Martin’s ELOS 200XL build in Japan
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this is me
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Giesemann is the only nice quality fixture left. And it's getting hard to get them in America.
I wish Elos would bring back the AquaPlanet fixture. I still have the 24" version and it's the best looking and best quality fixture ever made.
These little LED lights are meant to go into something. Like a canopy. There's no elegant way to mount them over the tank and oh the wires..
I wish Elos would bring back the AquaPlanet fixture. I still have the 24" version and it's the best looking and best quality fixture ever made.
These little LED lights are meant to go into something. Like a canopy. There's no elegant way to mount them over the tank and oh the wires..
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MartinM
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I know! Luckily Giesemann seems to ship all over the world direct from their online shop, thankfully. And you can get everything in polar white 
Since hobbyist turnover is in the 90+ percentile, the vast majority of reefers haven’t even seen metal halide and often not even T5, or what a big difference it makes compared to LEDs. And it seems like most people aren’t into the exterior aesthetics.
I’ve never tried their LEDs, I don’t think I would. Like I said, I’m moving away from LEDs
Since hobbyist turnover is in the 90+ percentile, the vast majority of reefers haven’t even seen metal halide and often not even T5, or what a big difference it makes compared to LEDs. And it seems like most people aren’t into the exterior aesthetics.
I’ve never tried their LEDs, I don’t think I would. Like I said, I’m moving away from LEDs
Put a giesseman tropic and no problem with par.
Shaka_Reefer
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I love my polar white Giesemann stellar! If you order one, make sure you ask them to use white cords
Wish I spray-painted my kessils white too!
Wish I spray-painted my kessils white too!
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MartinM
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Hi, sorry about the delay, here you go! I’m thinking they’re riveted, but I’m not much of a construction guy. If it helps/matters, the aluminum is 45mm square.
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MartinM
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You’re a genius! Done.I love my polar white Giesemann stellar! If you order one, make sure you ask them to use white cords
Wish I spray-painted my kessils white too!
Some photos from my Red Sea XL200 while I fail to update the build thread.
- The new blue carpet really is that blue, so blue I didn’t know blue came that blue!
- Clams are doing great, all from Okinawa. I love clams!
- Goniopora is growing so fast, at about 50% per month (I feed a LOT), I never knew it could grow this fast
(lights are the big Red Sea LED, whites at 100%, blues at 45% - soon to have T5’s added, or replaced with Giesemann halide/t5)
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MartinM
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Well, I’ve received massive amounts of plumbing fittings and piping. But, I’ve decided to have a custom sump tray and sump built, rather than go with anything stock. I’ll post the design as soon as I get it, but it will be 100x70x45cm, and will sit in a 190x70x25 sump tray with drain. It will hopefully be ready in about two weeks. With the new sump, I’ll be plumbing the pumps externally, because it does get 30+ here for about 4 months each year, and I like to keep the windows open, so the less heat load in the tank the better.
I’ve also purchased two 1x10x200cm aluminum plates, which I will place underneath the stand feet. I considered removing the feet altogether, but the way the stand’s panels have been designed means they wouldn’t magnetically attach properly if I did that. So, I will screw the feet all the way into the stand so I don’t have to worry about one of the bolts shearing or snapping, then place the aluminum plates underneath the feet but on top of the plywood to better distribute the weight. Having a softwood (not hardwood!) floor is a hassle when you want to place 1000kg of aquarium on top of it (but the subfloor heating is nice in the winter and it’s nice to walk on, so I can’t complain).
My sump designer thinks that using two Vectra L2’s will move a lot of water, but I think I won’t be getting more than ~4000lph max through each 20mm (3/4”) return because of their size. My goal, as I said earlier, is to have these returns under enough pressure to adequately drive two eductors on each return, which is what will provide the water motion. I’ve positioned the tank far enough away from the wall to use MP40’s if I absolutely have to, but I hope to not have to need them.
Anyone have any idea how to get residual mineral oil out of a tank? The guy who installed the black background film on the tank used some mineral oil to help remove the air bubbles, which of course got into the tank :mad:. Not sure how to clean this...
