Journal UNS 150U - Nature Aquarium

[JayP]

Thanks! When you take it for a test drive, would you be willing to report back? I like the dual sensors, and concept of overflow protection.

Also, I'm about to fabricate a DIY budget version of the Tunze 3152. I'm just waiting on the float switches from Digikey, and I'll need to model a 3d printed mount for the switch and tubing. Once I have it built and tested I'll do a post on it and share part/build details.

 

[MKEnovice]

Your aquascape is aspirational, hard to believe that you are returning to the hobby after so many years. I have something like this in mind in the future, would love to see an equipment cost breakdown.

 

[Capraquaria]

Your aquascape is aspirational, hard to believe that you are returning to the hobby after so many yours. I have something like this in mind in the future, would love to see an equipment cost breakdown.

I am almost hesitant to post this, because I don't want to scare anyone away from this hobby, and we all have different needs, goals, and means, but keep in mind this is a pretty large tank, and because access to gear and materials is so limited here in the US, I have had to ship everything. However, it will show what a deal @Kwyet got from @Naturescapes_Rocco on that 150 setup! Also, as I am returning to the hobby, I am having to buy literally everything from scratch. So, here you go. Cost so far, not including any fish...or plants...which I am not sure I can afford now At least I made half the substrate sand!

Equipment	Cost (US $)
UNS 150U Tank & Stand	$3,962.29
ADA Garden Mat 180×60 (*150 N/A)	$129.99
Chihiros Vivid 3 x2	$1,319.98
Chihirios Vivid 3 Shades x2	$127.81
GLA PRO-DS-1 Dual Stage CO2 System (Modular)	$400.00
GLA Atomic V2 – Nature Aquarium Check Valve	$24.99
10 Lb. Aluminum CO2 Cylinder (empty)	$169.99
Stainless Yugang CO2 Reactor (L), Clamps & Hose	$179.97
Chihiros Auto Dosing System (4 doser)	$189.99
Chihiros Dosing Flow Adapter	$24.99
Oase Biomaster 2 Thermo 600	$296.00
Oase Biomaster 2 Thermo 850	$440.98
Jardli Glass Lily Pipe Outflow 16/22 (2)	$53.98
Jardli Glass Lily Pipe Inflow XL 16/22 (2)	$59.98
ARC RGB Backlight	$899.00
Hakkai Stone 125 lbs (56.7 Kg)	$683.10
Manzanita Wood x4	$630.09
Simplicity 5 Gallon ATO Reservoir	$149.95
OASE CrystalSkim 600 Surface Skimmer	$61.36
ATO Kit	TBD
Powersand, Soil, Sand	$200.00
Misc (Hoses, tubing, media, additives)	$250.00
Total​	$10,254.44

 

[TRyan]

Very nice setup! It's going to look awesome. Now it's time to add plants and fish to that list.

 

[hamfist]

$10,254.44 ...................... gulp !

 

[Capraquaria]

Very nice setup! It's going to look awesome. Now it's time to add plants and fish to that list.

Thanks! Yeah, don't think I didn't consider trying to figure out what it takes to become a Tropica dealer. Can probaby add a grand, or two, to that number by the time it is planted and filled with livestock. The 30 WCMM were about $300 including shipping. On the bright side, I have completely talked myself out of ever getting an 8 foot tank.

 

[Capraquaria]

$10,254.44 ...................... gulp !

That number is a bit palpitation-inducing, I agree. However, some will spend that on an annual vacation, and due to my lack of work-life balance I haven't had a vacation since 2004, and it's cheaper than therapy. By that logic...22 years of no vacations, does that mean I can build a whole aquascaping gallery? (jk)

 

[TRyan]

It's all money well spent. You can't put a price on better mental health and a relaxing hobby.... You can't afford not to!

 

[JayP]

By that logic...22 years of no vacations, does that mean I can build a whole aquascaping gallery? (jk)

Well, that's what I'm working on . I've taken a few vacations over the last 40 years but none that cost over a couple thousand...and I'm about to sell my camper which would pay for such a setup. I think I'll stick to tanks no bigger than 120 though. I wish I'd started this hobby a couple decades ago but then again. I might not have any money in savings if that were the case .

 

[Capraquaria]

Well, that's what I'm working on . I've taken a few vacations over the last 40 years but none that cost over a couple thousand...and I'm about to sell my camper which would pay for such a setup. I think I'll stick to tanks no bigger than 120 though. I wish I'd started this hobby a couple decades ago but then again. I might not have any money in savings if that were the case .

