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Chris' Elos 160 (1 Viewer)

Been chasing alkalinity and calcium lately. It seems just when I get it dialed in, the system demands a little more. At this rate, I'm going to have to start buying 2 part in bulk or start to mix up my own stuff. I'm also measuring phosphates above 0.00ppm so I think the fish load is getting close to where it should be with the amount of filtration that's in place to leave a little bit of nutrients in the water. Maybe just one more fish...

My camera body stopped working a couple weeks ago and had to send it in to Canon for repairs. Got it back yesterday and took some fish shots, back in business.











 
Bodegus said:
Could you post a full stock list? :D
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:rotflmao: Yeah, Chris! A FULL stock list!

I say this in jest because I stopped by his place last night and his collection is AMAZING!!
Even thought the aquascaping is very minimal, the amount of corals Chris has managed to accumulate and display is expansive and impressive.
For some reason I think he has posted a file that listed his corals at some point in time; but needs to be updated for sure.

And thanks again for the frags! And to see Eva.
 
jlanger said:
I say this in jest because I stopped by his place last night and his collection is AMAZING!!
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I was over at Chris' a couple of weeks ago and I second this. The other amazing part is that the tank does not look overfull because of his use of negative space. There are tons of different corals, but they are all mounted to the rockwork, leaving the sandbed clean.

I know jlanger is big on color theory and such and that Chris intentionally harnessed negative space, I'd be interested to hear Chris' take on color theory within his tank. Was there thought behind placement of each coral with regard to its color to balance the palette for the eye? what about texture? movement?
 
Bodegus said:
Could you post a full stock list? :D
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Sure, I'll start with fish. My goal was to avoid adding jumpers, coral nippers, or fish that are known to have interspecific aggression. The Powder Blue is the only one that causes trouble, the Rhomboid is probably a high-risk jumper, and I've seen some anthias take to the skies during feeding time. Otherwise I think I've stuck to it for the most part.

Like a lot of hobbyists, I've been through the established sixline wrasse that chases everybody, too many tangs, and the flame angel that dines on clam and it's just not worth it for me to knowingly take those risks anymore. Here's the current list:

Royal Gramma (Gramma Loreto)
Yellow Tang (Zebrasoma flavescens)
Powder Blue Tang (Acanthurus leucosternon)
Leopard Wrasse - Female (Macropharyngodon meleagris)
Golden Rhomboidalis Wrasse - Terminal Male (Cirrhilabrus rhomboidalis)
Ruby Red Dragonet - Female (Synchiropus moyeri)
Clownfish - Male (Amphiprion ocellaris)
Candy Basslet (Liopropoma carmabi) - Just seeing if you're paying attention
Lyretail Anthias - Male (Pseudanthias squamipinnis)
Lyretail Anthias - Female (Pseudanthias squamipinnis) - 2x
Bartletts Anthias - Male (Pseudanthias bartlettorum)
Bartletts Anthias - Female (Pseudanthias bartlettorum)
Carberryi Anthias - Male (Pseudanthias carberryi)
Carberryi Anthias - Female (Pseudanthias carberryi) - 2x
Flame Anthias - Female (Pseudanthias ignitus) - 3x
Purple Queen Anthias - Female (Pseudanthias tuka) - 2x
Resplendent Anthias - Male (Pseudanthias pulcherrimus)
Resplendent Anthias - Female (Pseudanthias pulcherrimus) - 2x
Red Saddled Anthias - Subadult/Male (Pseudanthias flavoguttatus) - 3x
 
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Ikserk said:
I know jlanger is big on color theory and such and that Chris intentionally harnessed negative space, I'd be interested to hear Chris' take on color theory within his tank. Was there thought behind placement of each coral with regard to its color to balance the palette for the eye? what about texture? movement?
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Color mixing is definitely something I consider when placing coral. The challenge is that the positions where coral look the best are oftentimes not the ideal circumstances for growth, flow, or light. Certain color combinations look great together and a red coral looks much more "red" with some green context near by. At a very basic level, I try to avoid placing similar colors together without something in between. I think a simple thing like this gets you pretty far and gives you enough freedom to place each piece in ideal conditions. Sometimes you get lucky and get a few colors that look great together.

