commod0re's UNS R90 Build

[commod0re]

So after a year with the Red Sea G1 Peninsula, I decided I was hooked and it was time to start seriously considering an upgrade for the purposes of a long-term build. The #1 thing my wife and I wanted out of an upgrade was to have a sump and other than that it was kinda up to me to figure out the exact size and kit I wanted for the project. I pored over catalog after catalog, just not quite satisfied with the dimensions of anything until I finally came across the UNS Reef system. I finally settled on the R90, put my order in with Buce Plant a couple weeks ago, and the freight company dropped it off today. I got it all unpacked and dry fit together and am extremely happy with it all so far. I'm still planning out all the equipment but I'll start to put together the plan here and then finally show some pictures

Going to spend a lot more time on the rockscape this time, and get a lot more rock in there. I'm planning to do drilled supports for extra security, 3D-printed eggcrate bases to keep the rock from touching the glass directly, and build higher. I'm aiming to have enough levels of lighting and flow available to support soft and LPS corals but not looking to do SPS right now.

Gear	What
Lights	AquaIllumination Hydra Edge 44HD (1x or 2x not sure yet) AquaIllumination Blade Glow 12" (2x or 4x we'll see) UNS mini refugium light
Light Mount	HMS hybrid mount plus one of: 1. HMS hanging kit with UNS Bar (Pro?) 2. 2x HMS arm kits 3. HMS rail kit
Return Pump	Jebao DCP-5000
Heat	400W Aquatop
Fleece Roller	undecided
Skimmer	Nyos Quantum 160
Doser	Red Sea ReefDose 2
Wave Makers	2x AquaIllumination Nero 3s ??
Automation /Monitoring	custom

fish stocking:

in:
- “wyoming white” clownfish. name: Candlejack
- tail spot blenny. name: Blennard Nimoy
- scooter dragonet. name: Lump
- skunk cleaner shrimp. name: Kingpin
- tuxedo urchin. name: Henry
- peppermint shrimp. name: Prawn Swanson
- red firefish. name: Flameo Hotman
- talbot’s damsel. name: Lemonade
- springer damsel. name: Barb
- yellow rose goby. name: TBD
- tiger pistol shrimp: name: Gravedigger

future:
- blood red fire shrimp
- McCosker's flasher wrasse
- pink streaked wrasse
- Lubbock’s fairy wrasse
- yellow coris wrasse
- ???



other stuff will go here later


Here's the tank, empty:

Move day! Everyone is in

 

[commod0re]

got the included plumbing kit installed easily and it's really nice. I love how efficiently the space is used. I'm really looking forward to getting this set up the rest of the way

will be buying a bunch of rocks, sand, and the return pump soon enough. I do have some rocks left over from setting up the other tank so might get started playing with that a bit soon as well

 

[UNS_Brandon]

is the cat shelf staying?

 

[commod0re]

is the cat shelf staying?

good eye there was a cat tree in this corner of the room but they didn't really use the shelf even then, so I'm going to move it... there will definitely be some kind of cat furniture around though

 

[UNS_Brandon]

could be risky... but also EPIC

 

[MaPePo]

Excited to see it come together, just got mine running but still need to start a build thread. Any thoughts about a UV sterilizer?

 

[commod0re]

I have a green machine around here somewhere that I’ve used a couple of times but it’s not something I currently keep in there or run frequently because there’s nowhere to hide it

I haven’t actually considered using it on this tank. Not for any particular reason other than I just haven’t come to rely much on UV so far… things to think about lol

 

[commod0re]

Got some rocks today: the box of “the perfect mix” to add to the rocks I already had, left over from scaping the 26G. Will probably be hunting for individual pieces mainly next, but perhaps one more box as well

 

[commod0re]

I’m not totally sold on apex or hydros for various reasons. I was struck with inspiration on a fun sub-project to work on when waiting on other stuff though and so here’s a preview of my custom controller project for this build

I’ve been having a lot of fun building things with the m5stack platform and esphome lately. I recently picked up this Tab5 which has two esp32s, a touch screen, a display driver and all kinds of inputs and expansion ports, and it fits perfectly right in here.

