I wanted a setup that was all inclusive. I initially started thinking Bio-Cube of course since thats what I've seen the most of. I wasn't crazy about the look with the black rim top and curved class so I ventured elsewhere. Paul made the suggestion of the Elos Mini. I had never t heard of it before and once I clicked on the link I was hooked immediatly. It just looked so flawless that I knew it was the setup I wanted.

So I bought the Elos back in October and it arrived a week or so ago. Since I had a month before the tank was due to arrive I started gathering all the other supplies needed. I got a MP-10, AI nano, Osmocontroller, RO/DI, and all the other goodies (salt, rock, additives, etc).

I have spent the last week trying to put this dang sump together! haha I never thought I would feel this clueless in an aquairum build! But I had no idea what I was doing. Jesse at Elos helped quite a bit and I *think* I have it all in the correct places. However, I really need all of you Elos people to help me out to make sure I have it right. I don't want to flood the house or crash the system right away due to incorrect sump setup. How high up do you fill the chambers? Does someone have a side picture with the water in the sump?

Here is the picture of the sump as it currently sits:

I plan on using a ball of chaeto for the media compartment. I also have several bags of purigen but not sure where to put them? Should they go in with the chaeto?

I still need to install the osmocontroller but not sure if I know what I'm doing there. Does someone have a picture that shows it correctly installed? Also, what level in the main chamber is the probe positioned?

Any other suggestions or tips would be most appreciated. If you see something incorect about my setup, PLEASE don't hestiate to tell me. I would love for this tank to get off on the right foot.

I already love the AI nano LED. I got the new controller with it (looks like a ipod haha) and seems pretty cool. The touch buttoms seem to be faulty though and needs repeated pushing to move. But the light is so customizable that there are endless possibilities and if the corals aren't liking one setting, its so easy to change it up. I also like the thunderstorm and lightning settings, its crazy what you can do with a light nowadays!

Here are the pictures of the hardscape. Of course this is my first reef scape so please let me know if it needs some work. I basically scaped it how I would do a freshwater tank so it may need some work.

 

[Seaweed Brain]

Welcome to RC!! It looks like you have a nice tank coming along here! I love the rock work but I would suggest making sure that you can get your algae scrubber between the glass and rocks. The rock looks a little close in the pic and eventualy you'll get coraline growing in places that can't be reached when cleaning your glass and it'll just look weird/bad. Can't wait to see it filled up!

 

[sawcreatives]

Very nice! I am excited to see this going! I am considering getting an elos mini as well.

 

[BlakDuc]

Beautiful tank! Do you have a link to your planted tank? It might have just inspired me to set up ANOTHER tank! Lol!

 

[Jmason95]

Aquascape looks really good, especially for your first time! Agree with the above, I would make sure you have at least a couple inches between the rock and glass for cleaning purposes. Personally, I would remove the rock front left side; this will give a more balanced, open clean look to the structure instead of the U shape - I would leave the rest as is (except scooting in the rocks a bit from the glass along the sides). I like the open sandbed look and you can always throw a frogspawn or something in the open space later on.

As far as the water level in the sump, Elos should be able to tell you how high the water level should be for the skimmer to function at peak - I would guess somewhere in the 6-9 inch range.

When you say osmocontroller, are you referring to the Tunze water level controller?

 

[zeldar]

Thanks for the kind words everyone! I currently have water mixing in a 20g trash can and once the salinity level is where I want it I will be filling the tank up.

Blakduc- well thank you for the compliment on the planted tank. I have had lots of them and they are still my favorite (although reef is becoming addicting!). Here is a link to the journal for this tank: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=186330&highlight=

Seaweed- Yea I've made sure the mag scrapper passes all the rocks on the glass cleanly.

Jmason- thanks for the suggestion. I will definitly try it out real quick to see if it works. I honestly tried to stuff as many rocks in there as possible since I want lots of space for corals.

That brings up a question: I am planning on getting most of my corals as frags. How do I attach them to the rocks? Do I just use the coral glue and put it on the back of the frag disc and just stick it on the rock? How do I get it to look natural without a big disc sticking out?

 

[zeldar]

Sorry, double post...

 

[Chaotic Reefer4u]

Very nice clean look!

 

[tprize]

The rockscape is amazing, but you need to leave enough room to get your magnetic cleaner and scraper on the sides. I suggest re-working it.