Designing the Perfect Small AIO. Post your feature request, or wish list & let's build it!

[Tenecor Aquariums]

Got an idea for a small (10 gallons or less) AIO? A feature you would like to see but can't find? Post it here and let's crowd source a design. We already have some preliminary designs we are calling HushFlow. Tenecor will be your personal R&D lab. Target price point should be $150 or less.. Let's have some fun.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Sent mine in, but may be beyond what you were thinking. My design was tested with a model to see what fit in the sump area and it fit nice size protein skimmers, pumps, UAS, etc. Have fun understanding it.

 

[FishyFishFish]

My opinion is that it needs to be really simple.

Just a reasonable square/rectangular shape (i.e. not long and thin like the Fluval Evo V) with an AIO section big enough for the filter media, heater, pump and provision for an ATO and a temp sensor (for a heater controller). No skimmer required on these tiny tanks.

The actual box itself can be very basic (and relatively cheap).

If you want to add options, then a decent return pump (e.g. Sicce), and not a cheap no-brand pump, with the correct plumbing. A heater that fits in the AIO chamber. A recommended ATO that fits. A light suitable for LPS. A cover. A Media Basket. These should all be optional, and the basic design should allow for a variety of pump/heater/lighting options, that the customer can source separately if they wish.

Edited to add: There are a couple of companies that produce tanks exactly like I was looking for, but they had customer service/build quality issues. I don't think any wheel re-inventing is needed; just a small tank that is built well and delivered when promised would fill a hole in the market as far as I am concerned.

 

[5G Reefer]

I took a fluval chi aqurium and took out the built in pump and everything. I built a basic acrylic internal sump with one black acrylic panel and two bafles in the back. I have a 132 gallon per hour fluval pump in the return chamber that just goes to a loc-line return jet. I put a refugium in the middle section and have a 50 watt heater in the overflow chamber. I just put a fliter floss square at the top for skimming and it works really well. The acrylic panel is 1/8th of an inch thick and has a 1/2 inch hole drilled for the loc-line on one side and 5 1/8 inch groves for the overflow the groves are all about 3/4 of an inch deep into the acrylic and there is no piece of acrylic on top of the overflow. I did as a safty precaution place the sump about a 1/4 inch from the top of the aquarium as to prevent an overflow onto the floor and instead into the aquarium.

 

[Tenecor Aquariums]

I took a fluval chi aqurium and took out the built in pump and everything. I built a basic acrylic internal sump with one black acrylic panel and two bafles in the back. I have a 132 gallon per hour fluval pump in the return chamber that just goes to a loc-line return jet. I put a refugium in the middle section and have a 50 watt heater in the overflow chamber. I just put a fliter floss square at the top for skimming and it works really well. The acrylic panel is 1/8th of an inch thick and has a 1/2 inch hole drilled for the loc-line on one side and 5 1/8 inch groves for the overflow the groves are all about 3/4 of an inch deep into the acrylic and there is no piece of acrylic on top of the overflow. I did as a safty precaution place the sump about a 1/4 inch from the top of the aquarium as to prevent an overflow onto the floor and instead into the aquarium.

Can you post a sketch of what you did? That is an awful small space and I like to see how you did yours.

 

[5G Reefer]

Can you post a sketch of what you did? That is an awful small space and I like to see how you did yours.

Here is a picture of the aquarium

 

[5G Reefer]

I can give you a drawing of the baffles I did tomorrow.

 

[tautog83]

Awesome job ! That looks amazing minus the thermometer I'm teasing , what wavemaker is that . I think.thats perfect size nano

 

[5G Reefer]

It’s just a hygger nano wave maker you can search it up on Amazon they are $60 I think. Thanks for the compliment I did everything on the shortest budget I could and I think I did ok.

 

[5G Reefer]

The only downside right now is I am dealing with a crazy cyno outbreak and that’s annoying…

 

[Reefing102]

Something I’d like to see is a built in closed loop type system in the back. Something like fit a maxi jet in a chamber, have the intake coming through the panel so it’s sucking water directly from the tank and then the output can be split into two or so, then wouldn’t have as big of a need for additional powerheads/wave makers

 

[Tenecor Aquariums]

Something I’d like to see is a built in closed loop type system in the back. Something like fit a maxi jet in a chamber, have the intake coming through the panel so it’s sucking water directly from the tank and then the output can be split into two or so, then wouldn’t have as big of a need for additional powerheads/wave makers

Please sketch this

 

[waterbox15aio]

I have a Waterbox 15g AIO and would make the following suggestions:

- if you are going with a proprietary filter sock size, include a mesh option or filter floss cup/holder.

- don’t include pumps that are crap. While AIO is nice. I’d rather pick a good pump I want during checkout. Have a few recommended options that fit the plumbing to choose from (eg. siccee, Tunze, etc). Assuming most sales are online, it seems easy to sell this as “build your tank” where your purchase walks through various pump and lighting options so you don’t replace all crap stock equipment.

- size skimmer chamber to hold at least a Tunze 9001.

- most rimless AIOs only have after market lid options available. An option to buy one directly from the manufacturer specific to the tank at a reasonable price would be ideal. I don’t want think this needs to be included in the base package.

- consider heater length when sizing tank height. Many small AIO have a very limited selection of good heaters (ex. Eheim Jager) that fit into the back chamber.

