Red Sea Max 170 AIO

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DukeLeto

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As the old Pointer Sisters song goes, I’m so excited!!! B (yes giving my age away!)

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DukeLeto

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17 frags dipped and placed in quarantine. Just for my records I am naming them. The bottom row was grab bag of miscellaneous corals, the others I was fast enough on the wwc cyber monday event to purchase. Bottom row from R to L: 1-cherry coke micromusa; 2-Cactus Pavonna; 3- Kermit the Frog Leptastreu; 4-Toxic Waste Platy; 5-Radioactive Favia; 6-Lemon Lime Favia; 7-Logan Berry zoa; 8-Pandora zoa; 9-alpha and omega zoa. Top Row 10-ORA Bird of Paradise Birdsnest; 11-Hollywood Stunner Chalice; 12-Forest Fire Digi Montipora; 13-WWC Tasers Zoanthids; 14-Red Death Palythoas; 15-Boogie Nights Blastomussa; 16-Branching Green Star Polyps; 17- Pulsing Xenia. (16 and 17 for fish only tank and quarantine tank).

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Ky_acc

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The only thing I don’t really like with the Max e 170 is that if you don’t go for the sump option there isn’t anyplace for a filter sock. I’m trying this arrangement out with the media tray. I’ve got prefloss and floss in the bottom compartment, some carbon and a little GFO in the middle and some marine pure balls on top. If this set works well I will add some more marine balls and go with it. If you have this type of system please share how you are using the media tray. Thanks.

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this is something I am just realizing with my e170 -why does water flow from bottom to top of the media rack?

interested to hear from anyone else if they are running filter floss in this system somehow.
 

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Hi, I got the InTank media basket for the max e170 (this one) which (seems) to force the flow so that I can have filter floss in the upper compartment. But I agree, it would be nice if there was a way to do some mechanical filtering before the protein skimmer chamber.

@AlessandroB do you by chance have any pictures of this media basket in your e170? Does it force the water to flow into the filter floss tray from the top?
 
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DukeLeto

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this is something I am just realizing with my e170 -why does water flow from bottom to top of the media rack?

interested to hear from anyone else if they are running filter floss in this system somehow.
The first time I placed floss in the filter I had assumed it filled from the top. After looking at the sediment collected it became apparent it filled from the bottom
 
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DukeLeto

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Hi, I got the InTank media basket for the max e170 (this one) which (seems) to force the flow so that I can have filter floss in the upper compartment. But I agree, it would be nice if there was a way to do some mechanical filtering before the protein skimmer chamber.
AlessandroB I did order the rack yesterday. My guess is that the floss container in the top faces on the opposite side from the skimmer. Is that how yours is set up?
 

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AlessandroB I did order the rack yesterday. My guess is that the floss container in the top faces on the opposite side from the skimmer. Is that how yours is set up?

I will be following this thread to see how the upgraded rack works out for you -it looks like it forces water to flow over the top into the filter floss.

Interested to hear your thoughts on it, when it arrives.
 

AlessandroB

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Hi, yes, the flow is from the bottom, and then through the filter floss chamber (which is opposite of the skimmer). I have a marine pure block in the bottom shelf (cut to fit) and a bag of chemi-pure elite in the shelf above. Attaching a (bad) picture.

A9EC17A6-98B6-4F80-98CB-ABD500EBE675.jpeg
 
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Well friends, I took a dive off the deep end today. The purpose of this AIO tank has been to get my wife involved and she is, so today, in preparation for the dream tank, I purchased a Neptune Apex system and the DOS pumps. Yes it is crazy overkill for the Max e 170, but I would rather learn to use it and program it on a small system and know I can depend on it when it gets moved over to a larger one. Merry Christmas everyone!
 
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Hi, yes, the flow is from the bottom, and then through the filter floss chamber (which is opposite of the skimmer). I have a marine pure block in the bottom shelf (cut to fit) and a bag of chemi-pure elite in the shelf above. Attaching a (bad) picture.