So part 1 of the project will be figuring out how to control and monitor my pumps and lights, which currently all use BLE, and then make esphome configs for it. That will also connect it to my existing home-assistant setup for alerts, notifications, automations, graphs, as well, which is a nice bonus. Part 2 will be making an LCARS-inspired UI for it, because the gray magnetic door panels really remind me of Starfleet maintenance panels, so I just think it will look really cool to pop the panel off and then there’s this little thing in the corner, will just give it a special vibe that I can smile at every time I open it up. That’s the idea anyway, we’ll see if it works out as well as I hope lol

 

[Old Man Sauce]

Just got My r90 set up. I'm currently using 2 of the the Nero 3 powerheads, and I get pretty good flow at 65%/45% random setting. Probably wouldn't be too great for SPS, but my LPS and Softies seem pretty happy. As for a Skimmer, I went with the ReefOcto Regal 150sss and it's been a Beast so far.

 

[commod0re]

Today I bought 80 lbs of special grade aragonite sand

And started working on my half of the rockscape

I’ll need at least one more box of rocks or so for my wife to be able to do her side. Will be heading to an LFS or two with her this weekend to get enough to finalize our scape and then I can start working on securing the structures together so nothing can fall and crush any fish

Time to start 3D printing some eggcrate-like baseplates for the rocks to sit on so they won’t touch the bottom glass, and also hopefully sit even a little bit more planted

 

[commod0re]

I decided to change the hardware plan slightly because the stuff I chose was very expensive and it was difficult to actually pull the trigger on say a $600 pump

Yesterday I received a Jebao DCP-5000 which is in place. I also grabbed a 400W Aquatop titanium heater. Both are basically set up but I haven’t done all the cable management yet

 

[Nan.roti]

You have so much space from the pipe to the return pump. I literally have the two barbs touching with the COR20

 

[commod0re]

You have so much space from the pipe to the return pump. I literally have the two barbs touching with the COR20

if I do that, my pump won’t be in the water

 

[commod0re]

Today’s the day to get wet! Spent several days printing my own version of modular eggcrate to give my rockscape some sturdy support, and covered most of the rest of the bottom in a single layer just to prevent any bottom scratches. Drilled some holes in my rocks, added some internal 3D printed support bars, and stuck them together with a combination of aquaforest stonefix and tunze coral gum instant. Now to wait for the thing to fill up with water…

The other side is going to be the rockscape that’s currently in the 26G. We’ll transfer everything soon

 

[commod0re]

I wanted to get a reef octopus regal or elite 150 skimmer for this tank but man they’re so expensive! So I spent a very long time agonizing over which one to get and finally landed on the Nyos Quantum 160. I chose it for two reasons:

1. There is an upgrade path available for it to give it a DC pump so I can spread the spending out a little more

2. Seems like many users who have them on here, have had overall good experiences with them, with few major drawbacks

So I ordered one from TSA last night along with some pods, phyto, and a sinularia lol

 

[commod0re]

Today’s small update is electrical safety part 1: added an in-line GFCI. Soon I will add a grounding probe as well.

I am also working on cycling the tank while we wait for the skimmer to arrive. It was due to arrive today, but it seems once again FedEx is not as fast as they think they are, so I think it will actually come tomorrow or Friday

 

[commod0re]

Looks like I was wrong! It made it

Looks like a perfect fit!

 

[commod0re]

Picked up a skunk cleaner shrimp today which will temporarily live in the small tank, at Barrier Reef Aquariums, because they sent me a coupon code after my last pickup order. While I was down there, lo and behold, they have grounding probes in stock! So I will be setting this up today

I also picked up some chaeto, a little prematurely, so it’s going to temporarily live in the old tank in a mesh breeder box. I ordered a UNS Mini Refugium Light from Buce today after finding out all of the small lights I have on hand are too large (I kinda wanted that light anyway)

 

[commod0re]

Today I made a temporary window screen frame lid using 1/4” aquarium lid net, and some custom 3D-printed parts. I’m not completely happy with it but it only has to last a short while as I will be ordering a kraken reef lid soon

The lid rests here are printed in PETG, a custom design I already had on hand for some of my wife’s freshwater tanks

I used a standard window frame kit but I made a parametric, custom angle window screen corner in OpenSCAD so I could make the 185/225 degree angle corners for the cutout. I also made a brace part and included it in my construction but it’s not as useful as I’d hoped it would be, I made it too thin and without enough additional structure. Oh well, it’s temporary

The frame is a perfect fit

And here it is with the mesh and braces

The gap around the edges is a consistent 1/8” so hopefully nothing will get through it while we await the “real” lid