- have some SteveT style media racks available for customization, added price is fine

- don’t include a light but consider mounting options - size back glass thick enough to hold a mounting bracket. Same reason as above - I’d rather buy a bare bones AIO tank only than a complete package where I have to pay twice to upgrade crap stock equipment.

- colored back chamber glass is preferred over painted/wrap. All should work with an optical ATO sensor.

 

[ninjamyst]

- shallow dimension to maximize aquascaping space
- individual black cover for each AIO chamber for a clean look and reduce chamber noise with notches to run wire out and ATO tube in
- optional media basket with at least 2 levels
- tank mesh cover since it's a shallow tank

 

[Nano-DaveJ]

I agree with most of the comments here and will add that I’ve been looking for something like this for a while. If you build an affordable, basic tank it would be nice to have the following items as options: Floss holder or media tray, screen lid (that doesn’t cost as much as the aquarium), filter sock holder (I don’t use socks but I know some people do), RFG nozzle (or standard locline bulkhead and nozzle so an RFG can be added). People have their own favorite pumps and lights so I would not bother including them. I prefer the IM MightyJet DC pump but it has a fairly large footprint so that can be a challenge in a 10 gallon AIO. Personally I would like something a little bigger (like 15”Lx15”Wx13”H) which would put the display at roughly 15x12. Finally IMHO it doesn’t need to be low iron glass if that keeps the price down. Thanks for considering this and I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

 

[Tenecor Aquariums]

I agree with most of the comments here and will add that I’ve been looking for something like this for a while. If you build an affordable, basic tank it would be nice to have the following items as options: Floss holder or media tray, screen lid (that doesn’t cost as much as the aquarium), filter sock holder (I don’t use socks but I know some people do), RFG nozzle (or standard locline bulkhead and nozzle so an RFG can be added). People have their own favorite pumps and lights so I would not bother including them. I prefer the IM MightyJet DC pump but it has a fairly large footprint so that can be a challenge in a 10 gallon AIO. Personally I would like something a little bigger (like 15”Lx15”Wx13”H) which would put the display at roughly 15x12. Finally IMHO it doesn’t need to be low iron glass if that keeps the price down. Thanks for considering this and I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Lots of good ideas. Just want to make clear we don't build glass. Only acrylic.

 

[5G Reefer]

I defiantly agree with the fact that what most of us want is just a gutted all in one setup and we don’t want any of the equipment either. If you just build the tank with the loc-line Adapter connected to the bulkhead so we can put whatever return nozzle we want on it. All I think most people want on it is the acrylic baffles and the bulkhead attached for a pump. It would also be helpful if the overflow was laser cut for a cleaner look.

 

[5G Reefer]

If you build an acrylic box that is fine too.

 

[Tenecor Aquariums]

I have a Waterbox 15g AIO and would make the following suggestions:

- if you are going with a proprietary filter sock size, include a mesh option or filter floss cup/holder.

- don’t include pumps that are crap. While AIO is nice. I’d rather pick a good pump I want during checkout. Have a few recommended options that fit the plumbing to choose from (eg. siccee, Tunze, etc). Assuming most sales are online, it seems easy to sell this as “build your tank” where your purchase walks through various pump and lighting options so you don’t replace all crap stock equipment.

- size skimmer chamber to hold at least a Tunze 9001.

- most rimless AIOs only have after market lid options available. An option to buy one directly from the manufacturer specific to the tank at a reasonable price would be ideal. I don’t want think this needs to be included in the base package.

- consider heater length when sizing tank height. Many small AIO have a very limited selection of good heaters (ex. Eheim Jager) that fit into the back chamber.

- have some SteveT style media racks available for customization, added price is fine

- don’t include a light but consider mounting options - size back glass thick enough to hold a mounting bracket. Same reason as above - I’d rather buy a bare bones AIO tank only than a complete package where I have to pay twice to upgrade crap stock equipment.

- colored back chamber glass is preferred over painted/wrap. All should work with an optical ATO sensor.

I agree. Lots of pump/light/heater/etc are junk. The lid is not a problem because we are doing a crowd sourced design on that also. I put up some preliminary sizes and styles on our website. Placeholder sale price of $150. This is a placeholder selling price. The actual price will be less. You bring up a point that we take seriously and this is why the existing small AIO we offer are so pricey. They are premium quality with only well known trusted components. I spent much time thinking about this dilemma and my proposed solution is to perhaps offer a bare bones, unkitted AIO. No pump, light, media, etc. The stuff you can buy online and exactly to your specs. The only options to be lid, color and size. This would drive the SP well below $100. Always with a guarantee of cosmetically flawless seams and lifetime EZ swap warranty. The EZ swap warranty is something we came up with last year. Btw, lid option for this type of aquarium would be around $30 or less plus shipping.

 

[Tenecor Aquariums]

I defiantly agree with the fact that what most of us want is just a gutted all in one setup and we don’t want any of the equipment either. If you just build the tank with the loc-line Adapter connected to the bulkhead so we can put whatever return nozzle we want on it. All I think most people want on it is the acrylic baffles and the bulkhead attached for a pump. It would also be helpful if the overflow was laser cut for a cleaner look.

You posted this as I was tapping away..