Help me build a 55-75 gallon setup

[kangadrew]

Hello, 

 

I am working on a dwarf cuttlefish setup for a school. We have a $300 budget - which is going to make the build pretty tough. However I have access to wholesale accounts on most stuff, and we already have a lot of things on hand. I have a 60 gallon and a 55 gallon glass tank on hand, plus I know there are a few 10's, a 29, and another tank - maybe a 30 breeder? I have a Reef Octopus HOB-1000 skimmer, the thing is a beast for a HOB skimmer. On any tank in the 55-75 range, it'll be plenty - especially when said tank has three small inhabitants only. I've got a few heaters, powerheads, two decent quality lights (full 48" fixtures), and a crappy furniture-style stand for the 60 gallon (NOT one that can handle a sump). I don't remember if there's a stand for the 55 or not. 

 

Right now, the 55 is empty and the 60 has been established for several years. It's a bare-bones reef, just a couple of easy softies and a few fish (lemonpeel angel, YWG, royal gramma, and a pair of yellowtail blue damsels). Plenty of live rock in there to use. 

 

In order to make the tank suitable for cuttlefish, my plan is to drain it and add a sand bed (right now it's got gravel, I want some quality sand in there), rescape with the rock, and add some macros and corals in there to make it a much cleaner display. We might also move the tank to a new location in the school while it's drained. But I want a display, with little to no equipment visible in the tank. So to do that, I have two ideas:

• Keep the 55 or 60, build it a stand that can accomodate a sump, and set it up that way - with a closed loop on it for flow instead of powerheads
• Get rid of both "big" tanks, and buy a used 75, and build a false wall on the back to turn it into an AIO - this way I still have my sump, it just won't require as many pumps and nearly as much plumbing

 

I have to say, I am honestly leaning towards the AIO idea. Instead of acrylic (which would run me $150 or so for the sheet), I'll probably use a piece of 3/8" glass which I can get for like $40 or $50. Then use some kind of black or blue aquarium-safe paint to color it up (not sure what yet, maybe even black silicone). I can run my HOB skimmer in the back, I can get a fuge going, I can have a media rack, and I can run a closed loop with little to no head loss. And I still have about the same size area to use as a display. 

 

I did play around with having a sump for quite a while - I was going to use a 29, and use that extra height so I could run the HOB skimmer inside the sump. Then run a closed loop from down there for extra flow. But the hardest part of this was the stand - it's tough to build a stand that's going to be able to accommodate a 29 gallon sump, because the sump and the display are the same width. And if I built a stand, it would have to be "pretty" so that it hides everything underneath - skinned and everything. If I run an AIO setup, I can just use 2x4's and keep it at 2x4's. If I ever get more money to work with it, I can make it look nicer - but $300 is only gonna go so far, unfortunately. 

 

I think $300 will be enough to do it - but I'm going to be cutting it CLOSE, and maybe relying on some donations. I think what will be key here, is raising the budget by selling items that are laying around not being used - like tanks, stands, filtration, lights, etc. I could bring in another $100+ to work with which would be a huge help. 

 

So what do you think? Is AIO the way to go? 

Thanks,

Drew