New DIY 40g aio build

Ron Reefman · Sep 8, 2022

Hi, some of you may know me, I'm a member of the Reef Squad here at R2R.

I've been in the hobby for over 20 years. Almost every tank I've had in the past had a sump or a sump & refugium. At one point I had over 600g of saltwater in the house (3 systems). My wife and I are doing more traveling now that we are both retired and we feel the risks with the big tanks is too great that something bad could happen and we don't want to burden our cat sitter with anymore tank work than is absolutely necessary. Well... I'm looking to do less tank maintenance. I think an aio tank is just the ticket... but I know next to nothing about them! So I'm building, really rebuilding, a 40g tank I made a number of years ago. I broke it down and kept the glass, so now I'm putting it back together. I've covered the holes in the bottom that used to feed and return from the sump. I've also removed the old overflow.

This is the current status of the build:

I've done a water test and it passed. Now I'm in the process of cleaning up all the excess silicone and then I test it again just to make sure I didn't create a leak!!! You can see the glass patch on the bottom that covers the old overflow holes. The glass patch is siliconed down, the holes are filled with a titanium based silicone adhesive. Those fixes were done years ago when I broke the old tank down.

I siliconed a pvc trim around the bottom of the tank for a bit more protection from leaks. I've never had one of my DIY tanks leak, but there can always be a first time! Then turned the tank upside down and poured an epoxy over the bottom and laid in a sheet of FRP (fiberglass reinforced plastic) in the epoxy. The area of the old holes is where I made sure there was super coverage with the epoxy before I laid in the FRP.

Now, while I work on cleaning the tank, I'm looking trying to build an aio insert of my own, or getting one custom made to fit my tank (24" x 24" x 20").

If anybody knows of someone who is doing custom aio inserts, I'd really appreciate hearing about them.

My intention here is a tank with mixed corals (mostly lps & sps) and inverts. I may do a fish or two, but that will be much further downstream. I currently have a 16g tank with a HOB filter that has some coral and inverts from the 90g tank I just sold. If you don't know me, I go snorkeling and collecting in the Florida Keys (not coral, but lots of different and some unusual inverts). There is a link to the snorkeling & collecting thread here at R2R that I started a long time ago. If anybody ever thinks about coming to Florida and snorkeling (whether you are collecting or not) and you have ANY questions, feel free to ask. Whether it's locations, equipment, motels, other activities... whatever, I'm happy to try and help. We go to the Keys and snorkel for 2 or 3 days 2 to 4 times a year. I love it and I'm happy to try and make your trip more enjoyable and more successful!

blaxsun · Sep 9, 2022

Good luck with the new project!

Ron Reefman · Sep 10, 2022

blaxsun said:
Good luck with the new project!

I'm in the process of building a test insert with sheet PVC. If it works really well, I may just use it. If it works but has any correctable issues, I'll build a new one with acrylic. If they dont work, I'll have one custom made by somebody who knows what they are doing! LOL1

TheWB · Sep 13, 2022

Ron Reefman said:
I'm in the process of building a test insert with sheet PVC. If it works really well, I may just use it. If it works but has any correctable issues, I'll build a new one with acrylic. If they dont work, I'll have one custom made by somebody who knows what they are doing! LOL1

Hi Ron,

Did you reach out to Octo Aquatics and Tenecor about the AIO insert? I’ve followed your builds before. Looking forward to seeing how this one turns out.

Ron Reefman · Sep 15, 2022

TheWB said:
Hi Ron,

Did you reach out to Octo Aquatics and Tenecor about the AIO insert? I’ve followed your builds before. Looking forward to seeing how this one turns out.

I have, and thanks for the leads. I've put the 40g cube together and I'm in the process of making an aio insert out of sheet pvc and 3M 5200. We'll see how well that works. If it's just a material issue, I'll try building it again with acrylic. If that doesn't work Octo Aquatics and Tenecor will get calls. They both gave me a rough estimate of $180 for what I want. That seems right in line with pre-made ones for standard tanks.

Meanwhile, I have a 40 breeder and just ordered an aio insert from Fuji with all the parts, i.e. filter sock. media rack, and return pump.

I'm in the Keys doing some collecting of CUC. We drive home on Friday and over the weekend I'll have lots of photos.

Just as a warm up, this was yesterday.

Ron Reefman · Sep 20, 2022

Well, I made a course correction and rushed a different build. I still have the 40g cube and I'm still making an aio insert for it.

