ELOS 160XL Island Tank Build

[maxtek]

There seem to be relatively few builds in the style I will pursue here: a rimless "island" tank housing a mixed reef, viewable on all sides, plumbed through the floor of the house into the basement to the sump. My display aquarium is an Elos 160XL, with a volume of 770 liters (~203 gallons). It sits on a spectacular tiger maple stand made by Chris Benner (Chris is a master craftsman -- he has thought of everything and built a stunning centerpiece that is as strong as it is beautiful). The guiding principle of this build is to make the aquarium display as clean and simple as possible, and to keep visible/audible equipment at an absolute minimum.

Here is the tank sitting on the stand, after my wife and I suspended the matching canopy from the ceiling:



I'll update this thread with a lot more detail about how we got there, but here is a picture of what the tank looks like currently:



There is a ton to discuss, obviously, and a lot more yet to build. So far I've plumbed the BRS Thieling Rollermat version of the Trigger Systems sump together with a Reef Octopus Regal 200 EXT skimmer, an algae scrubber, and several media reactors fed by a dedicated pump. Today, I installed the Reef Octopus CR-200 calcium reactor.

I'm also seeking to automate as much as possible of what happens in the sump area. I've installed an automatic water change system using the Dos, and an automatic top-off system. Both are fed by an RO system with a 3-stage DI that is continuously monitored for TDS for media or membrane replacement (this was a point of failure in a previous effort). Sensors galore, and a custom stack of python code harvesting data for medium/long run analysis. In the future, we're going to add an ozone reactor, a tactile control panel, and hopefully some automated continuous feeding as well as phytoplankton cultures. I've tried a lot of this stuff before, always with a mixture of success and failure. This time will be different, at least in that I will document the adventure here.

I'll be back soon to document some of the build up to this point. Thanks!

-Max

 

[Janci]

Looking great Maximillian.
It would be interesting to see what equipment are you using on the tank.
I love the island idea and hope you can give some more insight on the wire management.

 

[maxtek]

Looking great Maximillian.
It would be interesting to see what equipment are you using on the tank.
I love the island idea and hope you can give some more insight on the wire management.

Great question, wire management within the display was a big concern for me. My previous tank had an annoying tangle of cables draped over the sides of the tank and visibly interrupting the water column. My plan was to conceal the cables below the sand layer and within the overflow. I'm using six pieces of equipment with cords in the display volume: 3 WAV pumps, a Maxspect Gyre 250, the Neptune Systems PAR sensor, and a camera.

To anchor the cables below the sand, I cut some lengths of 1/2" PVC, removed about a quarter of the radius of the pipe down its length using a dremel -- filthy work -- and siliconed the pipe to the bottom of the tank before adding the sand to act as a track or guide for the cables. Pictures:





Next, I routed the cables into the base of the overflow. The Elos overflow design is quite amenable to this strategy, since the overflow has a long vertical face made of acrylic with a gap behind it. The cables can be concealed inside without occupying much of the volume. I cut a small notch in the base of the overflow's acrylic guard, as well as a small notch about a third of the way from the top for the Maxspect and camera cords.



I also cut a notch in the top to route the cables out of the overflow and down the side of the tank.



Chris Benner is going to build a cover plate to further conceal the cable run outside of the tank, but for now it's just zip-tied for cleanliness.

 

[Janci]

That is an neat solution. Congrats.
It takes courage to run all wires inside the tank.

Can you tell more about lighting, skimmer, other reactors, dosing?
Or more in specific... the FISHROOM....?!

 

[maxtek]

That is an neat solution. Congrats.
It takes courage to run all wires inside the tank.

Can you tell more about lighting, skimmer, other reactors, dosing?
Or more in specific... the FISHROOM....?!

The tank is plumbed down into the basement through the floor:



And in the basement there is a structure I built holding the sump and other assorted equipment at waist height for easy access. Here is a view of the Regal 200 EXT skimmer showing how it is plumbed:



Another view from the front of the sump:



Total equipment in the basement sump area so far:
-Reef Octopus Regal 200EXT protein skimmer
-Varios 8 return pump
-Varios 8 pump feeding sump manifold (to skimmer, etc)
-Kessil H380 refugium light
-Thieling Rollermat
-C-100 Clearwater Algae Scrubber
-7 stage RO/DI
-Reef Octopus CR-200 Calcium Reactor (with CarbonDoser regulator)
-Neptune ATK (with substitute pump)
-DOS-based AWC

Lighting on the display:
-Kessil AP700 x2
-48" T5 retrofit x2

 

[maxtek]

In my previous tank, I dosed Triton additives to control alkalinity, calcium, and trace elements (via 2 DOS units). This time I'm running a calcium reactor, as I noted above. I installed it yesterday and the adjustable drip nozzle that came with the reactor clogs immediately. If I open it, it takes about 90 seconds to clog again. Is this thing totally useless, and therefore I can't really use the reactor until the continuous dosing pump arrives on Friday?

