E.intheC
Active Member
Intro
Well...I've been a member for a while now, but haven't posted much. Instead, I've read and posted (very) rarely. Since I just started my new tank, I figured I may as well start a build thread. However, this won't really be a "build thread" but rather it'll be more like a journal, or just a place to keep track of my tank, bounce ideas off forum members, and share some pictures. Most everything is "built" already. I hope you enjoy the read.. and feel free to skip through my long-winded ramblings to see (cell phone, for now) pictures! :wink:
The Tank
Over the past 5 years or so, I've had a number of different tanks. I've had full blown reefs and FOWLR tanks as well. The smallest tank being a 10 gallon nano, and the largest being a 90 gallon reef with 20 gallon sump. I had the 90 up for a relatively short time, at just over one year. Although it was a nice tank, it was never quite up to my standards. There was just simply not enough time or money (not to mention space in our living room) to get things the way I wanted. (Yes, I'm slightly OCD). With a lot of thinking and talking with my wife, I (we) decided on a much smaller tank.
I'm a big fan of cube tanks, and have had both a 30 and 45 cube tank previously. I knew a cube tank was in order, but figuring out which tank specifically though would prove to be a difficult decision. I looked at everything from a Deep Blue 60 gallon rimless to a custom 22 gallon acrylic tank, and almost everything in between. However, my decision was ultimately pretty simple. When an excellent deal came up on a slightly used Elos Mini... I had to jump on it. I have always loved Elos tanks, having seen many different models in person at my LFS in Manhattan. After thinking about it for a few days, I knew this was the right choice.
Equipment
Here's a brief run-down of my current equipment list:
This is going to be a mixed tank. I'm going to start with zoas, lps, ric's, and some softies in the beginning, and slowly add SPS and clams as the tank matures and stabilizes. My rockscape is what I consider minimalist. I like open space, and leaving room for corals to grow. This is tough, especially in such a small system.
Overall, I'm going to try and balance coral colors, shapes, textures, and movement to give a nice, relaxing mix.
Livestock
I've had these two Black Saddlebacks for a while now. I bought them when they were each just under an inch, and they've grown quite a bit since then. The female is much larger than the male, and she definitely lets him know who's boss :smile: . They're a great pair who really showed their personality in my 90.
That said.. my original plan for the Elos was to keep a number of tiny fish, like neon gobies, fire fish, etc. But, when it came down to actually selling my pair (and I got offers for more than my asking price).. I just couldn't do it.. I'm too attached to them. I'm glad I made the decision to keep them, as they're quite interesting to watch. Recently, the female has started to display some mating behavior, and is currently clearing out a patch of sand right near some live rock on the left side of my tank. Even though I look every 15 minutes or so :lol: I haven't noticed any eggs yet.
Other than the two clowns, I have no plans to add any more tank. The clowns are big, but the tank is well filtered, I do weekly or bi-weekly water changes, and control feeding.
Current Equipment Details/Thoughts and Future Equipment Ideas
AquaIlluminations Sol Blue Nano
Although I really like T5 and Halides, IMO these two options just don't work for the Mini. There's no T5 fixture that will fit the tank's 17 inch width, and a halide would create too much heat and electricity. Not to mention, there would be no dawn-to dusk lighting with a single halide bulb.
That really left no option other than LEDs. I did TONS of research, spending many hours looking up different LED brands and reading personal experiences on this and other forums. I do like the DIY LEDs people are making, but for me.. it wouldn't be a good idea. I have zero confidence in my soldering ability, and less confidence that a fixture I created would truly stand the test of time and last as long as five or more years. Whether or not commercial fixtures will last that long is yet to be seen, but I digress. I don't have too many corals, and have only been running the LED for a short time, but so far so good!
Elos Skimmer
Over the past five years, I've tried many skimmers. To name a few.. I've tried an i-Tech 100, Warner Marine K2, H2, and AS-150, a few Vertex models, Euro Reef RS-80s, SROs, Tunzes, Aqua C, Bubble Magus, and more. My absolute favorite out of them all has been the i-Tech. It's made well, performs better, and is a balanced, QUIET skimmer. Too bad it wouldn't fit my sump. (Dear i-Tech, Please make a smaller, space saver cone, or a nano-version!!) LOL. SO, anyway.. Speaking of footprint.. I have about 7.5in x 7.5in to play with. That doesn't leave a whole lot of options. The search was on for the perfect skimmer.
