# Hiding Aquarium Lines and Equipment.



## ZooKeepersMenagerie (Oct 28, 2014)

Hey you guys!

I have a 20 Gallon Long with a glass hood, two shop lights, a penguin 200 Hob, a small whisper air pump with long air stone, a small air stone for my DiY co2, and a tank heater.

How the heck do you hide some of this equipment so the tank looks less like it is hooked up to a life support system? 

I am basically interested in knowing how you guys mask air/co2 lines and diffusers. My air stone with the air pump is not really needed so I may get rid of that, but the lines/heater in general are really ugly.

I read somewhere that someone put the co2 line directly to the hob's filter pipe. How would you go about doing that? 

Thanks,
Cara


----------



## NiaCas (May 2, 2014)

Do you have space under your tank? I have a 20 gallon long as well. The filter is air powered and then there's also the heater cord and the light cord. All the cords fit through a slot in the back of the hood and run behind the tank. A power strip is behind the tank so you can't even see anything plugged in and the air pump is under the tank. 

On bigger tanks like the one right next to me as I type lol, The situation is mostly the same except no air pump. CO2 is pretty useless with an airpump running. Under this particular bigger tank I have two canister filters and a co2 tank. All tubing and cords run down the back of the tank. A power strip is velcroed to the back of the tank stand and everything is plugged in right there. All tubing for the filters and co2 runs through the back of the stand to where they need to go inside the cabinet.

Also, the back of all of my tanks are covered. I mean who wants to see your wall while they're looking at fish??  A couple tanks have the stick on background, a couple have the back just painted black, and one has a moss wall on the whole back, so you can't see any cords or tubing when you look at the tanks. Just fish, plants, and water


----------



## JoeRoun (Dec 21, 2009)

*Be Creative... Whatever Works!*

Hi Cara,

Being creative. Extending lines, Use of molding (a trip to Lowes), furniture guards are handy, zip-ties and Velcro straps.

Same stuff folks used in the olden days to hide wires and cabling to and from computers.

Whatever works, I guess.

Respectfully,
Joe
FBTB


----------



## NiaCas (May 2, 2014)

Oh yeah, I use toilet paper rolls :tongue:
They're all over the house lol! I just gather cords together, shove 'em through the rolls, and tuck the rolls behind something. RECYCLE roud:


----------



## goodbytes (Aug 18, 2014)

I hide it with fast-growing background plants.


----------



## ZooKeepersMenagerie (Oct 28, 2014)

Well..most of my wires are tied together with ties, and stuff, but what about inside the tanks? My heater is bulky and the air lines in the water are very obvious. 

Also, I do not have a way to hide the cords, etc because it is on a bar top. I could drill a hole into the cabinet below but that is pretty permanent when I may be selling the boat in the future. 

The tank is also viewed from three sides. The width section on one side is the one that isn't viewed because of the wall. 

Can you feed the co2 line into the suction pipe for the hob with success at the filter breaking the co2 up? 

Or would it be better to look into one of those curved glass diffusers for my tank? I know one of those would make things look more organized but If I can work with what I have, I want to avoid buying anything.


----------



## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

A tank visible on 3 sides might have a sort of boxed off end (the 4th side) where everything enters the tank, and goes under the substrate. 
Then it can go to where it is needed in the tank and barely surface (perhaps behind a rock or branch). 

Cut out the top part for the flow from the filter, and cut slots in it near the bottom for the intake of the filter. 

Then, before you put it in the tank do some creative painting and make it look like a rock, or something. Not something showy, something subtle, a background effect. Dark things retreat, fade into the distance, so if you simply end up with a matte black box that is pretty subtle, too.


----------

