schg's Ultum Nature Systems 45u

[schg]

schg's Ultum Nature System 45u​

Current full tank shot:

New items, still lots of empty rock!
08/22/2022​

 

[schg]

Current Equipment setup:

• Tank
  • Ultum Nature Systems 45u 9 gallon frameless aquarium (07/10/2022)
• Lighting
  • AquaIllumination Prime HD (05/20/2022)
  • Luxdium LUX Engine Gold puck upgrade (07/29/2022)
  • Aquatic Life 4 bulb Hybrid T5 fixture (08/26/2022)
  • ATI bulbs - 2x Blue+, 1x Coral+, 1x True Actinic (08/26/2022)
    
• Heater
  • hygger 100w mini aquarium heater (07/02/2022)
• Flow
  • AQQA 800 wavemaker pump with VIV glass lily pipes (07/02/2022)
  • VIV glass overflow (07/24/2022)
• Filtration
  • Fiji Cube Fiji-12 sump (07/02/2022)
  • Vivosun 800GPH return pump (07/05/2022)
• Auto top off
  • Magtool optical sensor ATO (05/25/2022)
• Control
  • Reef Octopus FW110 high amp float switch (07/31/2022)
• Live rock
  • 10lbs of Carib Sea Life Rock Base (05/17/2022)
• Live sand
  • 15lbs of Carib Sea aragonite sand (05/17/2022)

Filtration and maintenance:

• Chemi-Pure Blue Nano (replaced every 2 months?)
• Mixed density filter pad (replaced weekly)
• 100 Micron polishing pad (replaced weekly)
• 4 gallon water change with Brightwell Aquatics NeoMarine salt (completed weekly)
• 4ml Red Sea Reef Energy AB+ (dosed daily)
• 1/8 teaspoon Reef Roids (weekly)
• Bulk Reef Supply 6 Stage 75GPD RO/DI system (currently reading 0 TDS)

Soft Coral:

• Green Ricordia (06/13/2022)
• Green Kenya Tree (07/14/2022)
• Pulsing Xenia (07/14/2022)
• Green Star Polyps (06/23/2022)
• Jawbreaker Mushroom (06/24/2022)
• Neon Green Star Polyps (06/28/2022)

Zoas and Palys:

• Oxides (06/12/2022)
• King Midas (06/12/2022)
• Incredible Hulk (06/12/2022)
• Punk Rockers (06/12/2022)
• Nuclear Greens (06/23/2022)
• Unknown blue and green zoas (07/26/2022)
• Unknown red and green zoas (06/23/2022)
• Purple Hearts (06/28/2022)
• Pandoras (06/28/2022)
• Radioactive Dragon Eyes (06/28/2022)
• Bloodsuckers (06/28/2022)
• Utter Peace (06/28/2022)
• Buttmunchers (06/28/2022)
• Utter Chaos (08/03/2022)
• Black Lotus (08/03/2022)
• Rastas (08/10/2022)
• Crown Royals (08/10/2022)
• Red Hornets (08/10/2022)
• Mohawks (08/10/2022)
• Vamps in Drag (08/20/2022)
• Sunny D (08/27/2022)
• Purple Death (08/27/2022)
• Captain America (08/27/2022)
• Ring of Fire (08/27/2022)
• CB Punk Rocker (08/27/2022)
• White Zombie (08/27/2022)
• Pink Diamond (pending)
  
