Matt's Elos 120xl

[Mattres]

Sounds good so far! I am almost in the same spot as you, just sitting a few steps behind. I went and bought my light, sand, rock, water, powerheads, upgraded the return pump, upgraded the media baskets (AIO Tank), and bought a reactor and was ready to get the tank wet, but forgot the simplest thing, the heater.. So my tank should be getting wet soon.

Also, once you're done I would really love to see your wire management and the bottom of your stand in general.

Haha I forgot my heater initially to. There's heaps to think about when setting up a new tank! lol
Do you have a journal? I'll have to check your tank out.

Yea no worries. Still have a bit of work to happen in that area, just waiting until I have everything installed to tidy it up. But I might get a "before" pic haha

I have a new macro lens on the way which I'm pretty excited about, just need something in the tank to take photos of! Haha

 

[pelphrey]

Beautiful setup! Following along!

 

[Mattres]

Beautiful setup! Following along!

Thank you I had a look through your journal and your tanks looking great! I'll have to visit your YouTube channel. Wanna check out the motion sensor light vid as I need something like that.

 

[pelphrey]

Thank you I had a look through your journal and your tanks looking great! I'll have to visit your YouTube channel. Wanna check out the motion sensor light vid as I need something like that.

Thank you!!! That light works out great for me. I bought two and install one at a time, I keep the other light charged up. I don't spend a lot of time in the sump area so a full charge will last me a few weeks. If you plan to spend a lot of time in the cabinet you may want to look at a different option.

 

[jporter17]

I installed a spears gate valve today on the overflow into the sump. Can't believe how quiet it is now. You can see the gate valve in the middle of the red pvc. Get this done and you will be amazed.

 

[Mattres]

I installed a spears gate valve today on the overflow into the sump. Can't believe how quiet it is now. You can see the gate valve in the middle of the red pvc. Get this done and you will be amazed.

That looks mint man!
Glad to hear it helped a lot with the noise.
I definitely at some point want to put a gate valve in. I have my tank running what i would call silent now but I'm scared to play with the return pump settings and the crappy ball valve as it can take hours to find the sweet spot. What size gate valve did you use?
How much flow do you think your running through the overflow at the moment?
Keen to see more of your tank to!

 

[Jerel]

Just like you.. I acquired a macro lens, 105mm and i can't wait till i have something in my tank worth capturing.

 

[Mattres]

Just like you.. I acquired a macro lens, 105mm and i can't wait till i have something in my tank worth capturing.

Nice! Can't wait to see some photos.
Haha the wait is becoming excruciating.

 

[jporter17]

That looks mint man!
Glad to hear it helped a lot with the noise.
I definitely at some point want to put a gate valve in. I have my tank running what i would call silent now but I'm scared to play with the return pump settings and the crappy ball valve as it can take hours to find the sweet spot. What size gate valve did you use?
How much flow do you think your running through the overflow at the moment?
Keen to see more of your tank to!

The gate valve is 1 1/4'. The RD3 80W return pump is running at 64W. Not sure what the flow is as I don't have a flow meter installed. It's running a good amount through the sump.

 

[Mattres]

The gate valve is 1 1/4'. The RD3 80W return pump is running at 64W. Not sure what the flow is as I don't have a flow meter installed. It's running a good amount through the sump.

Thanks for the valve size, I need to figure out where I exactly want to put the valve in my setup.
Yea i reckon that is a good amount of flow. My Elos SF11000 is set at 35% so roughly 3850 lph before head pressure and yours is about 80% of 8000 so 6400 lph before head.
When i get a decent valve I'll play around with the flow and get it up a bit more.

 

[HolisticBear]

I installed a spears gate valve today on the overflow into the sump. Can't believe how quiet it is now. You can see the gate valve in the middle of the red pvc. Get this done and you will be amazed.

This setup is just gorgeous. Well done

 

[Jerel]

Nice! Can't wait to see some photos.
Haha the wait is becoming excruciating.

Ha! You're just waiting for more flow..

I started dosing phytoplankton four days ago and added Algae Barns three species pod mix. The algae reactor will go on-line later this week and a mild CUC will be added to aid the stomatella snails with the diatom cleanup.

Meanwhile... I'm looking for a algae glass cleaner to keep the clarity

 

[Mattres]

Ha! You're just waiting for more flow..

I started dosing phytoplankton four days ago and added Algae Barns three species pod mix. The algae reactor will go on-line later this week and a mild CUC will be added to aid the stomatella snails with the diatom cleanup.

Meanwhile... I'm looking for a algae glass cleaner to keep the clarity

I just heard today I should have it by this week to!

Nice, a few more days and you should have pod city! I really like stomatellas in a tank, as they're out of site during the day. Unlike my turbos that love to congregate on the glass..
Is it just cheato that goes in the reactor?

I'm happy with my Tunze care cleaner. Haven't really used many others though.

 

[Jerel]

I just heard today I should have it by this week to!

Nice, a few more days and you should have pod city! I really like stomatellas in a tank, as they're out of site during the day. Unlike my turbos that love to congregate on the glass..
Is it just cheato that goes in the reactor?

I'm happy with my Tunze care cleaner. Haven't really used many others though.

