Elos 160XL set up

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Well another business trip is in my way... so now it looks like the last week in April for water. Sump will be be ready next week, RO/DI water is made, Stand and platform are finished. So... it will be a day to move in the stand from the garage, lift and place the tank, make the connections at the tank and sump and start filling water!

Yahoo! I just have to be patient for two more weeks. Getting hard. I turned my lights on the last couple nights just to sooth my soul. My wife came home last night and gave me a funny look as I was sitting quietly reading... with my empty tank... on the floor... with its lights on.
 
LOL! I hear Yah Mark!!!! You have made it this far and you can make it a few more weeks!

I almost did some short cuts and if I had, I wouldnt have been happy! Good thing my wife was around to set me on the straight and narrow! :D
 
Got Water?

Okay reefers! Major progress yesterday... pics coming in a bit. Gigantic thanks to my friend, Eric of Veralte Aquatics doing this thing 'right'. I will elaborate a bit as I post the pics tonight. The big news??? Water is in the tank! :p
 
Let there be water!

Here are a couple pics after the tank was lifted into place... thanks Rodney, Janet, and Eric. Empty tank and it was a heck of a lift for 4 people. Since there were only four in attendance including my lovely wife, no pics available for this event. Tank is on stand (beautiful welded steel) and coated with Linex (truck bedliner material) Looks awesome! Deck is maple plywood, edge veneered and painted gloss back. Might give you a close up on that later.

Rock work was a blast. We laid out the rock (big arse pieces) on the floor and built the reef on my old rock racks. Worked out perfect! More on the aquascaping in a bit. Notice hose in tank... where is water coming from?
 
And how did the water get in there?

Well, after a bit of jerry rigging (this this a politically correct term?), we managed to pump water from my RO/DI storage tank (not shown but upper left on stand) and auxillary brute container that netted 100gal total. First attempt was my old sump pump but I think the head was too much for the little guy! Next attempt was to use the Iwaki 40 left over from a gaggle of five CL pumps from my previous monstrosity (probably in the tank build archives somewhere). In the background you can get a peek at my new sump/filter that is also in the process of plumbing. As such we needed to run a garden hose up from the fishroom in the basement for fill purposes.
 
DolphinLVR said:
Nice MArk!

Are you going Bare Bottom?
Click to expand...

Nope... I hate BB but I understand the benefits from a tank cleanliness stand point. Personally, I like all the critters that live in the sand from starfish, snails, wrasses, etc. Another feature... the rock racks keep the almost all of the rock just touching in places so you don't get the build up of detritus which is the reason I think most people go BB. I want the full spectrum of the reef which in my mind has to include sand.
 
Rock racks in action!

DolphinLVR said:
I couldnt agree with you more! Thats the same reason i went with a 2 inch sandbed in the DT
Click to expand...

I will have a 2in sandbed except directly under the reef where it will be about 1in or so where the acrylic rock rack bases are sitting. If you look close, you will see the acrylic pegs that support the massive rocks! This will allow flow under almost all of the reef except for a few protrusions into the sand to make it look more natural.
 
Sand bed?

Okay here is the beautiful rare pure white sand that I found on a remote deserted island during my last business trip. It was worth waiting for. Adding it in while filling. The grain size is smaller than I have ever seen. I hope my vortechs don't blow up a storm!
 
DolphinLVR said:
That is some white sand!

You'll have to see about the vortech, I know my Tunzes are moving my sand around, but not a sand storm.
Click to expand...

Okay I have to confess... my recent business trips to the orient have caused me some hallucinations. Actually it is the salt that we dumped in deciding to mix in the DT since the sump isn't fully plumbed. Now it is all gone and it is time to pull out the refractometer!
 
Now... what you should have noticed (Jeff) and (Krish... if you are out there?) is the change in the hose color?
 
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