Sweet Reef // ELOS Midi 36

Sweet Reef · Sep 4, 2021

A few months back, I found this very neat tank locally. I could not for the life of me figure out the brand though! After a bunch of research and ordering a custom lid, I figured out it is a discontinued ELOS Midi, 36 gallons. It is a very neat tank and in great shape, however the stand has substantial water damage and needed to be replaced.

So the next step, or I guess first step, was to the make the new stand.

PokeFish · Sep 4, 2021

you are going to install an overflow or buy a hob one?

Sweet Reef · Sep 4, 2021

PokeFish said:
you are going to install an overflow or buy a hob one?

This tank has a pretty rad overflow built into the corner! Just bought some ribbed flex tubing for the lines today.

PokeFish · Sep 4, 2021

Sweet Reef said:
This tank has a pretty rad overflow built into the corner! Just bought some ribbed flex tubing for the lines today.

ohhh oops i didn't see that cuz of the reflection haha

Sweet Reef · Sep 4, 2021

Got the stand all sealed with 3 coats of floor varish so it is very water resistant. Moved it into my office as well! Going to start working on the rock structure. I want to be able to view it from the front and the left side as I have a chair between my tanks.

Sweet Reef · Sep 4, 2021

PokeFish said:
ohhh oops i didn't see that cuz of the reflection haha

No worries, I actually turned the tank 90 degrees from its original orientation to make it slightly more peninsula style as well. It is ALMOST a cube, but not quite.

Daniel · Sep 28, 2021

How's the aquasape going? Great seeing another MIDI on the forums!

Sweet Reef · Oct 1, 2021

Daniel said:
How's the aquasape going? Great seeing another MIDI on the forums!

It is going pretty well! Still finalizing how I want to set up the sump, that is my biggest hurdle. I'll post aquascape photos in just a moment!

Sweet Reef · Oct 1, 2021

Here are some current progress shots. I finished the aquascape for now at least. I also added some sump compartment lighting with some LED strips (I think they were for under kitchen cabinets). I also found that my testing gear fits well in the small space under the sump which would be wasted otherwise.

Sweet Reef · Oct 4, 2021

So I finally filled the tank with water and OH MY the overflow is loud!!! If anyone has any tips to quiet that bad boy, I'm all ears!

Sweet Reef · Oct 4, 2021

Here is a little glimpse into the cord organization I have going on. Definitely will be an evolving beast, but I am super proud of it!

Sweet Reef · Oct 13, 2021

Started the cycle last week! I am hoping to be able to move the livestock over from my fluval evo in the next couple weeks. The evo will be turning into another build thread for a Halloween themed reef, #spookyreef.

Eagle_Steve · Oct 13, 2021

Sweet Reef said:
So I finally filled the tank with water and OH MY the overflow is loud!!! If anyone has any tips to quiet that bad boy, I'm all ears!

What overflow type is it? I would guess a durso, as it looks like the return comes out next to it.

If durso, you could play with it to tune it. A few of my tanks are durso and playing around with air hole size, adding some tubing and routing it around to muffle the airflow made them very quiet.

Or you could route the return over the back and use both holes for a full siphon and emergency drain. Tuning with a gate valve, you could make it dead silent.

Sweet Reef · Oct 13, 2021

Eagle_Steve said:
What overflow type is it? I would guess a durso, as it looks like the return comes out next to it.

If durso, you could play with it to tune it. A few of my tanks are durso and playing around with air hole size, adding some tubing and routing it around to muffle the airflow made them very quiet.

Or you could route the return over the back and use both holes for a full siphon and emergency drain. Tuning with a gate valve, you could make it dead silent.

This is the back corner enclosed overflow/return box. I have contemplated turning the return into a secondary overflow and putting some sort of valve on the main overflow and then making some sort of new return line with pvc. I just don't think it will look very clean.

Eagle_Steve · Oct 13, 2021

Sweet Reef said:
This is the back corner enclosed overflow/return box. I have contemplated turning the return into a secondary overflow and putting some sort of valve on the main overflow and then making some sort of new return line with pvc. I just don't think it will look very clean.

No stand pipe in the overflow box? Just a hole in side and then fed down to the sump? Sorry, not very familiar with these tanks, so curious how the water actually drains. If you can get a pic inside of the overflow, that would be helpful.

As for doing the valve, you would use your smallest diameter pipe for the main and then the largest for the emergency. Luckily, with your tank size, you do not need a very large turn over number.

Sweet Reef · Oct 13, 2021

Eagle_Steve said:
No stand pipe in the overflow box? Just a hole in side and then fed down to the sump? Sorry, not very familiar with these tanks, so curious how the water actually drains. If you can get a pic inside of the overflow, that would be helpful.

As for doing the valve, you would use your smallest diameter pipe for the main and then the largest for the emergency. Luckily, with your tank size, you do not need a very large turn over number.

It is all completely enclosed. It is pretty bizarre.

Eagle_Steve · Oct 13, 2021

Sweet Reef said:
It is all completely enclosed. It is pretty bizarre.

After doing some digging, it appears these are usually very silent tanks. I think the key to this would be finding either the correct size return, or to get a controllable DC one and tuning the speed of the pump to make it match the drain. As for correct size, not sure on what that actually is.

Also, it appears you are missing the screen covers for the drains. Or are they just not installed in the pics?

Sweet Reef · Oct 13, 2021

Eagle_Steve said:
After doing some digging, it appears these are usually very silent tanks. I think the key to this would be finding either the correct size return, or to get a controllable DC one and tuning the speed of the pump to make it match the drain. As for correct size, not sure on what that actually is.

Also, it appears you are missing the screen covers for the drains. Or are they just not installed in the pics?

There is a screen in the overflow and I have added custom loc line return nozzles, I believe there are pics earlier in the thread