Banner image

Chris' Elos 160 (1 Viewer)

ChristopherKriens said:
Mounted in the cabinet (not sure which side gets the hard line):
Click to expand...

The hard line is for the intake; from supplement to pump.
Reduces chances of the hose from collapsing from the suction of the pump.
 
jlanger said:
Very nice additions.
Is this becoming the new "Anthias Heaven" thread?
Click to expand...

I used to be a tang guy, but I think they're becoming my favorite fish. My holy grail is pseudanthias tuka and ventralis.


jlanger said:
The hard line is for the intake; from supplement to pump.
Reduces chances of the hose from collapsing from the suction of the pump.
Click to expand...

They're backwards :doh: Thanks!
 
Chris the tank looks stunning. Really glad to have had the chance to see it in person.

Thanks again for the Birdsnest it looks awesome and the girls really liked that I picked up something pink for the tank :)

I am looking forward to your meeting in August that is going to be one (even more) awesome tank once it grows in.
 
With the tall aquascape, there are areas that receive a lot of light and areas that receive very little. I was contemplating a fourth Radion fixture when Ecotech released new wide angle TIR lenses a couple weeks ago. The new lenses change the maximum angle of light exiting the lens from 80º to 120º. I made a quick mockup with an old photo of the tank and realized that if I replaced the center fixture with wide angle optics, I could hit some of the areas that were shaded. Since there are no high-light corals directly under the center fixture, losing some intensity in that area shouldn't have any negative affects.

elos-44.jpg


elos-43.jpg


Swapping the lenses was pretty straightforward. The directions seemed to be written assuming that you're installing TIR lenses for the first time and had a few unnecessary steps. After the swap, the difference was pretty noticeable. While the areas between the fixtures are still shaded, they're definitely brighter.
 
A month or so ago, I picked up an ocellaris clownfish from Sustainable Aquatics. I'm usually not too crazy about the designer varieties but I really liked the pattern on this guy. I've been keeping perculas for years; I forgot how cute young ocellaris clowns are. He has to work pretty hard to get from one end of the tank to the other.

Kind of a boring photo, but shows the cool pattern:



Some random coral:

Bloody Mary Montipora


Garf Bonsai from the swap


Tyree True Undata
 
Thanks for the heads up on new reflectors. I have 6 Radions on a 180g and still have shadowing issues as acropora grow larger. At this point rather than letting the bottoms die off I frag them up and start over or just keep them well trimmed. Thinking I will try the wide angle on at lest the middle banks of lights and may do for everything but the outer pucks ( mine are oriented parallel to the tank rather than perpendicular as you have them ).
 
David Grigor said:
Thanks for the heads up on new reflectors. I have 6 Radions on a 180g and still have shadowing issues as acropora grow larger. At this point rather than letting the bottoms die off I frag them up and start over or just keep them well trimmed. Thinking I will try the wide angle on at lest the middle banks of lights and may do for everything but the outer pucks ( mine are oriented parallel to the tank rather than perpendicular as you have them ).
Click to expand...

That's an interesting perspective. Even though I'm just trying to increase light overall, you're right in that eventual large colonies will receive light from a lower angle and might serve to keep the bottoms of the colonies from wasting away.

If you'd like to give these a shot just send me a PM. They sent me some extra lens kits; I don't think I'll ever use them on the outside fixtures.
 
Bakes said:
I'm drooling, beautiful setup!
Click to expand...

Thanks!


Fragtastic Reef said:
Wow those pictures are awesome! What you using for a camera and setup?
Click to expand...

I'm using Canon's 5D Mk II and the EF 24-70L lens. This lens has a pretty solid macro ability out of the box, but I've been adding some extension tubes to get in really close. If you already have a DSLR setup, tubes are an inexpensive way to increase the macro abilities of your lenses.

Another habit I've been getting into is using the Reeflink App on my phone to crank up the lights to 100% before I take a photo, which gives me the freedom to get more sharpness, less image noise, more depth of field, or some mixture of the three. Kind of like flash photography (but less crappy)
 
Heading out for vacation in the morning for two weeks to see some real reefs! I’ve got a non-reefer friend taking care of everything… :errr:


Mother of Pearl starting to do its thing:
elos-50.jpg



Classic ORA Bird of Paradise:
elos-51.jpg
 
ChristopherKriens said:
I’ve got a non-reefer friend taking care of everything… :errr:
Click to expand...

Possibly a good thing... As a reefer would have a hard time fighting the temptation to make a frag or two.
Enjoy your vacation!
 
When you get back, let me know and we make plan something. Have a good vacation!
 
Lost the sunset anthias while I was gone but everything else made it.:frown: I'm not sure if they're a naturally timid species, or if the rowdy nature of the Lyretails was too much for them, but they spent a lot of time hiding out in the rock and probably just didn't feed often enough. I think I'll stick to larger or semi-aggressive anthias in the future.

I suspect a combination of overfeeding and lack of skimmer maintenance/tuning drove nutrients higher than I'd like, but it will be manageable. It's really interesting to see the effect of higher levels; the hammers and frogspawn have better polyp extension than I've seen in a long time. Zoanthids and Palys have become much larger and seem to be spreading quicker. SPS don't look worse for the wear either, but the algae/bacteria is pretty nasty so I think I'll stick to my old parameters. The new 2-part dosing setup worked without a hitch and kept levels perfect for the full two weeks, which had me worried more than anything.

A wise member suggested that I write down the "names" of my frags before I forget what they are and give them away for free in the future. After digging through emails and private messages I think I have a complete list: SPS List
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top