My Custom 40g Breeder AIO Peninsula

ElZesto · Dec 10, 2024

Hello All,

Over the last month I've designed and finally started a new tank. Its an Aqueon 40g breeder that I built an AIO system into using 3d printed parts and acrylic. I figured its probably time to start a build thread while it cycles. Here's the build so far:

The basics of the design is in this thread (feel free to use it! Please reply with pics if you do, its be so cool to see someone else execute it! I'm more than happy to share the CAD):

40g Breeder DIY AIO System Design

Hey Reef2Reef, I recently started my first SW tank, a IM NUVO 20 and really enjoy it. Unfortunately that tank has had a disaster due to being delivered a bag of amphipods that was basically pure ammonia water, and only my fire shrimp is the only guy left standing. I’m very sad about my little...

www.reef2reef.com

I first assembled the primary false wall and the two chamber walls on the table (no pics, oops).

Then I bonded it into the aquarium and here's a pic of leak checking the false wall/AIO section. I used some black vinyl on the side (at this point in the build I was going to black out the back because I thought it was going to go against a wall. I changed my mid later when I saw it in the peninsula style it ended up in):

Next I test fit all the 3d printed parts for the return system/weirs:

And now as it currently stands, full of SW and cycling. My GF built the arc rock and I'm really happy with how it turned out and cant wait to get some coral on the dang thing. I have a lot more live rock to add, this is just what's made it in so far. I'll update a photo of the scape when its all there lol.

The tank next to it is my old/current 20g IM AIO that has a few coral and a fire shrimp awaiting to move into their new home. If anyone in the PDX area wants an IM AIO 20g lmk, should be available soon lol.

Gumbies R Us · Dec 11, 2024

Following along!

Tahoe61 · Dec 11, 2024

Great job. The tank looks so much bigger than 40 gallons.

Reef-Mart · Dec 11, 2024

Awesome build!

Devaji · Dec 11, 2024

love it!
think 40br are one of my fav. tanks out there. peninsula even better.
only suggestion I wold skin the stand with something attached with strong velco.

just a thought.

ElZesto · Dec 12, 2024

Devaji said:
love it!
think 40br are one of my fav. tanks out there. peninsula even better.
only suggestion I wold skin the stand with something attached with strong velco.

just a thought.

Thats a good call... I was think about making doors for it but your suggestion sounds way easier lol. I'll update if I do

ElZesto · Dec 18, 2024

A friend of mine gave me a large amount of live rock I think is about 2 years old and now the tank is cycled. Today was a lot of work but now the 20g is gone, and the 40g has a good amount of life in it to start! Aquascape is done (for now lol), rocks and live stock from my 20g is moved over, and went ahead and got the first bit of new livestock for the tank.
The tank now has:
2 Blue Sapphire Damselfish
1 Fire Shrimp (transferred from the old tank)
3 Nassarius Snail (1 old tank)
3 Trochus Snails
7 Blue Legged Hermits (3 from the old tank)
A few bristle worms from the old tank
Asterina stars that hitch hiked their way in lol

Coral (all seems stressed from the move):
Green hammer
Green mushroom (worried about him, he came partially detached during the move, I’ll monitor and see if i can help him)
GSP
Zoa colony
Palythoa Grandi colony (i think… it’s on my friends lucky ‘cycle rock’ he loaned me. It’s been great to add some life to the new tank)

I also have updates on the build but I’ll have to get better photos for that later. The light mount is new and the filter roller is new. The filter roller you see in these photos is v3, and oh my gosh this has taken a lot of time to design but more on that later.

Cheers!

ElZesto · Dec 21, 2024

Current update: Having issue with designing a filter roller...

So I'm currently on v3 of my diy filter roller. v4 was supposed to be adding electronics to make it automated, but I'm having so much trouble setting it up with my ATO that I've just reverted to my v2 design and stuffing it with filter floss instead of using the filter roll. I'm 100% open to feedback or opinions from more experienced people on how to change this design to add some stability.

Here's the (current) v3:

The basic design in the interest of space savings is the filter roller and weir are the same part, so the whole thing slides into the tank as one assembly. The two small pins on the front slide out to release the filter backer, and the pins for the roll/catcher also just slide out. On the bench it works great, in the tank... not so much.

The Issue:
So the problem is that the second the filter mat gets any level of crud in it it clogs up and the water level in my DT rises, and it falls in my return pump area, kicking on my ATO. Then when I roll the filter mat, the water rushes through and my water level in the return pump area over flows, and trigger the overflow alarm, not to mention generally overfilling the return area. I also just tried unplugging the ATO and topping off manually, but the filter mat gets clogged so dang fast that within like 2 hours my return pump was running dry.

The Solution (maybe?):
1. Increasing the surface area of the filter roll. Increased surface won't exactly fix the problem, but it will at least give more time between the filter needing to be rolled which will probably make it easier to control/dial in. All the ones on the market I see are a V shape so I'll probably mimic that BUT I'm very worried about that significantly increasing the water free-fall time between the weir and the water level in the filter intake area and the water splashing noise that may accompany that. Unfortunately, this tank is in my bedroom so minimizing noise is a pretty big priority. I think I might be able to mitigate this issue by adding a sort of mesh 'water catcher' in the backer part so that the water isn't freefalling. Idk, testing required here.
2. Setting a baseline "clogged" level for the filter roller to operate at, and then not turning much new roll on at a time to minimize the water level variation that happens from feeding new roll in.

