Maxreefer's Elos System120 build....

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Got the skimmer last Saturday and installed it.
Really impressed with the quality and little details. Going to borrow a meter to measure the air intake.
Filled up the reactors with carbon and Zeolites.
Ready to start cycling...:juggle:

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Nice detail is being able to remove the top part for easy cleaning
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Carbon on the left and Zeolites on the right. Will post some more information regarding the Elos Purist Line I am going to run on this tank
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Full shot of the sump
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To start the cycle I used a small piece of fresh fish and a very small amount of skimmate from the frag tank.
Started also dosing the Elos Purist Line products.

I was impressed to see the skimmer in action only being a couple hours installed in the sump.
I didn't expected to see any skimmate as there is almost no bioload. Just sand, rocks
and the piece of fish.

After about 3 hours
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On Saturday (Feb 26th) I started with the Elos Purist Line.
Here is a link to the full article regarding this system: LINK.
What is the purpose of the Purist Line?
A system to feed and improve the entire biomass by reducing nutrients.
  • Improves the activity of the bacterial flora and biological structure.
  • Promotes coral growth and the increased production of bacterioplankton.
  • Allows for low nutrient and high water quality (low levels of PO4-NO3).
  • Stimulates the Natural Pigmentation of Corals

I think to believe it is more popular in Europe as it is here in the US or at least most users don't publish their experiences on forums as many Zeovit users do.
I have been using Zeovit for a couple years on another tank and was very pleased with it but I have been looking for something similar that needs less products and is not as tricky or maintenance intense.
I tried to gather as much information I could and from what I have been reading it seems to be a very solid and straightforward approach to a "low nutrients" system.
I found a couple experienced users on Italian forums and they are willing to follow my journey and help me when needed (Google Translator became my best friend..lol).
I will post my experiences and progress here in this thread on a regular basis.

Here is a short description from the products I am using:

FiltraM: Molecular sieve to maintain a low level of ammonia. The highest quality zeolite, very high in clinoptilotite content.
It can be used in any filter, or inside of an appropriate reactor.
To control ammonia levels.

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Rb10: Nourishing solution for aerobic bacteria. An indispensable primary nourishing source selected from natural raw materials. Formulated in order to supply amino acids and vitamins in a highly bio-available form to CORALS as well as all the biomass (mainly dedicated to autotrophic life).
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Rb20: Selective accelerator of aerobic bacteria. A mixture of microbiotic stocks aimed at establishing an adequate aerobic bacterial colony, fundamental in promoting the process of biological decomposition inside the marine aquarium. Its employment favors the normal metabolic processes of the aquarium.

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Rb30: Balanced pool of enzymes, organic and inorganic nourishing substances. A nourishing enzymatic Complex for all the biomass. It avoids the mono-bacteria cultures, strengthens the already available bacteria, accelerates their reproduction, feeds all the biomass including the corals and helps in the reduction of nutrients (NO3 and PO4).
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Rb40: Enzymatic accelerator for the development anaerobic bacteria. A mixed powder of microorganism and enzymes. Fast acting in the microbial pre-digestion, break down and digestion of polluting organic substances and inorganic substances.
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Rb50: Nourishing solution for anaerobic bacteria. A natural biological activator studied in order to start and to maintain an optimal process of de-nitrification. It takes part directly in the reduction of nutrients (NO3 and PO4). Helps in increasing the production of the bacterioplankton.
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Elos Carbon D 500: Activated carbon, which offers superior adsorption properties. Its dedicated pore size distribution makes it highly suitable for the removal also of odor, organic micro pollutants, dissolved organic substances, as well as chlorine and ozone, playing an important role in achieving extremely low levels of dissolved organics.
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I will follow the instructions from the dosing chart for the first 4-6 weeks to give the products enough time to establish in the tank and to get comfortable with the dosing routine. I am in no rush to add any livestock or corals and will give the tank plenty of time to cycle and mature.
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Here are a few pics from the aquascaping. The camera seems not to capture everything very well. Looks like the rocks are piled up but they are not actually. Tons of open space and caves in there.

Front side:
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Back side:
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A couple days into the cycle:
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Half a day work from the skimmer. Pretty nice doing such a great job having no bioload besides the cycle stuff
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evereything looks excellent!
love your rockwerk, tons of room for corals and fish.
and the light fixture and skimmer look just great.
those new sicce syncra/silence pumps are awesome skimmer pumps.
and you've even started your algae cycle, wich is a great sign that things are good!
 
Last week a had a little outbreak from Bryopsis :squigglemouth:
Bumped up my Mag with a mix of BRS and Tech M.
Levels were at 1350. Used first BRS to get ot to 1500 (cheaper with BRS) and then dosed Tech M to get to 1650 and let it go down to 1550.
The Bryopsis was completely gone in 3 days. Had my Mag around 1550 at that point. Will take it slowly down again when doing water changes.
Still have some algae on the rocks (more like a powder kind). Nothing to worry about I think. Just part of the new setup.

I am not planning to stock the tank for at least a month.
Just transferred 2 "testfrags" from the frag tank (ATI 6 T5'S) to the Elos to see how they adapt under the LED's and tank conditions. Will observe them for a while.

Pics I took today from the "test frags"


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I can't believe I missed all of the updates here!! :eek: Everything looks great!!! Really nicely put together! :peace:
 
I did some PAR readings today with an Apogee MQ200.
The LED's are about 3" above the water level and 9" above the highest LR in the tank.
I kept the Wavebox and the MP40 to keep the "normal" environment in the tank while measuring.
Without those running the numbers should be higher.

FRONT
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BACK
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Think it is time to update my thread again with some color....;)
The tank is doing great. The Elos Purist Line is doing a great job. Even with heavy feeding it keeps the nitrates and phosphates down to 0.

Here are some pics. Stll some issues with the camera and the LED's to get great pictures but you get an idea...



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Thanks Zack (Nanofins)
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Thanks Zack (Nanonfins)
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Taken in the evening under the blue LED's
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Still need to color up more but I really like my little guys
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Still a little camera shy and looks better in real. Thanks SWE
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A few new shots. Pics are taken only 1 hour after I got them into the tank. All picked up from a local reefer....

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Installed some more equipment to make life easier

Besides the RO/DI storage tank (top) I installed a second one for mixing and storing saltwater. Inside the tank there is a heater and a Maxi-jet for flow. Attached also another Maxi-Jet on the faucet connector to pump the water more quickly to the tank when doing water changes.

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The Bubble Magus dosing pump arrived yesterday for dosing 2-part. Now I dose each liquid every 3 hours with the amount needed (You just have to set the total amount needed per DAY and how may times per day you want to dose). Each liquid is dosed at different times.
Tubing is nicely organized into the sump with those handy Avast Marine tubing holders

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View from the couch... Best I can do now. Will take pics from the other side this evening when the room is dark and no reflections.

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Quick shot to show how nice the coralline starts to grow. There was no LR when I started. Just dry rock.
NO pic manipulation. That's the way it looks

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