H3dgehog's Rimless SPS - Giant Flatform!

[Neill.w]

 

 

Can I pinch a few of those photos for my site?

[Sk8n Reefer]

Looking good- off to a great start ?

[h3dgehog]

 

You can indeed!

Can I pinch a few of those photos for my site?

[h3dgehog]

My sacrificial birds nest seems to be fine over the course of two weeks so I decided to drop in the main crew. I did notice that my birds nest one day had ZERO polyp extension. I quickly found out that when starting my vodka dosing regimen, it quickly stripped away nutrients. A dose of coral frenzy and some fuel turned that around. Notice the brown coloration on the SPS.... the LEDs just didn't cut it and the amount of shading led to slight browning. Hopefully the halides will turn that around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here is a quick full tank shot with the new sps slowly acclimating to the metal halides after being under LEDs for a few months. Got frustrated with photoshop so here is is with a slight tilt...

 

Current inhabitants include sunburst anthias, yellow coris wrasse, tri-color fairy wrasse and a blue chromis. I had a diamond goby but he decided that life underwater wasn't for him and decided to go on a land trip (RIP).

[h3dgehog]

Will hopefully get this in the tank somewhere by next weekend... To gorgeous to just drop into tank without further monitoring of SPS health... 8" in diameter approximately!

 

[Rehype]

Looks awesome so far man! Where did you get the beautiful live rock?

[h3dgehog]

Looks awesome so far man! Where did you get the beautiful live rock?

I got them from Tampa Bay Saltwater. Highly recommended. Got them for my first tank and now the Elos. Youll get some minor pests but theyre managable in my opinion.

[h3dgehog]

Finally took some time to take some pictures of my skimmer's performance so far. After a few adjustments, I finally got it to skim fairly dry. Could be drier though!

[

[dpoltsdsu]

SPS is looking good, when this grows out a bit more, it's going to be looking great!

[marko]

those are some nice big acros. that red dragon... cant wait for mine to bush up like that - too bad every month i end up knocking a branch off by accident as i bump into it.

 

ive always been a fan of wet skimming. more consistent IMO, every time i tried skimming dry it would skim dry at first, and then towards the end of the week sorta stop as gunk build up in the neck.

[h3dgehog]

SPS is looking good, when this grows out a bit more, it's going to be looking great!

 

This is the problem I have... I need more patience so the pieces grow out instead of jamming in more SPS mini colonies...

those are some nice big acros. that red dragon... cant wait for mine to bush up like that - too bad every month i end up knocking a branch off by accident as i bump into it.

 

ive always been a fan of wet skimming. more consistent IMO, every time i tried skimming dry it would skim dry at first, and then towards the end of the week sorta stop as gunk build up in the neck.

 

Yeah the RD is definitely the most fragile sps I've encountered thus far...

 

I think instead of aiming for a wet/dry skimmate, I'm going to try and dial it in so I only need to dump the cup once/twice a week.

[h3dgehog]

It's been a while since I posted a more fulsome picture of my set up so I figured today is a good day to do it... I just fed the tank with some coral food so hope you guys don't mind all the particulates in the water~

 

Full Tank Shots

 

 

Favorite Fish (nicest looking but the least active...)

 

SPS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fattest BoP You'll Find...

I just placed an order for two Reef Brite XHO strips to make some of the coral colors pop more and to lengthen the viewing period by ~3 hours. Also, I am proud to say that my tank will be an APEX controlled system! This upcoming week should be fairly busy and exciting!

[h3dgehog]

One of the two MP10s just died on me... Having paid good money for it, I'm not too happy that it's having issues less than 6mos in operations... Not to mention the other "good one" has some dry side issues...

Gahhhh~~~

[marko]

i hear ecotech is good about customer service. if you bought it new id talk to em. if you bought it used, they may or may not help you.

what dry side issues? is it loud? mine was loud and grinding (and now my other mp10 is), and i looked up how to open it and replace the bearings for it - one was definitely bad, you could roll it and feel like little bumps while the other was totally smooth. now its dead silent again. the one thing is get a maybe friend. it took me and my roommate both tugging hard on the bearing and the shaft to get it off - and thats after it was in the freezer for a while as recommended to make it easier.

[h3dgehog]

i hear ecotech is good about customer service. if you bought it new id talk to em. if you bought it used, they may or may not help you.

what dry side issues? is it loud? mine was loud and grinding (and now my other mp10 is), and i looked up how to open it and replace the bearings for it - one was definitely bad, you could roll it and feel like little bumps while the other was totally smooth. now its dead silent again. the one thing is get a maybe friend. it took me and my roommate both tugging hard on the bearing and the shaft to get it off - and thats after it was in the freezer for a while as recommended to make it easier.

 

I do not doubt that Ecotech has good customer service, it's just annoying really but that can happen with any product. I have two MP10s running in my tank that I have bought new.

 

One of them had this issue where if I used pulsing mode at the highest setting, the dry side would decouple every time. Customer service said that they would send me a dry side and today I got a wet side in the mail... The second MP10 died on me last night where I changed it to NTM at the highest setting and then it decoupled and the driver started flashing green/red. I turned it off and back on and with the dry side in hand, I felt a big jerk and the motor would die right after.

