Tank Layout Question

[poisongirl]

I just had a thought.. I was looking at my fish tank and thinking how much nicer it would look without my filters stuck on the sides, and thought about that black stuff you can get from pets at home to go on the inside of the tank.. It's like plastic rocks or something?

Can I put my filters on the back wall of my tank and cut holes so that the water coming out of the filter goes in front of the plastic, and make holes in the plastic to allow water to go through, or will this affect the way my tank is filtered? And would it be ok to keep the heater behind it or will it affect the heat?

I also just found something about making my own back drop... A DIY background for the Small Tank Could I use that to hide my filters?

Also, with the plastic could I just make a hole and stick a small fake plant through it to make it a bit less bare?

 

[drain_bamaged]

The only way to find out is to do it, and regularly test your water to make sure the ammonia doesnt spike. When you make the holes make sure they are large enough to not slow down the flow rate of your filter, and does not interfere with water being redistributed around the tank. But be aware that if you hide the wate routlet (the top of the filter where the water is pushed out of) it may reduce the oxygen in your water...perhaps the use of an airstone would combat this?

You could also do what I do, which is to use fake plants, so you can hide the filter behind them...hides the filter, and doesnt disrput the flowrate/water oxygenation.

 

[waterdrop]

I may be wrong but I believe people have tried this time and again and it usually doesn't work. What happens is that no matter how well people try to create the hidden space, sealing the background around part of the tank etc. it seems that it will turn out to be either incomplete or will break or something and fish will either get stuck trying to get through or will get through and will be trapped to some bad end. Having any sort of water spaces in your tank where you don't want fish to go is inviting trouble.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[oswoldy]

Buy an external filter then you get better filtration aswell.

Mike

 

[poisongirl]

I aquired an external filter but my other half say its too noisy!
I was looking at an under gravel filter but not sure how they actually fit onto the tank?

 

[oswoldy]

I aquired an external filter but my other half say its too noisy!
I was looking at an under gravel filter but not sure how they actually fit onto the tank?

I personally would not advise an UGF they are no where near as good as other filters they also restrict what substrate you can have. Shove the External in a cupboard or buy him some ear plugs most externals get quieter as they get rid of the trapped air normally a few hours - day at most.

Mike

 

[waterdrop]

Agree, you don't want to be fooling with an undergravel. And oswoldy could be right, it could be that you were hearing trapped air bubbles in the external cannister. There are various ways to gently shake the filter at slightly tilted angles (slight from straight up) to help the trapped air bubbles work themselves out of the filter right then and there, or you can just wait a day or so and usually they will be all gone. In fact there are several ways in which a filter can quiet down if left a few days to run. This is not to say that its not just an inherently noisy filter, in which case there's little that can be done other than perhaps some sound insulation approaches as mentioned.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Dazzlearoobob]

gut instinct is that this would not work.