My Elos Midi 36g SPS dominated

[migas_01]

Hello fellow reefers,
In this post I will share with you my new tank build and evolution of this nano reef.
The tank is not new it is my 2 year old Elos Midi 36g system that I love.
It was previously a LPS and softies tank that was actually developing quite nicely but I wanted to change...
I had decided that I wanted to do a SPS dominated nano.

Here is a photo of the last build:



Now the new build:

As stated the tank it´s a standard Elos Midi with sump 400 and the Elos PS200 protein skimmer.
I started the reef with led lightning but recently went back to T5 6x24w ATI Sunpower fixture.
For additional water circulation I started with a Vortech MP10 ES and have recently ordered two Tunze nanostream 6025.
The tank has a shallow sand bed about 1.5 to 2 centimeters deep and the layout was made out of Aquaroche ceramic rocks.

I use a mixture of Prodibio products to maintain No3 and Po4 in check with a few other KZ additives.
I`m also using 1,5 liters of Elos Filtra 1 material ( similar media to syporax ) and active carbon passively in the Elos sump chambers.
I do weekly 10% to 15% water changes with RO\DI water and Tropic Marin Pro reef salt.

I wanted to keep the layout simple.
A center island not too high that I would cover with SPS corals in order to give form and color to it.
Like that there would still be a lot of places to place a small rock of zoanthus or a particular LPS if I wish to.

Here is a photo of the layout:



I filled the tank with previously mixed salt water and added Prodibio Start Up to start the bacteria colonization process.
A few days later I introduced the first couple of Zoa frags. I know these are not SPS but I was planing to add them anyway so they went first.

Later on the first fishes:
a pair of Nemateleotris decora were the fist fish added to the tank followed by a small centropyge bispinosa and centropyge loriculus a week later.

[pbryandrums]

Slick setup!

[terrypercula]

Very clean! You might get moved to the reef discussion forum by the monitors though. Ha you're tank is too big for us nano folk

[migas_01]

Originally Posted by terrypercula

Very clean! You might get moved to the reef discussion forum by the monitors though. Ha you're tank is too big for us nano folk

I was actually wondering if this was the right place to start the post...
I hope the monitors move it to the right place

[migas_01]

Continued stoking the tank with some more frags:



Everything was looking good until I came from vacation.
I had a good friend of mine watching my tank during the summer holidays.
He accidentally had been putting the RO\DI waste water as my top up during the 11 days I was away.
The tank was green and some corals browned a little.

I did a larger water change than usual followed by another generous one a couple days layer and continued as planed.
I also introduced Flatworm Stop to my system as a preventive treatment.
The results I saw were incredible the corals had gained a deeper coloration after a week and seemed to be recovering very well.
Then I decided to increase the dose to 3 x de recommended dosage. I had read at the zeovit forum that it could be used that way to boost coral recovery.
Keept seeing excellent results for some time but suddenly I started to see algae on my rocks.
The problem is that this was not regular algae it was a brown purplish hairy type of algae = Nasty stuff!



Tested No3 and Po4 and they were almost undetectable

Po4 - 0.02 (hanna cheker)
No3 - < 1 (Elos test kit)

Tried to find a natural solution. I wanted a Dolabella sea hare but couldn`t find one.
My snails would not touch it and my one spot fox face had stopped eating it!

So after a lot of reading I decided to treat my live rock outside the tank with h2o2.
Poured regular h2o2 3% you can find at the supermarket in a spray bottle, placed the live rock on a table and sprayed it without mercy!
Let it sat there for 5 - 10 minutes and placed the rocks in a bucket with aquarium water and a powerhead to dilute as much as possible the h2o2 before placing the rock back and rearrange the layout again.
With the help of a friend I also changed all plugs from the frags.

Algae was almost gone after the first 12 hours and the one that didn`t died in the next few days.
My fish and snails showed more appetite for the algae after spraying it with h2o2.
My only loss during this process was one cleaner shrimp. I had two and only one died.
Corals and fish look unaffected and are with their normal behavior.

Meanwhile I stopped dosing Flatworm Stop because as I stated before I had been overdosing it for about 2 or 3 weeks.
I also started dosing h2o2 in the tank directly to try and prevent the reappearing of the algae.
I`m dosing the standard 1ml for 10g of tank water daily for 7 days. I´m currently at day 5 and everything looks quite normal not many visible changes beside better water clarity and less film algae on the glass.

Tested No3 and Po4:

Po4 0.00
No3 < 1

This is a photo of the tank taken a couple days ago still under the h2o2 dosing.



