Tosiek's Elos Mini

[tosiek]

FTS 10/7/12

Finally did a final redo of the rockwork and placed coral.

Tanks going great, all parameters stable. About to do a 5g WC tomorrow.

Tank Specs:

• Elos Mini Display + stand
• Stock Elos sump and Elos PS200 Skimmer
• Elos Osmocontroller (top off)
• MP 10w
• AI Vega Color + AI new controller
• MR1 Shorty Carbon/GFO
• Currently Seneye, ordered an Apex Aquacontroller Jr. to replace.

Current Livestock:

~Fish~

• Pseudochromis Fridmani *Guisy*
• Pygmy Angel (blue w/ Yellow Face) *Carl*
• Sixline Wrasse *Six*

*My wife named all the fish, so as per her orders I added the names =)

~Coral~

• Pink Birdsnest
• Monti Setosa frag
• Various Chalices
• Green/Red Acan
• Various Zoa's/Paly's
• Daisy Polyps/Green Clove Polyps
• Orange Center Ricordea Yuma

History of changes:

9/12/12 - Tank Started Cycle
9/23/12 - Added Pygmy Angel + zoa/ricordea frags
9/29/12 - Added Added few coral frags, zoa, chalices.
10/6/12 - Added Fridmani, Sixline Wrasse, Pink Birdsnest, chalice.

Background:

So I finally the found time and the manpower to remove the 200g behemoth out of my apartment this week. Its been empty for a good 2 months in the room just because summer has been so busy (and I was being lazy). I've gotto say its been nice not having to worry about a fishtank but I started missing it.

I repainted the walls behind the tank, cleaned up and the first thing that my wife says to me is "The new tank is going to look so good here". The first thing I was expecting her to say was something along the lines of "oh there so much storage space now" or "wow the room looks so much bigger now without the tank". No, she's more excited about the tank which is a little bizarre.

We planned on downsizing to a 20g tank for the apartment and my wife really liked the Elos Mini. I've got to say though, I didn't realize how much space there really was in the room until the tank disappeared. I'm almost more excited about having extra storage space than I am with the new tank. Having both really is a huge plus in the small brooklyn apartments though. The apt has been very quiet and a little boring without the tank though.

We went to pick up the Elos Mini at the Elos Aquastudio store this weekend so I can plan the cabinetry I need to build for storage in the next few weeks. I was looking around for a small dresser to save myself some energy making one but couldn't find anything nice that wasn't stupidly overpriced. The other furniture in the room is custom made by me in walnut and modern so matching is a pain. I did see some really nice South American/Brazilian designs that have been circulating lately so I might just mix and match some designs from them and make something really cool. My workers will be happy because its going to be different than the usual "make a box and place doors/drawers" design.

So, I now have two projects:

• Get an awesome Elos Mini setup done
• Make an awesome dresser next to the tank

I unpacked the tank last night, its really nice having a pretty much setup tank that you just need to assemble. My past 4 tanks have been pretty much completely DIY so its a nice breath of fresh air getting everything in one package for the most part.

Random Tank Pics:

 

[KathyC]

lol, love the write up Good to have you back in the hobby Tony..not that you were gone for long

Looking forward to seeing how you change the door on the stand and the dresser build too.

I also agree that is kinda odd about how the tank sits on the stand, did you ask at the store if anyone has had any issues with that design?

 

[sillysidewinder]

Hey Tony,

Thanks for sending me the link to your thread. I'm excited to see what you do with this tank. Make sure you take plenty of photos of the rock work assembly, (I'm interested to know how it's done).

Will that 25 gallons of caribsea water need the same amount of time to cycle as you would by mixing your own?

 

[tosiek]

Picked up some LR and sand today and set up a temporary return pump till the Sicce pumps come in.

So,...... I am officially CYCLING! sooo excited .... and tank cycling officially sucks. Theres nothing worse than having a toy and not being able to play with it and fill it with colorful stuff. I'll get pics tomorrow of the tank filled with water although the rock is kinda haphazardly placed optop of each other.

I spoke with 2 people that have a mini that spoke with someone from elos saying its the way the tank is planned and there shouldn't be any worries about the tank failing.

The caribsea water is nothing more than ocean water. It says it contains bacteria but I doubt anything is actually alive inside. It shouldn't speed up the cycle process. The only reason I got it is because I didn't want to make 20g of water.

Interestingly enough the tank is only 18g with the sump + a few quarts even though the tank is stated to be approx 20g. The display is 16.5 gallons + the 2-3 gallons in the sump. Anyone looking for a 20g display take this into consideration. I started filling it and after going through 3 5g containers the tank started draining water into the sump. Caught me a little off guard.

One of the big things I heard when I seen the mini's were that they were too small. If they upsized the tank to a true 20g display and increased the size that extra inch or so this tank would be so much easier to work with. The spacing inside the stand and the tank itself is a little tight once you start working with it.

No big deal really but something I noticed. The tank is a fun little tank to have in the house and nothing beats the streamlining in design.

 

[Awibrandy]

Can't wait to see what you do with it!

 

[tosiek]

Got a shipment in today that covered the bulk of the toys I bought for the tank. One of them was the MR1 shorty reactor that fits perfectly under the stand.



I also got a 150w jager heater that doesn't fit in the sump. Going to put it temporarily in the tank until I find something that does. If anyone has any recommendations for a small nano heater I'm all ears.

