Official Lifegard Aquatics Crystal (AIO) Aquarium Club!!

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

On 8/27/2020 at 5:06 PM, Mitch777 said:

7.4 gallon home office Corona reef! just a little over a month old. So far so good! Not the best quality tank though. Beautiful design but seems delicate in comparison to the IM 10g.  

 

 

 

Love this^^^

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

On 9/8/2020 at 3:55 PM, Marmaladewuz said:

I just bought a 9.9 gal all in one. Any suggestions for a top?

There are some DIY screen lid kits that would probably work?

[Dpatron1977]

9.8 started in may. I did replace the return pump and also made the overflow slits wider. They are the same width from to back. This seemed to help flow without having to use with the plug out. Had two clowns, one jumped! Rock flowers and a small birds nest, c.u.c. seems to be trucking along fine so far.

[Andrew561]

My new set up. I got it from a guy on OfferUp.

[Hagwood]

On 10/25/2020 at 10:10 PM, Andrew561 said:

My new set up. I got it from a guy on OfferUp.

How’s the blower in the 24 gallon? Just bought a jaebo OW-10 for mine. Also, do you have a media basket for yours?

[Andrew561]

Just now, Hagwood said:

How’s the blower in the 24 gallon? Just bought a jaebo OW-10 for mine. Also, do you have a media basket for yours?

I have a Jaebo SWL 20 coming in the mail tomorrow. Getting rid of these powerheads I have.

 

And no. I just use filter floss in left chamber and sponge in the middle. 

[PicoSavvy]

I was in the process of slowly collecting all the part for a sub gallon pico until a tail-wagging family member got to close to where the tank was placed and knocked it down to the floor and then I found out about the Lifegard Aquatics 4.14 Gallon now I have never been a fan of aio tanks in the past but I figured for the price it can't hurt to give it a try so I ordered one and it came broken but I like the dimension of it so much that I requested a replacement but this one had some bit missing so I had to send it back to get a 3rd replacement but finally when the 3rd one came it had everything. I have to say the selling point for me was the all-glass construction of it.

Some notes that I noticed. 

The hole drilled at the bottom does not seem to be consistent in some tanks the included plug fits just fine in some, in others it barely fit.

As I also ordered the 3.8-gallon peninsula to compare which one I would like the most. Between the 4.14 and the 3.8, the 3.8 I got seem to have been paid less attention to with the silicone compared to the 4.14 as it had random clumps of black silicone on its bottom panel.

Mame skimmer fits perfectly in both.

 

[mlivvy]

Drilled my 24. Still work in progress and still trying to get over the new tank stages. Chambers are really small so the biggest hole I could safely drill was 3/4". 1" would've been perfect but it gets too close to the back glass. The AIO section is now a big overflow. The return pipe has a small hole inside the chamber to push water thru the chambers on the right. I was concerned over the bottom drain being a problem and draining the entire tank out. I tried to plug it up at first but the top overflow alone will never handle an overflow not even at 100gph. Solution was a 2nd hole for an emergency drain going up the first chamber.  

[Andrew561]

13 minutes ago, mlivvy said:

Drilled my 24. Still work in progress and still trying to get over the new tank stages. Chambers are really small so the biggest hole I could safely drill was 3/4". 1" would've been perfect but it gets too close to the back glass. The AIO section is now a big overflow. The return pipe has a small hole inside the chamber to push water thru the chambers on the right. I was concerned over the bottom drain being a problem and draining the entire tank out. I tried to plug it up at first but the top overflow alone will never handle an overflow not even at 100gph. Solution was a 2nd hole for an emergency drain going up the first chamber.  

This is awesome! I’d love to do something like this with my 24. 

[Mwil79]

On 10/25/2020 at 5:31 PM, Dpatron1977 said:

9.8 started in may. I did replace the return pump and also made the overflow slits wider. They are the same width from to back. This seemed to help flow without having to use with the plug out. Had two clowns, one jumped! Rock flowers and a small birds nest, c.u.c. seems to be trucking along fine so far.

What did you replace the return pump with? I have a 7 gallon and I was thinking about upgrading mine.

[Dpatron1977]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004ZJDN56/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_DoPTFbVGH3MTC?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

 

Had to open up the weir slots with a diamond bit to handle the flow. I did not want to use/open the bottom strainer. Not sure if this will fit in the other model tanks.

