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Lawdawg":21u0dmbr said:
Me too.
Me too.
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Ended up with a major algae outbreak after the xenia crash. Between the urchin and five large mexican turbo snails I added it's all gone now. I hate having large snails in a tank this size, but I have to honestly say they did a phenomenal job. Water parameters all look good, algae is gone, and everything left in the tank is looking great... will start restocking this coming week.
(...and as an aside, the snails came with a large (4"+) snail-eating predatory flatworm who, fortunately, was easy to capture and remove before he could do any damage. But what is it with all these predatory & parasitic hitch hikers these days? I've dealt with more in this tank over the past eight months than I have in all the years I had my older tanks set up.)
Changed the flow around in the tank. Disconnected the vortech mp-10 (which had been running on it's absolute lowest setting) and have turned the adjustable Sicce return pump in the sump all the way up (~300 gph). After running the vortech this past half year I've come to believe it's just a bit too much for this tank. Be a different story if I was keeping SPS, but as it is it's just been overkill.
(...and as an aside, the snails came with a large (4"+) snail-eating predatory flatworm who, fortunately, was easy to capture and remove before he could do any damage. But what is it with all these predatory & parasitic hitch hikers these days? I've dealt with more in this tank over the past eight months than I have in all the years I had my older tanks set up.)
Changed the flow around in the tank. Disconnected the vortech mp-10 (which had been running on it's absolute lowest setting) and have turned the adjustable Sicce return pump in the sump all the way up (~300 gph). After running the vortech this past half year I've come to believe it's just a bit too much for this tank. Be a different story if I was keeping SPS, but as it is it's just been overkill.
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cjdevito":ap1oqqd3 said:
Signs of the impending Zombie Apocalypse?
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Could be. But I draw the line at Zombie Mantis Shrimp.
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Overdue update with plenty of pics.
Been restocking over the past month and have things pretty much settled again. Before I get to the pics here's the rundown on what's in the tank...
Corals:
Green hammer
Orange hammer
Yellowtip torch (predates xenia crash)
Green frogspawn
White bubble coral
A few ricordea (predates xenia crash)
Sympodium (predates xenia crash)
Green clove polyps (predates xenia crash)
Cespitularia (predates xenia crash)
Red mushrooms (predates xenia crash)
a small duncan frag (predates xenia crash)
Colt coral
Most of the above was around before the crash, but the new additions I think you'll agree pretty much completely change the look and character of the tank.
Inverts:
5 sexy shrimp (predates xenia crash)
10 astrea snails (predates xenia crash)
5 mexican turbos
1 money cowrie
1 pistol shrimp that came in as a hitchhiker (predates xenia crash)
2 scarlet & 2 blueleg hermits
Fish:
Hifin goby (predates xenia crash)
2 ORA tiger gobies (predates xenia crash)
3 trimma rubromaculatus
Water parameters have been back under control for some time and the algae that showed up after the xenia meltdown is all gone. Interestingly enough, since the removal of all the other xeniids the remaining cespitularia and sympodium have both taken off. Only negative in the tank I'm going to have to address soon is that flatworms have been popping up in increasing numbers; you may see some in the photos, although so far they only congregate on the rockwork.
On the hardware side of things, I think I've mentioned previously that I picked up Elos' add-on fixture for their LED E-lite (another 18w of royal blue LEDs) and as well that I removed my MP10.
Anyway, without further ado, the pics:
Been restocking over the past month and have things pretty much settled again. Before I get to the pics here's the rundown on what's in the tank...
Corals:
Green hammer
Orange hammer
Yellowtip torch (predates xenia crash)
Green frogspawn
White bubble coral
A few ricordea (predates xenia crash)
Sympodium (predates xenia crash)
Green clove polyps (predates xenia crash)
Cespitularia (predates xenia crash)
Red mushrooms (predates xenia crash)
a small duncan frag (predates xenia crash)
Colt coral
Most of the above was around before the crash, but the new additions I think you'll agree pretty much completely change the look and character of the tank.