The current solution (KISS):

The alternative solution:
Scrap the filter roller, just keep doing filter floss and add a large-ish protein skimmer for extra mechanical filtration. I'm thinking about the Sicce Shark 300 as it will fit perfectly in my AIO chamber, but unfortunately its too new to have any reviews outside of BS feeling marketing videos, so I might have to go with another skimmer like a TUNZE or something.

Hope anyone who reads this is doing well and happy holidays!

ElZesto · Dec 28, 2024

Update:
I was out of town for 3 days over the holidays and a friend of mine was feeding the tank everyday. Said both fish were eating everyday. The day I got back, there was only 1 springer damsel… no body around the tank, and I moved rocks and used a very bright flashlight and couldn’t find a body… not sure what happened as the other damsel looks completely fine. No erratic behavior or sign of disease. I assume the damsel that disappeared had some disease or parasite since it was only about a week old from the fish store and the CUC probably turned it into a tasty snack. That or the surviving springer attacked him. Unfortunately I don’t know. It was 24hrs roughly between when my friend last fed both fish and I got home to only one so anything could’ve happened in that time. RIP to the lil fella.

Parameters that pertain to fish are all normal:
Am: 0.0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 12ppm
Salinity: 1.023 (will be raising this during a water change later today)

The filter saga continues:
When I got back the filter floss was pretty dirty from 3 days. I didn’t have my friend who was watching the tank change it because it was 3 days and I don’t wanna burden him. But it needs to be easier so I can burden him/my roommates during a 3-4week trip planned in march. I not have the simplest, easiest mechanical filtration you can have: the stupid filter. I just cut out a bunch of sheets of filter floss, and then you just rip the dirty sheet out, and slip the new one in under the little ridges on the edge and it’s all done. Takes like 5 seconds and you hardly have to put your hands in the water (which is what annoyed me about the old floss one). I’m still working on an actual automated filter roller literally as I type this, but expect it’ll be weeks and probably 5 more revisions before its actually done and I need something better in the mean time.

Hopefully going to go to the LFS and get another fish or two and ideally a toadstool leather tomorrow. Excited!

Also I got the Sicce Shark 300 protein skimmer. Been setup for 2 days and it’s already pulling skim but still letting it break in. I’ll post an actual review in a week or two once it’s dialed in so others will have some info on it as I couldn't find anything of substance before buying.

Merry Christmas everyone!

AquaNanoNZ · Dec 28, 2024

ElZesto said:
Update:
I was out of town for 3 days over the holidays and a friend of mine was feeding the tank everyday. Said both fish were eating everyday. The day I got back, there was only 1 springer damsel… no body around the tank, and I moved rocks and used a very bright flashlight and couldn’t find a body… not sure what happened as the other damsel looks completely fine. No erratic behavior or sign of disease. I assume the damsel that disappeared had some disease or parasite since it was only about a week old from the fish store and the CUC probably turned it into a tasty snack. That or the surviving springer attacked him. Unfortunately I don’t know. It was 24hrs roughly between when my friend last fed both fish and I got home to only one so anything could’ve happened in that time. RIP to the lil fella.

Parameters that pertain to fish are all normal:
Am: 0.0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 12ppm
Salinity: 1.023 (will be raising this during a water change later today)

The filter saga continues:
When I got back the filter floss was pretty dirty from 3 days. I didn’t have my friend who was watching the tank change it because it was 3 days and I don’t wanna burden him. But it needs to be easier so I can burden him/my roommates during a 3-4week trip planned in march. I not have the simplest, easiest mechanical filtration you can have: the stupid filter. I just cut out a bunch of sheets of filter floss, and then you just rip the dirty sheet out, and slip the new one in under the little ridges on the edge and it’s all done. Takes like 5 seconds and you hardly have to put your hands in the water (which is what annoyed me about the old floss one). I’m still working on an actual automated filter roller literally as I type this, but expect it’ll be weeks and probably 5 more revisions before its actually done and I need something better in the mean time.

Hopefully going to go to the LFS and get another fish or two and ideally a toadstool leather tomorrow. Excited!

Also I got the Sicce Shark 300 protein skimmer. Been setup for 2 days and it’s already pulling skim but still letting it break in. I’ll post an actual review in a week or two once it’s dialed in so others will have some info on it as I couldn't find anything of substance before buying.

Merry Christmas everyone!

That removable filter chamber/weir setup is awesome! Did you design that yourself?

ElZesto · Dec 28, 2024

Thanks! Yeah it’s all design and made my by me. Painfully and slowly lol!

AquaNanoNZ said:
That removable filter chamber/weir setup is awesome! Did you design that yourself?

AquaNanoNZ · Dec 30, 2024

ElZesto said:
Current update: Having issue with designing a filter roller...