[mlivvy]

1 hour ago, Dpatron1977 said:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004ZJDN56/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_DoPTFbVGH3MTC?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

 

Had to open up the weir slots with a diamond bit to handle the flow. I did not want to use/open the bottom strainer. Not sure if this will fit in the other model tanks.

Hey can you post a pic of the weir slots? Just want to see how you cut them. Could a fish or snail fit thru it?

[Dpatron1977]

So if you look close at them stock they are wider on the display side, thinner on the baffel side. All I did was make them the same width from front to back but it made a huge difference. Before it would want to ride the water height to close to over flowing, It's perfect now.  I can possibly get a photo tonight but I'm sure if you look you will see what I mean. And no a fish or snail will not fit. 

[Mwil79]

2 hours ago, Dpatron1977 said:

So if you look close at them stock they are wider on the display side, thinner on the baffel side. All I did was make them the same width from front to back but it made a huge difference. I can possibly get a photo tonight but I'm sure if you look you will see what I mean. And no a fish or snail will not fit. 

Sure do wish I thought about doing this prior to putting all my live stock in 😛

[mlivvy]

25 minutes ago, Mwil79 said:

Sure do wish I thought about doing this prior to putting all my live stock in 😛

I'm gonna try to do it with a full tank. 

[Mwil79]

14 minutes ago, mlivvy said:

I'm gonna try to do it with a full tank. 

Document your steps pass or fail lol

[Dpatron1977]

Plug the bottom of the first chamber with floss! It makes a lot of dust! Go slow. Better yet, drain it down some, plug off the chamber, tape the hose to the vacuum over the top of the first chamber. This way all the dust is pulled through the weir and out. That's what I would do if I had a full tank.

[Dpatron1977]

5 hours ago, mlivvy said:

I'm gonna try to do it with a full tank. 

Plug the bottom of the first chamber with floss! It makes a lot of dust! Go slow. Better yet, drain it down some, plug off the chamber, tape the hose to the vacuum over the top of the first chamber. This way all the dust is pulled through the weir and out. That's what I would do if I had a full tank.

[PicoSavvy]

are the slot that restrictive? i have the 3.8 and 4.1 that i havent set up yet but if they are that big of issue may widen them before i set them up

[Dpatron1977]

21 minutes ago, PicoSavvy said:

are the slot that restrictive? i have the 3.8 and 4.1 that i havent set up yet but if they are that big of issue may widen them before i set them up

Not when running oem pump. If you up the flow and do not use the bottom strainer (due to the way I wanted to run filtration, and let's face it those oem pumps are loud garbage) the water will rise higher in the tank. Too close for my comfort. If the flow is too much it will go over the back chamber wall. Did a bunch of flow test before setting it up. 

[PicoSavvy]

I just did a quick flow test when doing the typical leak test. when i cover the bottom hole the water could not flow out the slot fast enough to prevent the filter area from over flowing. The average flow rate of a kitchen faucet is 2.2 gallons per minute taking that into account i would say 100 gallon per hour would be the max for those slot in their smaller tank. I did not think much about it until i saw this thread again and see some people plan to widen/cut them.

 

[Dpatron1977]

Water level now, and only 50 or so gph more. If you believe the oem junk is rated proper, I dont. The sicce is better made, very quiet and rated closer to truth for flow imho. 1st chamber filter floss over media basket with carbon and bio pellets. Not using the lower hole all water gets filtered. Heaters in next at an angle so most contact with rising water and never low. Then empty chamber with red mangrove. Last chamber is return and jbj optical a.t.o. the plan is many rock flowers primarily. So I wanted enough flow from the main return. This way I don't have a power head  chewing them up when they get to walking around. 

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

Just noticed that VCA has adapters for their RFG nozzles for lifegard tanks:

https://vividcreativeaquatics.com/product-category/adapters/

[Kruppfinger]

Just won a 9.9 in a raffle.   Have a 125 running.  Any skimmer advise for this tiny back sump?

[famousdan314]

13 hours ago, Kruppfinger said:

Just won a 9.9 in a raffle.   Have a 125 running.  Any skimmer advise for this tiny back sump?

No skimmer necessary, such a small tank I would look at refugium for nutrient removal. Or throw some macro algae in the display like I did. I’ll post below.