UNS R90 Mixed Reef Build

[eggyplantz]

Merry Christmas from me to me lol.

Joining the three (that I've found) other R2R members with UNS R90 setups and using this thread to document my progress. New to saltwater but freshwater veteran, if many years removed.

After waffling between the IM 112 Lagoon and this one, I ultimately went with UNS because of the clean setup and solid build quality. No regrets.

I'm taking things nice slow while I have a couple of weeks off from work. Today I'm heading to grab some rock, mortar, and epoxy and we'll see what mess emerges.

From there, I obviously have a long list of equipment I'll be assembling over the next few weeks/months. I am open to any and all suggestions as I get my act together slowly. I haven't decided firmly on anything other than lights (Kessil A160WE Tuna Blue x2), which was the easy bit and won't be needed for a month or more anyway.

I'll update periodically in case it is interesting or helpful for others considering the system.

 

[AlyciaMarie Verified Admin]

That's a pretty awesome gift. Following along!

 

[*GAREEF*]

Merry Christmas from me to me lol.

Joining the three (that I've found) other R2R members with UNS R90 setups and using this thread to document my progress. New to saltwater but freshwater veteran, if many years removed.

After waffling between the IM 112 Lagoon and this one, I ultimately went with UNS because of the clean setup and solid build quality. No regrets.

I'm taking things nice slow while I have a couple of weeks off from work. Today I'm heading to grab some rock, mortar, and epoxy and we'll see what mess emerges.

From there, I obviously have a long list of equipment I'll be assembling over the next few weeks/months. I am open to any and all suggestions as I get my act together slowly. I haven't decided firmly on anything other than lights (Kessil A160WE Tuna Blue x2), which was the easy bit and won't be needed for a month or more anyway.

I'll update periodically in case it is interesting or helpful for others considering the system.

Sweet! Very nice looking clean system!

 

[UNS_Brandon]

Where did you purchase it from?

 

[divewsharks]

I have one on the way. Ever since is saw them on display at RAP Anaheim i knew if i was to get a new tank it would be an UNS (I have 3 other reefs already in play). I'm trying to decide on which skimmer to go with at the moment (have a LifeReef on my 150G currently). Have you decided which skimmer you are going with?

 

[nursedude]

Definite follow! Can’t wait to see what you create.

 

[w00hz]

Please share your freshwater tanks, I'm new to salt as well

 

[Espino963]

Following, hoping for some updates soon.

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Kessil 160s likely severely underpowered unless you plan on very low light corals. Just a heads up.

 

[UNS_Brandon]

How’s this tank coming along?

 

[eggyplantz]

Obviously been a bit since updating, but finally have some milestones to share. After getting the tank up and in its spot back in December, I took my time building my rock structure outside the tank and life got a bit busy. I also took a lot of time to research and gather materials, books, and equipment, and make decisions on how I wanted to set up the system. I went back and forth on a lot of things but am really pleased with how its all come together and am glad I spent the time to plan.

I've included pics at the end of this post of progress along the way up through today. (Ignore the plastic sheeting, we're having some plumbing work done in the ceiling of this room so that protects the setup.)

I've opted begin with Triton method since the system has a good sized refugium setup in the sump. I know there are a lot of opinions out there on that but it's what I'm interested in starting with and I'll be curious to see how it works.

I also set out with visual cleanliness, organization, and minimizing cables as primary goals, so I decided ultimately to go all in on the Hydros controller ecosystem from the start, and am so far glad that I did.

The total water volume of my entire system is 72 gallons and I went with a rock heavy setup because I wanted to maximize surface area for varying types of inhabitants. I opted for CaribSea Bimini Pink sand and a bunch of dry rock from my lfs for the display, along with about 16 lbs of cured live rock from the same lfs in the skimmer zone of the sump. For my salt I opted for Tropic Marin Syn-Biotic. I'll eventually be dosing with the Triton 4 part once my cycle is complete.

Brief equipment list:

Hydros:
-Kraken w/ 12v battery backup
-Controller X4
-Wave Engine LE
-WiFi Power Strip
-Sensors (ph probe, temp x2, water level x2)

Water Movement:
-2x Maxspect Gyre 350 (WiFi edition but pump only. Controlled through Hydros)
-Simplicity DC 1600 return pump (Controlled through Hydros)

Heaters:
-2x Eheim Thermocontrol-e 250W (Controlled through Hydros)

Dosing:
-Simplicity 4 head doser (Powered through Hydros)

Lighting:
-Kessil AP9X
-Spectral Controller X (I didn't want to have to deal with WiFi for the lights day to day but I like to have the capability built-in)

Lid:
-Kraken custom

I have an RO/DI filter setup from an lfs in the bathroom adjacent.

I'm going to be shortly adding a Hydros Minnow for two additional dosing pumps for future use, and to add another quad of sensors for some additional ones I'd like to implement. Otherwise I have no more equipment plans until the need for something arises.

Testing wise I'm using a combo of tests after reading through various forums including Tropic Marin, Red Sea, and Hanna checkers. (If anyone has recommendations for a colorblind person, please share even if the answer for everything is Hanna checkers lol)

Currently the tank is on day 4 of cycling in the dark after adding the recommended dose of Dr. Tim's along with my lfs cured live rock in the sump. So far the ammonia and nitrate levels are hovering above zero at around .02 ppm, so I'm happy just letting all of the bacterial cultures build while I take a few weeks to wrap my head around the chemistry of it all and decide on my first inhabitants. The goal way down the line is to have corals, but I want to focus first on building stable water parameters for a long period and understanding the chemistry.

