looking for advice on AIO vs Sumped system

[grinder143]

i know this a rhetorical question but, i am going to ask anyway. If you ave had an AIO and you were going to get a new tank say less then 40 gallon would you do it all over. I have always has a sump, so i understand the benefits, but i had a pretty bad experience recently while out of town. My daughter was taking care of my 90. Somehow the ATO eye had a hang up , make a long story short while adding water there was an airlock and water went over the top of the tank. As water splashed hit the outlet and popped the breaker but not till the receptacle started smoldering . No real damage done , but could have been really bad. I will be starting a new job out of town and want a small tank to occupy my time while away from home. Somewhere between 20-60 gallon .

[seabass]

An ATO could fail on either setup.

 

5 hours ago, grinder143 said:

I will be starting a new job out of town and want a small tank to occupy my time while away from home.

So this tank will be out of town with you?  Will it need to be able to be moved, or will it be a permanent fixture at the out of town location?

[grinder143]

Absolutely they can however the chain of events was the sensor quit so it was low. She started to add water to the sump to bring it back up to level , there was an airlock in the hose leaving the bulkhead so she kept adding but water but it wasn’t coming back to the sump. As for the new tank yes as I will be on this job for 5 years. Only way it will be moved is when I return home at the end of the project at which time I will place all the livestock in the tank at my house. I will set it back up at some point down the road. 

[Clown79]

I have 3 aio tanks. I wouldn't do it differently. I really like the ease of use, no worry about plumbing, leaks, overflows. Plug and play.

 

Essentially the back chambers of an aio, is a sump, just smaller water volume.

[grinder143]

Thanks for the info. I am leaning AIO at this point. 

[jservedio]

It depends on how you want to set up and maintain your tank. For a smaller volume, AIO is probably the way to go - lots of water changes and really nothing else if you don't want to. For a bigger volume, having better nutrient export via a big skimmer would probably make your life easier. For me, personally, the cutoff would probably be around 30 gallons, but it's entirely up to you. There are plenty of bigger AIOs on the market and plenty of tiny tanks with sumps that are perfectly successful.

 

Don't forget - when it comes to an ATO, you can have spills no matter what if a sensor fails. A backup float switch that shuts off the return pump and ATO pump if the water level gets too high is cheap insurance. ATO's fail, overflows get clogged, etc. - have a backup plan.

[Tamberav]

I have aios and sumps. I find the aio's easier to maintain.

 

In would go sump if you go bigger than 40g though. Trying to get in the back chambers of a bigger or taller tank sounds like a pain and limits your filtration.

[grinder143]

Thank you , I have a 90 which is great as a display but a little too deep for easy maintenance. I am leaning to the AIO but may get a AquaMaxx 60 cube. I have a lot of parts that could be used such as skimmer, gyre, different reactors pumps as well as ato. I think I need to set a budget . Maybe a 1000 for the tank and filtration

[hotdrop]

An AIO system is about half the price, you get about half the water volume but you get 75% of the display space. (In the 20-40g size) I opted to pay more for the sumped system but not having an aio to compare to I couldn’t tell you which is better