BortElos120

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Starting to look more and more like a reef....

Grow baby, Grow!! The left side of my tank ended up being the home of my future Zoa Garden. Currently there are 60+ Zoa frags all spaced our with plenty of room to grow. I love the look of this side of the tank when i turn the Radions to Deep Blue.

 

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Some updated shots of the Elos 120 tonight....

Some updated shots of the Zoa Garden and misc. frags....

 

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More frags!!

 

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Took a chance yesterday and added a 2nd pair of clowns to my reef. Clowns are some of the easiest fish to remove, so if they don't do well, I will remove them to my 40g refugium that I have set up. It was scary, as I love my Platinum and Frostbite pair that I have now, but they don't host my carpet like i was hoping, and the cool part is, the new pair went straight to it and began hosting it right away! There was a bit of aggression toward the evening, and i even caught my new male and my female Platinum lock onto each other's left fin and dance "in a bad way" for about 5 seconds before i could reach my hand in to break it up. Since then, the new pair has stayed put in their Carpet which resides in the center of the display, while the Frostbite and Platinum stay home in the top right corner in their Rainbow BTA.

Here are some shots prior to adding them. The Female looks to be a Percula and the Male a Ocellaris.

This is about 2 minutes after adding them to the display...

Also, a quick little equipment update:

Purchased another piece of equipment that was on my list. Going to give the SKIMZ MBR127 Cheato Reactor a try. I was trying to decide between this and a Scrubber, and with my limited Sump space, i decided to go this route.

Loaded her up with some Cheato from a fellow reefer, set the flow setting to F2 per recommendations from individuals with experience using the reactor, and now to find room in the sump to place it!

Sump is getting pretty tight!! I foresee an additional equipment cabinet in my near future!

She fits! The LED lights are pretty bright!

Love the looks of the pink glow with the stand lights turned to Blue! Now to set it and forget it! I will follow up with an update with parameters, and how she performs in the coming weeks!

 

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Deep Blue setting on the Radion 3G Pros....Sorry I got camera happy;Snaphappy

 

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Picked up some “reef janitors” today! My LFS had a sale going on clean up crews, so I brought home blue/red legged hermits crabs for 10/$10 and a nice sized Tiger Tail Sea Cucumber.

As usual, I always try to involve my “little reefers” whom love to help acclimate all of the new inhabitants. I love to see their little expressions when they see something new and unusual. They were pretty amazed by the Sea Cucumber, and of course gave him the name “Spike.”

Another equipment update! Brought home a new Apex Core 20 pump! Looks like I’ll be working under the stand tonight!

 

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Brought home 3 more Rainbow Bubble Tips and a HUGE rock of shrooms!

 

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Well...the unthinkable happened! Woke up to water on the floor. Checked all the usual suspects...ATO line still connected...Kalk return line still connected...tank drains all drip free......no leaks coming from the manifold.....then I noticed it....a nice steady stream of water coming from the back of my tank and down my stand wall. Anyone that owns an Elos 120 or larger knows their bottom panel is actually multiple panels. One of the seams had given way causing a small leak. The stands support the tank on the left, right and front, but no support in the back. That just so happens to be where the leak formed.

With no back up plan or frag tank set up, I quickly had to empty the display tank to avoid any further damage to the floor.

Built a stand for a 75g and 40g I had laying around.

The insurance adjuster comes tomorrow. Hoping for some good news!

The past few days we’ve had to listen to blowers/dehumidifiers and the damages were a bit more extensive than I originally thought....


This is the area in our family room where the tank sat...

Here is what the wood flooring looks like directly behind where the display sat....

and this is an example of an undamaged area for comparison....

 

[HolisticBear]

So sorry to hear about the leak, but you handled that like a pro. Getting the other tanks setup, moving things over, and shutting down the tank. Well handled.

Hopefully insurance adjuster will work with you, are you going to contact @ELOSAmerica?

 

[SlvrZ]

ouch, i'd be very ticked if that happened to me with that tank

 

[cbort]

So sorry to hear about the leak, but you handled that like a pro. Getting the other tanks setup, moving things over, and shutting down the tank. Well handled.

Hopefully insurance adjuster will work with you, are you going to contact @ELOSAmerica?

Thanks! Was very lucky the leak was small. Gave me a bit more time to react. Also lucky I’ve kept a lot of extra plumbing in storage!

I did contact François over at ElosAmerica and he has givin me some discount options on replacement of the tank. Still waiting to get all the insurance claim details.

 

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ouch, i'd be very ****** if that happened to me with that tank

Yes, it was one frustrating day! Dismantling my last 6 months of hard work, with no warning or preparation was pretty stressful!

 

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Small update on progress with Insurance Claim. Trying to update this with details just in case someone reads this and has the same sort of unfortunate scenario take place.

