AIO filtering chamber design - review, please

[MikeCRK]

Hi,

After reading a lot, watching a lot, and being lost a lot, I came with the basic design for the AIO chamber I am planning to do with my 90ADA tank, which I want to convert to AIO90.

Can you have a look with your experienced eye if it looks good? I will use acrylic sheeting, the first chamber will have drawers out of egg crates.
The size of the chambers will be based on equipment sizes. I figured that first gap (bottom) to be 40mm, and the second - top one, 60mm.
I m unsure what size should be intake cut at to be most efficient. I think that cutting it 80x40mm could be OK, with top edge 20mm from the top of the sheet ( I think 2cm water surface from the top of the tank is reasonable).

Please have a look and tell me what you think! Excuse my sketchy drawing in SketchUp

 

[blaxsun]

Q: Are you going to be able to pull the media caddy out on the right?

 

[MikeCRK]

Q: Are you going to be able to pull the media caddy out on the right?

yes, I did not get into much details on the drawing, to keep the concept visible (shelves and gaps) so I will make a basket out of egg crating to fit it in and allow the maintenance.

What troubles me is the inlet/overflow big and positioned good so it keeps a correct flow and actually skims the surface.

 

[blaxsun]

yes, I did not get into much details on the drawing, to keep the concept visible (shelves and gaps) so I will make a basket out of egg crating to fit it in and allow the maintenance.

What troubles me is the inlet/overflow big and positioned good so it keeps a correct flow and actually skims the surface.

I'd look at a Innovative Marine tank and implement something similar with their comb filter.

 

[CoastalTownLayabout]

How much flow are you planning to put through it?

You’re probably already onto this but having done one of these before I’d really recommend making a mock up out of cardboard. Test fit your equipment for access and any other usability issues not apparent in the design process.

 

[MikeCRK]

How much flow are you planning to put through it?

You’re probably already onto this but having done one of these before I’d really recommend making a mock up out of cardboard. Test fit your equipment for access and any other usability issues not apparent in the design process.

yeah, good hint with the cardboard I will make the section widths when having all gear bought already.
I am aiming at 4-5x the volume of the tank for the flow. So it would be 720x900 litres per hour (190-240gallon).

 

[GARRIGA]

Just a suggestion but could incorporate a canister to handle the mechanical and chemical filtration thereby allowing the rear chamber to contain a refugium and/or skimmer. I’d just go with the refugium and consider pegging the light schedule to the ph or adjust based on nutrient levels. Canisters and reactors polish better than chambers that might allow bypass since water takes the path of least resistance.

Plumb the canister by drawing from one chamber and returning via the final return chamber. Something like the FX series incorporates sponges that negate the need for floss and the use of a refugium eliminates the need to constantly replace floss or use a skimmer for mechanical since it will remove all decomposition naturally making filtration less labor intensive.

 

[MikeCRK]

Just a suggestion but could incorporate a canister to handle the mechanical and chemical filtration thereby allowing the rear chamber to contain a refugium and/or skimmer. I’d just go with the refugium and consider pegging the light schedule to the ph or adjust based on nutrient levels. Canisters and reactors polish better than chambers that might allow bypass since water takes the path of least resistance.

Plumb the canister by drawing from one chamber and returning via the final return chamber. Something like the FX series incorporates sponges that negate the need for floss and the use of a refugium eliminates the need to constantly replace floss or use a skimmer for mechanical since it will remove all decomposition naturally making filtration less labor intensive.

I get the idea, but then adding canister filter will not make it AIO I want to hide all behind the panel, rock in the tank will do biology, then media and skimmer behind the panel. Having refugium is tempting but then I would need to figure out what to do with the light at night

Ps. Ido have eheim filter which could do the trick, but rather as a song of the future if expanding the project

 

[CoastalTownLayabout]

Should be ok, just make sure your slots are sufficient.

Did you consider doing an under, over, under baffle design? Your design limits return chamber volume. Check out how other AOI designs like Waterbox etc. do theirs. Also, I’d prefer heater in centre chamber and as a safety measure make sure front wall of AOI divider is slightly lower than tank rim.