One final thought: I'm a person who loves having dense reference books for everything, and this hobby is no exception. I have a few great ones but by far the best resource has been The Reef Aquarium three volume series by Delbeek and Sprung. All three books are dense with timeless information that has really helped guide me.

I'll be posting more pictures as things develop but probably not for a bit since there's not much to see. If anyone has any cycling tips (I'm avoiding using ammonium chloride additive) or wants to give suggestions for good first inhabitants (including clean up crew) please share!

 

[divewsharks]

Looking good, I just setup my R90 as well, just added the first corals (last week) and fish (this weekend) to it.

 

[eggyplantz]

Looking good, I just setup my R90 as well, just added the first corals (last week) and fish (this weekend) to it.

That's exciting! Glad to see more R90 builds on here than when I started getting my act together, seems like the UNS R systems are gaining traction.

Did you have trouble balancing your return pump and the overflow? It took me about an hour to get it all dialed in at the GPH I wanted (roughly 1300) and I'm not confident I did it right.

 

[divewsharks]

That's exciting! Glad to see more R90 builds on here than when I started getting my act together, seems like the UNS R systems are gaining traction.

Did you have trouble balancing your return pump and the overflow? It took me about an hour to get it all dialed in at the GPH I wanted (roughly 1300) and I'm not confident I did it right.

ah, so it was not just me.... yes it took me a while to get dialed in, at least a couple hours of watching/checking/playing/making sure the float valve was operating properly.

 

[eggyplantz]

ah, so it was not just me.... yes it took me a while to get dialed in, at least a couple hours of watching/checking/playing/making sure the float valve was operating properly.

Yea no it was/is definitely a ride on the struggle bus for me. I've gotta figure out a way to make it less fussy because every time I turn off the pump/close the overflow valve it takes forever to rebalance. Maybe @UNS_Brandon has some tips?

I also realized last night after losing about 6L of ATO water into the sump when I needed to turn off the pump briefly and close the return gate that there's nothing stopping the ATO from just draining all in there if the water level drops suddenly (and I forget to close the ato line valve). So today I'm buying a Hydros solenoid valve for the ATO line and a water level sensor to hopefully avoid that in the future.

Also, did you have trouble fitting the cover of the return chamber on once the pump was installed? The thickness of the tube added enough that I couldn't get it into the slot without forcing it. I'm gonna take a dremmel and shave about 1/8" off the sides of the slot but just haven't gotten around to it yet. May be worth investigating a different tubing thickness first if you didn't have this issue.

 

[eggyplantz]

Some minor updates from the weekend:

After initially feeling very hesitant to use ammonium chloride dosing, I decided to go ahead and put some in just to make sure the cycle happens properly before adding livestock of any kind. To date the system has just had 60 lbs of arag-alive sand, 16ish lbs of cured wet live rock from my lfs, and about 30 lbs of dry rock, and that's all been cooking for about 10 days now with the starter dose of Dr. Tim's. I added the ammonium chloride yesterday.

After speaking with one of the helpful guys at my lfs, I went ahead and got some chaeto in the refugium area and have the light cycle on an opposite schedule just so that's starting to establish and will hopefully keep the ammonia from taking forever to cycle out. The upper tank lights are off.

He also recommended dosing with Brightwell NeoNitro to make sure the chaeto has adequate nutrients. I'm not super familiar with the product and am not sure whether to add it now or wait until the cycle is complete. Gonna do some research to the best of my ability and see what I find out.

I'm horribly color blind, so a lot of tests are very hard for me to read accurately when they depend on fine color shading perception, which is why I was trying to avoid ammonia. We'll see what happens.

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Neonitro is esentially dosing nitrates. So just test them before you dose to see if needed.

 

[eggyplantz]

Neonitro is esentially dosing nitrates. So just test them before you dose to see if needed.

I feel really stupid asking this but if nitrate presence is the sign that the cycle is done, then dosing now would confuse those results I assume. Is the chaeto going to be satisfactorily sustained until the cycle completes? I just don't want it slowly dying on me and creating new problems.

 

[Justfebreezeit]

I feel really stupid asking this but if nitrate presence is the sign that the cycle is done, then dosing now would confuse those results I assume. Is the chaeto going to be satisfactorily sustained until the cycle completes? I just don't want it slowly dying on me and creating new problems.

Not stupid to ask, theres so many small details in this.

Yes dosing now would confuse the relation in the cycle. I'm not sure how much that matters however.

The Chaeto can survive off ammonia as well and will take a long time to starve. That said it also needs phosphate.

 

[eggyplantz]

Not stupid to ask, theres so many small details in this.

Yes dosing now would confuse the relation in the cycle. I'm not sure how much that matters however.

The Chaeto can survive off ammonia as well and will take a long time to starve. That said it also needs phosphate.

Ah okay. I'll test phosphate when I get home, I have a hanna checker for that. It did occur to me that while nitrate is one end sign, the other big one is zeroing out of ammonia and nitrite, so maybe it doesn't matter as much as long as I'm tracking those to zero alongside.

If the phosphate levels are low enough that it's an issue, what's the best solution to that? Or will it sort itself out once I start stocking?

I know the chemistry of all of this is so complicated, that's why I'm stressed about ****** something up now in the beginning when it's most important to get it off to the right start.