Some good news is that my assistant found a source for live rock from Okinawa! I’ll be able to have it ocean-to-tank in 24 hours. I’m excited about this, I always like to use the freshest possible live rock, and have as much biodiversity as possible. I continously feed my aquariums also with a variety of phyto and zooplankton, which means I often maintain and even am able to increase the biodiversity from the rock. On my other system, I actually have swarms of live plankton occurring! On this system, I also hope to build continuous feed phyto and rotifer reactors, let’s see how that turns out. From the photos I’ve seen, the rock is very good. The clams I get from Okinawa have so much life covering their shells, even SPS colonies, so I’m hopeful.
Photos coming soon!
I’ve also purchased two 1x10x200cm aluminum plates, which I will place underneath the stand feet. I considered removing the feet altogether, but the way the stand’s panels have been designed means they wouldn’t magnetically attach properly if I did that. So, I will screw the feet all the way into the stand so I don’t have to worry about one of the bolts shearing or snapping, then place the aluminum plates underneath the feet but on top of the plywood to better distribute the weight. Having a softwood (not hardwood!) floor is a hassle when you want to place 1000kg of aquarium on top of it (but the subfloor heating is nice in the winter and it’s nice to walk on, so I can’t complain).
My sump designer thinks that using two Vectra L2’s will move a lot of water, but I think I won’t be getting more than ~4000lph max through each 20mm (3/4”) return because of their size. My goal, as I said earlier, is to have these returns under enough pressure to adequately drive two eductors on each return, which is what will provide the water motion. I’ve positioned the tank far enough away from the wall to use MP40’s if I absolutely have to, but I hope to not have to need them.
Anyone have any idea how to get residual mineral oil out of a tank? The guy who installed the black background film on the tank used some mineral oil to help remove the air bubbles, which of course got into the tank :mad:. Not sure how to clean this...
Some good news is that my assistant found a source for live rock from Okinawa! I’ll be able to have it ocean-to-tank in 24 hours. I’m excited about this, I always like to use the freshest possible live rock, and have as much biodiversity as possible. I continously feed my aquariums also with a variety of phyto and zooplankton, which means I often maintain and even am able to increase the biodiversity from the rock. On my other system, I actually have swarms of live plankton occurring! On this system, I also hope to build continuous feed phyto and rotifer reactors, let’s see how that turns out. From the photos I’ve seen, the rock is very good. The clams I get from Okinawa have so much life covering their shells, even SPS colonies, so I’m hopeful.
Photos coming soon!
Janci
Staghorns will prevail
Looking forward to two weeks, I guess. The width and height of the sump tray are the same as the sump it self. How will the sump fit the tray?
To clean the oil, I would use water and soap, and then rinse as much as possible. Are you sure it is oil?
I hope to be able to start my new tank with real, fresh live rock as well.
Tampa Bay Saltwater delivered rocks and sand with such an abundance of wild live, your tank was a joy to watch from the first minute.
The extra hitchikers were just extra to enjoy (and catch).
To clean the oil, I would use water and soap, and then rinse as much as possible. Are you sure it is oil?
I hope to be able to start my new tank with real, fresh live rock as well.
Tampa Bay Saltwater delivered rocks and sand with such an abundance of wild live, your tank was a joy to watch from the first minute.
The extra hitchikers were just extra to enjoy (and catch).
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MartinM
Valuable Member
Okay, it’s been a few weeks, lots of updates.
@Janci you’re right, the sump tray is slightly smaller than the dimensions of the stand so it will fit. The sump tray is ready and installed, but the sump came from the factory about 10cm taller than it should have been, so it won’t fit. They’ve already corrected it and the new installation date for everything in this Saturday, the 8th! I had some friends and staff over yesterday to install everything (it was supposed to be the big day) but no luck because of the sump problem. That being said it’s a great design. Here’s a shot of it in the tray at Blue Harbor Aquarium before being delivered to me, where it was designed by the owner, Koji. Thanks, Koji! If you live in Japan and need custom aquarium work done, Koji is the guy you want to talk to. He works with the majority of public aquariums in Japan, as well, and he’s spoken at a lot of MACNA events as well.