Awesome! Looking forward to seeing how your space comes together. I agree, this 150 is probably my absolute max size, and not sure I want another. It is also an awkward size (leveling mats, and light screen were difficult to find). I could envision a room full of 90P and 120P's. If I can figure out how to get rid of the previous owner's Nautilus workout monstrosity that was too cumbersome for them (or anyone else) to move, I would have small room I could eventually convert into a little studio. It was the prior owner's workout room in the basement. Maybe someday I could convert it into a more meditative yoga space surrounded by aquascapes instead First, though, I better finish scaping this one!

 

[MKEnovice]

I am almost hesitant to post this

Thank you @Capraquaria for sharing this, I am 5000$ deep into this too.

You can't put a price on better mental health and a relaxing hobby.

Agreed, not everyone can or want to take expensive vacations, this hobby serves as an outlet for me.

 

[MKEnovice]

Chihiros Dosing Flow Adapter

Heads up, I remember reading somewhere that the older version of this adapter was a potential failure point. I wanted to go this route but decided on sticking to the in tank one. Keep your eyes open.

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

Yeah unfortunately My Chihiros dosing adapter got clogged multiple times, even after cleaning. I had to stop using it.

 

[Capraquaria]

Heads up, I remember reading somewhere that the older version of this adapter was a potential failure point. I wanted to go this route but decided on sticking to the in tank one. Keep your eyes open.

I have read that a number of people of had issues with either leaking, or clogging (or clogging leading to leaking), but others have had good success. We will see if it works out. I like the idea of one less thing hanging off the edge of the tank, but I will be watching it like a hawk when I start it up. I did buy a multi-pack of leak detectors to squirrel away under the cabinet. I will make sure one sits directly under the dosing adapter, though!

 

[Capraquaria]

This is probably the slowest aquascape in the history of aquascaping to come together, but I will get there in the end

While the dark start continues doing its dark-starty thing, I am gradually narrowing down my plant choices. List isn't final, because these days plant choices leave one a bit spoiled for choice. The majority of plants, and fish, for this tank I am trying to hone in more on Asian in origin, if for no other reason than to give myself some focus. As the Hakkai stone is smaller and lower in stature, not massive, I figure it would imply somewhat slower moving water (i.e. more downstream than upstream). I resisted adding Anubias to the list, but I may use it to contrast against the majority of darker Buces. The Myrio will be temporary while the tank gets established post planting.

• Anubias barteri var. 'Mini Coin'
• Anubias barteri var. nana 'Petite'
• Bucephalandra Blackcurrant
• Bucephalandra Brownie Blue
• Bucephalandra Dark Venus
• Bucephalandra Kedagang
• Bucephalandra Theia
• Cryptocoryne parva
• Cryptocoryne spiralis 'Caudigera'
• Cryptocoryne Willisii
• Cyperus helferi
• Eleocharis Acicularis
• Eleocharis Parvula
• Eleocharis pusilla 'mini'
• Eriocaulon breviscapum 'Feather Duster'
• Eriocaulon sp. 'Vietnam'
• Fissidens fontanus
• Hydrocotyle verticillata
• Microsorum pteropus trident
• Myriophyllum mattogrossense
• Nymphaea zenkeri Red
• Rotala Indica 'Bonsai'
• Staurogene repens
• Taxiphyllum sp. 'Barberi'
• Taxiphyllum sp. 'peacock moss'
• Vesicularia ferriei 'Weeping Moss'

Been fiddling around with ScapeIt, although I find it's a bit restrictive and 2D. Would be nice to have a top down planting view, especially for tanks that are wider front to back, so the mid-ground will definitely evolve a bit. The grasses in the back will be mixed, and the goal is not to have a dense wall, but be able to see light through the grass from behind, hence the variety of Eleocharis and Eriocaulon species, with a Crypt spiralis var caudigera thrown in, because it's the only tall rosette crypt I could come up with that won't eventually take over the tank, and I refuse to use Val in this tank for the same reason. Yes, I am avoiding too many densely planted stems for this one. It's a big, and deep tank so looking to simplify maintenance a bit, too, but a couple more stem plants will likely find their way to the list.



One of the fish I miss the most are my Pearl Gourami's. I had them for years, and may consider them as a feature fish in this setup, so the lilies would be as much for them to hide and lurk under as well as being a focal point. I did have one jump out of my old 75 gallon during a water change once, so a little surface cover in a rimless is probably prudent. Feedback, and/or suggestions always gratefully received!