This is one section of the rock that I think will look good. The pink lemonade's yellow and oregon tort's blue will complement each other well, as will the frankenberry pink and acid trip green. Even though they don't all have a great color relationship, at the very least they're different enough that the colonies shouldn't "get lost" in each other.

acro-colors.jpg
 
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After getting through a couple buckets of Red Sea salt, I've decided to switch for good. The levels are much closer to my tank parameters and it mixes up more cleanly.

The gold torch recently decided it didn't like hammers or frogspawns in its space. It was interesting to watch each of the nearby Euphyllias in the group react to the aggression with sweepers, which started taking out bystander acans. It was a mess, so I eventually just split everything up. I've started to move the softies back into the rocks to make some room for a "torchless" Euphyllia garden, but I fear they might get too much light there. Still working through the solution..

A tank shot from this weekend:
 
Which size tubes were you using? I find with those tubes the focal spot is so narrow, it's hard to get stuff a bit deeper in the tank. Great stuff tho. Truly a work of art.
 
Building a small shelf unit to hide between the small space between the tank and the wall for dosing equipment, which is currently on the floor. I used some conservative dimensions so it shouldn't be visible from most places in the room. I'm just planning on painting it white to match the other shelf. Will probably put a hanger or something on there for a hand towel.





Wondering if anyone is using Vortech scheduling? I've been running this schedule for a month or so and it's been working well. The flow rate correlates with the lighting intensity and I'm running a few different modes. I was always hesitant to commit to a single flow mode, so it's really nice to be able to run a few different ones throughout the day. The linear ramp up is also slick because it gives the corals a chance to adapt to a change vs. just coming out of night mode and blasting. Here is my current schedule:

 
bigdubb said:
Which size tubes were you using? I find with those tubes the focal spot is so narrow, it's hard to get stuff a bit deeper in the tank.
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I use a 12mm tube for the most part. With the lens touching the glass, I can shoot from a quarter of the way in to the back glass.
 
Chris, you ever decide you want to hang out in Chan for an evening drinking beer and eating pizza let me know :)

PS bring your camera lol.....
 
Unbelievable tank! Curious if you have a copy of your graph/lighting you could share?


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Finally finished getting through both your build on R2R and here from start to finish. I have seen your build here and there but going from start to finish was awesome.

Took me bit as I was taking notes and researching equipment etc here and there between posts : )

Love, love, love this build - I have always tried to go for as open a sand bed as possible but my attempts have me looking like a moron whenever I check out your build.

3 quick questions -
  • What do you use to clean your back glass? That looks a little tricky to get to?
  • How often and how much volume wise do you do water changes?
  • Where did you pick up the LED strips for in the stand?
    (and side note, is there ever a time you wish the lights didnt automatically come one with the door? Just curious on this one​

Looking forward to finally seeing this in person next month - thanks so much for inviting the club over!
 
NorthSide Reef said:
Chris, you ever decide you want to hang out in Chan for an evening drinking beer and eating pizza let me know :)
PS bring your camera lol.....
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That’s my kind of party. I'd love to see your system again-


DevilishDukie said:
Unbelievable tank! Curious if you have a copy of your graph/lighting you could share?
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Thanks! Here's my current schedule.


acharpenter said:
  • What do you use to clean your back glass? That looks a little tricky to get to?
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It is a little tricky. I use a 24 inch blade scraper and reach in from the sides. None of the rock touches the glass and there's at least a couple inches to work with but I've made a few frags this way already.

  • How often and how much volume wise do you do water changes?
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I do a 10% water change every other week, if all is well.

  • Where did you pick up the LED strips for in the stand?
    (and side note, is there ever a time you wish the lights didnt automatically come one with the door? Just curious on this one​
Click to expand...
I got the LED strips and magnet switches from Elemental LED. Sometimes the light on the right side of the cabinet is annoying when it comes on at night if I'm just checking the Apex display or something, but 99/100 times I need the extra light when I'm under there. No regrets.
 
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