UNS60s Reborn

Prooda · Oct 27, 2025

Initial research on overflow box. Seems like it's the safer way to do things since it protects you from dumping all the water into the sump. Just doing some quick math here, UNS60s is a 10.2 gallon tank, with sand and rock. I'd estimate the total water volume to be around 8 gallon? The bulkhead will be near the top, so if power goes out... I think a tank dump would be around 2-3 gallon? Thats cutting it kinda close

Overflow box is just too bulky though so idk... I'd need to find another tank to use as a sump bc I no longer feel comfortable with my current plan... Hmmm decisions decisions...

Prooda · Nov 8, 2025

I've decided to not go with an overflow box. An overflow box would take up too much space in the rear and it would make it difficult to mount the light. So I did the next best thing. Found this Imagitarium 14g tank at petco for $43! Couldn't pass it up and it was perfect for my application. Its pretty funny that my sump is larger than the tank itself

Next on the list of things to do is figuring out the flow in this tank. This one is rough since this was the main reason for shutting down the tank the first time around. One thing I do know is that I do not want a wavemaker in the tank. I've tried a few nanos and without fail, the tank turns into a sandstorm. I've seen a couple tanks with dual return lines and I'm currently leaning towards that option. Less gear in the tank, more room for the nems to take up.

This is exciting!

Prooda · Nov 8, 2025

Oh! Another thing is I recently picked up a black widow nem! This nem wasn't on my radar at all but a local reefer had it up for sale at an incredible price. I'm glad I picked him up because I didn't know how bright these can be! Absolutely gorgeous nem. He's currently sitting in a box in my UNS90L waiting to be transferred. Keeping him in a box because I don't want him to walk onto a rock in there and then I'd have to remove the entire rock out to transfer him

Prooda · Nov 15, 2025

This is what the tank currently looks like. No outside panels aren't designed yet but that should be easy enough to do. I'm liking it a lot so far and very excited to get the build going. Lots of the design choices here can be replicated to my main display tank since they're both peninsula lagoon style tanks. I also picked up a Bubble Magus MiniQ for the sump. Not sure if i'll need it since its a small tank and low bioload. I worry that the skimmer will bottom out Nitrate and Phosphate

Sump design:
The design of the sump is taken right from the Fiji Cube Fiji 15 sump since the cube tank has the same footprint. One thing I really want from the sump is to have space for a frag holder or a media box for softies. Keeps the clutter away from my UNS90L display tank.

Flow design:
Dual return is final. However, I'll only be running 1 pump instead of 2. Given the size of the sump, it's not possible for me to fit 2 pumps in there. I'll just have to be more diligent with cleaning the pump and replacing it every so often. I originally wanted to do 2 drain lines, having one as a full siphon and the other as a surface skimmer, kind of similar to what Eschulist did to his 3-foot nano tank. However, after talking to a local reefer, I think a 1" drain should be sufficient (I hope I don't regret this).

This is what I'm expecting the flow to be like. Both returns will have RFG nozzles aiming at the middle of the tank. Both flow should be crashing into each other in the middle of the tank, making that the strongest flow area. Whatever doesn't crash will be pushed towards the front of the tank, then crash into glass and bring it back. There will be a dead zone in the rear of the tank but I'm hoping that the drain line will suck enough water that it won't be a dead zone, but instead a low flow zone.

I'm also thinking about hardscape and I think the best option is to do 2 islands offset to each other, leaving the middle blank. There should be plenty of space for the clowns to swim around. Scape design isn't final and will probably be the last step. I'm probably going to fill the tank and see what the flow is like before doing the hardscape.

Prooda · Jan 21, 2026

Update:

The core of the stand is built! This thing is rock solid as is but I will be adding more extrusions for shelvings and that will just add even more rigidity to it.

This is my first time drilling a tank and it was nerve racking for sure. Currently debating between 3/4" and 1" for the drain line. Not too sure which size I should go with. Also went back to the old small 5g cube tank as my sump. A 15g cube sump would just be an overkill for this tank. I'm going to save that 15g for the UNS90L if I end up liking a sump setup.