It has a ~50x50cm refugium, which I’m excited about. While the sump does have space for 6 filter socks, I don’t use skimmers and usually don’t use mechanical filtration, so this will be predominantly used for T. Maxima clams as natural filters, and also probably turtlegrass. I’ll install a 40x40x20cm tray inside of the section, with a ~16cm deep sand bed, then plant the grass and put in the clams. I have a few medium to large maxima and noae clams ready to go in there (a ~15cm noae, an ~16cm blue and black maxima, and a ~25cm green maxima). Here’s one of the maximas that’s currently living in my other sump:
The noae on the right and the big green maxima in the bottom left are also going in the sump of the ELOS when it’s ready, they’re too big for my Red Sea:
I plumbed and painted the returns, also:
These are the Accel Aquatics eductors, I’m hoping they work well. My plan continues to be using two Vectra L2’s on gyre anti-synch to create an alternating current, boosted by the eductors. We’ll see how it works out. I’m hoping not to need any additional water flow, but I’ll probably end up with two MP40’s on the back wall, especially if I end up with SPS.
Another shout-out to my amazing assistant who’s found me a local supplier of rock from Okinawa (photos from the supplier, they’re not the greatest). I’ll also be getting some mud for the bottom layer of the refugium that she’s sourced. She’s learned a lot of about aquariums in the past 6 months, haha!
More updates after the 8th!
@Janci you’re right, the sump tray is slightly smaller than the dimensions of the stand so it will fit. The sump tray is ready and installed, but the sump came from the factory about 10cm taller than it should have been, so it won’t fit. They’ve already corrected it and the new installation date for everything in this Saturday, the 8th! I had some friends and staff over yesterday to install everything (it was supposed to be the big day) but no luck because of the sump problem. That being said it’s a great design. Here’s a shot of it in the tray at Blue Harbor Aquarium before being delivered to me, where it was designed by the owner, Koji. Thanks, Koji! If you live in Japan and need custom aquarium work done, Koji is the guy you want to talk to. He works with the majority of public aquariums in Japan, as well, and he’s spoken at a lot of MACNA events as well.
It has a ~50x50cm refugium, which I’m excited about. While the sump does have space for 6 filter socks, I don’t use skimmers and usually don’t use mechanical filtration, so this will be predominantly used for T. Maxima clams as natural filters, and also probably turtlegrass. I’ll install a 40x40x20cm tray inside of the section, with a ~16cm deep sand bed, then plant the grass and put in the clams. I have a few medium to large maxima and noae clams ready to go in there (a ~15cm noae, an ~16cm blue and black maxima, and a ~25cm green maxima). Here’s one of the maximas that’s currently living in my other sump:
The noae on the right and the big green maxima in the bottom left are also going in the sump of the ELOS when it’s ready, they’re too big for my Red Sea:
I plumbed and painted the returns, also:
These are the Accel Aquatics eductors, I’m hoping they work well. My plan continues to be using two Vectra L2’s on gyre anti-synch to create an alternating current, boosted by the eductors. We’ll see how it works out. I’m hoping not to need any additional water flow, but I’ll probably end up with two MP40’s on the back wall, especially if I end up with SPS.
Another shout-out to my amazing assistant who’s found me a local supplier of rock from Okinawa (photos from the supplier, they’re not the greatest). I’ll also be getting some mud for the bottom layer of the refugium that she’s sourced. She’s learned a lot of about aquariums in the past 6 months, haha!
More updates after the 8th!
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MartinM
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I’ve made a lot of progress but no time for updates! One thing I’d like to say though is I don’t recommend purchasing ELOS anymore. As confirmed by some local fish stores, the quality has gone downhill a lot. The panels on the stand have warped and they stand was not constructed to support the panels correctly and extra work had to be done to even get the system to look decent or for the panels to magnetically attach correctly. For a $12,000 Aquarium, it’s not any higher quality than a red sea system that cost half the price. Of course you get the unique rimless design, but the stand quality and even The quality of the silicone leave something to be desired. I don’t feel it is like the quality that ELOS had from 10 years ago. I’d probably buy the tank again simply because I love large rimless glass Aquarium’s and the ELOS overflow, but I definitely would not buy the stand again.
oh, also found out Okinawa rock isn’t legally collected and have gone with Aussie rock from Koji.
oh, also found out Okinawa rock isn’t legally collected and have gone with Aussie rock from Koji.
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MartinM
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So lots of progress, but no updates, so here’s what’s happened!