But while working on it, I came across a Fuji aio insert for a 40g breeder tank that can be either a peninsula or a regular set up. It came with a pump (and controller) a media basket and a filter sock holder and 1 filter sock. As it happens, I had a 40g breeder tank in my reef room that was a garbage day rescue and in very good condition. So I splurged and bought the Fuji inset, then left for a snorkel trip in the Keys!

When we got back from the Keys on Friday, I set up a 10g holding tank full of mostly CUC. So, I needed a tank set up quickly. The insert was delivered while we were in the Keys.

Saturday I bought sand, set up and tested the 40g breeder with the insert (out on the driveway). I prepped my car for auto-x the next day and watched some college football.

Sunday I spent Sunday doing auto-x and then physical recovery. It was 90+ and sunny out, and I was outside from 8am until 4pm when we were done. By the time I got home I was exhausted. So no work on the tanks other than checking to make sure that the holding tank was still keeping everybody alive (it is kind of crowded in there.

Monday, I went to work moving the holding tank off a small stand, moving my 17g DT (HOB filtration only) on to the small stand and set the 40g breeder on to the DT stand. I went out and bought 2 bags of sand and made some new saltwater. By the end of the day on Monday, I had a functioning tank set up. The water was pretty clear right from the start, so I moved a few rocks from my supply of dry rocks into the tank along with a small rock of zoas, 2 nerites, 2 astrea snails and 2 feather dusters.

This morning, Tuesday, the water is crystal clear and everybody I put in yesterday look to be doing just fine. Even the feather dusters are out! Today's objective will be to finish a rockscape and move most of my livestock into the new tank. I may not get everybody in, so the old 17g DT may run for awhile for the stragglers!

Before I start today, I'll take some photos and try to do a better job of keeping up this thread. If anybody has any questions, fire away.

Tenecor Aquariums · Sep 22, 2022

Just saw this. Please PM me directly. We will do your insert no charge. All the best.

Ron Reefman · Sep 28, 2022

It's Wednesday morning, September 28th, 2022. As I sit here this morning we are waiting for Hurricane Ian to pass by less than 20 miles to the west. The wind is blowing pretty hard and we keep switching back and forth between just light rain and torrential downpours in really strong wind as a feeder band passes by. This will be the 2nd close by hurricane that I will just miss getting to pass through the eye! Oh well. That's just the adrenaline junkie in me talking!

The 40g breeder aio with the Fuji pro insert is running and loaded with all my livestock. Lots, and I mean lots of snails (Astrea, Nerite, Cerith and a few others). I'm hoping to have the 40g cube set up soon and I can split the number of snails between the two tanks. There is some coral, but the only colonies are some zoas, mostly green and collected from the Keys years ago, and a couple of Gorgonians. The other handful of corals are lps & sps frags.

In the meantime, I've been preparing the reef roof for the 40g DIY Cube I've just re-built. And as you can see in the post above, Tenecor has offered to build the custom aio insert for the cube. So, I'm starting to work with them. I also have a PVC sheet insert that I'm working on as a prototype. If it works the way I want it to, and things don't work out with Tenecor (I really hope they will), I'll build a second insert out of acrylic. The goal is to have an aio insert that can hold a 4: filter sock (all the Tenecor inserts do) and a bigger DC controllable return pump (I'd like an 800 to 1000 gph pump).

The 17g tank to the right of the 40g breeder is now gone and the stand it is on will temporarily get the 40g cube.

This is the 40g breeder from a few days ago, before I had everything moved over from the 17g tank.

Eric R. · Nov 25, 2022

Hi Ron! Realized you sold your 90g, and I just found your new build thread. Love reading all of your collection write-ups and checking out the photos from you and Elaine. How's the new tank going? Got time for an update? Hope things are okay after Ian, those were some photos you shared.

TheWB · Dec 14, 2022

Hi Ron,
I saw the pics of your new scape in another thread. I'm just wondering how that AIO insert you got is working out? I'm about to get one myself. Any pics of the installation? Love to see how that turned out.

Ron Reefman · Dec 15, 2022

TheWB said:
Hi Ron,
I saw the pics of your new scape in another thread. I'm just wondering how that AIO insert you got is working out? I'm about to get one myself. Any pics of the installation? Love to see how that turned out.

Well, it depends. I now have 2 40g aio tanks running. The old one is a 40g breeder with a Fuji aio insert and it's well made and easy to install. I'm going to turn that tank into a small predator and 'hated' critter tank.