 

[Dine]

Just a suggestion but could incorporate a canister to handle the mechanical and chemical filtration thereby allowing the rear chamber to contain a refugium and/or skimmer. I’d just go with the refugium and consider pegging the light schedule to the ph or adjust based on nutrient levels. Canisters and reactors polish better than chambers that might allow bypass since water takes the path of least resistance.

Plumb the canister by drawing from one chamber and returning via the final return chamber. Something like the FX series incorporates sponges that negate the need for floss and the use of a refugium eliminates the need to constantly replace floss or use a skimmer for mechanical since it will remove all decomposition naturally making filtration less labor intensive.

My experience with an AIO and this method didn’t work for me. (Smaller tank than what you have planned though). The refugium did a great job at removing excess nutrients. Actually too good and I was bottoming out. But as far as ph went I could never get much over 7.8-7.9. Switching to a skimmer+co2 scrubber fixed that. I still get a decent sized drop at night but nothing more than the refugium had. Nutrients are under control with my skimmer but not bottoming out and I could turn the skimmer off if I needed to slow nutrient removal, something I tried with lighting schedules and wasn’t able to do with the refugium without killing the chaeto. I do suspect a larger refugium would have worked better for PH control but with an AIO that’s usually not an option. And if I had pulled that off, doing 2x chamber or something nutrients would have been near impossible to get off 0.

i like your setup as is. My only concern would be the heater In the return chamber as that’s the chamber that will have water level variation. Make sure it’s fully submerged all the time. I’d also look into making the space to fit 2x heaters for the redundancy that gives you.

 

[GARRIGA]

I get the idea, but then adding canister filter will not make it AIO I want to hide all behind the panel, rock in the tank will do biology, then media and skimmer behind the panel. Having refugium is tempting but then I would need to figure out what to do with the light at night

Ps. Ido have eheim filter which could do the trick, but rather as a song of the future if expanding the project

The tubing will run from inside the compartments therefore all will still be hidden from view but less maintenance and better mechanical and chemical filtration. As for the refugium. Set it on a timer opposite the display or let it run 24/7 depending on how it affects your ph and nutrient levels. The light intensity and duration makes it fully adjustable to system needs and can be adjusted as it's occupants grow and increase the demand to combat CO2 along with nitrates and phosphates as well as a host of other benefits. Eco Chic has a refugium light that is submersible. Only consideration is light bleed off based on what the divider is made of. Just tinted glass and the light will shine through that could be painted from the other side with inert paint and black the compartments out.

 

[GARRIGA]

My experience with an AIO and this method didn’t work for me. (Smaller tank than what you have planned though). The refugium did a great job at removing excess nutrients. Actually too good and I was bottoming out. But as far as ph went I could never get much over 7.8-7.9. Switching to a skimmer+co2 scrubber fixed that. I still get a decent sized drop at night but nothing more than the refugium had. Nutrients are under control with my skimmer but not bottoming out and I could turn the skimmer off if I needed to slow nutrient removal, something I tried with lighting schedules and wasn’t able to do with the refugium without killing the chaeto. I do suspect a larger refugium would have worked better for PH control but with an AIO that’s usually not an option. And if I had pulled that off, doing 2x chamber or something nutrients would have been near impossible to get off 0.

i like your setup as is. My only concern would be the heater In the return chamber as that’s the chamber that will have water level variation. Make sure it’s fully submerged all the time. I’d also look into making the space to fit 2x heaters for the redundancy that gives you.

I suspect the ph inefficiency was refugium size as you indicated. Perhaps using the first two chambers would help and not pruning. Go the Triton way of just letting it grow and allowing die-off to add back nutrients. BTW, I'm going to experiment with Gracileria which many seems to have better success with than Chaeto. No experience with either as last I had Macroalgae was Caulerpa.

I'm not one to worry about bottoming out nutrients as I've overcome that by overfeeding. Yet to see dinos and I get what appears to be cyano only where flow is slower and that's easily solved with a turkey baster. At some point I'll add flow but this seems to come and go and it's usually mild and clueless to why it's there since it also shows itself when not bottoming out.

