Equipment Wires In The Display: Do you really care?

Do you care about having equipment wires showing in your reef tank display?

  • Very much

    Votes: 350 37.4%
  • Somewhat

    Votes: 471 50.3%
  • Not at all

    Votes: 110 11.8%
  • Other

    Votes: 5 0.5%

  • Total voters
    936

Aheinz

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I try to keep wires in the display to a minimum, right now only have my powerhead wires
 

blueridgereef

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1. Do you care about having equipment wires showing in your reef tank display?

Yes. I prefer rimless nanos and it quickly becomes very cluttered looking.

2. What are some creative ways you've found to minimize wires showing?

AIO nanos. The only thing I'm willing to have in the display is a powerhead. Everything else must fit in the back chamber. I find this simpler than trying to put a sump on a 5-20 gallon display.
 

Metcho

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Yes I care about seeing wires in my tank. I was sitting on the couch looked over and saw the wires running up the inside back wall of my 225 peninsula tank and was like heck no.

What did I Do about it went on brs put two MP60s in m cart hit buy and then when I saw the cart total and was like.
1610144063522.png
After getting them installed no more eyesore of cords. So well worth the money to me.
 

Joe31415

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I am going to be placing an inkbird on my heater and I plan on putting the temperature probes in the main display tank so that I can better track the temperature there versus my sump. However, again, I can place these in a way that they are not very visible.
For what it's worth, you can throw the probes in the sump. The water down there will be pretty close to the same temp as the water in the DT as long as the return pump keeps everything moving at a decent rate. Especially if you put them in the spot where the overflow empties into.
 

Lizbeli

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Somewhat. Obviously the thick ones are an eyesore. But I find that my Nero 5’s have a thin wire that I don’t notice. But I had to cut out notches in my lid to accommodate them. Sometimes it is a pain pushing them in place after maintenance.
 

Martin Turrubiates

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I can't stand equipment in the tank, that's why I went overkill on my return pump. Plenty of flow in my little tank and no wires.
Do you think I could do the same I have a dc pump that I can control the power with that is running a friends 250 gallon tank mine is a 90 gallon tank do you think the pump alone would provide enough flow to allow me to remove my two power heads right now I’m only running it at 37 watts I can crank it up a heck of a lot more if needed
 

Swac3

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Dont like wires in the tank, I know its all fake in reality but If i could do without the MP40's in the tank I would
 

Roosterjack

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I refuse to be constrained to very over-priced powerbeads so I guess I have to put up with some minor wires. I was much more obsessive about the power wires from my Kessil AP9X units which hang from the ceiling. Still not super satisfied with how it looks.
 

Emerson

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Of course I would rather have no wires visible. Is a visible wire any more out of place than a reef tank in an office or living room? I accept it as part of the "cost" of having 100 gallons of water suspended on a box made of walnut, containing some of the most interesting creatures and ecosystems. I have four Tunze powerheads that I love for their reliability and function, as well as two return lines. I do like the look of Vortechs, but they are no more reliable, more expensive, and I can't aim the flow. Also, I don't clean my back glass (black film) which is 90% covered in coraline algae. Once the power heads get a little growth on them between cleanings they blend in.
 

FuzzeWuzze

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Just because i have a bunch of HOB equipment (cant drill my tank) i have to deal with some wires and equipment, but i can hide a lot of it behind my tank with a simple blue background between the glass and the equipment behind.
 

FuzzeWuzze

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Ideally, not only no sign of wires or equipment but no sign of plumbing including overflows or lights.



Amazing looking, ideally this would be my setup i wish i had an area like this near my stairs. But also my kids are 3 and 5 and this would last 5 minutes before a ball or pair of pants were thrown over the staircase into the tank.
 

SteveNChey

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. Do you care about having equipment wires showing in your reef tank display?

Yes! I definitely care when I look into my tank I want to see what it would be like if I was really in the ocean not wires and equipment that make it look so fake.
 

135zman

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1. Do you care about having equipment wires showing in your reef tank display?

not only wires, any and all equipment. I have never understood why people make beautiful scapes, have all this beautiful coral and fish and are ok with wires, pumps, heaters, overflows... showing. but to each their own as they say.

2. What are some creative ways you've found to minimize wires showing?

aquascape design hides everything. the thought that your scape can be too high in areas is complete non-sense.
my scape brakes the surface in one corner. (hides the return line. two of my bta's have taken up residence right at the surface.

rear upper left corner.: return line, gyre 230 vertical just below it.
rear right corner: heater and gyre 230 vertical
over flow right side glass

the scape
scape.jpg


standing in front of the tank (2020)
052120.jpg


from the fish room



1201B.jpg


from where I sit most nights
010221.jpg
Now this looks like a real reef! Great job.
 

vetteguy53081

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1. Do you care about having equipment wires showing in your reef tank display?

To a degree Yes but also feel you get so used to them that you forget theyre there.

2. What are some creative ways you've found to minimize wires showing?


I thought about it but due to depth and height of main tank, I have no choice.
 

sp1187

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. Do you care about having equipment wires showing in your reef tank display?

Yes! I definitely care when I look into my tank I want to see what it would be like if I was really in the ocean not wires and equipment that make it look so fake.
your Build Thread Badge takes me to your profile page. no build thread?
 

stephj03

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To me this is one of those things like lighting where my answer depends heavily on tank size and livestock.

I have an 8ft tank and I want to pack it with Acros and have the hobby be watching them grow and color up vs maintaining gear or listening to sump noise

Is a Tunze cable out of place in the tank. Yes, but it exist in a 3"*3" zone of a 96"*24" viewing pane. And I never ever have to touch it. Now 3"*3" on a 36*20" viewing pane might bug me.

I'm weird though bc to me the dry side on a vortech with the cable running up the side of the tank catches my eye so much more than the Tunze cables running back to a corner behind the power head.
 

Ippyroy

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I voted other because in my current tank I don't care at all. I never have people over and it doesn't bother me. I have set up my tank and turned my living room into a fish room. I rent a cabin and it is far from great, but the options around here are very limited. 90% of people in this town live in company provided housing, and I prefer to have my living accommodations tied to my job. This coming Spring I will be moving my tank to be a show tank in the hotel lobby where I work. When this happens every thing has to be neat and tidy with little to no wires and equipment showing.
 

hizbaby

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Don't like to see ANYTHING but the tank occupants! Use Rustolium Hammer Black spray paint on the backs of all the tanks, it really puts off a nice "shimmer effect", especially with Kessils, AI's also, but nothing shimmers like Kessil! Hides any cords going down the back, but also helps that our tanks are all against a wall.
Anything and everything that can go in the sump or overflow does, lights are all mounted in the custom built canopies The Man builds.
Aquascaping is used to hide the overflows for the drilled tanks as much as possible.
Cannot wait till we get the 144g Half Cylinder up, it is custom drilled and plumbed so that it will not even need powerheads, so there will be NOTHING ANYWHERE but in the sump!
However, I'm trying to get The Man to put the canopy on a self lift system, so there would be the necessary behind the tank side posts, but again, hidden by the black paint background and the back of the stand.
Now all I need to have the PERFECT set up would be to have some sort of "Magic Gliders" so i could slide the tanks on the wood floor to clean behind, like the rest of the furniture we have! ...;Joyful
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

  • Ball valves.

    Votes: 58 49.6%
  • Gate valves.

    Votes: 64 54.7%
  • Check valves.

    Votes: 28 23.9%
  • None.

    Votes: 28 23.9%
  • Other.

    Votes: 9 7.7%
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