The small filter sock and small return pump that Fuji uses, made me go to a 40g cube that I had already built myself. Tenacor did a custom aio insert that allowed for a 4" filter sock and a much bigger return pump. I run a 900gph pump at the slowest level and it is close to pumping the pump chamber dry! The Tenacor aio has to be put together. They didn't provide any instructions... even when I emailed them and asked for some advise. I wish I could do it over again as I'd open up more flow through the weir and raise the filter sock holder higher than I did. But it's all glued together and siliconed into place before you can test it. I hung a very open weave piece of filter media behind the weir and that cut the splashing down by 98% so it's almost dead quiet now.

So are you interested in the Fuji or the Tenacor? I'll take some photos once I know which one you are interested in. And if you go with Tenacor, I'm happy to share my build suggestions.

TheWB · Dec 15, 2022

Ron Reefman said:
Well, it depends. I now have 2 40g aio tanks running. The old one is a 40g breeder with a Fuji aio insert and it's well made and easy to install. I'm going to turn that tank into a small predator and 'hated' critter tank.

The small filter sock and small return pump that Fuji uses, made me go to a 40g cube that I had already built myself. Tenacor did a custom aio insert that allowed for a 4" filter sock and a much bigger return pump. I run a 900gph pump at the slowest level and it is close to pumping the pump chamber dry! The Tenacor aio has to be put together. They didn't provide any instructions... even when I emailed them and asked for some advise. I wish I could do it over again as I'd open up more flow through the weir and raise the filter sock holder higher than I did. But it's all glued together and siliconed into place before you can test it. I hung a very open weave piece of filter media behind the weir and that cut the splashing down by 98% so it's almost dead quiet now.

So are you interested in the Fuji or the Tenacor? I'll take some photos once I know which one you are interested in. And if you go with Tenacor, I'm happy to share my build suggestions.

Thanks Ron, I’m interested in the Tenecor because of the extra space. I’d love to see what you did with it. How would you have increased the flow through the weir, make the openings wider? I’m usually only looking for 3x to 5x turnover through the filter so maybe that won’t matter to me as much.

Delsanders88 · Jan 6, 2023

Ron Reefman said:
Well, it depends. I now have 2 40g aio tanks running. The old one is a 40g breeder with a Fuji aio insert and it's well made and easy to install. I'm going to turn that tank into a small predator and 'hated' critter tank.

The small filter sock and small return pump that Fuji uses, made me go to a 40g cube that I had already built myself. Tenacor did a custom aio insert that allowed for a 4" filter sock and a much bigger return pump. I run a 900gph pump at the slowest level and it is close to pumping the pump chamber dry! The Tenacor aio has to be put together. They didn't provide any instructions... even when I emailed them and asked for some advise. I wish I could do it over again as I'd open up more flow through the weir and raise the filter sock holder higher than I did. But it's all glued together and siliconed into place before you can test it. I hung a very open weave piece of filter media behind the weir and that cut the splashing down by 98% so it's almost dead quiet now.

So are you interested in the Fuji or the Tenacor? I'll take some photos once I know which one you are interested in. And if you go with Tenacor, I'm happy to share my build suggestions.

So I received my tenecor diy 40g breeder aio and like your experience, mines didn't come with instructions either. I emailed them and I'm waiting for the response. In the meantime do you mind letting me see what you did with your kit?

TheWB · Jan 8, 2023

Delsanders88 said:
So I received my tenecor diy 40g breeder aio and like your experience, mines didn't come with instructions either. I emailed them and I'm waiting for the response. In the meantime do you mind letting me see what you did with your kit?

Check your order confirmation email for a link. That's where my instructions were. It's a downloadable pdf.

Delsanders88 · Jan 8, 2023

TheWB said:
Check your order confirmation email for a link. That's where my instructions were. It's a downloadable pdf.

They sent me one yesterday afternoon. I was wondering, did you use silicone to assemble your kit like the instructions recommend? Because everything I see online says use a product called weld-on

quentin17110 · Jan 8, 2023

Ron Reefman said:
Hi, some of you may know me, I'm a member of the Reef Squad here at R2R.