 

Now I have one dead MP10, one MP10 that may die on me any moment and a brand new wet side... I just hope customer service will expedite two dry side replacements given that the first attempt failed when they shipped the wrong part. We shall see.

[h3dgehog]

I contacted Ecotech and they were very helpful in getting me the correct replacement parts. Through this whole ordeal, I've realized that it was a good decision to keep two MP10s. If not for the added flow for my sps, having two MP10s gives me some wiggle room in case one of them goes bad, as it did...

 

In other news... I decided to return my Apex Gold, now Classic after the whole ordeal with Neptune trying to dump an older product without informing consumers. As someone new to aquarium controllers, the experience was enough for me to distrust their customer service. Now my tank will be controlled via Profilux. I just placed the order through their USA distribution site. Can't wait to get it in!

[jbb]

I contacted Ecotech and they were very helpful in getting me the correct replacement parts. Through this whole ordeal, I've realized that it was a good decision to keep two MP10s. If not for the added flow for my sps, having two MP10s gives me some wiggle room in case one of them goes bad, as it did...

 

In other news... I decided to return my Apex Gold, now Classic after the whole ordeal with Neptune trying to dump an older product without informing consumers. As someone new to aquarium controllers, the experience was enough for me to distrust their customer service. Now my tank will be controlled via Profilux. I just placed the order through their USA distribution site. Can't wait to get it in!

 

might want to cancel that or see if they will give you the 15% discount that they are running at aquarium specialty this weekend

[h3dgehog]

 

might want to cancel that or see if they will give you the 15% discount that they are running at aquarium specialty this weekend

 

Don't worry, I've been in talks with Vinny over at GHL USA this week and was informed about the discount prior to my purchase.

[jbb]

 

Don't worry, I've been in talks with Vinny over at GHL USA this week and was informed about the discount prior to my purchase.

Awesome, just wanted to make sure that you were aware of it.

[h3dgehog]

For those wondering about my dosing container situation... I'm using these cube-like storage containers I found at Target (most likely used to store cereals or snacks). I just drilled a hole to fit the dosing line and another tiny hole to prevent vacuuming. Here's a quick snapshot.

So I was busy over the Memorial day weekend and have been pushing my water change. Finally I decided last night that if my params tests poorly, I would do a water change. Everything but phosphates were in line; my phosphate was reading 0.3-0.34 on my Hanna meter. So I quickly did a water change and in the process also replaced my phosguard media in the TLF reactor. Then I turn on my return pump and the rest of the equipment and when I came back in the room after dumping the tank water down the drain, I noticed ALL my SPS are irritated and stressed. I figured it was because of a temperature swing and just slept it off. I wake up this morning and my SPS are still pissy and my favorite blue/green tenuis was showing signs of necrosis on the bottom stalks! I had to go to work but did a quick test on phosphates and it was now at 0.00! My guess at this point was that phosphates reduced too fast too much.

Fast forward 24 hours since my Phosphate reducing fiasco. This is the only coral that showed the only REALLY noticeable damage. My guess is that it's position in the tank makes it the first piece to get hit when the return pump turns on. The return hose is pointed to the center front of the tank and this piece is point blank in that water path... Note to self... BE VERY CAREFUL USING PHOSPHATE REMOVER AND ALWAYS CHECK TEMP AND ALK LEVEL OF NEW SALTWATER!!!!!

All I can say is that this sucks... I think my Bird of Paradise frag does a good job in giving you guys an idea of how I feel right now.

Right when my newer fresh SPS were starting to encrust and show promising growth... I just hope they make it through this whole ordeal!

But on the bright side... some of the other SPS pieces "SEEM" okay... But I guess time will only tell.

On a different note, I'd like to introduce the newest and last member of the tank.

And of course the star fish (see what I did there? ) has to have its photo taken!

[h3dgehog]

So I was looking at the photos I posted above and was scratching my head as to why they are so blurry given that the focus distance is fairly short. I checked my lens to make sure that there weren't any fingerprint smudges. And to my surprise, I am apparently an idiot. I had my Raynox DCR 250 macro lens converter clipped WITHOUT the actual lens converter, just the housing... :hammer:

So here are some shots I took WITH the macro lens attachment!

[h3dgehog]

New controller finally got here! There goes whatever free time I had this weekend...

I really love the idea of spray painting the controller white to match the doser. GHL should take note and have options for a white version; can't imagine it's too difficult to have the manufacturers use a white coating for the housing.

[xcom]

Beautiful tank by the way!

 

How do you like the Midi? I used to have an Elos Mini and I hate the micro bubbles issue I'm wondering if you are still experiencing it with this newer model. I totally feel you on the L shape return, it looks ridiculous to me.... It also looks like you order a "freshwater" version that doesn't come with the sump. Did they come with the gray plastic tubing for the quiet drain or you have to purchase it separately?

 

Thank you!!!

[h3dgehog]

Beautiful tank by the way!