  
• Rainbow Incinerators (wanted)
• Galaxy People Eaters (wanted)
• Sopranos (wanted)
• Purple People Eaters (wanted)
• Utter Chaos (wanted)
• Wobbegongs (wanted)
• Lunar Eclipse or Stiggy Marley (wanted)
• Hallucination (wanted)
• Leprochauns (wanted)
• Fruit Loops (wanted)
• Ultimate Chaos (wanted)
• Spiderman (wanted)
• Pikachu (wanted)
• Charmander (wanted)
• Hungry Eyes (wanted)
• Little Shop of Horrors (wanted)
• Fallen Icarus (wanted)
• Blue Hornet (wanted)
• Double Trouble (wanted)
• Foxy Loxy (wanted)
• Gatorade (wanted)
• Mauna Loa (wanted)
• Murder Hornet (wanted)
• Snozberry (wanted)
• Tremor (wanted)
• Gobstopper (wanted)
• Exosphere (wanted)
• Halle Berry (wanted)
• Frankies Acid Trip (wanted)

LPS:

• Mummy Eye Chalice (06/23/2022)
• Duncan (07/30/2022)
• Blue and Red Acan (08/03/2022)
• Dragon Soul Torch (08/20/2022)
• Bright Neon Green Torch (08/20/2022)
• Red-Orange and Green Blasto (08/20/2022)

SPS:

• Red Monti (06/13/2022)
• Unknown dark purple Acro (07/26/2022)
• Rainbow Monti? (06/23/2022)
• Forest Fire Digi (06/23/2022)
• Green Birdsnest (06/30/2022)
• JF Slow Burn Monti (06/30/2022)
• Jedi Mind Tricks Monti (08/20/2022)
• Oregon Blue Tort (08/20/2022)

Fish:

• Sharknose Goby (07/26/2022)
• Springers Damsel (07/31/2022)
• Hi-fin Red Banded Goby (08/06/2022)
  
  
• Green Banded Goby (maybe?)
• Tailspot Blenny (maybe?)
• Red-Headed Goby (maybe?)
• Barred Tiger Blenny (maybe?)

Invertebrates:

• Astraea Snails (06/08/2022)
• Nassarius Snails (06/08/2022)
• Blue Legged Hermit Crabs (06/08/2022)
• Green Mithrax Crab (06/08/2022)
• Nano Conch Snails (06/19/2022)
• Rock Flower Anemone (06/19/2022)
• Halloween Hermit Crab (07/30/2022)
• Babylon Snails (pending)
• Bumble Bee Snails (pending)
• Cortez Cerith Snails (pending)
• Dwarf Cerith Snails (pending)
• Dwarf Planaxis Snails (pending)
• Dwarf Trochus Snails (pending)
• East African Cerith Snails (pending)
• Limpets (pending)
• Money Cowries (pending)
• Nerite Snails (pending)
• Virgin Nerite Snails (pending)
• Pom-Pom Crab (pending)
• Candy Cane Pistol Shrimp (pending)
• Porcelain Anemone Crab (pending)
• Mini Carpet Anemone (08/20/2022)
  
  
• Sexy Anemone Shrimp (pending)
• Crinoid Squat Lobster (maybe?)
• Acro Crab (maybe?)
• Porcelain Crab (pending)

 

[schg]

Backstory:

After a 5 year hiatus, I have decided to start up a reef tank again. I never really frequented R2R, as I have always done nano tanks and generally found myself in the more nano-focused communities. While I still enjoy those communities, R2R seems to have much more traffic and I decided to start a thread here as well. I started dipping my toes back into the reef game back in May with a 6-gallon Aqueon frameless tank, but I decided I wanted to do things a bit differently and purchased an Ultum Nature Systems 45u.

Final FTS of the 6-gallon.​

I originally went with glass lily pipes and a canister filter on the 6-gallon, as I really love a nice clean setup, but decided to take this a step further with the next stage of the build and go full glass. I have a VIV glass overflow on order and am going to also set up a closed loop with lily pipes and an external wavemaker pump. I'm not 100% confident this will work, but I tested the concept as much as I could with a spare 10-gallon I have sitting around.

The UNS 45u, just waiting to be filled.​

I also acquired a Fiji Cube Fiji-12 sump for $75 that was literally unused, so this setup will allow me to also hide the ATO setup and I can just switch to a normal heater instead of an inline heater. I will update this thread with the specific details of things once I get the stand finished and start working on plumbing. Stay tuned for more!

