UNS 120s Custom Peninsula Lagoon

[Bret]

A little over 3 years ago, after a trip to Hawaii, I got the itch to get back into the hobby after being mostly out for quite a few years.

That tank is still going strong, but after another tropical vacation Christmas of 2022 to Bonaire, I got the itch again and decided I needed another tank.

This time I decided I wanted a shallow peninsula style tank. After searching for quite a while, not finding the tank I wanted, I figured I was going to have to go (semi) custom.

UNS makes gorgeous aquariums. Their glass is the clearest I’ve seen and the mitered corners are beautiful. They are more popular on the freshwater side, and don’t have too many drilled options.

I ended up going with their 120s which is basically a standard 120, but only 14” tall!

I had to drill the tank myself, and I wanted an external glass overflow with no internal box to preserve the ultra sleek look.

I drilled and cut for the single 1” return and the overflow wier. This was extremely nerve racking, but actually went fairly smoothly.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

This is going to be one cool build to follow!

 

[Bret]

I built a custom steel stand from 2” square. Usually I’d use smaller stock, but I found this on sale.

Stand dimensions are 54x24x37. I built it 6” longer than the tank to keep all the plumbing internal and to provide more room for storage.

 

[Bret]

Finished by bringing to my buddies house for powdercoat.

 

[BetteMidler]

I bet the neighbors are curious on what the heck is going on in that garage.

 

[vandy]

Great stand! About to do something similar out of 1.5" square tubing

 

[Bret]

I bet the neighbors are curious on what the heck is going on in that garage.

Nah, there used to it by now. I'm always out there cutting grinding and welding something haha

 

[Bret]

Great stand! About to do something similar out of 1.5" square tubing

Nice! 1.5 is usually what I use

 

[PeterJG]

Nice! 1.5 is usually what I use

Following this thread as my new tank is a 54" x 30" x18" peninsula. Acrylic tank on home built wooden stand. Stand will be finished (by my son). Sump will be in adjoining utility room. RODI system installed but real plumbing will start next week!

 

[Bret]

Following this thread as my new tank is a 54" x 30" x18" peninsula. Acrylic tank on home built wooden stand. Stand will be finished (by my son). Sump will be in adjoining utility room. RODI system installed but real plumbing will start next week!

Nice tank! The long and low dimensions of these peninsulas are really cool

 

[Bret]

Next step was to build the external glass overflow box.

I bought a pice of glass from a local glass shop in order to cut the prices for the overflow

It’s a lot harder than it looks to score and snap 3/8 glass !

 

[aquatic26]

Following! About to get a similar tank

 

[MantisShrimpMan]

Update?

 

[Bret]

Tank has been up and running for a few months now. I lost interest for a bit and almost threw in the towel.
Here are the specs of the build:
UNS 120s with custom external overflow
Custom steel stand
Trigger emerald 34 sump
Eshopps rs200 skimmer, sicce psk 600 pump modded with psk 1000 impeller
Neptune COR15 return pump
1” return with random flow generator
Lifeguard 25watt uv sterilizer
Mp40
BRS 300 watt titanium heater element
Neptune A3 apex jr
Fmm with flow sensor and leak sensors
AFS auto feeder
Ato and auto water changes are shared with my other system
Lifting is two Kessil a360x with 55 degree reflectors on a custom extruded aluminum mount.
Fuge light is a Kessil a360we
There is about 65 lbs of rock, but could use more

 

[Bret]

Here’s how the overflow turned out.
Very happy with this. It takes up zero room inside the tank and is completely silent.
I 3D printed the overflow teeth, they are easily removed to clean.
I had to put a bend in the return line to fit through the opening in the stand. This was a little tricky, but turned out perfectly.

 

[Bret]

Here’s the controller board, plenty of room to add things in the future if needed.

 

[Bret]

Inside the cabinet still needs some wire management, but cable raceway makes this much more manageable

 

[Bret]

Current livestock are a tomato clown and 3 bengaii cardinals.
Some lps, zoas, and a rbta I pulled from my other tank.
Tank gets direct sunlight for about an hour a day, which is becoming less and less of a problem as the tank matures. Still fighting some cyano though.
Still trying to decide how I want to stock this tank. I’m kind of leaning more towards cool inverts and small fish you need to get up close to the glass to enjoy.