75 Gallon AIO question

[jdaeffler]

I am slowly acquiring gear to start my first reef tank. I have a 75 gallon Petco tank that I plan on using acrylic to turn it into an AIO tank. Im currently debating whether it would be better to make it a penisula style AIO or having an AIO chamber along the entire back wall. Any thoughts/feedback is appreciated.

 

[Fish Fan]

 

[TheWB]

I am slowly acquiring gear to start my first reef tank. I have a 75 gallon Petco tank that I plan on using acrylic to turn it into an AIO tank. Im currently debating whether it would be better to make it a penisula style AIO or having an AIO chamber along the entire back wall. Any thoughts/feedback is appreciated.

If you run it along the entire back wall it will eat up at least 5" of tank space and make your display area very narrow. I have a custom AIO that is 48x30x17 with the AIO area in back 8" wide. That leaves me a display area depth of about 20" deep x 46.5" long after subtracting the space the tank walls take up. I'd like that 20" to be more like 22" to 24" if I had it to do over. More tank depth for aquascaping is always good. I'd go peninsula style if it will work for where you are going to place the tank. If you made big 8" wide air sections like I did you would still have a display area that's around 40" x 18" and I think that works much better than 48" x 13". Hope this helps.

 

[jdaeffler]

I am slowly acquiring gear to start my first reef tank. I have a 75 gallon Petco tank that I plan on using acrylic to turn it into an AIO tank. Im currently debating whether it would be better to make it a penisula style AIO or having an AIO chamber along the entire back wall. Any thoughts/feedback is appreciated.

If you run it along the entire back wall it will eat up at least 5" of tank space and make your display area very narrow. I have a custom AIO that is 48x30x17 with the AIO area in back 8" wide. That leaves me a display area depth of about 20" deep x 46.5" long after subtracting the space the tank walls take up. I'd like that 20" to be more like 22" to 24" if I had it to do over. More tank depth for aquascaping is always good. I'd go peninsula style if it will work for where you are going to place the tank. If you made big 8" wide air sections like I did you would still have a display area that's around 40" x 18" and I think that works much better than 48" x 13". Hope this helps.

Yeah that makes sense, I was considering along the back because it offered more filtration area eventually for extra equipment. But making the penisula overflow a little wider might offer that same option. Really like being close to 4ft to have some options with utility fish with smaller tangs. Appreciate the feedback.

 

[TheWB]

Yeah that makes sense, I was considering along the back because it offered more filtration area eventually for extra equipment. But making the penisula overflow a little wider might offer that same option. Really like being close to 4ft to have some options with utility fish with smaller tangs. Appreciate the feedback.

Running it along the back doesn't give as much extra space as you think it would because in yours it would have to be narrow and limit your choices on what gear you can use. Mine runs along the back but my tank is 30" wide, not 18.5" like yours. I made mine intentionally wider so I could make the aio area wider.

Having said that, @Subsea makes a great point about using as much live rock and sand from the ocean as you can as the backbone of your ecosystem. Ideally you would use as little equipment as possible and keep things as natural as you can. The peninsula end aio section doesn't have to be real fancy, just an overflow chamber and then a larger open space where you can stash a heater and maybe some extra live rock, along with the return pump and ato, would work. You can always run a smaller skimmer like a Tunze 9004 if you need one in that kind of space as well. Honestly I probably have to much equipment in my tank and didn't start with enough live rock or live sand, although I do have some. Start with as much of that as you can and then build your filtration out from there.

I do think you'll like the 40ish x 18 footprint for aquascping better than the long, narrow option. Just make sure the aio section is wide enough to get your hand into if you need to and that there's enough room for whatever return pump and heater you decide to use. Mine is 8" wide because I have big hands and also wanted to run a full sized skimmer instead of a nano or HOB option. I hated the 4" width of my previous aio. I think 8" is a good width but others may think it's too big and takes up too much tank real estate. You're only going to get one shot at making the aio section the way you want it so it's best to really plan it out. If you need to change it later you have to drain the tank and cut it out. Do your research and make sure you are making what you really want the first time.

 

[jdaeffler]

I am slowly acquiring gear to start my first reef tank. I have a 75 gallon Petco tank that I plan on using acrylic to turn it into an AIO tank. Im currently debating whether it would be better to make it a penisula style AIO or having an AIO chamber along the entire back wall. Any thoughts/feedback is appreciated.

@jdaeffler

I operate sumpless & skimmerless and subscribe to less technology/more biology. If this is a classroom project, consider allowing diver collected live rock & live sand to be the foundation of your ecosystem, not equipment.

Gulf Live Rock.com

gulfliverock.com

I know it has been a while, but if you do sumpless, do you run an auto top off? If so how do you manage that with water movement and sensor issues? Thanks

 

[TheWB]

I know it has been a while, but if you do sumpless, do you run an auto top off? If so how do you manage that with water movement and sensor issues? Thanks

Here's one way to do it.

 

[Subsea]

I know it has been a while, but if you do sumpless, do you run an auto top off? If so how do you manage that with water movement and sensor issues? Thanks

I don’t do ATO. Everything is manual except timer on lights. Only sensor is temperature probe.

 

[vlangel]

I know it has been a while, but if you do sumpless, do you run an auto top off? If so how do you manage that with water movement and sensor issues? Thanks

jdaeffler, I also have a 75g sumpless, skimmerless tank. It also has live rock and a sandbed. Mine has ornamental macroalgae to help with nutrient control. I have an Oase BioMaster canister that comes with a pre filter and it keeps my tank beautiful with very little equipment.