Things to do:
-Order panels
-Shelvings
-Leak test
-Build the sump

Prooda · Feb 27, 2026

The wait is over! Today was the first fill and I am genuinely so happy with this build. It blows my mind that this entire build used leftover materials that I've been gathering for YEARS. The only thing that I purchased new were the bulkhead fittings. I still need to do wire management and find some bins to fill out the bottom section and ofc, panels (which I may not even do tbh. It looks cool open like this).

FTS

The 2 handles in the front of the frame are there so that I can pull the entire tank out of the nook for maintenance. The entire setup is surprisingly light and easy to maneuver.

The tank is currently being cycled by some live rocks in my main tank.

The flow in the tank is PERFECT for nems. Not too strong and not too weak and I'm not seeing any dead spots (except for the rear but very minimal)

I also went with a custom 3d printed internal overflow box. I'm so glad that a local reefer convinced me to go this route. The internal overflow box have a prefilter, so its safe for fish and nems.

This is the plumbing for the tank. Everything is soft line. Would love to go the PVC route but I have so many soft line tubings that I need to use. Drain line is 3/4" and the dual return lines are 1/2".

Water travels down to this box and makes a little U to dampen the noise and enters out through a filter sock. The sump produce little to no noise.

This is something that I'm currently playing around with. The ATO reservoir is tucked in the back next to the sump so its pretty hard to fill. I printed this prototype and now it can be filled from the front. Sucks that I wasn't able to use gravity fed ATO but this is a much cleaner look. I've only filled it once and it was still a little bit tricky to fill. So we'll see what I come up with. Its fine for now until I get annoyed by it.

Prooda · Mar 1, 2026

Tank cleared up on Day 2 so I added in the black widow rock that has been cycling for months now. Also added a white belly yellow wrasse, watchman goby and mushroom tile. Just trying to load up the tank with bacteria and microorganisms for a quick cycle

Prooda · Mar 10, 2026

I used my main display tank's water for this tank's first water change. Things will be changing a lot in my household, therefore, I've decided to downsize my tanks. The original plan for this tank was to keep it nem only, however, that won't happen anymore. It'll be lps and softies tank.

The black widow nems are extremely bleached from keeping them in the holding tank. They're starting to get their colors back so that's a good sign! I'm disappointed that the AI blade doesn't have great color saturation. Everything looks dull and I don't want to have a windex tank just to see the color. I'm thinking of maybe adding 2x 440nm light bars to hopefully bring out more color. We shall see!

Overall, tank is doing great and everything is settling in nicely!

Prooda · Apr 2, 2026

Another monthly update! The colors on the nems are really starting to come back. I've been feeding them every 3 days and the boost is definitely helping. Still trying to find an established pair of pink skunk clowns. No rush on them but it would be nice to have more movement in the tank.

Also added 2 supplemental lights and wow does it make the tank pop. The side by side pics really show how bad the color mixing is on the AI Grow.

This is how I currently have them mounted. I will probably make brackets for them so it'll be a wing type look for better spread. https://a.co/d/07Oh6BC7 These are the lights that I purchased. I tried the 440nm version too but it didn't mix well with the AI Grow. Highly recommend the 460nm version.

With just the supplemental lights

Some top down view!

Prooda · May 3, 2026

Another monthly update!

Switched out the 5 gallon sump for a 14 gallon sump since I need to tank down my main display tank. Had to get rid of a lot of my corals but now the two tanks are combined! This is now my only tank which is sad but also much needed. I had 4 tanks running at one point and thats just excessive

.The sump is now holding my sps but since I'm short on time, I ended up moving the rock work into the sump too.

The Black Widow nems are now 90% of the way there. Color is now nice and deep. Just needs that last 10% to pop like how they previously were. I'll be travelling for the next 2 weeks so hopefully the tank will be fine while I'm gone.

New sump