Corals are on the sand because I changed recently back to T5 lighting after having started this tank build with Leds.
I still think this is probably the better option for SPS corals at the moment.

I will be placing the corals in place and bring some more updates soon.

[ESJ]

I'm glad you've gotten your algae problem under control! Can you post a picture of your sump set-up and what kind of filtration you have in it?

[migas_01]

Originally Posted by ESJ

I'm glad you've gotten your algae problem under control! Can you post a picture of your sump set-up and what kind of filtration you have in it?

Hi,
my sump is quite boring actually. No fancy equipment to show besides the Elos PS200 Skimmer.
I have 1.5 liters of Elos Filtra 1 in the left front chamber of the sump for bacteria colonization and a bag of active carbon in the front right chamber.

[diciple]

i like keep. us posted on your progress

[ESJ]

I have the midi too. I tried the Filtra M because I was hoping it would help get rid of the algae on my sand bed. It didn't help so I took it out. Zeolites are great at removing ammonia but I think it removes good things too.

Do you find your overflow makes a loud gurgling sound and creates micro-bubbles? Mine did before i modified it.

[migas_01]

Hi ESJ,

Yes, my midi did some gurgling sound also.
I placed a valve on the drain tube that comes down from the overflow and closed it a little until the gurgling noise stops. This has to be done slowly to avoid flooding your place
Anyway it works, mine is now dead silent!

[migas_01]

Meanwhile another 20 liter water change is being prepared for tomorrow as today is my last day dosing h2o2 in the tank as it completes the 7 day treatment.

Everything looking good...

[migas_01]

Originally Posted by migas_01

Hi ESJ,

Yes, my midi did some gurgling sound also.
I placed a valve on the drain tube that comes down from the overflow and closed it a little until the gurgling noise stops. This has to be done slowly to avoid flooding your place
Anyway it works, mine is now dead silent!

Here is a photo of the valve I was talking about:






ESV what did you do to yours to reduce the noise?

[terrypercula]

Originally Posted by migas_01

Meanwhile another 20 liter water change is being prepared for tomorrow as today is my last day dosing h2o2 in the tank as it completes the 7 day treatment.

Everything looking good...

Prepare for hate mail about the livestock.

[ESJ]

I used an old credit card to create a baffle over the overflow hole. The black plate in front hides it pretty well.

I tried to turn my Sicce pump down to stop the noise, but that didn't work. I also like a lot of flow through my sump, so I really didn't want to turn the pump down anyway.

This baffle works great. Before I put it on, I could hear the gurgling noise through two rooms, down a hall, and in my bedroom. It was so loud it kept me up at night.

[migas_01]

Originally Posted by ESJ

I used an old credit card to create a baffle over the overflow hole. The black plate in front hides it pretty well.

I tried to turn my Sicce pump down to stop the noise, but that didn't work. I also like a lot of flow through my sump, so I really didn't want to turn the pump down anyway.

This baffle works great. Before I put it on, I could hear the gurgling noise through two rooms, down a hall, and in my bedroom. It was so loud it kept me up at night.

Hi ESJ
I also used to use that method with the card before I placed the valve. It also works pretty well!

Do you run your return pump at max power ?
How far is your water level from the top of the glass panel ?

[migas_01]

Most of these corals were under leds for quite some time just recently I changed to T5 again.
During that period I also overdosed flatworm stop x 3 the recommended dosage!

My Po4 is 0.00 in Hanna meter
and No3 is < 1 Elos test kit

From the photos what do you think ?
I`m confused some corals look like they could need more food and others are so brown it looks my test results are showing me false readings.

[ganjero]

The first pics is amazing, the new corals are looking good. Try to move up higher the brown ones and see how the react.

[ESJ]

I have my pump running full speed. The water is 1" below the top of the glass (1/4" above the Elos logo).

Mine's been running for only about 6 months. I have slight green algae on my rocks and some long strands of hair algae on my sand. The algae on the sand is hardly noticeable, but it's still annoys me. I run GFO and I carbon dose. I recently bought some SPS coral frags and they've browned out. I had them shipped so they were pretty stressed. Hopefully they'll color up with time. I have the Elos Aquatop, but it's not running very high right now because I don't want to burn the corals.

I'm a newb with SPS corals so I'm not the best person to ask. I'm in the same boat as you. I think your corals look pretty good though. I read where SPS do better with T5's so I would give your corals some time to adjust.

