Cali Kid Corals

Kinetic ELOS 120XL

A few questions:
1. I might go from a Red Dragon 3 mini to a Red Dragon 3 100 watt, just so I can run a manifold with the UV and not worry about running the pump at full the whole time. Even though it should be silent, I think getting the RD3 100 watt should give myself plenty of "room" and still run at less than 100%. It also has that anti-lime bypass the mini doesn't have. I don't know if that's a gimmick or not, but I'll take it. Any thoughts?
2. Should I get a 57 watt UV sterilizer instead of sticking with the 25 watt? The "ratings" on AquaUV says the 25watt is plenty, but of course that's just manufacturers ratings. I already bought it (it was an open box deal) so I have it already. I'd probably just sell this one at cost and then get the 57 watt, but not sure if that's SUPER overkill or not.
 
OK, I think I found my return pump:
Royal Exclusiv RD3 Speedy 100watt HIGH PRESSURE -- 2400 gph but it looks like it can handle a lot of pressure. If I run it as a return + manifold for my UV and chiller, I think it's going to be perfect. Costs the same as the non-high pressure (well, off by $2). I know chillers and plumbing in general are going to take a big hit from the flow, and I really only need 1100gph through the UV, and 500 through the chiller. If I wanted, I could probably run the UV/Chiller in series with the return pipe since all the flows match pretty closely.

I'll most likely do:
Return pump with 3-way manifold, one to the display direction, one manifold to the UV, and one to the chiller. I'll have 3 flow meters (one on the combined return, one on the uv, one on the chiller). The manifolds would run in parallel and meet back again to return back to the tank.

I don't think I'll ever run GFO, and if I want to run some carbon for fun I'll just toss a bag into the media basket in the ReefMat.
 
The tank was delivered! The crate was in good shape but opening it was a huge pain in the butt. Took hours and in the end I just had to destroy the lid.
6D07E9BB-D7E1-411F-A29A-556A406D839C.jpeg


So many nails, and all the screws were rounded so there was no way to unscrew them.

307703D0-70C8-4206-963A-F31C078449B3.jpeg


CCDC8855-319D-4330-B44A-01AD37477CBC.jpeg


ELOS responded to my emails seeking help by saying there are a few screws to loosen on top and then it would open. No screws on top, only a few on the sides and most were completely rounded so I had to destroy it to open. Pretty bad IMO.

Upon opening, the inside was a mess. Random junky shipping bits everywhere. It felt like scraps of shipping material was just thrown in. The stand is the absolute stand and it just sat in the tank loosely wrapped in some cardboard.

94EB72FC-443C-43E6-9A35-50ABB3619A49.jpeg


The edges of the overflow cover also had a few dings, it was just free floating in there.

7817EE72-848F-4B72-94F9-DDCA19B8830D.jpeg


After pulling out what seemed like trash, I finally got a glimpse of the tank. It’s all in one piece.

817A145D-0FA2-467E-B872-DD58C2FED674.jpeg


So far my impressions:
For how damn expensive this was, it seems underwhelming at best, at least the shipping. I can’t tell what the glass etc looks like yet, but we’ll see. I expected a lot more right away for something that’s as expensive or more than custom.
 
I might have been too critical in my last post. Overall I am very excited, but for the money I think I was surprised at how it was shipped. I expected at least as good of packaging as something like Red Sea, but I think big companies like Red Sea can spend on a lot of packaging and presentation, whereas ELOS probably just focuses on the actual pieces of the tank, and doesn't care much about how it's shipped. Francois who is the Aquarium Partners guy who distributes in the U.S. probably does his damned best to ship these tanks in one piece, but it's just him and not ELOS that's taking care of this part. For what its worth, so far things are in one piece.
 
I decided to put the stand together tonight. Wow it was a pain. The metal frame just doesn’t line up well, one thread was tapped badly, and the instructions were basically nonexistent. The paint on the metal was bubbled and sparse in places. Also plenty of nicks.

23244538-A0EB-4A91-A151-A2DF1FBFD687.jpeg


F9314D13-7769-48AF-8DF0-92E41C80FE4F.jpeg


DA0528A6-C870-4F77-BE4A-521CA2839C86.jpeg


71565279-04D3-43B5-8DD7-8AADED37249F.jpeg


39DEC729-5B51-48ED-AF30-04D5D5926692.jpeg


I’m still trying to wait until it’s all setup to give it a good rating, but this isn’t a good start. Things are rough.
 
The shipping crate is a step up from the cardboard box and pallet mine was shipped in.

Hopefully the magnetic panels hides all the imperfections of the metal frame and black leveling pieces.
 
ashburn2k said:
wow what a let down, hopefully you can call them and see if they can make it right.
Click to expand...

It's funny because the Quiet Drain doesn't look anything like the Quiet Drain II. I emailed ELOS about it and they said: "Congratulations, you have the Quiet Drain III". What? It didn't say that anywhere, and it seems almost like an excuse for getting the 8+ year old Quiet Drain I. I told them that the instructions included are for the Quiet Drain II, even their website still lists that (because it comes with dual returns, this new one does not). I haven't heard back since.

 
kinetic said:
It's funny because the Quiet Drain doesn't look anything like the Quiet Drain II. I emailed ELOS about it and they said: "Congratulations, you have the Quiet Drain III". What? It didn't say that anywhere, and it seems almost like an excuse for getting the 8+ year old Quiet Drain I. I told them that the instructions included are for the Quiet Drain II, even their website still lists that (because it comes with dual returns, this new one does not). I haven't heard back since.
Click to expand...
Now that’s just wrong!
 
Mr2KiEu said:
The shipping crate is a step up from the cardboard box and pallet mine was shipped in.

Hopefully the magnetic panels hides all the imperfections of the metal frame and black leveling pieces.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the panels will definitely hide it, but for the amount of money I paid for the absolute stand, you would think it would be WAY better. Materials seems just fine, but the attention to detail sucks. I would say the stand is probably worth 1/3 of what I paid for. For this price I could probably get a custom made one that's the exact same design, but made a lot better.

I'm not sure how I'm going to deal with the overlapping black "plastic" pieces. I might just pull out my dremel and cut the plastic so the tank can sit flush on it. The black plastic that's also not glued down I guess should be easy with some glue.

Seriously, paying an extra $2400 and having to do so much manual work on it to work is really crappy.
 
Maybe someone can tell me, do these paint problems seem unacceptable? To me it definitely is. Of course it's "hidden" by the panels, but still, I am paying an extreme premium on this thing:

_DSC3384.jpg


_DSC3385.jpg


_DSC3386.jpg


_DSC3387.jpg


_DSC3388.jpg
 
Kensington Reefer said:
Susceptibility to RUST
I would call and pitch a fit!
To the point of demanding a replacement at their cost
Click to expand...

I didn't even think of the rust. I believe it was powder coated with gray already, and then since I wanted white, they sprayed white paint. Hopefully that means it's still protected. Either way, I think you're right. Having them send me a new stand would be ideal. Heck, if they pre-assemble it even better. Took me hours just to jam these things together since it was so horribly aligned.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top