Aaarrrggg's Elos Mini Build

[Aaarrrggg]

Well SXSW has been and gone and our friends have returned to England... which sucks, but on the plus side, it's time to give my tank some love!

As per Jay-sun's suggestion, I set my rocks up in a plastic Brute trash-can with some water, a pump and a heater... so they've been happy in the interim.

I masked off the tank with some masking tape and bin liners and my hubby braved spraying the back. We used several coats of black and then a couple of clear varnish. Not sure if we needed that or not, but we figured better safe than sorry.



The texture on the back feels a little rough after adding the varnish, but it's certainly not coming off any time soon and from the inside it looks PERFECT! I'm really pleased with how it came out.

OK now the rocks...!



I ordered 15lbs of dry rocks from MarcoRocks.com and they are stunning!



There are so many interesting shapes and little nooks and crannies, a 2D picture really doesn't do them justice. I also picked up 5lbs of nice purple live rock from the LFS. They've all been sitting together in the trash can for a couple of weeks, so here's hoping they have started to seed the dry stuff.

Well time for the sand. I know "Live" sand is a bit of a rip off, but it was the only sort at the LFS with the texture/color I liked, so I figured, what the heck, it's only a little tank after all!



Here comes the water!! Totally forgot to put a plate on top of the sand so it went ...everywhere...

[Aaarrrggg]

While that was settling my hubby had the brilliant idea of getting some Play-Doh to experiment with aquascaping! We dashed to Walmart and bought a load of pink and purple tubs... (Which for some reason the camera has decided to make look red and pink?!) I mushed them together to create some Spongebob style coralline rocks!



Playtime...!!




Once the water cleared up enough to see inside, I added some of the best rocks and started messing with them. They're so light and textured that I could stack them pretty well without glue; which is really handy for experimenting!

I realised that to get the desired affect I'd need the rocks to be smaller... so out came the hammer and chisel! Again these rocks were great, breaking easily in just the right places. (Tip: I found it much easier to control the breaks when the rocks were damp.) I then used some aquarium putty to glue some of the smaller pieces into little arches. I'm afraid I neglected to take pictures of this part, I was just so excited to be making such progress!

[Aaarrrggg]

It took about 3 days of experimenting and slowly gluing my formation together but here's the final scape!

Left ... Front ... Right


I'm a little worried about how the heck I'm going to attach corals to this thing... but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it!

Sorry for the crappy photos so far; I'm having to use my phone until I find the plug for my camera.

[john miller]

That's some impressive rock work.

[duncantse]

I love those rocks! Did you tell them to get you any specific shapes?

[Aaarrrggg]

When I bought them I said:
"My tank is a 20g cube. I'm looking to create the illusion of a larger tank by using smallish rocks. I'd also like a few arches, so anything you think might work for them would be great. In general...make em weird and wonderful please, in various nano shapes & sizes. Thanks!"


I was so pleased with what I received!

[blkg35]

Definitely like the rockwork, it turned out nice.

[jtgordon20]

Wow. Love the rockwork. Looks like a great start.
Can't wait to see more from this. Maybe when you get frags, set them in the sand to acclimate to your light then trim up the frag plug if you can and do some super gel glue, epoxy, more super gel glue to the arches.
If that makes sense.

[Aaarrrggg]

That's the plan, I just hope I can pull it off without breaking everything each time.

I was inspired by MedRed's 60g... I really like how he trims the frag plugs way down.

[Jay-sun]

Very unique scaping. Came out great!
Gonna look great once the u start adding coral

[Aaarrrggg]

Well we're on day 11 of the cycle. I've been liberally adding some bacteria stuff recommended by the LFS (thanks for the tip about "Fishy Business" Jason!)



I've had the ammonia and nitrite spike. Just tested my water again now an it looks like nitrates are ~10ppm. A bio-film has formed on the surface, which looks pretty yucky, but I have my mp10 breaking it up, so I expect it will pass once things settle down in there. The rocks are looking a little bit browner, but nothing too bad, I guess it's because I still don't have a light.



The AI Nano Sol release date has been put back yet again (end of Apr - middle of May) but I heard that it's because AI weren't happy with the design so they've been revamping it at the 11th hour. Looking forward to the end result, although I must admit my patience is wearing a little thin at this point... fed up of holding my iPhone above the water with the flash light on to simulate LEDs!

I've been messing with my sump quite a bit. Broke up my left over LR and stuffed as much as I could in there... if any hitch-hikers survive the hammer and chisel treatment I'll be impressed!



I have the biological unit chamber filled just over half way with LR. Some more at the bottom of the mechanical unit and then even more stuffed in the back chamber where the overflow water comes in.