Those mitered corners...​

Index:

 

[schg]

Prepped the stand for paint, and just threw down a coat of primer. I can't guarantee any of this will be the best job, but if I care enough about the stand long term, I'll just make a new one that really meets my needs. This is just going to be a rattle can job on a cheap used piece of furniture at this point!

 

[schg]

Picked up a cheap set of close up filters to see if I could photograph the coral a bit better, which did seem to help a tiny bit. I realize more than being able to get close up to the coral enough, I honestly just can't seem to get the colors on the AI Prime to my liking for photos.... I had this issue on the IM10 that I had way back, and was able to photograph WAY better on the NanoBox Reef that I had.

Honestly, I just kind of miss that light in general... I might try to sell my AI and buy one of them again, or trade or something. It is the light I was definitely the happiest with overall out of anything I've owned.

Anyway, the only two photos I got that were okay... I feel like my photography skills have just gone way downhill on reefs lol.

 

[schg]

Getting ready to make the switch:

The stands paint is dry, inside and out (minus the doors, I am still working on those...), so I can technically move things over if I want to. I am torn between waiting on the glass plumbing to come in and testing everything or just moving it over now and continuing to use the canister filter for now, which I am more inclined to do. I picked up 10lbs of new sand last night, and will add a little bit of (rinsed) sand from the existing tank, along with some crushed coral for the future goby/pistol shrimp combo to utilize in their home.

Tank mostly set up, just waiting on a few more things.​

I am still waiting on a bit of other plumbing pieces to make my life easier with the closed loop setup, as well as a new smart power strip to at least make it easier to turn things on and off as I need to (I don't have controller money right now). I'm itching to get this tank filled though, as I have things starting to grow to rocks that I don't think I will want them on when I have a different aquascape.

Next picture posted will probably be a filled tank!

 

[schg]

Glassware came in! I am super impressed with the quality of the VIV stuff, I hope it ends up working well once I fill it up. I need to heat up the tubing a bit to get it in a better position, but overall I think things look CLEAN as hell! I am so stoked to transfer this over, but I need to buy some 3/4" tubing for the return line of the closed loop.

I know the outflow tubing for the closed loop is pretty dang long, but I wanted to get more flow so I opted for the 17mm version.

 

[schg]

Cloudy shot of the successful transfer, and a little glimpse of just how little the pipes interfere with things:

 

[schg]

Dealing with a bit of a post-transfer bacterial bloom right now. I'm not sure if it has to do with the transfer itself, the new sand, a bit of a hot spell I had yesterday before adding a fan to the sump, or a combination of factors. I did a 40% change just a bit ago, and will probably do another one tomorrow to help speed things along in clearing up. Current shot of the setup, still a bit hazy from the bloom.

 

[schg]

Things have cleared up completely the tank is looking much happier already. The SPS I thought were goners don't seem completely out yet, although there is quite a bit of skeleton showing on some of them. So far only three pieces affected, hoping they can recover but they were all free either way.

I'll grab a photo a bit later today to show the tank a bit better, but this setup seriously looks SO clean in person. Looking head on, the glass really almost just entirely disappears inside the tank.

I put in an order for some inverts from Reef Cleaners, which will ship Monday and hopefully be here first thing Tuesday. The order was for the following:

• Babylon Snail
• Bumble Bee Snails
• Cortez Cerith Snails
• Dwarf Cerith Snails
• Dwarf Planaxis Snails
• Dwarf Trochus Snails
• East African Cerith Snails
• Limpets
• Money Cowries
• Nerite Snails
• Virgin Nerite Snails
• Pom-Pom Crab
• Candy Cane Pistol Shrimp
• Porcelain Anemone Crab

Some of this will be going in the sump as I prepare for that to be a diverse environment as well, but I am excited to start getting more inverts into this tank. I'll wait for the pistol shrimp to make sure it arrives okay, and then pick up my Hi-Fin Goby I want so I can see how they rearrange the sand bed.