 

[Janci]

Your equipment list is extensive.
I bet that roller mat keeps your water perfectly clean from particles.

Bad luck on the calcium reactor.
I hope that continuous dosing pump will solve your trouble.

Are you feeding the fish from the sump?
It seems like there is a feeding controller in your return section of the sump.

 

[maxtek]

Your equipment list is extensive.
I bet that roller mat keeps your water perfectly clean from particles.

Bad luck on the calcium reactor.
I hope that continuous dosing pump will solve your trouble.

Are you feeding the fish from the sump?
It seems like there is a feeding controller in your return section of the sump.

Yes, as a sort of experiment. With the new tank, the feeder is banished to the basement. It's either this or the shelf. Right now, a tiny number of pellets drop into a floating feed ring, eventually soak, sink, and get sucked into the return. I would say about 70% of the food makes it into the tank. That seems wasteful, and I am trying to improve it. It's pretty amusing to see the fish react to such a random delivery of food. They scour the reef inspecting everything. Also amusing: I have this linked to Google Home, so I can trigger it verbally.

 

[Janci]

Yes, as a sort of experiment. With the new tank, the feeder is banished to the basement. It's either this or the shelf. Right now, a tiny number of pellets drop into a floating feed ring, eventually soak, sink, and get sucked into the return. I would say about 70% of the food makes it into the tank. That seems wasteful, and I am trying to improve it. It's pretty amusing to see the fish react to such a random delivery of food. They scour the reef inspecting everything. Also amusing: I have this linked to Google Home, so I can trigger it verbally.

Interesting idea.
Might have to try it myself once.

Do you also have a camera connected to the overflow in the display tank?

 

[maxtek]

Interesting idea.
Might have to try it myself once.

Do you also have a camera connected to the overflow in the display tank?

Yes, I have a little camera so I can keep an eye on things while I’m at work...

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

If you’re feeding pellets, how about mounting an auto-feeder into the canopy around the middle of the tank?

 

[wiszmaster]

Maximillian - how is the build coming along? Do you have water in it yet? I'm wondering how the cables under the sandbed will work out... may be an issue come maintenance time, to get cables back in, possible bacteria eating away at the sleeves?

 

[maxtek]

Maximillian - how is the build coming along? Do you have water in it yet? I'm wondering how the cables under the sandbed will work out... may be an issue come maintenance time, to get cables back in, possible bacteria eating away at the sleeves?

I’ve had water in it for about 7 or 8 months now. I’ve had some ups and downs but I think the tank is in a good spot now. I had to pull one of the WAVs out to replace it — it was surprisingly easy to do. I am about to rebuild the sump area to evolve it some more, and when I do that I’ll post an update!

 

[maxtek]

I rebuilt my sump area around a lab table.

 

[maxtek]

With the additional space, I set up a refrigerated dosing system for phyto. A 1/4 line tapping the reactor manifold pumps a small stream of water down into a small fridge and then into the tank. Via a T, another 1/4 line connects to a dosing pump. This way, the dosing line is always refrigerated and the warm parts are constantly being flushed.

I put reef nutrition’s phyto and roti feasts in the mix, and I’m dosing 5ml at midnight each night. For a 200 gallon reef that is still very young (~1 year), this seems like too much. How much should I be dosing?

 

[maxtek]

Can anyone see that video?

nm reposted as a YouTubelink....

 

[maxtek]

I did a detailed PAR measurement. I’m running 4 T5 bulbs and 2 AP700. The first number in each location is with T5 at 100% and the AP700s at 70% with diffusers. The second number pushes the AP700s to 100%. The third number removed the diffusers.

 

[maxtek]

Using one of the fancy new Adaptive Reef controller boards, I’ve re-worked the wiring under the display. The rat’s nest of cabling is gone!

 

[maxtek]

2020 sucks, so I rebuilt my sump again.

 

[maxtek]