A9EC17A6-98B6-4F80-98CB-ABD500EBE675.jpeg
Alessandro, what is the device to the right of your media rack?
 

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Hi, it’s just an HOB filter (the Penn Plax cascade 200) converted to a (poor man) refugium, with the Innovative Marine ChaetoMax light on top. It’s really small, but does fit nicely on the return chamber and I think it helps a little to reduce nitrates with the chaeto macroalgae growing in there.
 
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Hi, it’s just an HOB filter (the Penn Plax cascade 200) converted to a (poor man) refugium, with the Innovative Marine ChaetoMax light on top. It’s really small, but does fit nicely on the return chamber and I think it helps a little to reduce nitrates with the chaeto macroalgae growing in there.
I like it! I've got a tunze ato monitor in that area.
 

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Ok my media rack upgrade is in from inTank. Definetly much sturdier than the stock plastic piece.

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Looking good!

what are your thoughts about how water is flowing through it?

does it seem to make using filter floss a more viable option?
 

AlessandroB

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The side opposite of the skimmer is closed, with the exception of the top chamber, where the floss compartment is, so most of the flow goes through it. The rack does not fit super tight though, so I expect some water will filter on the sides.
 
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Looking good!

what are your thoughts about how water is flowing through it?

does it seem to make using filter floss a more viable option?
Its like Alessandro said. I cut my floss to be a little taller than the top of the compartment for it to try to force as much water through it as possible. Its only been a couple of days but I can see that the floss is picking up stuff.

My marine block came today and I will cut a piece off of it to fit like Alessandro did with his. My tank is bare bottom so I want to get as much space for bacteria to grow as I can.

I am satisfied with the purchase.
 

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Its like Alessandro said. I cut my floss to be a little taller than the top of the compartment for it to try to force as much water through it as possible. Its only been a couple of days but I can see that the floss is picking up stuff.

My marine block came today and I will cut a piece off of it to fit like Alessandro did with his. My tank is bare bottom so I want to get as much space for bacteria to grow as I can.

I am satisfied with the purchase.

so I have been thinking about this some more and here’s what I’m currently testing out.

I am cutting a strip of filter floss and putting it behind the surface skimmer grill, letting the protein skimmer hold it in place.

it seems to drop the water level quite a bit if I push the floss down too far, but hoping this works out as I like the idea of catching stuff before it gets into the rear chamber at all.

Here’s what it looks like:

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so I have been thinking about this some more and here’s what I’m currently testing out.

I am cutting a strip of filter floss and putting it behind the surface skimmer grill, letting the protein skimmer hold it in place.

it seems to drop the water level quite a bit if I push the floss down too far, but hoping this works out as I like the idea of catching stuff before it gets into the rear chamber at all.

I like that idea. I'll try duplicating it tonight and we can compare notes!
 

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I like that idea. I'll try duplicating it tonight and we can compare notes!

That sounds good! if you push the filter floss down too far it quickly drops the water level in the return pump “chamber“

I have found a decent medium where the water level only drops a little, but the filter floss still covers the whole grill.

hoping to see how this works for the next week or so.
 
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I’m starting the new year fighting some ugly tank syndrome. There are some patches of hair algae I will work on removing next water change. I have cut the light back to 40% blue and 0% white for 8 hours a day plus an hour ramp when coming on or going off.

The pink corraline I’m not sure about. There is a pink hue to the rock and the tank is eating about a half ounce of alkalinity solution each day to stay at 9 dkh. However, there is no strong encrusting going on. I’ll give it a little longer but may end up seeding some purple corraline.

Tank parameters stay around 8.5. - 9 dkh. 425-450 Calcium. 1360-1400 Mag. 4-8 Nitrates. .01 to .08 Phosphates, ph 8.1 to 8.3.

Any thought or ideas for improvement please share. Thanks in advance.

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