Elos Mini build thread (new photos page 14)

[Anonymous]

That's still a respectable amount for a nano

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah, it's just really, really tight courtesy of the layout Elos devised for it. The main chamber of the sump is only 10" x 6", and the amount of accessible height from the bottom of the sump to the top of the stand is just 22". It pretty much rules out nearly all commercial in sump skimmers other than the Elos NS100, the tunze line (the 9002 will fit in the front right chamber, the 9006-9011 will work in the main sump chamber) and the deltec MC-500 (which will just squeeze into the main chamber). In order to use anything else you have to start removing partitions.

 

[Anonymous]

Rock is supposed to be shipping today for delivery tomorrow. I've had a couple conversations with the folks at Pacific East this week... seems the large rock order they were waiting for still hasn't come in. Rather than delay my order further, they offered to pull the 30 lbs of rock I ordered out of their established display systems. So I have pretty high hopes for this shipment; hand-picked rock that's been cured and established for some time prior to shipment.

I'll post pics after it arrives.

 

[Anonymous]

Looking forward to seeing it! I'm umming and erring at the moment about whether to go for the lovely live rock pulled out of the Okinawan ocean I intended to buy (which only one place - run by the Okinawa Aquarium - is allowed to sell and they're currrently out of stock) or go for maricultured rock made out of concrete. I still can't quite believe concrete can play quite the same bio-filter function as live rock though....

 

[Anonymous]

dp

 

[Anonymous]

Looking forward to seeing it! I'm umming and erring at the moment about whether to go for the lovely live rock pulled out of the Okinawan ocean I intended to buy (which only one place - run by the Okinawa Aquarium - is allowed to sell and they're currrently out of stock) or go for maricultured rock made out of concrete. I still can't quite believe concrete can play quite the same bio-filter function as live rock though....

It can... but the way you've previously described the okinawan stuff, I'd be inclined to hold out for that. As long as it isn't going to be months or anything

I have to say the live rock scene here has really changed in the past decade and not at all for the better. I keep looking at photos of other people's rock orders and listening to them rave about how great what they got was... and I look at the pics and can't figure it, because the stuff they like so much would've been called base rock 15 years back. I think in the states we're going to get to a point where the man-made/dry rocks are most of the market, because the wild offerings just aren't anything special anymore.

We'll see what my southeast asian rock is like when it arrives. I'm trying to keep my expectations minimal in case it's a disappointment.

 

[Anonymous]

I promise to take the sort of macro shots of my rock that only a fish nerd can appreciate once mine finally arrives. :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

At this rate yours may get here before mine. Fedex tracking now shows they attempted delivery and no one was home. Which is nonsense, of course, but now they say they the package will be delivered on tuesday.

GRRRRRRR.

Going back and forth with fedex trying to get this resolved.

 

[Anonymous]

Update: Rock showed up. Between Pacific East & my wife calling fedex, someone over there managed to get a hold of the driver and find out that he did, indeed, go to the wrong address. So he came back and got it right the second time.

I swear though, this is starting to be a pattern. The last time I ordered rock (in 2006) the same thing happened.

Anyway, pics tonight. I'm stuck in the office for another couple hours yet.

 

[Anonymous]

Alright... kind of a mixed review to give on this rock. 30 pounds turned out to = 4 rocks. One that looks about 2 lbs, one that looks about 4 lbs, one that's maybe 7 lbs, and one absolutely humongous rock that's probably about 17 lbs. The three smaller ones are pretty much indistinguishable from fiji rock. The large piece is very solid, not very porous at all, pretty dense. Also the surface of that rock is nearly featureless. Coralline coverage is pretty decent on three of the four rocks, no other visible life.

Unfortunately, the big rock is too large for me to use. And it's so solid that attacking it with a hammer and chisel got me nowhere. I'm going to head to an LFS tomorrow that carries rock and see about trading them jumbo for some smaller pieces I can hand pick, if they have anything decent. So no photos tonight, I'll hold off til tomorrow after the LFS trip.

 

[Anonymous]

Agggh, that's frustrating CJ. Really sorry to hear that - sounds like a real saga. :?

 

[Anonymous]

I'm telling you, Tom, if I ever do this again I'm buying dry rock. This batch pretty much convinced me.

 

[Anonymous]

Gach. Well, I'll see if I have much better luck.

 

[Anonymous]

So I went to this LFS for the first time yesterday after being told how great it was. Let's just say... it wasn't. I did trade in the humongo rock I received for some store credit that I used on sundries, but what little live rock they had wasn't anything I would have wanted to put in my tank. I'm going to place an order for a small amount of fiji rock from liveaquaria for delivery this week, and I'll use that and the couple pieces I kept from Pacific East for this tank.

 

[Anonymous]

22 lbs of fiji live rock from liveaquaria.com is now scheduled for delivery to me on friday. Here's hoping I have better luck this time around.

 

[Anonymous]

Fingers crossed for you (yes, even as I type).

 

[Anonymous]

My wife just let me know the rock was delivered, no problems at all with fedex this time. Hopefully that's a good omen

I'll be at my office for a few hours yet, I'll see what the rock is like once I get home. Pics tonight or tomorrow.

 

[Anonymous]

Got the rock. For the fiji you can get these days it's pretty decent. 22 lbs = 6 pieces, two of which were pretty large (>12" in at least one dimension). Combining what liveaquaria sent with the couple rocks I kept from pacific east has given me some decent material to work with. Due to the size of the rocks on the whole though I'm going to end up with more rock in the tank than I'd planned. Still, it's looking like I can manage something fairly close to the aquascape I had planned. Pics tomorrow.

 

[Anonymous]

Photo update time. Note there are only four rocks in the tank....

 

[Anonymous]

More...




The NS100 skimmer's been kicking in, but is very finicky to adjust...