Sump installation and plumbing
As I’ve mentioned previously, the sump was custom made by Koji at Blue Harbor Aquariums, designed to handle the high flow rates I’m putting through it with dual Vectra L2’s as well as to house my ‘clam filter’ in the middle (aka lots of clams!) and chaeto growing on the sides. Koji did an awesome job not only building the sump, but also strategizing and implementing the plumbing.
The sump sits inside of a custom sump trade, also designed and made by Koji & team.
Box for the in-sump DSB and clams!
Koji & team on the plumbing:
Plumbing partway done ^
Leak test!
A leak test showed that the water in the aquarium was uncomfortably high due to the high flow volume, especially given the fact that Japan has frequent earthquakes. So, time to modify the overflows to lower the water level. This required removing the full glass piece used to build the overflows and inserting a new custom acrylic piece. A multi-day job by Koji and team:
Time for operation!
Just a few days ago, some additional staff and myself installed and organized all the equipment. Right side:
Left Side:
Each side has the main overflow, an emergency overflow, and a return. Everything is monitored by the HYDROS computer. I have a hard plumbed ATO to a physical float switch that handles the full water pressure. If the physical float switch should fail, there’s a water level detector that will turn off the solenoid. There’s also a leak detector in the sump tray which will do the same thing, and of course everything alerts me. I set up an emergency bypass on iOS that will alert me even if my phone is on silent or Do Not Disturb mode. The flow rate on the hard plumbing is also very low, it would take hours to overflow the sump and probably at least a day to overflow the sump tray. Myself or staff monitors the aquarium more frequently than that, so I think I’m good to go here. I have a whole-house water filtration system, but the ATO water also goes through the Waterdrop filter as shown in the photo. In all my 25+ years of marine aquariums, I’ve never used RO water. Currently I use NSW + this system for topping off.
The stand panels have two layers of sound absorbing material on them, and the back of the stand is a cut-to-fit PVC sheet to serve as both a mounting surface and to hold two additional sheets of sound absorbing material that are glued to the back. The tank is also sitting on another custom PVC sheet that serves as an additional mounting surface (good idea, thanks Koji!).
The top interior perimeter of the stand is lined with LEDs to illuminate the stand and make it easier to work in there!
Critters!
pardon the bad photos, tank isn’t really ready to be shown off yet but there’s some fun stuff in there:
The chaeto got moved to the two dedicated growing areas yesterday, I was waiting for the lights. More photos to come of that soon.
What’s next:
Lighting:
I’ve yet to install the 2x Giesemann Spectra 250w halides + 4x24” T5 fixtures. I’m having a custom rail made to suspend them from, that should be ready next week, and I’m also waiting on the second fixture to arrive from Germany. Hopefully one goes up on July 2nd.
Automatic feeding:
A mini fridge is on the way, it will be drilled and connected to a third dosing pump for automatic liquid food dosing
Flow:
I have great flow with the two L2’s and quad returns with eductors, but I’d like to randomize it a bit more. I’ll be installing an MP40 on the back middle of the tank to see If I like it. I don’t have much experience with the Vortech pumps, as I typically design systems to not require in-tank pumps, but I want to give it a go.
Livestock:
some fish and SPS incoming!
Sump installation and plumbing
As I’ve mentioned previously, the sump was custom made by Koji at Blue Harbor Aquariums, designed to handle the high flow rates I’m putting through it with dual Vectra L2’s as well as to house my ‘clam filter’ in the middle (aka lots of clams!) and chaeto growing on the sides. Koji did an awesome job not only building the sump, but also strategizing and implementing the plumbing.
The sump sits inside of a custom sump trade, also designed and made by Koji & team.
Box for the in-sump DSB and clams!
Koji & team on the plumbing:
Plumbing partway done ^
Leak test!
A leak test showed that the water in the aquarium was uncomfortably high due to the high flow volume, especially given the fact that Japan has frequent earthquakes. So, time to modify the overflows to lower the water level. This required removing the full glass piece used to build the overflows and inserting a new custom acrylic piece. A multi-day job by Koji and team:
Time for operation!
