leedaly52 Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Hi all, Having moved house I've decided to upgrade my current 10 gal to a 40 gal. I have decided on turning it into an all in one tank by building a false wall rather than building a sump. The tank will be 24L x 24 W x 18 H rimless and braceless tank with a mix of soft and lps corals, though I may branch out to some sps later on. Having looked at the designs of several on the market and others DIY efforts, I have come up with a design that Im happy with, but wanted to get others opinions on them. Attached are the designs for the filtration chamber area which will be built with 5mm black acrylic. Please let me know your thoughts on the design, and any improvements or suggestions. Cheers! Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 pgrvII made his 40b an AIO, might want to PM him Link to comment
Arce Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Dont put your heater in your return section. If you dont keep up with top offs, even if its automated, and it runs dry the heater will be exposed to air and could fail/melt/short out. Skip the rock rubble section and make that a fuge since the area where you have "chaeto" written isnt even that much room. You would probably only fit a golf ball worth which isnt going to do anything. Just my .02 Link to comment
leedaly52 Posted July 30, 2015 Author Share Posted July 30, 2015 Thanks for the advice arce, I did worry about the heater being in that section. I will move that to the larger fuge section instead. I dont want to lose too much LR as I want to avoid having alot of rock in the display. What about reducing the rock slightly and putting the cheato on top of the LR instead? Link to comment
leedaly52 Posted July 30, 2015 Author Share Posted July 30, 2015 Thanks harry, have pm'd pgrvll Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Thanks harry, have pm'd pgrvll MrReefer81 makes custom AIO kits as well. Ive heard they're awesome.... Link to comment
leedaly52 Posted July 30, 2015 Author Share Posted July 30, 2015 MrReefer81 makes custom AIO kits as well. Ive heard they're awesome.... Thanks, I'll check him out. Link to comment
pgrVII Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 Honestly my aio section comes out to be 5 1/2 gallons,and even with that much space chaeto wouldn't export a large amount of nutrients I'm told. You would be better suited using chemical filtration and water changes with a good skimmer to better utilize space I have my Heater in my return chamber,but I'm religious with manual top off,however,I only need to add about 12oz of rodi a day,my house is kept at a steady 50% humidity and 70 degrees year round Link to comment
leedaly52 Posted July 30, 2015 Author Share Posted July 30, 2015 Thanks pgrvII, I'll skip the cheato and replace with chemical filtration instead. I'll have a think about the heater placement, but probably for peace of mind I'll move to the fuge chamber. Skimmer planned is a tunze 9004 which is rated for up to 260 litres, way above the volume of this tank so should be fine and I currently do 20% weekly water changes so no issues carrying this on. The volume of my AIO area should be around 6 gallons so I think volume wise I'm ok. The skimmer will have to be placed against the side of chamber 1 rather than against the back wall due to space, but other than that I think I'm good for space. What rating is your return pump? Was thinking I would need around 1800lph for the return with additional powerheads in the tank for flow Link to comment
Hig789 Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 I'd move the shelves for the media is going to go under the overflow. And make s big compartment in the middle. I love the big open space in the back of mine. Leaves you with more options. Also later on if you wanted to add some cheato you could remove the middle media shelf and put it there and add a reactor next to the skimmer. Now that I look at my sketch the heater laying down might not be a good idea unless you where going to use a controller. Sorry for the ugly ass sketch, I was in a hurry. And to think I have a drafting degree. Haha. Link to comment
leedaly52 Posted August 11, 2015 Author Share Posted August 11, 2015 Thanks for all the input everyone. All really helpful. Gonna go back to the drawing board literally and will post my final design when it's complete. Link to comment
smiz Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 wow how funny. I just posted a similar thread and we basically have the same dimensions lol. One thing I went with was single walled sections. I'm not sure how much added benefit you will be getting from the double wall approach. I am thinking to have the filter media in chamber one and an open bottom into chamber three. My thoughts were if anything gets through the first layer of media it will go back into tank and go for round two down my filter media. I also wanted more room for equipment of refugium rather then more walls. Also I don't really consider cheato on these sized tanks to really add to nutrient export, but what it does do, is give a place for pods to reproduce. I was able to keep a lot of pods in my biocube once I switched the middle chamber to rubble and cheato. Nutrient export is a minimal gain, but a stead supply of pods is a big advantage in my mind. For this exact reason im thinking now of adding an adjustable wall that could butt up right against my skimmer to allow me to have a skimmer in the middle chamber along with having a wall to keep cheato out of the area. Would work good if your switching skimmers or anything as well. I will be building one for someone soon so I will keep you posted with what I come up with! Also can make two if you don't wanna go the DIY route. Update: Also one thing that was a huge PITA for me in one of my tanks was to small of a return chamber. I didn't have a ATO at the time and in about a day and a half my pump would be dry. So don't try to skimp on your return chamber to get more out of your others having good volume there can be very helpful. Link to comment
