90 GAL. AIO from Scratch

[peppie]

This is what I have to start with

The tank is 36'' x 24'' x 24'' that is almost 90gal. I built the tank 1 1/2 years ago and was going to run a sump with it, work ran out and so did my budget.
Since that time I built 2, 20gal AIO's. Now I have enough equipment to get this tank started.
I did some research on how to build with acrylic and thought I could do it. So I ordered 1/2'' Acrylic on line and got started building the tank.

Extra 1/2'' black strips for the bottom corner.

This is the top corner bracing

This is the brace for the center of the top.
Do you think this will hold water?
I plan on installing a false wall @ 6'' wide by the full 36'' of the back side of the tank. That will give me about 20gal filter, and 70 gal DT.
I have 2 pumps, a Maxijet 1200, and aQuiteone 1200. They should pump about 600 to 800gph.
I will need to get a good HOB skimmer. The BH-1000 OCT. is on top of my wish list.

 

[RotaryGeek]

I would say 1/2" is plenty for a 90 gallon. What i would be concerned about is the false wall, since the pressure will really be on that. Is that also going to be 1/2"? I would use the quiet one pump, i have the 2200 and it has been a great pump. Have no complaints about it. But space wise, a maxijet might fit better back there, and give you the lower flow to really clean the water before its pumped back there. And yeah, i would say that skimmer would be great for this tank.

 

[peppie]

The false wall will be 1/4''. There will be 4 different chambers behind it to help support the 1/4''
I want to use both pumps on either side of the the filter chamber. I also would like the return area to be connected under the filter chamber.
The filter chamber will be a little odd. The overflow will dump into the skimmer chamber (located in the center). Then to the right will be a fuge for macro algae, then dump into the return.
To the left of the skimmer chamber the water will flow into a double media chamber, then into the return area.

 

[RotaryGeek]

So your talking about having the quiet one on the left for the skimmer area, and the maxijet on the right for a refugium area. I think that would work. And if you brace it well enough, 1/4" might do the trick. But if its not too much more expensive, i would go with 3/8 or even 1/2 if you can. Just to be certain.

 

[peppie]

A pic is worth a thousand words

 

[RotaryGeek]

i dont see why that wouldnt work. and each one of your baffles helps to take the strain off of the fake wall.

 

[peppie]

I cut the teeth all at once on the table saw

Then I glued up each chamber by itself before gluing them all together

Acouple more

I put in diverter pieces to be sure that the water will flow thur the chamber, not just into and over.

 

[RotaryGeek]

Looks good. Thinking outside the box there man. Never seen an AIO on a larger tank like this. Should be pretty cool when its done.

 

[peppie]

I have read this site (RC) and a couple of others since Oct 09, and have yet to see one this large. Why do you think that is so?
If there is one out there I would like to see it up and running. I would also like to know if it works in the long run.

 

[peppie]

I plan to have a light bioload, maybe 4 to 6 small fish, softies, and some leathers. I will for sure go BareBottom.

 

[RotaryGeek]

Becuase all in one suits a small tank better where you don't have much room for a sump, or like on an office desk. On a big tank therebis room under the stand for all that, so no real reason to use AIO. But that's not saying it can't be done. Just makes more sense for the smaller tanks.

 

[peppie]

There are a couple of reasons I went with this large AIO.
Cost. no large return pump. Not alot of plumbing parts. No sump.
Now that I look at what I just typed, it wouldnt be that much more, but it does add up.
One of the things that matters most is less chance of a flood. I know the HOB skimmer may fail and leak, but not gallons and gallons. The ATO will have 2 back up float switches to reduce the chance of failure. I have read many threads that have dealt with floods. I'm not saying it wont happen to me but my chances are alot less with an AIO.

 

[peppie]

Back in Nov of 09 when I assembled this tank I also tried my hand at manmade rock.

I cooked the rocks for about 1 year in freshwater, changing the water about 2 times a month. Then I put them in salt water and seeded them with some live rock, and cooked them for another 4 months or so.

There are a few more, but you get the idea. There is about 30 to 35 lbs. of manmade the rest will be live rock from the 20 AIOs

 

[RotaryGeek]

Yeah you will not have too much of a chance of floods. But done properly, a sump will not have much chance to flood either. But whatever works for you. There is no rule saying you can't do it, so give it a shot. The rock looks good. Wish i could find some rock like that.

 

[peppie]

The rocks are not hard to make. There is a few really good threads here on RC that can walk you thru it. You are able to make any shape you can thinkup. It is alot cheaper than live rock, and will not have any pests.

 

[peppie]

The filter box is only 12'' tall x 6'' wide x 20'' long.

This is how it will sit behind the false wall. I will have to remove the top center brace, it is in the way of the skimmer chamber

I will rebrace on either side of the skimmer chamber

 

[peppie]

This bracing will aid in the glueing and support of the false wall

The black strips on the face of the filter box are to shim it out to the bracing I glued to the side of the tank (glued them in the wrong spot) No big deal.

The small skimmer is one of 2 that will be used untill I get my Oct BH-1000

 

[peppie]

The eggcrate on either side of the filterbox is to set the return pumps on. Not sure if that will work or not. May be an issue for the lower return line. Its a troubleshooting item for later

 

[RotaryGeek]

Looks like you have done alot of work on it. Do you have this completed already, or is this work you have done in the last day?

 

[peppie]

It has been running for about 3 mo. I started it with the help of the 20 AIOs, so there wasnt much of a cycle if any.
I just thought it would be neat to let reefers know that this size AIO can be done from scratch. So far the tank is doing great. It to early to tell if this will type tank will work in the LONG RUN.
I let my thread run to the bottom of the last page to be viewed, then I post again.
Some people read it some dont.
I think it is different than the majority of the builds seen OnLine.