Just a few days ago, some additional staff and myself installed and organized all the equipment. Right side:
Left Side:
Each side has the main overflow, an emergency overflow, and a return. Everything is monitored by the HYDROS computer. I have a hard plumbed ATO to a physical float switch that handles the full water pressure. If the physical float switch should fail, there’s a water level detector that will turn off the solenoid. There’s also a leak detector in the sump tray which will do the same thing, and of course everything alerts me. I set up an emergency bypass on iOS that will alert me even if my phone is on silent or Do Not Disturb mode. The flow rate on the hard plumbing is also very low, it would take hours to overflow the sump and probably at least a day to overflow the sump tray. Myself or staff monitors the aquarium more frequently than that, so I think I’m good to go here. I have a whole-house water filtration system, but the ATO water also goes through the Waterdrop filter as shown in the photo. In all my 25+ years of marine aquariums, I’ve never used RO water. Currently I use NSW + this system for topping off.
The stand panels have two layers of sound absorbing material on them, and the back of the stand is a cut-to-fit PVC sheet to serve as both a mounting surface and to hold two additional sheets of sound absorbing material that are glued to the back. The tank is also sitting on another custom PVC sheet that serves as an additional mounting surface (good idea, thanks Koji!).
The top interior perimeter of the stand is lined with LEDs to illuminate the stand and make it easier to work in there!
Critters!
pardon the bad photos, tank isn’t really ready to be shown off yet but there’s some fun stuff in there:
The chaeto got moved to the two dedicated growing areas yesterday, I was waiting for the lights. More photos to come of that soon.
What’s next:
Lighting:
I’ve yet to install the 2x Giesemann Spectra 250w halides + 4x24” T5 fixtures. I’m having a custom rail made to suspend them from, that should be ready next week, and I’m also waiting on the second fixture to arrive from Germany. Hopefully one goes up on July 2nd.
Automatic feeding:
A mini fridge is on the way, it will be drilled and connected to a third dosing pump for automatic liquid food dosing
Flow:
I have great flow with the two L2’s and quad returns with eductors, but I’d like to randomize it a bit more. I’ll be installing an MP40 on the back middle of the tank to see If I like it. I don’t have much experience with the Vortech pumps, as I typically design systems to not require in-tank pumps, but I want to give it a go.
Livestock:
some fish and SPS incoming!
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MartinM
Valuable Member
Some very bad cell phone photos taken right after I finally found a spot for the coral that arrived today, and got the Spectras hung up (glass isn’t even cleaned). I’m going to be swapping the 2x250w Spectras for 2x400w. While I’m getting ~250ish PAR on every SPS, I prefer ~400ish, especially since there are some clams lower down only getting in the ~270’s now, which just isn’t enough for them.
The mag’s have lost some color after 3 months in QT, hopefully that will return over time.
I was doing a test so half the tank is 14k white, half the tank is more the 20k look. I definitely prefer the whiter look and the better color rendering that brings, so I’ll be using 2x400w 14k Ushio bulbs when the new ballasts arrive (have to import them, no 400w electronic halide ballasts in Japan…). I have LEDs, T5s, and now halides going on my systems, and while all have their use cases for sure, I forgot how amazing crisp white halides look. Nothing artificial mimics the sun on a reef better, IMO. My Red Sea has LEDs and they work great for that system, but I much prefer the halides for this build.
I have a few fish in QT also, but none in the tank yet! I actually set this tank up for a mappa puffer, and after a few (lot) of hours online coral shopping, somehow, it’s a reef tank. Since I have a small yellow mappa puffer in QT, if it ends up wanting to snack on everything, I’ll move it all to my other systems.
More/better photos coming soon!
The mag’s have lost some color after 3 months in QT, hopefully that will return over time.
I was doing a test so half the tank is 14k white, half the tank is more the 20k look. I definitely prefer the whiter look and the better color rendering that brings, so I’ll be using 2x400w 14k Ushio bulbs when the new ballasts arrive (have to import them, no 400w electronic halide ballasts in Japan…). I have LEDs, T5s, and now halides going on my systems, and while all have their use cases for sure, I forgot how amazing crisp white halides look. Nothing artificial mimics the sun on a reef better, IMO. My Red Sea has LEDs and they work great for that system, but I much prefer the halides for this build.
I have a few fish in QT also, but none in the tank yet! I actually set this tank up for a mappa puffer, and after a few (lot) of hours online coral shopping, somehow, it’s a reef tank. Since I have a small yellow mappa puffer in QT, if it ends up wanting to snack on everything, I’ll move it all to my other systems.
More/better photos coming soon!
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