I was asked to turn in a list of any equipment that was damaged due to the leaking tank. I of course turned in my stand as most know with Elos stands made out of MDF, any sort of water pooling underneath, will result in the MDF absorbing it and warping it as it did in my circumstance. Also, many of my "controllers/electronics had been sitting in or had water dripping down them. I've had many instances where electric power strips and such has nearly caused fires due to saltwater exposure, so I've turned in a few different items that I clearly will not be using going forward. With my list of items, I was to include Make/Model of each item, approximate age, and replacement value, which i had turned in at the end of last week.

I received a call today from my Insurance Claim "Specialist" asking me for receipts on all items. I told her I do not have receipts for many of my items as some of the items i received as a "package" deal when I purchased the setup from another hobbyist. I informed her that in the hobby, its not uncommon for us to "upgrade" (sell off system for cash, to turn around and purchase another hobbyist's setup". I was then told, that i would still need to produce receipts.

Not sure where to go from here at this point. Does anyone buy something from another reefer and keep receipts? If not, I guess my advice would be to start immediately! Lol

I guess I am a little frustrated as I view this the same as my auto/home insurance. So if i buy a Honda Civic for $5,000 below book value and hit a deer, am I going to have to turn in a receipt for this and get penalized in my repairs $5,000. No. They repair my Honda Civic minus my deductible. I simply printed off copies of an "invoice" for purchasing all of these items new, and even got an invoice from Elos to replace the stand. I can see being penalized due to depreciation, but besides that, would expect to recoup most of the value. I'd really hate to see what would happen to someone who had a front panel bust in their living room on a large 200+ gallon aquarium where it ruined furniture, stereo equipment, etc. I only turned in a couple items compared to someone who would have to turn int 20+ items....

Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

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Well...since my reefing hobby has been put on hold and the weather has finally felt like Spring, it’s time to start a new hobby that gets me outdoors!

 

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They finally have declared the floors dry! Between the thickness of the wood flooring, and multiple holes drilled in the subfloor from a large hole they had to create in the basement ceiling, it took nearly two weeks for them to finish. Now to refinish the floor, repair the basement ceiling and then on to replacing the display tank. It’s been a heck of an ordeal. Most of my SPS has either died or turned to very bland colors. The only fish that I’ve lost was my Pink Tail Trigger which I am almost positive was a casualty due to my carpet anemone as there is literally no trace of him. Not to mention the carpet is trampling over all my Frags.

If all goes as planned and the insurance company follows through with replacing equipment, I will be looking at upgrading to an Elos Diamond Line 200 System.

 

[Clayton Jessup]

I am so sorry to hear what happen to the floor, but the tank was looking good up to that point. Best of luck on the claim , and the UPGRADE!!! Totally following along from now on !!!

 

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I am so sorry to hear what happen to the floor, but the tank was looking good up to that point. Best of luck on the claim , and the UPGRADE!!! Totally following along from now on !!!

Thanks! Fingers crossed that this upgrade happens soon! Hopefully within the next few weeks!

 

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So, in the past two weeks I have completely stayed out of the LFS due to my current situation.

My intentions were that I didn’t want to be tempted with having to see something that I just could not resist nor live without.....

I just happened to have a meeting in a city I don’t get the chance to travel to very often that has an Awesome LFS called Coral Haven and I thought to myself..... “I totally have the will power to tell myself no.”

And then I spotted him....


It's obvious, I have no will power! If my wife asks, he was under $50.00!

Luckily, the owner of this shop has no problem housing him until I am ready for him. He will obviously not be going into the Elos 200 System without some major change in plans, but instead, a local reefer is selling a Marineland 300 Deep Dimension tank and stand for a great price, which will probably be this guys new home.

With having young children, we frequent Zoos and Aquariums often and the display tanks that really grab my 3 and 4 year old's attention are the Moray Eels. I have always wanted a Green Moray of my own, and the LFS has had this guy since December. He kept it in one of the front tanks, and had become a very popular attraction. I asked how often he sees Green Morays on his "fish list", and he was quick to tell me it was the first he had seen in roughly 4 years. Being in the Midwest, I am not sure if that is common depending on his wholesalers, but i for one can honestly say I have never seen a Green Moray in any of my LFS that I frequent.

I foresee having this guy for many many years to come! I am completely stoked to have pulled the trigger on him!!

 

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The awesome staff over at Coral Haven sent me a cool video of Igor eating today!!

https://www.facebook.com/curtissbortell/posts/10155370900011766

 

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Quick update while I am waiting on replacing the Elos:

-a LFS had another “dream tank” that I have been eyeing! I finally asked them if I could purchase it, and Tommy surprise, they said “yes”. So I brought it home today!