leedaly52 Posted August 19, 2015 Author Share Posted August 19, 2015 Hi all, so I have literally been back to the drawing board with my design and it has changed quite a bit from my original concept thanks to everyone's feedback. The changes are as follows: *Changed 4 chamber design to 3 chambers *Media baskets moved to chamber 1 under overflow *Protien skimmer will be moved to much larger middle chamber *heaters and ATO float switch moved to centre chamber. *double baffle design changed to single baffle *width increased from 4 inch to 4.5 to allow front facing mounting of protein skimmer and ease of access. *overflow increased from 2 to 2.5 inch to allow better flow. *chambers 1 and 3 increased in width to 5 inch each for ease of access. I may still put some live rock in the bottom of chamber 2 for a place for pods to breed, but will see what space is like after adding equipment. Let me know what everyone thinks of the more simplified design. Link to comment
smiz Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 Hi all, so I have literally been back to the drawing board with my design and it has changed quite a bit from my original concept thanks to everyone's feedback. The changes are as follows: *Changed 4 chamber design to 3 chambers *Media baskets moved to chamber 1 under overflow *Protien skimmer will be moved to much larger middle chamber *heaters and ATO float switch moved to centre chamber. *double baffle design changed to single baffle *width increased from 4 inch to 4.5 to allow front facing mounting of protein skimmer and ease of access. *overflow increased from 2 to 2.5 inch to allow better flow. *chambers 1 and 3 increased in width to 5 inch each for ease of access. I may still put some live rock in the bottom of chamber 2 for a place for pods to breed, but will see what space is like after adding equipment. Let me know what everyone thinks of the more simplified design. Looks good! one thing I might do is add your ATO sensor to your return chamber. This is the chamber that will drain from evap so youll want your sensor keeping that chamber full! Other then that looks real good. I came up with similar results. Link to comment
leedaly52 Posted August 19, 2015 Author Share Posted August 19, 2015 Thanks smiz. Yeah I was thinking about moving it there as everyone has mentioned the issue with the return getting low. I like the simplified version and it means I have plenty of space in the middle chamber to upgrade with new toys down the line. Link to comment
leedaly52 Posted August 20, 2015 Author Share Posted August 20, 2015 So here is my design with the equipment drawn to scale in place. Have placed the ato float switch in the return chamber to keep that from running low, and may play around with the heater placement but other than that I'm happy with the design. Decided against any LR in chamber 2 as not enough space once all equip is in. Link to comment
leedaly52 Posted August 23, 2015 Author Share Posted August 23, 2015 Having some thoughts about the return pump and hoping someone can help me out. Would people recommend to have all my flow come from this return, or have a lower flow through the chambers and additional powerheads in the display? Only planning lps and softies tank. Link to comment
Hig789 Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 I wouldn't put the ATO water levels me in the chamber with the return. When it pumps it is going to create a few bubbles. Just a chance to get micro bubbles off and on. You are going to need a pump in the display. Your return isn't going to give you enough flow. And even if it does you don't want water just rushing through the back chamber. IMO you need it to stay back there a little while to give you skimmer time to work and for it to have some good contact time with your media. Link to comment
smiz Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 I wouldn't put the ATO water levels me in the chamber with the return. When it pumps it is going to create a few bubbles. Just a chance to get micro bubbles off and on. You are going to need a pump in the display. Your return isn't going to give you enough flow. And even if it does you don't want water just rushing through the back chamber. IMO you need it to stay back there a little while to give you skimmer time to work and for it to have some good contact time with your media. From my understanding the return section is the only option for a ATO sensor. Your other chambers stay at a constant level and your return is the one that is being reduced from evap. I could be totally off though lol. Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 From my understanding the return section is the only option for a ATO sensor. Your other chambers stay at a constant level and your return is the one that is being reduced from evap. I could be totally off though lol. Yep, thats right. Only return chamber is effected from evaporation Link to comment
Hig789 Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 From my understanding the return section is the only option for a ATO sensor. Your other chambers stay at a constant level and your return is the one that is being reduced from evap. I could be totally off though lol. I wasnt talking about the sensor but yes you are right, I was talking about the pump line. Been a long time since I've had anything with baffles in it haha. I guess there's no way around it. My AIO doesn't have baffles in it so I guess that had me confused. Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 I wasnt talking about the sensor but yes you are right, I was talking about the pump line. Been a long time since I've had anything with baffles in it haha. I guess there's no way around it. My AIO doesn't have baffles in it so I guess that had me confused. Well you are right that the ATO line can be in any chamber or even in the display. Just the ATO sensor has to be in the return chamber Link to comment
Hig789 Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 Well you are right that the ATO line can be in any chamber or even in the display. Just the ATO sensor has to be in the return chamber Don't believe it would be very accurate like that though. Could pump more water than needed before that chamber catches up couldn't it? Link to comment
Halo_003 Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 Don't believe it would be very accurate like that though. Could pump more water than needed before that chamber catches up couldn't it? Not very much, should be okay like that. Link to comment
Hig789 Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 Not very much, should be okay like that. That's good info to know then for future reference. Hopefully I'll be upgrading tanks also within the next few months. Probably a 40b also. Link to comment
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