In an effort to combat the dreaded mirco-bubbles I stuffed the circular blue sponge that came with the system down at the back right by the grey overflow pipe. The bubbles that escape then crash onto the LR in the back chamber, breaking them up even more. Finally I added a strip of filter floss in the central chamber to catch the remainder before they reach the return pump. It seems to be working quite well. There is definitely a reduction in micro-bubbles in the display... although I won't really know for sure how it looks in there until I see it with lights.

I had a little bit of room left over after moving some of my LR rubble into the back chamber, so I thought I'd add some chaeto and a light. I'd intended to get something cheap and cheerful from Home Depot, but for such a small sump that's actually quite a challenge. In the end I went with the NANO-GLO LED from JBJ



It fits perfectly and I like the fact it's an LED, so it's safer than a having conventional bulb in there. The chaeto has only been there for a couple of days, but I swear it's getting bigger already!
One thing I'm a little worried about though is the magnet. Does anyone know if it will mess with the heater and/or thermometer?? I moved them away slightly just in case.

Are far as livestock goes, I'm not sure what to do at this point. I've read that once nitrates are <20ppm it's safe for a CUC... but as I don't really have much for them to eat, I'm hesitant about adding anything. I might leave it a few more days and see what happens.

[Aaarrrggg]

Realized I was wrong; the last post was 15 days into the cycle, not 11! Oh actually I guess it was 29 if you count the rocks being in a bucket for 2 weeks.

Went to the LFS yesterday and resisted buying anything (yay willpower!) I might have been tempted if they had an interesting hermit (halloween or electric blue) but there were only reds, so I can wait.

My plan is to get a bunch of little snails, and a few different hermits. I know some people don't like hermits in their CUC, but I don't mind losing a snail here and there because they're so cool to watch! It's fun getting distinct types, then you can tell them apart and see what shells they end up in.

[Aaarrrggg]

26 days (40 if you count the buckets) in and there's still not much happening in there. I thought even without a light I'd get some sort of algae from the ambient light in the room.

I added a cheap work light + daylight bulb I bought from Home Depot, to try to get something going. It's a very strange feeling wishing for my tank to get dirty! But until I see some dirt, I don't feel comfortable adding a CUC.



You can't see them in the above pic, but I'm still getting some micro-bubbles. I removed the strip of filter floss in the main chamber of the sump because I started to worry about it being a detritus trap. Jesse from Elos mentioned adding some media to the mechanical chamber to slow the bubbles down. So after being inspired by teamschreiba's crystal clear tank I decided to add some Chemi-Pure and Purigen.



I also swapped the skimmer and return pumps around:



Jesse suggested some other things too which I still have to try, but one requires the return pipe to be a lot longer than the instructions originally stated, so I'm kind of worried the boat has sailed on that one.



Oh I also found my first hitch-hiker! A mini apista anemone! It must have come from the small piece of LR I put in the display. I had to laugh though because the stupid thing had moved onto a tiny chip of rock that was on the sand. We just got out the tweezers and threw the whole thing away, rock chip and all! Easiest apista removal ever!

We went to the LFS the other day and I was finally tempted to buy something living... a bottle of Tigger Pods! (Sorry I forgot to take a picture!) I figured it wouldn't hurt to get some established while there's no predators... and now I have something moving to watch. Can anyone think of anything similar that it might be worth me adding now? Are there different sorts of pods? These ones are quite large and red, I was pretty sure the standard ones are white? These ones are fun though, they seem to be having a party on the sand underneath the pump. Go pods!!

[Aaarrrggg]

Whoa, I just flipped my chaeto over and now there are LOADS of tiny white pods on the glass!! I can't work out if they're a different spieces, or baby tigger pods? Either way, the tank is now teeming with the lil' chaps!

[Johnny C]

I love the vision for this tank- the steps you are taking will make a major difference in the long-term success of the aquarium. Subscribed!

[Aaarrrggg]

Yay thanks!

It's definitely easier to be patient the 2nd time round... although I have moments when I want to crack and just fill it to the brim with critters!

My hubby has just added his first fish to his new freshwater tank, so that's helping the fish buying cravings somewhat.

[ayckorea]

cool, i lost your post

lucky, i can find it now, thx

[Aaarrrggg]

Originally Posted by ayckorea

cool, i lost your post

lucky, i can find it now, thx

Hehe no problem! Thanks for following along!

Well Ladies and Gentlemen...
...I'm proud to announce ...
...we officially have...
...
...
...



And you know what that means!?
It's cleaning crew time!!
(AKA, buying something living that's bigger than a speck!)

I dropped by the LFS and grabbed 2 Cerith and 1 Narcissus. Not much I know, but there isn't that much for them to clean up for the time being.