I've been in the hobby for over 20 years. Almost every tank I've had in the past had a sump or a sump & refugium. At one point I had over 600g of saltwater in the house (3 systems). My wife and I are doing more traveling now that we are both retired and we feel the risks with the big tanks is too great that something bad could happen and we don't want to burden our cat sitter with anymore tank work than is absolutely necessary. Well... I'm looking to do less tank maintenance. I think an aio tank is just the ticket... but I know next to nothing about them! So I'm building, really rebuilding, a 40g tank I made a number of years ago. I broke it down and kept the glass, so now I'm putting it back together. I've covered the holes in the bottom that used to feed and return from the sump. I've also removed the old overflow.

This is the current status of the build:

I've done a water test and it passed. Now I'm in the process of cleaning up all the excess silicone and then I test it again just to make sure I didn't create a leak!!! You can see the glass patch on the bottom that covers the old overflow holes. The glass patch is siliconed down, the holes are filled with a titanium based silicone adhesive. Those fixes were done years ago when I broke the old tank down.

I siliconed a pvc trim around the bottom of the tank for a bit more protection from leaks. I've never had one of my DIY tanks leak, but there can always be a first time! Then turned the tank upside down and poured an epoxy over the bottom and laid in a sheet of FRP (fiberglass reinforced plastic) in the epoxy. The area of the old holes is where I made sure there was super coverage with the epoxy before I laid in the FRP.

Now, while I work on cleaning the tank, I'm looking trying to build an aio insert of my own, or getting one custom made to fit my tank (24" x 24" x 20").

If anybody knows of someone who is doing custom aio inserts, I'd really appreciate hearing about them.

My intention here is a tank with mixed corals (mostly lps & sps) and inverts. I may do a fish or two, but that will be much further downstream. I currently have a 16g tank with a HOB filter that has some coral and inverts from the 90g tank I just sold. If you don't know me, I go snorkeling and collecting in the Florida Keys (not coral, but lots of different and some unusual inverts). There is a link to the snorkeling & collecting thread here at R2R that I started a long time ago. If anybody ever thinks about coming to Florida and snorkeling (whether you are collecting or not) and you have ANY questions, feel free to ask. Whether it's locations, equipment, motels, other activities... whatever, I'm happy to try and help. We go to the Keys and snorkel for 2 or 3 days 2 to 4 times a year. I love it and I'm happy to try and make your trip more enjoyable and more successful!

TheWB · Jan 8, 2023

Delsanders88 said:
They sent me one yesterday afternoon. I was wondering, did you use silicone to assemble your kit like the instructions recommend? Because everything I see online says use a product called weld-on

I have not assembled mine yet. My instructions reference using silicone. PM me with your email address if you wan't the instructions that I received.

Ron Reefman · Jan 10, 2023

I used weld-on to put the acrylic parts together and silicone to attach it to the tank. Be sure to get silicone on both sides of the attachment points with the glass. Silicone doesn't stick very well to acrylic.

Ron Reefman · Mar 15, 2023

Well, it's been a couple of months since I've done a post about my two 40g aio tanks.

Yesterday I was feeding the 2 clowns in the 40g breeder tank. They are the only fish I have. I happened to see the mantis shrimp run around some. So I started looking closer and found the yellow sea cucumber (I see it occasionally out in the open). But the big surprise to me was finding the rock boring urchin. I've kind of given up on urchins in general as they tend to be bulldozers or pickpockets (i.e. they pick up small corals and carry them around). But when we snorkel in the Keys we see lots of rock boring urchins and I decided to try a small one. They tend to find a good rock and create a hole to settle into and are almost always on the underside of rocks. The one I put in my tank disappeared some time ago (OK, I really didn't go hunting for it). Yesterday I found it toward the back on the tank and stuck to the underside of a shelf I had made. It looks quite happy, doesn't move and causes no chaos in the tank.

I may have to try one in the 40g cube aio tank. BTW, the cube is now full of coral and a few rock flower anemones and a couple maxi mini anemones. There are no fish, some snails and hermit crabs along with one serpent star.

I have to admit, I've found keeping 40g aio tanks to be quite easy. I dose manually every day and test SG, Ca and alk once a week. Auto top offs get refilled and filter socks get done once a week as well. I don't do many water changes... maybe a 5g change once every month or two! I've also found that with only the two clowns in the 40g breeder and no fish in the 40g cube, the glass stays MUCH cleaner than any of my previous tanks. The tanks have been very stable and both have several small feather dusters (from the Keys). They have been in the tanks since last summer and seem to be doing quite well. I kind of consider them my 'canary in the coal mine' critters. If the tank has an issue, they are the most likely to suffer.

We'll see if I can get around to cleaning the glass and taking some photos in the next day or two.