Hiding unsightly equipment.

[stubbz08]

Hey guys. On week five of aquarium build. No animals in tank yet. But parameters are all on spec. So any day now.
I was staring at my money pit today and was frustrated with looking at the heater. Intake for skimmer as well as intake for canister filter. Between that and the two power heads there is a lot going on.
Any ideas in covering all the intakes and heaters? I was thinking a three sided black box with slits in it that sits against the back of the tank with the equipment in there ? Just have to find something like that ...
And no doing a sump in not an option at this time.

 

[stubbz08]

Not the best picture but at least you can see what I'm working with.

 

[rlman41299]

IMO there's no really easy way to hide equipment without a sump. Do you have one?

 

[stubbz08]

IMO there's no really easy way to hide equipment without a sump. Do you have one?

No I don't unfortunately

 

[don_chuwish]

A black back goes a long way - if the items you want to hide are also black.

 

[pharazon]

A black back goes a long way - if the items you want to hide are also black.

This. Painting it is probably a no-go, but you could just put a black background on it to achieve mostly the same result. You’ll find it at any big box pet store, or online.

As for covering the intakes and heaters, can you just replace the pipes with black ones?

An easy DIY would be getting some larger diameter black PVC and cutting it in half. You can then cut slots into it. Use suction cups or silicon to hold it in place over the desired equipment.

Also, do a Google search for “aquarium heater covers.” You’ll see some that are made to look like natural rock work.

Good luck!

 

[stubbz08]

Ya I'll definitely add the black background asap and look into the black pvc. That may work well! thanks!

 

[jd371]

I was in the same situation when I first started. I was planning on using a canister but after researching I opted on adding a sump. I was too chicken to drill a brand new tank so I went with a HOB overflow. They get a bad rap because there needs to be a siphon for them to work are noisy and a chance of a flood if the siphon breaks. In the three years I've been using it on my tank I haven't had any issues with it at all losing the siphon and it starts right up again if there is a power failure, for the noise I made a Stockman standpipe and it's quite except for the slight trickle sound of the water going down the drain hose. If the overflow and sump are set up correctly there shouldn't be a flood because the return section will run dry before filling up the tank like in my set up. I also have it so if the return section runs dry everything shuts down and I get an alarm.
You can still add a HOB overflow at anytime but since your tank is still new and have no livestock in your tank yet and if you are considering adding a sump I would drill. If I had to do it all over again I would drill because a drilled tank looks so much more aesthetically pleasing without all the hardware hanging off the back. You'd need to put everything in a brute trash can while you drill and move everything back or just drain enough water from the tank to drill which is tricky but has been done before.

 

[HB AL]

Build up the rocks