"Invisible" Equipment Aquariums

[illemonati]

Hi all!

Inspired by the R2R New Thread Challenge, I figured I would share something I have attempted a few times over, but have had continuous issues with and ultimately bailed on. I am calling this the "invisible" equipment build, which is ultimately disguising any equipment inside of rockwork and/or in the cabinet to end up with an aquarium that is just the inhabitants inside.

This is the closest I have gotten to really pulling this idea off, where the only thing you'll notice (if you are observant) is the wire of my ATO sensor attached to the branching rock sticking out above the water surface. This photo was taken with the tank running, and it had been established for quite a while like this:

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The above build was an Ultum Nature Systems 45u, with three holes drilled in it for plumbing in the cabinet. There was one 1" bulkhead in the back left for the inlet plumbing, and two 3/4" bulkheads in the front left/front right for the outlet plumbing. The plumbing was hidden inside of holes drilled in the rock, and connected to an Ecotech Vectra S2 set to closed-loop mode. The heater, temperature probe, ATO water line, etc were all run inline, and I ran the wiring for the ATO sensor up through the inlet bulkhead to prevent the cable from having to go over the glass. Although the cable was visible, I figured it would get covered with coralline eventually.

This setup was running great for a while, but I had an issue with surface scum that drove me nuts, and the tanks downfall was me switching it to a overflow/sumped version that ultimately never helped eliminate the surface film and ended up being way too noisy/difficult to tolerate.

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You can also see that I sacrificed a bit of the "invisible" side of things to get some more water movement going here, and never actually had a great solution to disguising either the overflow or the powerhead, since the tank was already well established at this point. Working with different dimensions probably would have allowed me to set this up right in the first place, but I used what I already had.

Here is a video of the tank running, just to show that it actually worked!

I'll have to dig through old photos to find previous attempts, including the one that started my obsession with this idea about 15 years ago! I may post up plans for what I would do differently, if I ever decide to try this again. I really do love the concept, but it was a bit of a pain.

What do you think, is this something you would ever attempt?

 

[IceNein]

That's amazing! I think you can go two ways with this. Nano tank where you don't need much equipment, and a large tank where you could use a sump and closed loop flow, so you could hide the piping in the rockwork itself.

 

[elysics]

There used to be a tank concept where the water literally overflows out the top of the glass tank that's filled to the brim and is collected in a hidden pan on the stand that's slightly wider than the tank.

Looked absolutely awesome, but would be quite horrible if you want to keep humidity on your room down

edi: found it, was called "zero edge"

 

[illemonati]

That's amazing! I think you can go two ways with this. Nano tank where you don't need much equipment, and a large tank where you could use a sump and closed loop flow, so you could hide the piping in the rockwork itself.

Yes, I think this would work quite well on a larger scale, I’ve just always done nano tanks . I think a shallow tank also works better than a taller tank.

There used to be a tank concept where the water literally overflows out the top of the glass tank that's filled to the brim and is collected in a hidden pan on the stand that's slightly wider than the tank.

Looked absolutely awesome, but would be quite horrible if you want to keep humidity on your room down

edi: found it, was called "zero edge"

Yes, they are actually what inspired me in the first place! They were a bit of a pain as well, and you were pretty limited on flow if you wanted to keep the appearance up. I had a lot of success with clams in mine.

 

[Steven Garland]

Hello friend,fancy seeing you here

 

[pooootiqe]

Beautifully done! A bit of rock work above the waterline like in picture 1 could actually be a place to hide the overflow. I could envision using something like https://premiumaquatics.com/product...mUlJi9gdo0HaeA5-vLwB4YDtwWfbL4XP6#slide_20047
to cover up the drain to the sump at the bottom, while connecting the water surface on top. With some slots cut at the top of the tube it might act as an overflow (or simply a surface skimmer if you manage to hide a tiny pump in there with the output poking out sideways) Just an idea tho!

 

[illemonati]

Hello friend,fancy seeing you here

Oh hey stranger :face-blowing-a-kiss:

Beautifully done! A bit of rock work above the waterline like in picture 1 could actually be a place to hide the overflow. I could envision using something like https://premiumaquatics.com/product...mUlJi9gdo0HaeA5-vLwB4YDtwWfbL4XP6#slide_20047
to cover up the drain to the sump at the bottom, while connecting the water surface on top. With some slots cut at the top of the tube it might act as an overflow (or simply a surface skimmer if you manage to hide a tiny pump in there with the output poking out sideways) Just an idea tho!

Yeah that is actually what I had orginally done with this specific build when it was a macro tank, where the rockwork poking out of the water housed the entire inlet plumbing, with little teeth cut into the top of the PVC and rock.

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The idea of the tube as a disguise is interesting, I'd never thought of something like that.

 

[bradreef]

@steveweast has one of the best examples of hidden equipment in his reef.

 

[UNS_Brandon]

great job

 

[Tahoe61]

Great thread topic.

For years I have been playing with the idea of a Mr. Aqua tank. The tanks are so basic yet so natural.
Shallow tanks are my favorite type of system and I have two of them. It would be nice to see aquarium equipment in another color. The black equipment in my ghost Pico detracts from the intent of a white system.

 

[illemonati]

great job

Thanks!

Great thread topic.

For years I have been playing with the idea of a Mr. Aqua tank. The tanks are so basic yet so natural.
Shallow tanks are my favorite type of system and I have two of them. It would be nice to see aquarium equipment in another color. The black equipment in my ghost Pico detracts from the intent of a white system.

Yeah a shallow tank is definitely best suited for this style setup. I had thought about doing white and had even set this exact tank up with lily pipes and a glass overflow, but I think nothing will scratch my itch like the full setup hidden. I will do this again one day, but I will instead do it with the UNS 75S.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Wow, this is neat! I always love seeing people try to hide all of their tank equipment!