Pretty Gear? How important is it for you to have your equipment "look good?"

[BanjoBandito]

This is the worst part of the hobby, the OCD GEAR HEADS movement.

 

[Ashish Patel]

I am getting kind of envious of some people amazing wire managment and good looking sumps. however, I have to get back to earth and realize that its not important, I want to show off my display tank not my good looking life support.

Old System: Good looking but to service it was impossible! I would've not worried so much about hiding cords and just wrapped them in something easy to remove. I did nail the safety part which was top priority having all cords and electric outside of stand.

Current System: Focus is safety and maintenance second. My sump is NOT attractive and I dont want it to be. I can easily clean the sump, skimmer, and return pump. I can easily add items and have a electric panel on opposite site of panel that is also support for the tank.

 

[rtparty]

Clean and properly installed is for safety first and looks second. My current rate nest drives me insane to look at and to think about how unsafe it is for my family.

As soon as work slows down (maybe January lol) I'll take a day off to tidy it all up

 

[DerpFish]

As long as there's not a bunch of equipment in cluttering the tank I don't really care what it looks like so long as it works. I'm not interested in spending more money on nice looking equipment when I can get the same results with other stuff that costs half as much.

 

[Vivid Creative Aquatics]

What are those cool big tongs you've got there? Want!!

A prototype for our larger, Never-Rust aquarium tweezers. Been working to perfect them for some time. But, since they are not quite ready yet, you never saw it - LOL

 

[KrisReef]

I'd really need my mom to help me set up my equipment if I ever hope to have it OCD neat. Mine is OCD cluttered, that is I get OCD about keeping the animals alive and don't try too hard to order the equipment, or color match the nets with the frag glue. I like when others do it, but that is not in my skill set.

 

[mdb_talon]

Not the least bit concerned. I enjoy growing coral. Most the time i dont even have a real display just frag tanks. I still appreciate an amazing looking perfect setup, but not enough that i am willing to put the time/money/effort required to do anything more than what is needed to function the way I intend.

As a side not I am very OCD about the difference in the phrase "could care less" that is so commonly used to mean "could not care less". It drives me nuts

 

[mdb_talon]

A prototype for our larger, Never-Rust aquarium tweezers. Been working to perfect them for some time. But, since they are not quite ready yet, you never saw it - LOL

We can only keep quiet about never seeing them if we get a test version ourselves...

 

[Eagle_Steve]

I call this good enough for me lol.

Somewhat nice under the stand (fuge light has been changed since pic) and no wires seen for what is out of the stand.

Biggest concern is all of the critters in my tank are cared for and thriving. With a fully mixed, and I mean mixed reef, that is enough of a task lol.

Stand with panels removed.

Stand with panels on and view of shelf that hold the lights and some other stuff the wife wanted up there.

FTS of just the DT.

 

[KrisReef]

As a side not I am very OCD about the difference in the phrase "could care less" that is so commonly used to mean "could not care less". It drives me nuts

Thanks for the hot tip. I voted could care less in your honor!

 

[shakacuz]

i keep things as tidy as possible, but i have learned that the cleaner or organized things are, the longer they last or even the longer i can avoid issues down the line..

 

[302jae]

OMG so many pretty sumps lol I’m 100% opposite…behold my chaos under the tank…

that's me !!!

 

[horseloverfats]

Don't care here. Display is tidy. Everything else is in my unfinished basement and it is scary to look at. Clip on lights hanging over the water, wires everywhere, etc. Nice thing is it doesn't bother me and I have no reefing buddies and we don't entertain so no one sees the mess but me and my Gal.

This is how I roll

I envy you all with a basement.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Lol. My sump is pretty boring. Just a heater skimmer and a return pump.

 

[mattshell81]

My tank upstairs has a light and 2 gyres that are fairly easy to make look nice and neat. The basement sump hides all lol. It’s complete chaos down there but my basement is so short that no one else would ever be down there to see it so it doesn’t bother me as much.

 

[ReefEco]

All matchy matchy DIY... could still be more tidy

 

[bayarea_reef]

Made a little video of my sump setup.

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

I'd like it to all look tidy and professional but right now, it's a disaster area under my tank. Any time I need to remove equipment for maintenance it's a battle of spaghetti wires.

DIY is not my thing, but I've decided to order some 3D printed brackets for my various controllers so that I get them all properly mounted to a board without resorting to Velcro. I have a bag of zip ties and cable clips to get the wires organized. It won't look like some of the masterpieces posted here but I hope to at least make it all safer and easier to work around.

 

[Cheezle]

I've spent too much time putting RGB fans and light strips on my gaming rigs to care what my gear looks like. I'm good as long as the cabling is done right and at glance looks clean

 

[OU812Reefing]

Thi is my control board easy to access it slides behind the tank