40B DIY all in one

[KevinC]

Few days ago, I turned a 3 gallon aqueon frameless cube aquarium into a AIO pico tank. To my surprise, it was surprisingly easy and costs are relatively low. Thus, I am looking into turning my 40B with a sump at the bottom to a AIO.

Why would I do this?

1) I have two 24" reefbrite and 24'' T5/MH light combo. it doesn't really provide full coverage for a 36 inch tank
2) The draining sound is sort of "loud" with sump being at bottom
3) I honestly didn't find a sump useful except for holding more water.

Since this would go in the living room, I would still like for it to be the best as possible. (display tank is at basement)

While I was looking for inspiration of how to build the AIO, I found a blueprint on EBAY

I really like the filter sock idea. But question arises:
1) What is the point of the 2 board near the return pump? Does it make filtration better? or should i mimic the fiji cube design?
2) Should I put this at the side or at the back?

with that being said, any ideas? suggestions? advice?

thanks in advance!

 

[Tango99]

The two boards near the return pump is to catch bubbles so they don't get pumped back into your display tank.

 

[lotekfish]

If it were my tank I'd feel like the ebay version was taking up too much of the tank volume for filtration. It looks like a quarter of the volume and I don't personally run that much equipment in my AIO tanks to need that much space. I'd rather have the Fiji cube version just for the extra tank volume for critters. It depends though where it's going in the room. If the tank sits length-wise on a wall where both ends are highly visible I might not want to look at a blacked out end from one direction. If it sits in a corner where the one end is more-or-less hidden, of it you can place it sticking out from the wall peninsula style, then definitely Fiji version.

you can also run the Fiji version centered in the back of the tank.