 

[JacksonL]

Physics was starting to win again, and I noticed two glue joint cracks in the foreground late yesterday afternoon. As I have no heavy-enough rocks here to weigh the driftwood down, and even if I did, I am not sure how I would balance them due to the shape of the driftwood, I made my own 'sand bags'. Note to self, invest in some large media bags, because ziplocks take a bit to burp all the air out underwater. The only mesh media bags I have on hand are tiny, for additives like carbon, or Purigen, and that simply wasn't going to cut it. So I improvised. 18 inch cable ties, at strategic joints to start. Then some gravel bags comprised of 1 gallon ziplocks packed with WIO black venom nano boulders and gravel, and most of a bag of UNS Sequoia Controsand to the rescue. It's ugly, but functional, and so far the bags are staying put as they evenly distribute the weight across both sides of the arches without sliding off. Now we wait. It just needs to stay put long enough to water-log. Fingers crossed, so far it's staying put.

View attachment 15697

What a clever idea!
Beautiful hardscape design too.

 

[Koan]

One of the fish I miss the most are my Pearl Gourami's. I had them for years, and may consider them as a feature fish

Dan's Fish has a pretty cool offering for Pearlies, they have a regular source for stock that are free of DGIV the Dwarf Gourami infectious necrosis virus

 

[Capraquaria]

Dan's Fish has a pretty cool offering for Pearlies, they have a regular source for stock that are free of DGIV the Dwarf Gourami infectious necrosis virus

I would most likely go with Dan's if I did opt for Pearls again, for just that reason. I think there had been some cases of the disease back when I had Gourami's before, but the virus wasn't fully characterized until around the time I stopped keeping fish. Although Pearls are resistant, they are certainly not immune. My last group of 7 was very healthy for years. This disease was something I didn't really become fully aware of until I started to get back into the hobby last year. I do love these fish, though. They are just so chill for a larger fish, fairly long-lived, and pretty too. Certainly worth sourcing healthy stock!

 

[hamfist]

I would most likely go with Dan's if I did opt for Pearls again, for just that reason. I think there had been some cases of the disease back when I had Gourami's before, but the virus wasn't fully characterized until around the time I stopped keeping fish. Although Pearls are resistant, they are certainly not immune. My last group of 7 was very healthy for years. This disease was something I didn't really become fully aware of until I started to get back into the hobby last year. I do love these fish, though. They are just so chill for a larger fish, fairly long-lived, and pretty too. Certainly worth sourcing healthy stock!

I never realised that Pearls were affected by the same virus. I do plan to get some in the future so I will have to see what stock might be available in the UK.

 

[Capraquaria]

No significant change in this setup at the moment. I have just left it in a dark start while I get the spring outdoor garden planted and situated. If nothing else, it will give the wood plenty of time to waterlog before planting (fingers crossed). We are at the five week mark, and so far the hardscape is staying put. A couple of areas I will re-glue at planting. The Manzanita needs a really good scrub, though. Not a lot of white fuzzy mold, like you would get with spiderwood, but there are few patches of a black mold that appeared since my last update on just one section of wood that needs a good scrub down this weekend. Not sure why it's only on that one piece, but I would rather it does this now so I can (hopefully) remove it before planting. Ewww.



After sleeping on it, I have cut, edited, and refined my initial proposed plant list pretty heavily, and figured out who has what in stock at the moment, so I am hoping to start the first wave of planting by the weekend of May 9th. Just need to juggle trying to get the bulk of the plants here close to the same time, as everything will need to be shipped (at the moment coordinating plants from 3 different vendors). I just really wish I could find some narrow leaf java fern that isn’t the size of a golf ball. Large tank problems!

Meanwhile, using this time pre-planting to overthink things, and change a few things around. Tweaking the filtration setup, planning a fertilization routine, getting the replacement ATO set up, and will be filling two CO2 canisters this weekend (a 10lb, and a 5lb reserve tank) at a local brew supply shop so I can test the Yugang reactor setup.

I have decided to remove the Biomaster 600 altogether. It is undersized. It always has been. I can’t bring myself to add another Biomaster 850, though, primarily because the noise level will drive me up the wall. This tank is supposed to be my zen, where I can sit and relax, and enjoy it. Not obsessing on the noise of the motor humming in the cabinet. Noise-wise, one 850 is enough for this tank. So, as the rest of life is a bit hectic at the moment, and I would rather focus on plants and planting, I am considering adding a Netlea SS canister with DC adjustable pump from ARC to replace the 600.