Were you running a skimmer with the refugium? That additional air exchange would introduce more CO2 in my home without the scrubber. In my house CO2 levels are super high and reducing that via scrubber won't resolve what gets introduced via surface interface and why next experiment involves adding Macroalgae and sealing the top. My ph stays at 7.6 otherwise. Byproduct of new construction with tight window tolerances to save on electricity yet no air exchange for occupants and opening windows in south florida not pragmatic plus adding an air handler too costly to install and additional electrical needs to be considered. Keep thinking it would be simpler just to do Discus.

 

[Dine]

I suspect the ph inefficiency was refugium size as you indicated. Perhaps using the first two chambers would help and not pruning. Go the Triton way of just letting it grow and allowing die-off to add back nutrients. BTW, I'm going to experiment with Gracileria which many seems to have better success with than Chaeto. No experience with either as last I had Macroalgae was Caulerpa.

I'm not one to worry about bottoming out nutrients as I've overcome that by overfeeding. Yet to see dinos and I get what appears to be cyano only where flow is slower and that's easily solved with a turkey baster. At some point I'll add flow but this seems to come and go and it's usually mild and clueless to why it's there since it also shows itself when not bottoming out.

Were you running a skimmer with the refugium? That additional air exchange would introduce more CO2 in my home without the scrubber. In my house CO2 levels are super high and reducing that via scrubber won't resolve what gets introduced via surface interface and why next experiment involves adding Macroalgae and sealing the top. My ph stays at 7.6 otherwise. Byproduct of new construction with tight window tolerances to save on electricity yet no air exchange for occupants and opening windows in south florida not pragmatic plus adding an air handler too costly to install and additional electrical needs to be considered. Keep thinking it would be simpler just to do Discus.

I suspect reasonably high CO2 in my house after replacing all of my windows a few years back. Great on the energy bill though. My tank has lots of surface area for gas exchange but the skimmer w/scrubber 100% overcomes that. Within 24hours of adding the scrubber I was up to 8.2-8.3 during the day and down to 7.9 at night. I was not running the skimmer with the refugium due to space issues. It’s one or the other for me and the skimmer seems to be the better option in my case.

 

[Mhamilton0911]

I'm not an expert at design, so take my comment lightly. But I have experience with letting things clog and when the media won't let enough water flow, water backs up. My different AIO systems have basic emergency overflows to account for media clogging. Basically if you lower the baffle wall a little so if your media clogs it will overflow to the return rather than overfilling your tank or running your pump dry.

If you look at most designs you'll see it incorporated. It's just subtle.

 

[GARRIGA]

I suspect reasonably high CO2 in my house after replacing all of my windows a few years back. Great on the energy bill though. My tank has lots of surface area for gas exchange but the skimmer w/scrubber 100% overcomes that. Within 24hours of adding the scrubber I was up to 8.2-8.3 during the day and down to 7.9 at night. I was not running the skimmer with the refugium due to space issues. It’s one or the other for me and the skimmer seems to be the better option in my case.

That’s interesting. You’d think the surface exchange would force equilibrium with house CO2 and the scrubber just negated adding additional CO2 which. At least that’s how surface agitation has been explained to me lately. Was always of the opinion surface agitation would release rekeased CO2 from nitrification but never considered the fact room CO2 would be introduced. Yet your experience now alters that.

Could it be something previously was creating more CO2 such as perhaps during the RODI process as I’m aware some tap have higher levels.

 

[jackiemon]

Hi,

After reading a lot, watching a lot, and being lost a lot, I came with the basic design for the AIO chamber I am planning to do with my 90ADA tank, which I want to convert to AIO90.

Can you have a look with your experienced eye if it looks good? I will use acrylic sheeting, the first chamber will have drawers out of egg crates.
The size of the chambers will be based on equipment sizes. I figured that first gap (bottom) to be 40mm, and the second - top one, 60mm.
I m unsure what size should be intake cut at to be most efficient. I think that cutting it 80x40mm could be OK, with top edge 20mm from the top of the sheet ( I think 2cm water surface from the top of the tank is reasonable).

Please have a look and tell me what you think! Excuse my sketchy drawing in SketchUp

Hi! Any update on what design you opted for? My AIO setup is very similar to yours but I have the ATO in the middle chamber along with the protein skimmer. I'm planning to put a refugium in chamber 1 but the panel between my display and chamber is tinted black, so I'm still looking for a solution on how to block out the refugium light from going to the display.