 

[schg]

I adjusted the scape a little bit already, as I was having a hard time envisioning how certain things would grow in with the old one. The new one looks a little boring from the front in photos, but looks great in person and looks especially good from other angles. I also think it has some nice open space in the middle for activities (or a nice little ric garden!).

First proper FTS:

From above:

And a semi-side shot to show the business of the glasswork on that side, but it really still isn't as obtrusive as other options.

 

[schg]

Received my @luxdium Gold puck today, initial impressions:

Installation was quick and easy, no issues whatsoever. Played around with the presets that Lux provided, and do really like the crispness of their "Optimized III" full spectrum preset, its a really much better looking white overall. I am going to need to mess around with a new schedule layout, and will likely need to borrow a PAR meter to make sure I am not cooking my coral here, but I REALLY like the spectrum so far. I was also able to get a really nice showoff blue with their "Ultra Pop" preset, I think this will give great results over time.

 

[afrokobe]

How do you like the mame overflow? Any experiences long term with it? I am considering getting a life reef overflow box for my 25 cube that is not drilled.... but heard good/mix things about the mame

edit: i guess the one you are using is called viv?

 

[schg]

How do you like the mame overflow? Any experiences long term with it? I am considering getting a life reef overflow box for my 25 cube that is not drilled.... but heard good/mix things about the mame

edit: i guess the one you are using is called viv?

So this one is actually the VIV overflow, which is essentially a Mame knockoff (for way cheaper, and readily available). That being said, the quality is still great, and I really like it so far. I had to settle for about 200-300GPH in it to keep it from overflowing, so I don't know if you would be as happy with this one a 25 gallon, but it should still do the trick with additional flow added elsewhere.

Edit: Just saw your edit, oops!

 

[afrokobe]

So this one is actually the VIV overflow, which is essentially a Mame knockoff (for way cheaper, and readily available). That being said, the quality is still great, and I really like it so far. I had to settle for about 200-300GPH in it to keep it from overflowing, so I don't know if you would be as happy with this one a 25 gallon, but it should still do the trick with additional flow added elsewhere.

Edit: Just saw your edit, oops!

Have you had it long enough to know how easy or hard it is to maintain? when I had a planted tank with lily pipes, it was a pain to keep the glass clean.

 

[schg]

Have you had it long enough to know how easy or hard it is to maintain? when I had a planted tank with lily pipes, it was a pain to keep the glass clean.

I have not, but I have done lily pipes a ton so I'm used to keeping things like this clean. It does seem accessible enough with a flexible bristle brush, and does come apart into a few pieces if necessary.

 

[afrokobe]

I have not, but I have done lily pipes a ton so I'm used to keeping things like this clean. It does seem accessible enough with a flexible bristle brush, and does come apart into a few pieces if necessary.

Thanks, appreciate all the feedback!

 

[schg]

Took this for someone on Facebook, but figured I would show it on the forums as well. I will have to think of a more elegant solution for the fan eventually, but it is doing the trick right now. The yellow/orange outlet box is for the float switch, which I am trying to set up in the display as cleanly as possible. Hoping the switch will disappear as much as possible, but it is worth it for the safety factor of shutting off my pump in the event of a potential overflow.

The Y split clear tubing is attached to the AQQA wavemaker pump I have, and is how I get most of my water flow.

 

[afrokobe]

How do you like the sump? Considering getting the fiji cube 15 for my setup.

 

[schg]

How do you like the sump? Considering getting the fiji cube 15 for my setup.

I like it a lot! It's a great design and seems very well constructed. My only complaint is that I installed it with the bulk of the skimmer / fuge section facing forward, which does make it tricky to see the return reservoir. I was having an issue with my ATO and couldn't really see what was going on in the return section, but that is more of a limitation of my stands space than anything I think.