I looked at almost every company I could think of, and couldn't really come up with anything solid. There's just not much in the way of QUALITY skimmers out there for small tanks or small footprints. The few that were out there, like the Tunze 9002, SWC 120, BM 3.0 and 3.5 cone, and the BK Mini 160 would all fit.. Each skimmer had a downside though. The Tunze wasn't strong enough, the owner of SWC is not a cool dude, the BM's have Atman pumps, and the BK is $$$$$ and would have been too much skimmer for my tank, probably. I was getting discouraged.....
Out of nowhere, a local post for an Elos PS200 came up. It looked similar to a Bubble Magus design, however it seemed to be better thought out, better constructed, and came with a much better pump (Sicce 200) than the Atman. I was sold. The main downside is that there's really not much information out there on this skimmer, and obviously I wish there was more. But... it's currently running and breaking in as we speak.
If something new comes out that looks like it'll be a better fit, I'll probably end up checking it out. I constantly try new skimmers :xd:
Controller
I'm currently running a Reef Keeper Lite that I've had for a few years now. It's worked fine, and no real complaints. However, I'm about 50/50 split when talking about upgrading to an Apex or Profilux system. I have a small tank, and there's not really a NEED for all the features the Apex or Profilux would provide. The ability to monitor and control everything from my phone, see graphs, monitor pH, etc are the main draws of upgrading here. The $400+ is a steep hurdle, though. For now, the RKL will have to do.
Chiller
I'm considering a chiller. In the summer I've dealt with temps, but it usually has resulted in issues (for my SPS especially) when the temp rises. I really just have to sit down and weigh the costs of buying a chiller and running it vrs. not buying one and using the room AC unit and a fan to control temps.
My next post will have pictures
Well...I've been a member for a while now, but haven't posted much. Instead, I've read and posted (very) rarely. Since I just started my new tank, I figured I may as well start a build thread. However, this won't really be a "build thread" but rather it'll be more like a journal, or just a place to keep track of my tank, bounce ideas off forum members, and share some pictures. Most everything is "built" already. I hope you enjoy the read.. and feel free to skip through my long-winded ramblings to see (cell phone, for now) pictures! :wink:
The Tank
Over the past 5 years or so, I've had a number of different tanks. I've had full blown reefs and FOWLR tanks as well. The smallest tank being a 10 gallon nano, and the largest being a 90 gallon reef with 20 gallon sump. I had the 90 up for a relatively short time, at just over one year. Although it was a nice tank, it was never quite up to my standards. There was just simply not enough time or money (not to mention space in our living room) to get things the way I wanted. (Yes, I'm slightly OCD). With a lot of thinking and talking with my wife, I (we) decided on a much smaller tank.
I'm a big fan of cube tanks, and have had both a 30 and 45 cube tank previously. I knew a cube tank was in order, but figuring out which tank specifically though would prove to be a difficult decision. I looked at everything from a Deep Blue 60 gallon rimless to a custom 22 gallon acrylic tank, and almost everything in between. However, my decision was ultimately pretty simple. When an excellent deal came up on a slightly used Elos Mini... I had to jump on it. I have always loved Elos tanks, having seen many different models in person at my LFS in Manhattan. After thinking about it for a few days, I knew this was the right choice.
Equipment
Here's a brief run-down of my current equipment list:
- Tank: Elos Mini. 20 gallons. Aprx. 17x17x16High Starfire front pane
- Stand: Elos Mini Stand. White w/ a Dark Brown Door
- Sump: Custom Acrylic Cube
- Lighting: AI Sol Blue Nano
- Skimmer: Elos PS200
- Flow: Vortech MP10WES
- Return Pump: Stock Elos Mini Return Pump
- ATO: Avast Marine Works Pressure Sensor
- Controller: Reef Keeper Lite
- Misc. Filtration: Carbon and GFO used in a small bag in my sump
- Live Rock: about 10-15 lbs in the display and another 5 lbs in the sump.
This is going to be a mixed tank. I'm going to start with zoas, lps, ric's, and some softies in the beginning, and slowly add SPS and clams as the tank matures and stabilizes. My rockscape is what I consider minimalist. I like open space, and leaving room for corals to grow. This is tough, especially in such a small system.