Inverts:
5 sexy shrimp (predates xenia crash)
10 astrea snails (predates xenia crash)
5 mexican turbos
1 money cowrie
1 pistol shrimp that came in as a hitchhiker (predates xenia crash)
2 scarlet & 2 blueleg hermits
Fish:
Hifin goby (predates xenia crash)
2 ORA tiger gobies (predates xenia crash)
3 trimma rubromaculatus
Water parameters have been back under control for some time and the algae that showed up after the xenia meltdown is all gone. Interestingly enough, since the removal of all the other xeniids the remaining cespitularia and sympodium have both taken off. Only negative in the tank I'm going to have to address soon is that flatworms have been popping up in increasing numbers; you may see some in the photos, although so far they only congregate on the rockwork.
On the hardware side of things, I think I've mentioned previously that I picked up Elos' add-on fixture for their LED E-lite (another 18w of royal blue LEDs) and as well that I removed my MP10.
Anyway, without further ado, the pics:
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Looking really, really good CJ. I like that Colt a lot actually. Come to think of it, all the corals you've selected bring something different, which works really well, even though it's a small tank.
Those additional LEDs are pretty sweet as well. Nice that they look as stylish as the normal Elos stuff, rather than being the sort of glaring addition you'd have if you'd had to go non-Elos for supplemental lighting.
Those additional LEDs are pretty sweet as well. Nice that they look as stylish as the normal Elos stuff, rather than being the sort of glaring addition you'd have if you'd had to go non-Elos for supplemental lighting.
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Thanks Tom. I just have to figure out places on the rockwork for the bit of cespitularia and the duncan that are on the sand, then I'll pretty much be set.
I love colts. I think they're the most underrated coral in the hobby. Wonderful texture, shape and movement, easiest coral out there husbandry wise, fast grower, help clean the water... just unfortunately brown. Still, I personally find having a bit of brown in the tank only increases the contrast with more vividly colored corals making them stand out even more.
The Elos add-on LEDs I'm very pleased with. Overpriced as hell, but they do look good and I'm satisfied with the color rendition between them and the original fixture.
I love colts. I think they're the most underrated coral in the hobby. Wonderful texture, shape and movement, easiest coral out there husbandry wise, fast grower, help clean the water... just unfortunately brown. Still, I personally find having a bit of brown in the tank only increases the contrast with more vividly colored corals making them stand out even more.
The Elos add-on LEDs I'm very pleased with. Overpriced as hell, but they do look good and I'm satisfied with the color rendition between them and the original fixture.
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Nice, really really nice 
Hello, I spent some time today reading the entire thread. Found you on a Google search of Elos Mini and it was well worth the read. I have been without a tank for 5 years going through a move and job change. Started a few days ago trying to catching up with things in the Nano world. My last adventure was with a 75G which was fun but I don't have the room now and would like to keep things a bit simpler which drew me to the Elos and a few other AIO's.
I'm aware of your ups and downs with the contents of the tank but wanted to ask about the overall condition of the Elos. Has the tank, stand, and hardware held up to your expectations? The age old question - if you started over today would you spend the $ on it or are there new innovations I haven't found that are worthy of consideration? I also assume you would consider skipping some of the Xenias? Don't mean anything negative but I've had them crash unexpectedly too and they do make a mess.
Any other suggestions or comments would be welcome. Thanks for keeping your posts going for so long. It was a little like a mystery novel wondering what critters were the "thief's and murderers"
I'm aware of your ups and downs with the contents of the tank but wanted to ask about the overall condition of the Elos. Has the tank, stand, and hardware held up to your expectations? The age old question - if you started over today would you spend the $ on it or are there new innovations I haven't found that are worthy of consideration? I also assume you would consider skipping some of the Xenias? Don't mean anything negative but I've had them crash unexpectedly too and they do make a mess.
Any other suggestions or comments would be welcome. Thanks for keeping your posts going for so long. It was a little like a mystery novel wondering what critters were the "thief's and murderers"
flyboy1943":2aibz1ik said:
Well, the thing about Elos is you're paying for the aesthetic, and paying top dollar for it. The quality of the components is high, but no higher really than you can get elsewhere for less money. It's just a question of do you love the look, and if so do you love it enough to pay for it? Otherwise you can look at alternatives like ADA or Mr Aqua for the tank/stand, aqua illuminations LEDs for the lights, etc etc.
That said the only piece of elos equipment on the tank that I wasn't happy with was the Elos NS100 skimmer the Mini comes with. Every other elos component has performed at least as well as if not better than expected, and a year into this tank nothing has failed or malfunctioned in any way.
