Anyone w/ an in-wall tank w/o front access?

[lho]

Do you regret not having front access?

I'm thinking it would be so much more convenient to feed the fish and corals w/o having to walk into another room.

 

[inwall75]

Did it for years......was a royal pain. Aquascaping, cleaning, adding a new coral, yada, yada, yada was such a chore.

 

[savethereef]

lets see some pics of you inwall. You cant cut down a piece on top anymore of the wall?

 

[Paulairduck]

Had it, just took it out, too hard to clean and place corals, access door is almost a must

 

[lho]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12844377#post12844377 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by savethereef
lets see some pics of you inwall. You cant cut down a piece on top anymore of the wall?

Oh no, I'm in a planning stage, and thought I could do w/o a front access and so less things to do.

thx inwall75 and Paulairduck for sharing your experiences!

 

[Orochimaru]

anyone else? I might want to do the same one of these days. TIA

 

[steveweast]

To me....the whole concept of an in-wall is to create a living, hanging picture on the wall......and.....anything beyond a picture frame ruins that goal. Seeing excess cabinetry....or light bleed just diminishes the whole concept IMO. In addition, most viewing rooms are finished out at a much higher level.....there's no way that I would want to drip water on my teak woodwork or imported wool carpeting......and when I factor in the increased noise and possible odors.... having frontal access was just unacceptable to me.

There is no reason why any frontal access is needed if your situation is properly planned out. I had to plan ahead of time to compensate for not having that frontal access. For my situation, I acheived this by making sure that I could slide my light hood off the tank and have complete access around the three accessible sides. I can reach every inch of my tank by hand. The tank is 6 ft X 8 ft X 30". This is a pic from my site that shows my hand touching the sand dead center of the tank. Every situation is different....but designing for the rear side accessibility....no matter what it takes...is the key to not having to rely upon the crutch that is frontal access.

 

[EmDy]

Cu,

I would take Steve advice, check out his site, my all time idol tank.

 

[mrpet]

i have a 375 in wall w/o front access it is a pain but like steve said i think it looks much better i dont think i would change it..

 

[InTr4nceWeTrust]

I'm planning on doing a 150 or so in a summer or two. I originally wanted to make it viewable on 3 sides (it's a small wall) but don't want to pay for a custom built tank. So I'll be doing the picture frame deal. I really can't imagine some sort of doorway opening on the front above the frame. I might as well have left the tank outside of my wall.