So I'm currently on v3 of my diy filter roller. v4 was supposed to be adding electronics to make it automated, but I'm having so much trouble setting it up with my ATO that I've just reverted to my v2 design and stuffing it with filter floss instead of using the filter roll. I'm 100% open to feedback or opinions from more experienced people on how to change this design to add some stability.

Here's the (current) v3:

The basic design in the interest of space savings is the filter roller and weir are the same part, so the whole thing slides into the tank as one assembly. The two small pins on the front slide out to release the filter backer, and the pins for the roll/catcher also just slide out. On the bench it works great, in the tank... not so much.

The Issue:
So the problem is that the second the filter mat gets any level of crud in it it clogs up and the water level in my DT rises, and it falls in my return pump area, kicking on my ATO. Then when I roll the filter mat, the water rushes through and my water level in the return pump area over flows, and trigger the overflow alarm, not to mention generally overfilling the return area. I also just tried unplugging the ATO and topping off manually, but the filter mat gets clogged so dang fast that within like 2 hours my return pump was running dry.

The Solution (maybe?):
1. Increasing the surface area of the filter roll. Increased surface won't exactly fix the problem, but it will at least give more time between the filter needing to be rolled which will probably make it easier to control/dial in. All the ones on the market I see are a V shape so I'll probably mimic that BUT I'm very worried about that significantly increasing the water free-fall time between the weir and the water level in the filter intake area and the water splashing noise that may accompany that. Unfortunately, this tank is in my bedroom so minimizing noise is a pretty big priority. I think I might be able to mitigate this issue by adding a sort of mesh 'water catcher' in the backer part so that the water isn't freefalling. Idk, testing required here.
2. Setting a baseline "clogged" level for the filter roller to operate at, and then not turning much new roll on at a time to minimize the water level variation that happens from feeding new roll in.

The current solution (KISS):

The alternative solution:
Scrap the filter roller, just keep doing filter floss and add a large-ish protein skimmer for extra mechanical filtration. I'm thinking about the Sicce Shark 300 as it will fit perfectly in my AIO chamber, but unfortunately its too new to have any reviews outside of BS feeling marketing videos, so I might have to go with another skimmer like a TUNZE or something.

Hope anyone who reads this is doing well and happy holidays!

Is there an option to get a different roller mat material which won't clog so fast? It would likely need to be automated to keep up otherwise.

You possibly won't actually need to use mechanical filtration unless you want to keep gunk out of your AIO chambers which I totally understand because it will build up and is a pain to clean lol

LordsReef · Dec 30, 2024

Really nicely done!

ElZesto · Dec 30, 2024

Heres the Weir and basic filter mat STL's if anyone else wants to use this design. I'll get the uploads better but very little time ATM lol. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6894233/files

ElZesto · Dec 31, 2024

AquaNanoNZ said:
Is there an option to get a different roller mat material which won't clog so fast? It would likely need to be automated to keep up otherwise.

You possibly won't actually need to use mechanical filtration unless you want to keep gunk out of your AIO chambers which I totally understand because it will build up and is a pain to clean lol

If it doesn't clog so fast them it's just less fine so it wouldn't be filtering as much. I suppose it's possible but since the goal is to filter the water, solving to troubles by just filtering it less seems like the wrong call.

I guess I didn't even really consider NO mechanical filtration... just let the protein skimmer do it all I suppose would work but I dont think I'll do that. Cleaning unrated food out of the aio chamber sounds nastyyyy lol

ElZesto · Jan 3, 2025

Update time!

The missing springer damsel has been found!!! I was messing with my return nozzle to try to dial in my flow and broke a part and needed to remove it on 12/30, and the little damsel was in the return pump chamber! I needed the guy out of there and gave him some food and the poor fella looked THIN compared to the one that was still in the DT. He’s doing fine now, fattened up a bit since then and looks healthy but the other damsel is a menace and stressing the poor guy out. He pretty much just sits in a corner until feeding time, and if he comes out the other damsel just chases him back to his corner. He may got back to the LFS, or the aggressor might if he can’t chill out.

Got some new additions to the tank on 12/30/24:

A mated pair of adult clowns, named Beef(big girl) and Angus (small boy). We went in for some young ones to pair up and watch grow, but these two were being sold at a great price and had a good vibe so we got them.

Whoever raised them trained them on pellets because the guys go crazy for them, and now everyone else in the tank goes crazy for pellets too lol. Frozen food is meh to them, but I still feed frozen for dinner because I assume it’s better for them.

The other addition (potential controversy):
A juvenile Yellow Eye Kole Tang. I expect to foster this lil guy for about a year, or however long it takes it to grow to about 4”. So far a model citizen. Spends all day picking at algae and eats frozen/pellets when fed too. Refuses to eat Nori yet, but I’ll get her to eventually with some training. Open to tips on how tog eat a tang to take nori from a clamp though, as currently she’s just not interested.

Current problems:
Battling alkalinity being dangerously low currently. Things are stabilizing it seems and I have another thread open for that. I can do a write up here with the problem/solution once it’s cured for good record keeping, but for now keeping it separate.

Anyways, hope everyone had a great Christmas and Happy New Year!