I did remove the vortech MP10 I had running on the tank, but not because I don't think it's a great product. But for what I'm keeping, in a tank with these dimensions, even the lowest setting on that pump was really overkill.
I'd be more cautious about including so varied and large a biomass of xeniids in a small tank, but that's probably about it. Based on how much my cespitularia and sympodium have perked up now that all the other xeniids are gone I do wonder how much chemical warfare might have been going on between them. Which is an interesting line of speculation - to me at least - because as far as I know the only chemical agent thus far documented in xenia has to do with suppressing the calcification rates of nearby stony corals.
The elos tanks are gorgeous, no two ways about it. But they aren't inherently "better" than many other options out there, and it really does come down to how much you like the look.
Got a few more trimma rubromaculatus over the weekend, up to five now. These guys are awesomesauce and I'm a bit surprised trimma in general aren't more popular with the small tank crowd. T. rubromaculatus is particularly nice in that it's an active hoverer rather than a percher, provided the current isn't too strong for them.
Also added a chelidonura varians seaslug in the hopes that it'll tackle the flatworms that have been multiplying. If it does I'll pass it along to someone else locally afterwards. I'm trying to stay away from using any of the chemical anti-flatworm products on the market, hence the slug. If it doesn't work I may re-evaluate.
Otherwise things are humming away just fine. I need to photograph the cespitularia again... the bit that's mounted to a tiny piece of rubble and just sitting on my sand bed decided to grow a foot with has since become a 1.5" flat, mat-like sheet over the sandbed that's now sprouting a ton of baby polyps. Interesting behaviour, considering how a sandbed stops most xenia from spreading.
Also added a chelidonura varians seaslug in the hopes that it'll tackle the flatworms that have been multiplying. If it does I'll pass it along to someone else locally afterwards. I'm trying to stay away from using any of the chemical anti-flatworm products on the market, hence the slug. If it doesn't work I may re-evaluate.
Otherwise things are humming away just fine. I need to photograph the cespitularia again... the bit that's mounted to a tiny piece of rubble and just sitting on my sand bed decided to grow a foot with has since become a 1.5" flat, mat-like sheet over the sandbed that's now sprouting a ton of baby polyps. Interesting behaviour, considering how a sandbed stops most xenia from spreading.
Took some additional pics of the cespitularia to show the mat it's forming over the sandbed. For reference, take a look a few posts up to the photos taken of it on may 28th a few weeks back. You can see the very beginning of this growth in those shots. Now compare it to these....
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Need to update the cespitularia shots again. By last weekend the spreading mat had reached the front glass and grown an inch up it. Meanwhile, the main body of the mat continued to grow off to the right and simultaneously was now right up against the orange hammer. For lack of any better ideas I ended up rearranging things, moving the orange hammer into the rockwork and putting in a small rock on the sand for the cespitularia to attach to.
As I think I posted earlier my elos ATO has started to malfunction. It has reverted to the factory-shipped default of pumping water for 20 seconds when the float switch is depressed, which is too much for the tank. I had previously set it to pump for only five seconds at a time but the hardware has ceased allowing itself to be programmed. Before it malfunctions any more spectacularly I'm replacing it, and have just ordered the Tunze Osmolator to replace it. I like that the tunze model has both a too low sensor and a too high sensor rather than being set to customizable pump times... and I plan to use the kalkwasser dosing unit tunze makes for use in conjunction with the Osmolator. It's a passive dosing system so the kalkwasser is fairly dilute, but I expect it will meet the calcium demands of this tank without any trouble.
As I think I posted earlier my elos ATO has started to malfunction. It has reverted to the factory-shipped default of pumping water for 20 seconds when the float switch is depressed, which is too much for the tank. I had previously set it to pump for only five seconds at a time but the hardware has ceased allowing itself to be programmed. Before it malfunctions any more spectacularly I'm replacing it, and have just ordered the Tunze Osmolator to replace it. I like that the tunze model has both a too low sensor and a too high sensor rather than being set to customizable pump times... and I plan to use the kalkwasser dosing unit tunze makes for use in conjunction with the Osmolator. It's a passive dosing system so the kalkwasser is fairly dilute, but I expect it will meet the calcium demands of this tank without any trouble.
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