How to have the least amount of equipment visible in the tank?

[FishIn1080p]

I would like to have as little equipment visible in the tank as possbile. From what I've seen, heaters, filters and skimmers can be house externally, but what about pumps/powerheads? Is the best way to keep these out of the tank to use piping and drilled holes in the tank (hidden by aquascaping), and then maybe also use a wave generator?

Thanks all.

 

[HumanIMDB]

Yes, pretty much the best way to accomplish that is to put all of that equipment in a sump.

If you do not wish to have powerheads in the main tank, you'll be looking at a closed loop system (holes drilled into the tank and an external pump moving water around the tank). This could also employ a flow randomizer like Oceans Motion.

 

[FishIn1080p]

Awesome, thanks- great name btw .

 

[indydog1]

[welcome]

the best way imo and ime is to have a sump to hide all of the heaters and skimmer. this is also where the filtration comes in besdies what is in the tank (live rock and sand) the only way i know of and i also use is to have a closed loop system. this is where drilling comes in to play. a closed loop is a drain and a return that do not get filtered. this is where you can gain your total tank turnover for flow. glad to have you on the boards. also get some reading done as well. what size tank are you looking at starting up? good luck.

 

[FishIn1080p]

Thanks for the welcome. I'm doing nothing but reading for the foreseeable future. I want a healthy knowledge base before getting started. I'm currently working my way through The New Marine Aquarium- and all the posts here too . As for tank size, I'll be going for as large as I can afford, especially as from what I've read, larger tanks allow for greater margins of error than smaller volumes of water.

 

[Sk8r]

If you have a basement or closet accessible, two discreet holes drilled in wall or floor will carry lines (and pump noise) to an area somewhat distant. My 30g sump, two pumps, skimmer, and auto topoff barrel are all in the basement, which means all I get upstairs is water-gurgle and the fans that cool the lights. It's surprisingly minimal, the amount of drilling it takes: if I pulled those two lines out of the floor, the carpet would cover the holes, and a new house owner would never realize there was anything odd going on in that corner of the living room.

 

[FishIn1080p]

Very nice idea, I like it .

How big does the sump need to be in relation to the size of the main tank?

 

[indydog1]

as big as you can. you sould shoot for somewhere between 1/4 to 1/2 of the main tank size. but if you can go larger then do so. i have a 75 sump on my 90 display tank. .....i plan on getting a larger tank eventually.

 

[Tswifty]

A sump just needs to be large enough to house the equipment that you want to remove from the display.

A lot of people choose to incorporate refugiums into their sumps. Now once you get into this... the bigger the better.

 

[indydog1]

but remember that the more total water volume the better for a stablier enviornment. right tswifty8?

 

[Tswifty]

Yes I kind of believe that, and am familiar with the "Dilution is the Solution to Polution" side of it, but I'm not sure how much actual benefit you gain from this...?

I'm just not a fan of Sump/Only setups, or at least trying to maximize water volume in one.

At least if you incorporate a refugium, then you gaining some additional filtration, invert cultivation, and putting that extra water volume to work for you.

I am a big fan of refugiums

 

[Paul B]

I have as much equipment as anyone else and I don't even have a sump. I build a baffel behind my lights so the light does not hit the back of the tank.
It really ruins the illusion if you can see the back.
My tank is 6' long but it is only 100 gallons so it is not very deep front to back. If I take a picture with a flash so you can see the rear glass it looks really bad.

 

[Sk8r]

I have a 54g mostly coral tank with small gobies and blennies, and use a 30g sump with a skimmer rated for 120g. The skimmer is one of the most important parts of the arrangement for some corals, esp the small-polyp [sps] types: an underpowered skimmer lets amino acid waste and other nastiness build up in your system. On the other hand, soft corals and some lps [large-polyp] actually do very well in less light and more 'dirty' water, meaning water that carries a lot of nutrient. So research what you CAN have and what you'd LIKE to have, and make your ultimate decisions on setup based on your ultimate plans.