55g Conversion to AIO?

[Rcpilot]

Recently confirmed my 55g Aqueon has tempered glass so no drilling.

I'm thinking about sectioning off 12 inches on one side to build an AIO setup. That would leave me with 36 inches of tank space.

Has anyone ever done this, or seen a pic of it?

 

[LiveWire]

I would imagine that this can be done as long as you are using glass to section it off and silicone it into place allowing it to cure. It seems like it may be a bit of work though and I would think that finding a used drilled tank somewhere like CL would be a simpler option.

 

[ReeferReefer]

That could work for sure. It would be a cool peninsula style tank that would be a great room divider.

I agree though that sumping the system or finding something else for cheap would be best.

 

[Pntbll687]

You could use glass or acrylic for the divider. The divider isn't part of the structure and is just cosmetic, so either will be fine.

Here's one the king of diy did out of acrylic, just as a reference for what can be done.

I would say 12" would be overkill, maybe 6 or 8 would be better.

 

[dantimdad]

I did a 55 like this years ago. Used 8" of the tank. Sorry, can't find pics of it.

Was super simple to do.

 

[Rcpilot]

I'm not scared of the work at all. And I agree that a sump is almost always better.

But as I said, I can't drill it, and I swore never to use another overflow siphon box.... over a decade ago. I'm not going to scrap the tank and I'm not going to give it away for $8.61 either. So that means I'm either using HOB filtration or I have a little fun and convert it to an AIO.

I was thinking of using 12 inches because it would leave a lot of room for a skimmer and media baskets, maybe even a refugium area. Still in the planning stages, so I'll need to research skimmers and pumps.

 

[Lear31a]

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take a look at this

 

[Rcpilot]

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take a look at this

Great idea, but too small for what I want to do. I'm looking for more compartments and room for a decent skimmer.

 

[Jadams]

I would also do this as a peninsula style and only section off like 6" - 8" of the tank. That would give you a super cool room divider

 

[Rcpilot]

I would also do this as a peninsula style and only section off like 6" - 8" of the tank. That would give you a super cool room divider

Definitely a peninsula tank.

We're building a brand new house with an unfinished basement...... for the sole purpose of being able to have hobbies. My wife likes to quilt and reload ammo and both of those hobbies take up a lot of space. I like fish tanks and indoor gardening, which also takes up space and has potential for water on the floors.

I kinda want more space than just 5 or 8 inches in the AIO compartment. Room for a small in-sump skimmer is the main goal. I also want a media tray or rack for filter floss and some biomedical.

My plan was to use 12 inches of the tank for the AIO baffle. That leaves me with 36 inches of tank. My current project is a 40g breeder, which happens to be 36 inches long. I may upgrade the lights on the 40g breeder and use those LED's on the 55g AIO since I plan on that tank being a fish only setup.

If I set my primary AIO baffle at 12 inches from the end, those 36 inch strip LED's will fit right on top of the tank.

 

[LionfishMan]

I’ve seen a couple of interesting approaches that might work. The first was a glass baffle across the tank, with a square cut out for the inlet, and a circle for the outlet. Everything behind this in the sump was then acrylic. This was so the owner could clean the baffle without scratching it so much.
The second was an acrylic box just fractionally smaller than the internal size of the tank, with all the various compartments inside (literally like a mini sump) and this could be weighted or silicones in place. The advantage was that it could be easily removed if you wanted to re-purpose the tank.
Just a couple of ideas!