Complete Rescape

StradicCi4 · Feb 5, 2026

Hey-

So I have a massive reef mountain in the tank I have now - Little background here, I had a Red Sea 525XL fail, I had 100+LBS of rock, 1.5" of sand in that tank. When It split, I swapped everything into a Hagen 75G with 2 canisters and all the equipment from the 525XL.

I have upgraded an amazon wave maker that failed to a DMP 35 I had for the 525xl, my flow is wildly too much now. My one canister is dying (its only full of rock rubble) so I have purchased an AIO drop in kit to replace it, I will be putting it on the back wall and treating it like a sump. I currently have a ReefOctopus skimmer and will continue to use it. I will be plumbing in my UV sterilizer (25W Aqua Ultraviolet) into the outlet from the Vevor 660.

I have the DMP 35, Maxspect Gyre, Vevor 660 Canister and now the 528GPH pump from the AIO - I have a ton of flow lol. I have so much rock that I need to rescape, but almost every rock is covered in corals.

I will be filling buckets with SW from the tank, as well as mixing 40g of NSW - I will put the rock into the buckets with existing SW, as I re-do the scape. I will run carbon after the rescape, I don't expect a cycle as I am not disturbing the sand bed.

Any tips/tricks to make this go smoother, other than have a pile of towels available lol

TX_REEF · Feb 5, 2026

my main tip would be for the AIO drop-in, make sure you dry the glass thoroughly and give the silicone plenty of time to cure - if the AIO leaks around the seams, it somewhat defeats the purpose of it.

StradicCi4 · Feb 5, 2026

TX_REEF said:
my main tip would be for the AIO drop-in, make sure you dry the glass thoroughly and give the silicone plenty of time to cure - if the AIO leaks around the seams, it somewhat defeats the purpose of it.

Tank is running, I wont be siliconing it at all - I have magnets that I will be using. It is a sealed unit, so it cant leak around the seams

TX_REEF · Feb 5, 2026

StradicCi4 said:
Tank is running, I wont be siliconing it at all - I have magnets that I will be using. It is a sealed unit, so it cant leak around the seams

I could be crazy but I think that means water will get around the edges of and under the bottom of the AIO? Unless you have some awesome kit that I've never seen before that doesn't need sealing.

StradicCi4 · Feb 5, 2026

There will be a little distance between it and sand bed, and probably a film of water between the glass and the AIO unit

this is the kit

TX_REEF · Feb 5, 2026

StradicCi4 said:
There will be a little distance between it and sand bed, and probably a film of water between the glass and the AIO unit

this is the kit

I see, so it is a fully encased unit! I am more used to seeing the drop in ones without a top, back or sides that need to be siliconed. Neat kit!