cpllongjk
Active Member
ELOS 70 – “My Final Build”
- Introduction
The spark of “reefing” first started on a trip to Hawaii with my mom when I was age 10-11. I went snorkeling in Oahu and fell in love with everything below the water. The beauty below the water was unimaginable. I had seen movies or pictures but seeing the reef in person is much much better! Words can never express the beauty on the reef.
After my trip to Hawaii I began keeping my own tank at the age of 14. I started with a modest 29 gallon tank with a basic T8 lighting hood. The tank consisted of sand, live rock, and a few fish. This FOWLR experience carried me through until 18 when I entered the Marines right after high school. During boot-camp my mom “accidentally” dropped the light in the tank frying everything.
While in the Marines I had a very small 7 gallon mini-bow tank. I was out in force with power-compact lighting and even started keeping soft corals like zoas. I replenished my calk/alk needs with kalkwasser via top-off and learned very quickly how to NUKE a tank via kalkwasser using this method on such a small tank.
My next tank was a 20 gallon long tank with a 250w 20k XM bulb. This system was very simple and thrived. I grew SPS very quickly and realized how hooked I was in the hobby. Throughout college I kept various tanks including a 30g cube, 60g long, and 57g illuminata.
My most recent tanks I have set up were a Reefer 170 and most recently a custom 50g cube with synergy reef overflow. Over the past 21 years I have learned a lot in the hobby. I have had many ups and many many many downs.
The most recent tank crashes have been caused my daughter adding kids soap into my system trying to clean the tank and my youngest son thinking the sump was a toilet and peeing in the sump.
- Closing Comments
In my 21 years of experience the most important things I have learned are (1) Patience, (2) Kid Proof, and (3) Murphy’s Law.
1. If you do not have patience you better learn some quickly. Nothing happens in this hobby quickly. If you want a show tank “NOW” then you better hire someone to give it to you because those “show” quality tanks take years and years of hard work and also require a lot of luck.
2. For those of you with kids like me, take this one to heart! Please try to KID PROOF your setup as much as possible. I never, in a million years, thought my daughter would get it in her head to clean the tank by adding liquid soap, especially since I reinforce never to touch my tank and have since birth. Also, I never thought my youngest would think the sump was a toilet. It’s these simple things that can cause complete tank crashes and which we never plan to happen… Try your best to “kid proof” your setup.
3. This leads me to Murphy’s Law. What ever can happen will even if you plan for the impossible. Just look at all the people with thriving tanks go belly up just because they took a vacation and “oops” something happens (they don’t even know what). We can plan plan plan and in the end luck comes into play. We hope and pray “Lady Luck” is on our side.
The Part You All Have Been Waiting For
ELOS 70 – My Final Build
My wife said “FINAL” but we will see!
My wife said “FINAL” but we will see!
In keeping with the 3 most important things I’ve learned over the past 21 years I would like to address my new build according to these concerns.
1. Patience is key and because of that I ordered 40lbs of Buna Ultra Live rock that is/has been cycling in a bin of water for the past 3 weeks and will continue to cycle until the tank is set up. Another thing this build is waiting on is for the floors to be remodeled and the wallpaper behind the tank to be retextured and painted in our newly purchased house. I expect this whole process to take 2-3 months from today and and know that my tank and I will be much happier than if I rushed my setup only to move it into the kitchen and then move it back when the walls and floors are done.
(4/20/19) The house remodel wasn't finished until March 2019 which was 7+ months after my original post. Also the rock was cycling and curing for a good 6+ months in a dark bin of salt water.
2. In order to “kid proof” the ELOS 70 setup I plan on adding a lock to the ELOS cabinet as well as a lock to the electronics cabinet off to the side of the tank. The kids will have no access to the sump or any electronics.
(4/20/19) The main electronics is behind a door which I have the ability to lock with a Key. The only thing the kids have access too is my top off container.
3. To try and combat Murphy’s Law I plan on doing a lot of praying! No, just kidding… I will do my best to make sure everything is backed up. The heart of this backup is adding 2-3 backup batteries to my return pump (a Vectra M1). My house is fairly-well insulated and holds its temperature pretty well. Also, living in California I have never had the power go out for longer than 12-14 hours. On my last setup I employed the backup batteries on the Vectra return pump and was very surprised that my Vectra power supply died and the batteries kept the system running (at a reduced speed of course) for 36+ hours. But at the end of the day, I WILL PRAY A LOT!!!
(4/20/19) To combat power outages I am looking to add either a whole house generator with the ability to run key systems like the modem, frig/freezer, tank, tank-less water heater or just adding a few backup batteries to my tank. I'm opting for the backup batteries just because of cost. Also, in my area of California we rarely have power outages but when we do the power could be out for 1-2 hours.
Current FTS! (7/14/19 - 4 Months)
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