 

How do you like the Midi? I used to have an Elos Mini and I hate the micro bubbles issue I'm wondering if you are still experiencing it with this newer model. I totally feel you on the L shape return, it looks ridiculous to me.... It also looks like you order a "freshwater" version that doesn't come with the sump. Did they come with the gray plastic tubing for the quiet drain or you have to purchase it separately?

 

Thank you!!!

 

Thank you for the compliment! I also received your PM about the Elos Diamond, but I'll answer some of your questions here in greater detail so that other potential Elos Diamond owners can better understand the system and its quirks.

 

First of all, I purchased just the tank and stand, which comes with all the soft plumbing materials you need for the most part (Elos Europe actually read one of my posts stating how I stupidly cut my ribbed drain hose too short and they sent me two additional pieces for free, no questions asked). I purchased only the tank and stand because I knew that I wanted to customize my sump and equipment options under the tank. Having had the older Midi a few years back with the Elos sump, I knew I didn't want to deal with some of the odd space limiting factors of the Elos sump.I also didn't want a dedicated ATO reservoir as part of the sump. Given the tank is already small, I wanted to maximize actual saltwater content for optimal water parameter stability.

 

Now onto some lessons learned...

• In order to achieve optimal silence from the quiet drain... there are a few elements that need to come together. First, you need to allow some slime to form on the ribbed hose as this will help the higher volume of water rushing down to the sump with ease. Second, you need to provide some bend in the ribbed drain hose instead of having it plumbed straight down. This is to allow more water to remain in the hard drain in the overflow box and minimizes the water level difference between that in the drain and the overflow box. The higher the water level difference, the more splashing and vise versa. If an S-bend is not an option for you, you can always add a gate valve of some sort to the drain. While people might think that this is a tank overflow waiting to happen, there is an emergency draining mechanism that, if triggered, will increase the overall water volume being drained. Obviously, use with a bit of caution and brains.
• A higher GPH return pump has it's quirks... while a higher GPH pump allows for more circulation in the display, it is also the case for the sump. At least for me, this meant little detritus in the sump settling down. However, the higher water flow means that there will be quiet a bit of turbulence in the drain. Imagine... a firehose shooting water into a bucket vs a garden hose... This translates into bubbles and quiet a bit of it. You can reduce ALL of this noise by submerging the drain under the water. However, this does not stop all the bubbles from being dumped into the sump, pupping and creating a salty mist. One work around is to incorporate a cover for your drain section. There are plenty of custom sump designs out there that people can reference.
• There are no micro bubbles in the display tank as a result of the Quiet Drain mechanism. If you are experiencing micro bubbles in the display, this will most likely be caused by poor sump design relative to skimmer placement in said sump.
• Not all four sides of the tank on the Elos Midi (might be different for bigger models) are made of the diamond glass. While this was a non-issue for me given my original tank placement against a wall, I recently re-located the tank to the kitchen/living room area where it can be viewed on all four sides. Requesting that al four sides be diamond glass, while more expensive, would have been better in hindsight.

 

If anyone has specific questions about the Elos Diamond, feel free to ask! I will try to help as best I can.

 

Cheers~

[h3dgehog]

Personal Life Stuff...

 

Would like to garner the wisdom of those here on this forum, who may or may not have been in a situation similar to what I am going through…

 

I have been dating the same girl I met back in high school. While the earlier and more immature part of our relationship was a bit rocky, we pushed through and even overcame 4 years of long distance through college. I can honestly say that she is my best friend and someone I can see myself with in the long run. That sounds great and all but here’s where things get messy…

 

I was able to start my career in a very lucrative business while my girlfriend wasn’t able to find anything. This resulting in her moving in and living with me for close to a year. Our relationship was tested during that time but we eventually found our “groove”. Fast forward, she finally said enough is enough and moved to a different state/city to pursue her career goals (her ambition is part of what I find attractive in her). So she left our comfy life together and went off on her own; I supported her along the way.

 

Now she has a job and got her “foot in the door” in a career she has always wanted to do. This career she has been pursuing is very locational; in other words, 95% of jobs related to her field are located in this one city. Another important note is that her career pays decently but is cyclical/temporary (e.g. 4-6 month gigs).

 

Given that she is being pigeon holed in a single city due to her career selection, it seems like I have to make the move to said city. While there are jobs related to what I do in that city, the odds are against me. If her career forced her to be on the west coast, mine would push me to the east coast. So here is what I’m dealing with right now…

1. Over time, my job certainty at my current company is being reduced. There is a good chance I will have to make a move in 6-12 moths.
2. While there are plenty of generic jobs to apply for in my girlfriend’s city, most of those jobs would essentially mean a significant pay cut and derailing my lucrative career.
3. There are other jobs in other cities that makes the most sense for me. Similar type of work, promotion, lucrative pay.

So what would you guys do in my situation? Wait till I find the perfect job in my girlfriend’s city? Take a new/better job in a different city? Take a pay cut and derail my career by accepting a generic job in my girlfriend’s city? These are very specific questions but if I had to boil it down to a generic one, it’d be… for those in serious relationships or already married, how did you decide which person in the relationship would make the career move to satisfy geographical preferences?