SPS Love Elos 160xl

[familiar1985]

I started a 100gal acrylic mixed reef focused more so on SPS a few years ago. Being my first saltwater tank I learned a lot and made many beginner mistakes.
Through out the progress of my previous tank I was planning an Elos 160xl upgrade at my new house. Unfortunately everything took much longer then expected so the implementation of the Elos was delayed a few years, until now! The Elos has been started from scratch as I really let my previous 100gal go unattended. I was not living at the location were it was setup and was extremely busy with work. It was overrun with algae and only had a few fish as survivors, 1 copper band and 3 Ocellaris black clowns. I decided not re use anything from the previous tank including live rock.

The goal for the Elos 160xl is minimal aquascaping and a bare bottom with high flow to provide rapid nutrient export.

New Setup:

Tank - Elos 160xl, 63" x 31.5 x 23.6", 200 gal

Sump - Custom Acrylic 40" x 24" x 20", 80 gal

Refugium - Custom Acrylic 36" x 24" x 20", 70 gal

Frag Tank - Custom Acrylic 36" x 24" x 12", 40 gal


Water Movement:

Return and aux/backup - two Lifeguard aquatics Aquatics Quite One 4000 (1,000gph). One pump is used as the return. Other is used to supply the reactors, frag tank and is plumbed as a backup incase main return fails.

Closed Loop - Custom Elos closed loop, two 3/4" inlets and a 3/4" outlet, powered by an Ecotech Vectra M1 (2,000gph).

Powerheads - 1 Vortech MP40wes w upgrade to quitdrive (3200gph), 1 Vortech MP40wqd (4500gph), 1 Tunze 6095 (2500gph), 2 Rossmont MX4100 (4100gph each). Power heads will be moved around and may change over time depending on the flow desired.

Filtration - Bubble King Supermarin 250, 40lbs Ceramic bonsai trees in Display, Two MarinePure Ceramic Bio Media Blocks 8" x 8" x 4", gallon box of MarinePure Ceramic Bio Media Spheres, 10lbs Miracle Mud (may add more), and Chaeto Macro Algae.

Lighting - Geisemann Spectra, 4 54w T5 HO + two 400w Radium Metal Halides. T5 are dimmable on 2 channels and controllable via Profilux.

Aquarium Computer - Profilux 3 w/ powerbars, expansion box, doser etc..

 

[familiar1985]

Had the tank sitting in my garage for a few years finally was able to get it placed after painting the back black. At this point I didn't have the plumbing done and was far away from addInc water.

 

[familiar1985]

The filtration is placed in a closet sized small room behind the tank. It has a small wall mount ac unit and a fan connected to a dehumidistat controller to vent the room when the humidity is high. I also made metal shelves and had them powder coated and mounted to the walls in order to avoid having legs. Electrical outlets were placed with switches on the side to turn some of them on and off. This is a picture of the room prior to placement of tanks and plumbing etc...

 

[familiar1985]

Starboard was placed on the metal shelves. The Refugium and sump are on the floor, and a frag tank is on the middle shelf. This is a picture from when I first started cycling the tank approx 9/9/16.

 

[familiar1985]

Full tank shot 9/19/16, tank was cycling at this point. Minimal rock aquascape using two ceramic bonsai trees. Installed the lighting fixture with a hanging kit.

 

[phongluc]

How you making those bonsai tree look I am in the process of getting the elos 120xl

 

[phongluc]

I like the clean look you got

 

[familiar1985]

How you making those bonsai tree look I am in the process of getting the elos 120xl

I like the clean look you got

Thank you I appreciate the feedback! I got the ceramic bonsai trees from cerameco they can build them to whatever dimensions and shape you like. I like a fairly open aqua scape. The color kind of stands out but I am hopeful that after a year or so I can get some coralline growth and cover the rest with sps, fingers crossed!

 

[Mattres]

This looks great so far mate!
I've had a very similar path with my Elos120xl, had to wait almost 2 years for our new place to finish being built.
The custom closed loop sounds very interesting to!
Keen to see it progress!

 

[Txdragonslayer]

What light is that?

 

[Txdragonslayer]

What light is that?

Nvm I can see it now :)

 

[chefjpaul]

Great system.
More details!

 

[varela]

Top!

 

[familiar1985]

The under tank cabinet is used for storage mostly. On the left side is where my lighting ballasts are, battery backup, pump controls etc... everything is plugged in to a switchable surge protector to make turning off pumps easy. I normally keep a bucket with some tools as well.

 

[familiar1985]

The vortech controls are all stuck on with velcro to the stand for easy removal and no permanent damage to stand. Unfortunately this wasn't the best picture and a few are crooked.

 

[familiar1985]

Plumbing is ran directly through the back wall. The 1st pic shows what it looks like behind the tank and the 2nd picture shows underneath the tank inside of the cabinet. Was a very tight squeeze to get this plumbed. However, should the tank need to be moved it's very easy to disconnect the plumbing.

 

[Jax5on]

Full tank shot 9/19/16, tank was cycling at this point. Minimal rock aquascape using two ceramic bonsai trees. Installed the lighting fixture with a hanging kit.

You have any updates on this rock? Does it attract algae growth or is it full of coralline and corals now? I am in the process of planning a new tank build and the bonsai look is absolutely what i am looking to have. Also do you have to substitue some kind of live rock or media such as marine pure blocks in your sump for bacteria to populate in? Thanks in advance hope to see some updated pics!