Best AIO

[BubblesandSqueak]

In my experience having gotten a tank with a sump for the first time, everything is easier and more convenient. There is space for all the equipment under the tank. If I need to add or remove equipment, it is much simpler. If something needs replacing, I have more flexibility with what to replace it with.

I can't really think of a single thing that is made harder by having a sump...

what Tx Reef said. It's easier. seems complex but it's not.

 

[maethuu]

I have waterbox 15 and a nuvo 20. I like the waterbox's baffle design a lot better. The Nuvo 20 was my first tank and the baffle design has a kind of lowered lip to allow overflow in case of emergency that small fish (because it's a nano tank) will find themselves in. It's a PITA to try and fish them out because the middle baffle has a chamber below the right and left baffles that the fish can hide in and the space is too small to really fit any traps inside. I'm a fly fisherman so I have tons of tiny hooks that I used to fish them out with otherwise I'd be SOL. The waterbox completely solves this by making the display flush with the baffles and the space in-between each chamber is much narrower with no lower chamber design. You get a full kit with IM though including a pretty good return pump, lid, filter sock, and media caddy. Glass quality is about the same.

An AIO baffle is basically a sump but it's kind of hard to conceptualize all of the nuances as a beginner. If you already know how a sump works then I'd 1000% go with a sump especially at +40 gallons. More display volume, more water volume, more equipment volume, more expensive. Win-win-win-lose.

 

[KC2020]

I have both brands and I'd buy either again. Having said that the WB partition for the AIO is glass and on my IM it's acrylic. A friend has the same IM tank as mine but 5 years older and the acrylic partition has changed shape in the middle, bowing backwards from the pressure of the tank water volume against the lower water volume of the middle chamber in the back.