Is this bio load acceptable for this IM 40L AIO?

[lionheart8190]

IMO the chambers aren't good for much other than your media baskets, heater, and your ATO. "intank" makes a great basket for these tanks. I use a sicce 1.5 to feed the skimmer and that barely fits in the second chamber. A 3.0 fits barely into the main center chamber as the return. Id like to start using a DC pump in the future but I haven't landed on one yet. You could do a chaeto fuge in one of the second chambers for sure though however I found I ran out of room pretty quick once I wanted to get probes and stuff in there, dosing tubes etc, really jammed up the room for a heater and ATO which I run (2) sensors plus a third high level sensor. To me this is why trying to fit a skimmer in the AIO chamber was out of the question even if I found one that did work for me

Thanks for all of that info. This helps a lot. I have been going back and forth on trying to find the best AIO for my needs. I am now leaning towards the waterbox lol It may have a bit more space to work with. I just want to make sure I have more options for setting things up when the time comes.

I just would have preferred IM because of their quality. I know nothing about waterbox, but they seem solid.

 

[924er]

I have the same tank and I absolutely love the size. Just go slow and you can keep it well stocked. I ran it skimmerless for 6 months no isssues, I used chaeto in the back chamber which worked well but not I have a skimmer because I was tired of the chaeto detritus and I like the elevated ph the skimmer providers. I have 5 fish in my tank and I have trouble keeping nutrients up lol I have no bio filters other sand sand and rock.

 

[Budman93]

Just tried picking up this exact same tank from the LFS yesterday and low and beyond it wouldn't fit in my car lol. After helping people load TVs into their cars for my first job and rolling their eyes at them when they didnt fit I eventually became that guy lol.

Anyways Yeah that list should be fine if you go slow. I am doing a couple filefish, goby/shrimp pair, and will let my gf pick the rest as payment for letting me set it up in the first place. I was able to bring home the stand and it's awesome. Built really well and plenty of room for an ATO system and all your equipment. Im not sure what ill be doing for filtration but I am going to start out skimmerless and probably just run some barebones carbon, filterfloss and stock equipment. My last tank was killed by dinos so if anything I'd almost rather it have excess nutrients.