I dropped them all in (after acclimatizing of course) and the Narcissus immediately dashed for the top... which was random.



I plucked him off and popped him back on the sand. Thankfully he finally got the idea and disappeared under.



The Cerith's looked like they were having some difficultly getting up off the sand, so I moved them to the rocks and they started happily munching away.



I'd wanted to get some hermits too, but the LFS only had boring ones. I might have to order some online instead.

[Aaarrrggg]

Speaking of online ordering, I'm sorely tempted by this Tanaka's Wrasse on DD



I do want a Tanaka's Wrasse, and this chap is a nice red color, but those stripes just aren't as defined as ones I've seen before. Hmmm, I think I'll wait and see what their next one looks like. I really hope I don't regret that decision!

Oh, I also did my first water change! The SG was on the lowish side (1.023) so I thought I'd get it up to 1.025 before I added the snails. It was the first time I've mixed my own saltwater (I've always bought it from the store before,) so it was rather nerve-wracking. I tried looking up which was the "best" salt mix, but opinions were rather varied, so I opted for the one they use in the LFS (as their tanks are *stunning!*) "Oceanic Natural Sea Salt Mix:"



I wasn't quite sure if I was supposed to do the water change in the tank or the sump, so I turned everything off and changed out half a jug (~2.5g) from the display.

I think I might have figured out my mirco bubble issue too...


(Not the best picture, but you can get an idea of the mess of bubbles)

Being new to sumps and chaeto I assumed that the bubbles all over my chaeto where normal, I mean... its a plant, it spits out O2 right?! Well it turns out it apparently doesn't produce it in the form of mirco bubbles. What DOES of course produce it that way... is cyno!

I've had my LED sump light on 24/7 since I added it, while only having my crappy home depot light on my tank for a week or so, and even then, not all day long. So all this time the cyno has been having a field day down there, setting up shop on my chaeto! I pulled it out today and gave it a wash in some saltwater (sorry pods!) I removed the yucky looking bits and put the rest back in. I'm going to run the fuge light at opposite intervals to the display for the time being. Hopefully that will tempt the cyno into the display, where it can get eaten and give the chaeto some time to recover. Fingers crossed I caught it in time, but if not I might need to buy some more. Lesson learned!

[Aaarrrggg]

Yay happy days! I won Marco Rocks Apr Aquascape competition!!!!

The judges said:

we independently picked the same three top scapes, the one we liked the most is that by......................

We liked this one for the following reasons.

They had a plan in mind before they began,
they used small pieces and sculpted them to fit the plan they had
they built a very 3 dimensional structure
they made a small tank look large
it fits the biotope they are creating
and finally, it looks good.

I won a whopping $100, which is awesome because the rocks themselves only cost me ~$50 (inc shipping!) So those are some darn profitable rocks hehe

Thank you very much Marco Rocks!

[dukeap]

congrats on the win. very nice so far, I also have a 20 gal but its a normal high, I would love to see the AI nano on your tank, how many are you getting? if your still getting them., I really would like to add one to my tank but I dont know if one would be enought since I have sps in my tank, I know one of the regular size one will work but I would need it 12" off the top of the tank to get a good spread.

[Aaarrrggg]

Yup I'm still waiting for it... argh the suspense is killing me!

According to Aquarium Speciality in another thread:

Originally Posted by AquariumSpecialty

The Nano is exactly half of a Sol module, therefore the comment about being equivalent to a 250watt MH is accurate. The Nano will provide enough light for any and all corals just as the regular Sol will. The Nano should provide a coverage area of around 20"x20".

The Elos Mini is a 17" cube so one should do me nicely. I'm *hoping* that the spread will be quite minimal because I hate having aquarium light all around a room. Plus my armchair is next to it so I really don't want it in my eyes when I'm watching TV. Worst comes to worst I might end up building a canopy for the top... but we'll cross that bridge if and when we come to it.

If you have a 20g high it must have a smaller footprint than mine, so I'd have thought it would work for you too, certainly better than the regular Sol, which presumably has double the spread.

Last I heard (in mid Apr) was they were aiming for a mid May release. Have you seen the redesign on their site? http://www.aquaillumination.com/nano.html It looks even yummier!

[dukeap]

wow, thats nice. I didnt know that. the control is built in, do you know if it can be programed to do dawn to dask effect?

[Aaarrrggg]

The lighting controls on the side look like good fun but from what I've seen they don't automate. To get that going, you have to get the regular Sol controller, or hook it up to a compatible controller like a Reef Keeper.

It's a pain you have to pay extra for that bit, but it's also cool that it will have all the same functions as it's big bro!

[Leevo]

following aboard.