As much as I like the capacity and flow rates of the Aquael Hypermax 4500BT, discussed in the Great Big Filter Thread, at the moment I would rather not deal with massive proprietary oversized hoses, reducers etc. That also ruled out the larger Netlea models, too, at least for now. I plan to use the Netlea to drive the Yugang, and house some back-up biological media in case the 850 ever fails, or I need established media for the next tank. The Netlea No.2 has the same flow capacity as the Biomaster 850, but the adjustable DC pump sits in the base of the housing, is easily adjustable if I need to tune down the flow through the reactor, quiet, and has an impressive media capacity, with a straightline swap for my existing hoses. The Netlea plus the 850 will get me roughly a 5x turnover per hour. I can just transfer the Seachem Matrix currently sitting in the 600, to the Netlea, so nothing lost there. I don’t want excessive flow through the Yugang reactor anyway, and the DC pump in the Netlea will let me refine the flow rate easily, and I will still have the 850 to augment total tank flow. We’ll see. If it doesn’t work out, I will just be hoarding filters for MOAR future tanks

As for the ATO, I decided to try the Nature Dimensions N-Fill Smart ATO, that @gnatster mentioned higher up this journal (thank you for that suggestion). It arrived Monday, and I set it up yesterday morning, and it is working fine. I have a few minor gripes, though, but realize that this unit was probably never intended to be used on a tank this size. My thoughts on this ATO so far...

Nature Dimensions N-Fill (YMMV)

Cons: (Some of these are large tank/stand issues, may be fine with smaller setups)

• Supplied water line from the ATO reservoir could be a couple of feet longer. If you have a tall tank, you may want to get some longer tubing.
• The recommendation is that the siphon breaker is installed INSIDE the ATO reservoir, above the water line. Depending on setup, maybe no big deal. In this reservoir, that costs me about a half gallon of water storage at the top with the siphon breaker installed as high as it will go.
• Power cord from the controller is shorter than my ideal. Just long enough to reach the UPS on the opposite side of my cabinet, but barely.
• The bigger issue is that the power cords coming down from the float switches mounted on the tank, to the N-Fill controller in the cabinet, are waaay too short. I had to mount the controller with the supplied sticky velcro toward the back half of the ATO reservoir in my current configuration. I can reach the controller buttons, but it’s not the most convenient.

• No screw mount/hanger for the controller (need to check Etsy and see if someone has a 3D printed bracket for it). I am not a fan of sticky and glue, as it's a mess when things need to get moved around.
• It is not possible to mount the float switches up high enough on the rim of the tank to fill the tank ADA style, either. If you leave an inch+ of headspace on the water level of your tank, it’s probably fine, but I tend to run the water level a little higher. I installed it at the absolute limit for my tank and it will top up to just a smidge over ¾ of an inch from the top. This was the initial top up. You can see my previous water level was higher.

I tweaked the position of the mount screws for the floats and ATO fill tubing holder up as high as they would go on the rim without falling off, and this was the max I could go. Not a deal breaker, but something to be aware of if you are considering this ATO.

• Due to the single mount screw for the float assembly to the level indicator, it is a little too easy to knock the floats out of level. Ask me how I know!
• ATO inlet tubing is supposed to be positioned above the water line. Due to the depth of the tubing holder, and the height of the water, that’s a little tricky if water levels are higher.

• Also, Neon. I loathe neon. Might be fine for a Betta tank, but not so much the right aesthetic for a nature aquarium. Neon blue, pink, or green are the options for the tubing holder. I have plans to take the ATO tubing holder outside, and blast it with some black spray paint, or maybe just find something else on Etsy.

As I like to end things on a high note, though, here's the good stuff.


Pros:

• Economical, and easy to install (yay, more money for plants!)
• Dual mechanical floats provide redundancy, and peace of mind. Nobody likes a flood.
• Speaking of floods. FLOAT GUARD! Love that the dual floats have a clear shield around them, so a crowd of crazy Amano shrimps could not sit on the floats, prolonging fill time, resulting in said flood.
• 90 second fill limits with water shutoff and alarm function is a solid feature (just in case an Amano did find its way under the float shield), and easy to override for a larger manual top off if needed. This could also serve as a backup alarm in case a tank developed a leak and water levels dropped unexpectedly. It just calls your attention to the fact that the water level is too low to top up in 90 seconds.

• Pump is SILENT.
• The pump draws from the bottom, not the side of the pump, which ensures that it uses more of the water in the ATO reservoir as the water level drops. In this reservoir, it's probably about a quarter gallon difference, but less refills over time isn't a bad thing.

Mechanical float ATOs are getting pretty hard to find. Overall, despite a couple of minor design issues, I like it, and it will work fine. It is a HUGE improvement over the Digiten version I had previously, where the ATO tubing kept falling out of the tank, and on to the floor, with no 90 second auto-off feature