40 Breeder AIO Build

[Troyer15]

Hey everyone. A friend of mine just bought a 40 breeder and wants me to help him get it running. This will be his first attempt with a saltwater setup and he is on a budget. I'm thinking we should do a AIO for him but I was hoping someone here had experience with building a AIO kit for this size tank. I know Fiji Cube offers a drop in box but everywhere I see its sold out for the the 40 breeder version. If anyone has built a custom AIO kit please share and give some tips before we dive into this.

 

[KC's CNC Creations]

if you have access to a laser or CNC it's pretty simple to do. i design in Aspire, cut on my machine, assemble the acrylic parts with Weld-on 4 and use aquarium grade silicone to secure to the inside of the tank. the principle is the same using basic hand tools but require a bit more cleanup on the edges.

 

[Troyer15]

if you have access to a laser or CNC it's pretty simple to do. i design in Aspire, cut on my machine, assemble the acrylic parts with Weld-on 4 and use aquarium grade silicone to secure to the inside of the tank. the principle is the same using basic hand tools but require a bit more cleanup on the edges.

Unfortunately we don’t have access to anything like that just going to do it by hand.

 

[KC's CNC Creations]

table saw works equally well, it just doesn't produce ready to glue edges like the CNC/Laser does. a little hand scraping and you're good to go. the overflow slots are the only thing difficult to make look good with 'basic' hand tools.

made a few internal overflow boxes just last week on the CNC.

 

[PhotonBlue]

Does the silicone secure the acrylic to the glass well? I thought I heard I couldn't use silicone for that

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Does the silicone secure the acrylic to the glass well? I thought I heard I couldn't use silicone for that

It isn't best practice..

 

[KC's CNC Creations]

Does the silicone secure the acrylic to the glass well? I thought I heard I couldn't use silicone for that

on the inside of the tank it's 100% secure and your only option really, and it's what the manufactures use on all reef ready tank overflow boxes and AIO that are glass tanked.

siliconing a baffle in a sump, it's almost impossible to rip out without busting the tank.

 

[Stain]

I would drill it for a sump

 

[PhotonBlue]

So just not for any seams that would be expected to hold water externally, correct?

 

[Troyer15]

I would drill it for a sump

So would I but he is 17 and just getting started. The cost would rise significantly buy the time he bought the plumbing and sump. I'm just trying to help him get going it doesn't need to be anything fancy.

 

[Troyer15]

table saw works equally well, it just doesn't produce ready to glue edges like the CNC/Laser does. a little hand scraping and you're good to go. the overflow slots are the only thing difficult to make look good with 'basic' hand tools.

made a few internal overflow boxes just last week on the CNC.

That is my biggest concern cutting the overflow slots. I don't have a table saw either but I figured we could manage with my miter saw. Not sure if Lowes offers this service or not.

 

[KC's CNC Creations]

So just not for any seams that would be expected to hold water externally, correct?

correct. silicone will secure acrylic to glass well enough that inside the tank you'll not have any issues with it.

i highly doubt Lowe's has the proper equipment to cut acrylic (fine tooth carbide blade) and as bad as some of the wood cuts i've seen from there, the parts they cut would likely not fit as intended.

 

[Clo]

A website by the name of marine and reef has it for 140. Probably more than you want to pay tho.

 

[Troyer15]

A website by the name of marine and reef has it for 140. Probably more than you want to pay tho.

Not cheap but i know its built right at least lol

 

[Clo]

Not cheap but i know its built right at least lol

Might also end up cheaper than buying your own acrylic and trying to DIY, especially if it takes multiple tries with errors

 

[Troyer15]

Might also end up cheaper than buying your own acrylic and trying to DIY, especially if it takes multiple tries with errors

We missed it. Went out of stock lol

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

That is my biggest concern cutting the overflow slots. I don't have a table saw either but I figured we could manage with my miter saw. Not sure if Lowes offers this service or not.

Honestly, that's a dangerous route. You wouldn't be much better buying a cheap router and quarter inch straight bit. Making yourself a template to follow and doing the weir cuts by hand.

It could be done in an hour including making the template.

 

[Troyer15]

I found a company that was able to make us one. It was only $85 bucks. Huge thanks to jaxracks.com.

 

[KC's CNC Creations]

I found a company that was able to make us one. It was only $85 bucks. Huge thanks to jaxracks.com.

hopefully you have better luck with him then a local guy here did, he kept delaying the guy over and over till he got me to make his internal overflow boxes (the ones pictured above actually)

 

[Troyer15]

hopefully you have better luck with him then a local guy here did, he kept delaying the guy over and over till he got me to make his internal overflow boxes (the ones pictured above actually)

He's already made it and sent it out.