Right now I'm dosing ZeoStart, Zeobac, Coral Vitalizer, and Elos Amino Acids. I read that zeolites can suck out all your Potassium - which is VERY important for SPS. Since you run Filtra M, you could be low on Potassium.

[Clamagore]

Originally Posted by migas_01

Hi ESJ,

Yes, my midi did some gurgling sound also.
I placed a valve on the drain tube that comes down from the overflow and closed it a little until the gurgling noise stops. This has to be done slowly to avoid flooding your place
Anyway it works, mine is now dead silent!

Very nice looking setup!

I’m new to the aquarium world having just put my Elos System 70 together yesterday, but are you sure you want to put a ball valve there? With the handle in that position, what size object could pass through the valve relative to the size of the overflow? Between the possibility of critters and biological fouling, that looks risky without a secondary drain.

[migas_01]

Originally Posted by Clamagore

Very nice looking setup!

I’m new to the aquarium world having just put my Elos System 70 together yesterday, but are you sure you want to put a ball valve there? With the handle in that position, what size object could pass through the valve relative to the size of the overflow? Between the possibility of critters and biological fouling, that looks risky without a secondary drain.

I know what you mean but, if you look at the elos overflow there is that black plastic panel in front of the overflow intake right. you would have to find something really small to pass through those small openings. and if its that small it should also pass through the valve. The valve is prety much half way closed.
But yes there is some risk!

[migas_01]

Originally Posted by ESJ

I have my pump running full speed. The water is 1" below the top of the glass (1/4" above the Elos logo).

Mine's been running for only about 6 months. I have slight green algae on my rocks and some long strands of hair algae on my sand. The algae on the sand is hardly noticeable, but it's still annoys me. I run GFO and I carbon dose. I recently bought some SPS coral frags and they've browned out. I had them shipped so they were pretty stressed. Hopefully they'll color up with time. I have the Elos Aquatop, but it's not running very high right now because I don't want to burn the corals.

I'm a newb with SPS corals so I'm not the best person to ask. I'm in the same boat as you. I think your corals look pretty good though. I read where SPS do better with T5's so I would give your corals some time to adjust.

Right now I'm dosing ZeoStart, Zeobac, Coral Vitalizer, and Elos Amino Acids. I read that zeolites can suck out all your Potassium - which is VERY important for SPS. Since you run Filtra M, you could be low on Potassium.

Yes its better if you start your leds with low intensity they are quite strong.
I started my Vertex Illumina SR200 with Whites at 40 %blues 60 %royal blues %65 and went up slowly from there.

Regarding potassium my parameters are ok tested 390 so its within range.

But I think you´re right, about giving them some time under the new T5 and see how they react.
I`ve just placed more or less in place today, I`m not sure if I`m happy with the final product but I will give them some time now.

[migas_01]

Sorry guys, but I was away for 4 days and when I returned I got sick for a week with a pain in the ... virus
Anyway the tank is recovering well.
Corals went through a bit of darkening after so many changes and seem to be recovering well.

I also received my new protein skimmer last friday.
Its an ATB Mini Mikro that I ordered from Anton from ATB in Austria.
He kindly made me the taller version of the Mini Mikro skimmer as I had requested for my tank.

I started the skimmer this morning and its breaking in... let me tell you I already tested many skimmers through my reefing years.
Aqua Medic, ATI, Deltec, Royal Exclusive, Nyos, Elos and now ATB.

The quality is very good as one should expect from ATB.
You look at the skimmer and you know almost everything is hand made and thought through.
The special thing about this skimmer is that it is mixture of wooden air stones and a bubble plates. It has 2 separate pumps one for the water that enters the skimmer and an air pump for air entering the skimmer.

Here is a quick pic of the skimmer this morning before setting it up.


[IMG][/IMG]

Will post more pics as soon it breaks in.

[moondoggy4]

Nice setup, I haven't seen that ATB skimmer. Looks like it will work great.

[migas_01]

Originally Posted by moondoggy4

Nice setup, I haven't seen that ATB skimmer. Looks like it will work great.

Hi mondoggy4,

I think the skimmer came out early this year there is some info on it at ************:

http://************.com/2013/01/14/a...mikro-skimmer/

Mine has the longer body for a longer contact time as I am going full zeovit now.

So far I´m loving it.
Its already breaking in will post more pics tomorrow.

[migas_01]

the link above seems not to be working. Maybe it is not alowed

Its a pity because there is little info on this particular model and it just looks great for small systems like mine.