Fantastic ! So you're going with a single MP40 or more?

I've been debating on adding a second type of algae like Pom Pom Gracilaria but that's it. The reactor does come with supplements of Nitrate/Molybdenum(1 ml raises 100L approximately 0.5ppm N03) to dose nitrates if your system has been exhausted and Iron/Manganese for dosing.

I've had my eyes on that Tunze cleaner as it doesn't trap sand grains to potentially scratch the glass. I think i'll pick one up !

 

[Mattres]

Fantastic ! So you're going with a single MP40 or more?

I've been debating on adding a second type of algae like Pom Pom Gracilaria but that's it. The reactor does come with supplements of Nitrate/Molybdenum(1 ml raises 100L approximately 0.5ppm N03) to dose nitrates if your system has been exhausted and Iron/Manganese for dosing.

I've had my eyes on that Tunze cleaner as it doesn't trap sand grains to potentially scratch the glass. I think i'll pick one up !

Plan is a single MP40 on the right hand side a little forward of centre.
My current MP10 on the left side a little back of centre. (I test fitted the MP10 to make sure it sticks and it does, not sure how high I'll be able to run it though)
And have the bottom return aimed between the rock work. I also plan to increase the return flow a little once I finalize my plumbing.
I'll definelty need to replace the MP10 with a 40 at some point.

Nice, I think the algae reactor will be a more powerful nutrient reducer than a skimmer so I've got a feeling you won't have a nutrient problem! Haha

Yea the tunze does well in that department. I used to have nieces come round and loved cleaning the glass. The old vertex mag cleaner i had was good but unfortunately they liked rocketing it into the sand, inevitably ending up with some small scratches.
Depending on the amount of algae on the glass the tunze will actually scrape or roll off the algae. The fish then go nuts eating it all.

 

[Mattres]

Alright! an Update!
kinda.. haha
The tank has been cycling now for just over 6 weeks and im really happy with how its progressed.
The turbos have done a wonderful job and they even felt comfortable to lay a batch of eggs the other week.
As of today the tank is basically diatom and algae free, the pre-soak of the real reef rock and snails really helped in this regard i believe.

The piece of live rock i added from the mini has worked well to bring in micro fauna. There's copepods showing up on the glass and the amphipods have gone crazy, there's hundreds on the sand bed at night.

Got some good news that the custom MP40 i ordered is on its way and should hopefully have it by the end of the week. Can't remember if i mentioned it but i ordered one with a longer cord from pump to driver. The standard length unfortunately wouldn't reach with the pump mounted on the right side of the tank and the driver mounted on the left on my electrical box.
Once i've got that installed i can finally move over the stock from the mini.

I have got some concerns with moving things over. First with the zoanthids but mostly the hundreds of vermatid snails that have taken hold over the last 6 months.
I recently had an acro completely grown over by zoas so im very hesitant to introduce them, at least onto the main rockwork. I've thought about a small zoa island but not sure I'll be happy with the placement. I may keep a small frag of my fire/ice zoas and bin the rest.
I say bin as it will be extremely hard to remove the hundreds of vermitds that cover the rock and some corals. I plan on taking just the coral across and any small piece of rock that comes with them will be painstakingly looked over for any of the little buggers.

And cant have an update without some photos! (also just realised how dirty the lens is.. ;Facepalm)

 

[HolisticBear]

The new system is gorgeous.

I wondered about fenbendazole for your snails, but it doesn't appear the latest people have had luck in the R2R thread. There is probably no harm in running a treatment or a few if you were inclined on the small system.

I used it for hydroids and it worked wonders. The pure formula doesn't appear to affect snails, the original source version (for dogs) seemed to wipe out snails (likely due to other ingredients). Just throwing that out there as an option.

https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/214950/

 

[choss]

I love how clean this build it. Really beautiful tank. I love the Giesemann fixture. Looks like it was made for this tank!

 

[Mattres]

The new system is gorgeous.

I wondered about fenbendazole for your snails, but it doesn't appear the latest people have had luck in the R2R thread. There is probably no harm in running a treatment or a few if you were inclined on the small system.

I used it for hydroids and it worked wonders. The pure formula doesn't appear to affect snails, the original source version (for dogs) seemed to wipe out snails (likely due to other ingredients). Just throwing that out there as an option.

https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/214950/

Thank you!
I had never heard of using fenbendazole before, only people trying to use natural predators with little to no luck.
Thanks for the information I'm definitely going to look into it. And thanks for the link! Tonight's reading!

I love how clean this build it. Really beautiful tank. I love the Giesemann fixture. Looks like it was made for this tank!

Thanks mate!
Most of the credit has to go to Elos and Giesemann for their gorgeous products.
I really like the elos for the small discreet overflow. I like having no background to which I believe makes the tank a little more open.
The Spectra is just such a nice fixture and it does fit like a glove with the elos. I don't know what year the Spectra was released but it hasn't aged one bit. One thing I do have to do with the Spectra is get some weight into the front of the fixture, the power cords slightly pull it down and tilts the fixture up a touch.

 

[choss]

I'm just starting my build and you will see we have at least one thing in common besides good taste! Anyway, will be following this build closely. Really excellent start so far!