Overall, I'm going to try and balance coral colors, shapes, textures, and movement to give a nice, relaxing mix.
Livestock
I've had these two Black Saddlebacks for a while now. I bought them when they were each just under an inch, and they've grown quite a bit since then. The female is much larger than the male, and she definitely lets him know who's boss :smile: . They're a great pair who really showed their personality in my 90.
That said.. my original plan for the Elos was to keep a number of tiny fish, like neon gobies, fire fish, etc. But, when it came down to actually selling my pair (and I got offers for more than my asking price).. I just couldn't do it.. I'm too attached to them. I'm glad I made the decision to keep them, as they're quite interesting to watch. Recently, the female has started to display some mating behavior, and is currently clearing out a patch of sand right near some live rock on the left side of my tank. Even though I look every 15 minutes or so :lol: I haven't noticed any eggs yet.
Other than the two clowns, I have no plans to add any more tank. The clowns are big, but the tank is well filtered, I do weekly or bi-weekly water changes, and control feeding.
Current Equipment Details/Thoughts and Future Equipment Ideas
AquaIlluminations Sol Blue Nano
Although I really like T5 and Halides, IMO these two options just don't work for the Mini. There's no T5 fixture that will fit the tank's 17 inch width, and a halide would create too much heat and electricity. Not to mention, there would be no dawn-to dusk lighting with a single halide bulb.
That really left no option other than LEDs. I did TONS of research, spending many hours looking up different LED brands and reading personal experiences on this and other forums. I do like the DIY LEDs people are making, but for me.. it wouldn't be a good idea. I have zero confidence in my soldering ability, and less confidence that a fixture I created would truly stand the test of time and last as long as five or more years. Whether or not commercial fixtures will last that long is yet to be seen, but I digress. I don't have too many corals, and have only been running the LED for a short time, but so far so good!
Elos Skimmer
Over the past five years, I've tried many skimmers. To name a few.. I've tried an i-Tech 100, Warner Marine K2, H2, and AS-150, a few Vertex models, Euro Reef RS-80s, SROs, Tunzes, Aqua C, Bubble Magus, and more. My absolute favorite out of them all has been the i-Tech. It's made well, performs better, and is a balanced, QUIET skimmer. Too bad it wouldn't fit my sump. (Dear i-Tech, Please make a smaller, space saver cone, or a nano-version!!) LOL. SO, anyway.. Speaking of footprint.. I have about 7.5in x 7.5in to play with. That doesn't leave a whole lot of options. The search was on for the perfect skimmer.
I looked at almost every company I could think of, and couldn't really come up with anything solid. There's just not much in the way of QUALITY skimmers out there for small tanks or small footprints. The few that were out there, like the Tunze 9002, SWC 120, BM 3.0 and 3.5 cone, and the BK Mini 160 would all fit.. Each skimmer had a downside though. The Tunze wasn't strong enough, the owner of SWC is not a cool dude, the BM's have Atman pumps, and the BK is $$$$$ and would have been too much skimmer for my tank, probably. I was getting discouraged.....
Out of nowhere, a local post for an Elos PS200 came up. It looked similar to a Bubble Magus design, however it seemed to be better thought out, better constructed, and came with a much better pump (Sicce 200) than the Atman. I was sold. The main downside is that there's really not much information out there on this skimmer, and obviously I wish there was more. But... it's currently running and breaking in as we speak.
If something new comes out that looks like it'll be a better fit, I'll probably end up checking it out. I constantly try new skimmers :xd:
Controller
I'm currently running a Reef Keeper Lite that I've had for a few years now. It's worked fine, and no real complaints. However, I'm about 50/50 split when talking about upgrading to an Apex or Profilux system. I have a small tank, and there's not really a NEED for all the features the Apex or Profilux would provide. The ability to monitor and control everything from my phone, see graphs, monitor pH, etc are the main draws of upgrading here. The $400+ is a steep hurdle, though. For now, the RKL will have to do.
Chiller
I'm considering a chiller. In the summer I've dealt with temps, but it usually has resulted in issues (for my SPS especially) when the temp rises. I really just have to sit down and weigh the costs of buying a chiller and running it vrs. not buying one and using the room AC unit and a fan to control temps.
My next post will have pictures