And my Seneye got here as well. Sadly I can't do anything with it since there's a cable/Internet shortage in the area so I can't set it up or do anything except soak the slide. Hopefully tomorrow

My AI vega fixture should arrive weds/Thursday or next week. Can't wait to install that. Not having a light over the tank makes aquascaping a hassle so I stopped playing with the rockwork until they come in. Here is the current aquascape from the 3 sides, not too bad for a first try. I'll play around more next week since I'm
Not 100% happy with it.







Hope all the attachments work. Using my iPhone to reply with reefs.

 

[akma]

Check out the hydor heater. Those fit in the mini perfect

 

[tosiek]

Thanks Akma. Going to look into it

 

[tosiek]

The tank went through its ammonia spike over the weekend and now I'm getting an increase on nitrates. Thought it was a good time to look at reefcleaners.org to hire a clean up crew. John was shipping orders out weds and thought it was time to get something into the tank and slowly ramp up the bio filter in the tank. So, I have a bunch of ceriths, some nassarius, a few nerites and hermits on the way come Thursday.

I've also been slowly looking around at coral and fish to put into the tank, I still have some time. Being limited to about 4-5 fish in the tank I want those 4-5 fish to be on the rarer side and/or super bright and colorful.

So, if you had a small nano and had 5 fish to choose without limit to put in that fit the tank what would they be?

 

[prattreef]

A small reef basslet of some kind for sure. Obviously a candy basslet would be ideal, but I know you aren't going to pay that much so I would look at other Lioprpoma species like L. mowbrayi, L. multilineatum, or L. swalesi.

 

[tosiek]

I was looking at the swalesi as a definate. Just need to find a healthy one. What are candy basslets going for? 600+? thats crazy

 

[guarda]

I just picked up one of these for my 26 Gallon. Very small. I think you'll like it.

 

[tosiek]

Thanks for the info Guarda but I picked up the 100w Hydor Theo heater for the tank. Those new heaters are super expensive, a little too long for the mini, and can't lay them sideways. The Theo fit perfectly standing up in the sump in one of the compartments.

Started playing and setting up my seneye controller and website this past week. Its a nice little toy to read the basics in the tank and the website for all the information is great when im at work. IF theres a problem I get a text message and I can check to see how the tanks doing from work. It's all great until I found out I had a problem. After putting in my heater and setting the heater temp control I realized that the seneye was reading my temp wrong. Checked with my hanna temp meter and it was low by almost 2 degrees. My PH was off as well by .2. So, I calibrated the Seneye to and will just have to recalibrate when I add a new slide and check it every once in a while. Going to send an email to Seneye to see what they say about it. It might just be the slide im using this month.

I got my cleaner package in on Thursday from reefcleaners.org. John is great to deal with and everything shipped perfectly. Bunch of dwarf ceriths, ceriths, nerites, nassarius, and a bunch of hermits are now running around like crazy in the tank. So far with the extra waste everything is stable.

My AI Vega Color came in friday, I was amazed at the packaging as well as the quality of everything. Spent a little time today working on a bracket to hang the light horizontally over the tank. 3/4" aluminum bent did the trick along with some cutting of the stock mounting brackets from AI.

Im surprised that they didn't have something stock to hang the lights this way over the tank. They only have them set up for front to back mounting.

Playing with the controller now trying to set up my light cycle. Its amazing the customizability of these lights. Im used to light cycle just turning on and off the actinics and MH's, now I get to play with 6 different LED colors to get the light I want in the tank at different times of the day. Ramp up cycles, ect. All completely wireless, so I don't need an extra controller inside my stand wired to the lights. I just have to find a space where I can keep it plugged in and be able to grab it easily. The only downside to the controller is that there isn't a PC based program linking the controller. Would make things a little easier.

Also, I finished the blue panel for the door this week. Picked up some gloss post catalyzed blue paint and buffed it to a high gloss finish.

Color is a little too light for the room but it works for now. Going to get a better color that works with the room and respray another door in a few weeks when I have some time.

The next thing should be reaquascaping the tank the right way and cleaning up all the cords, ect in the tank. Then adding some livestock soon.

 

[tosiek]

Picked up some goodies for the tank the past few days. Bought a few different zoa's that my wife liked a lot, some neon green center clove polyps, and got two ricordea yuma's for the tank. The Yuma's are incredible, one is a purple/pink yuma and the other is an orange center yuma. We also got a small pygmy angel for the tank. I'll get pics later tonight unless I find enough time to finally aquascape better.

Also ran into a small heat problem with the new pumps for the return and skimmer that I recieved monday. Skimmer seems to be running hot and I need to cool the tank down. Sadly that means I need to ventilate the stand and increase evap which im not too happy with or remove the skimmer which I'm also not happy with. I'm currently replacing about 2 gallons of water every 5 days.

 

[tosiek]

Updated first post and added a full tank shot.

Taking pics tonight/tomorrow and gonna start uploading soon. Heres a pic of the baby wild caught fridmani we got over the weekend.

 

[tunicata]

Hey Tony,
Awesome! I didn't know you were getting a smaller tank.
Congrats!

 

[Tonyscoots84]

looking good T...

 

[E.intheC]

How about some updates? Tank looked good back in October!

 

[ReefMonkey13]

Nice looking tank . . any updates?

How is the AI Vega doing with this tanks?

Thanks for sharing