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75 gal Mangrove Paludarium

52K views 94 replies 23 participants last post by  Fishies_in_Philly 
#1 ·
I guess I should start with this: This will not be a true mangrove tank, just the visual inspiration of the rooted mangrove bank. I wish I had the resources do pull it off right, but I just dont right now.

OK heres the specs

75 gal standard
Custom polystyrene BG
Catalina 3 x 54 watt fixture
2X Eheim 2217
Mist King rain
Drip wall
?Ultra-sonic fogger
Open-top design
8" of water
 
#2 · (Edited)
The BG has a large land mass on the left hand side that will house several terrestrial plants, a few riparium plants emmersed, and a few anubias sp. attached subsurface. It will also direct the outflow of one 2117s to hopefully send water to the other side of the tank.
Do you think the 2217 eheim will have the push to get water flowing 48inches to the intake on the other side?

The middle section will have a drip wall that hopefully grows a nice mat of riccia and java moss. I want to plumb the drip wall with pex pipe but havent had much luck with krylon fusion sticking to it. I dont want the white pipe drawing attention. Any other options you may know of?

The right hand section of the BG will be a small, rooted, tree trunk with more terrestrial plants and emmergents at the waters edge.

I plan on having the BG plants reach up above the top of the tank and over grow the tank. Flirted with the idea of derimming it but cant seem to see an easy way to rig the mist king without a rim. The resting spot for the tank has an overhanging shelf that might be the right height for rigging the rain system but im not convinced. Anythoughts?
 
#3 ·
Interesting beginning.

Krylon Fusion sticks just fine to PVC pipe. Just sand the PVC enough to degloss it.

Also, PVC is available in a dark grey schedule 80, or thinner as electrical conduit.
Also, there is a flexible PVC which is black. It is pretty stiff over a short distance, though. You might look into that.

Alternate idea: Can you divert some of the flow from one of the Eheims for this? The Eheim spray bar, twisted in the right direction, might make a nice waterfall effect.
 
#4 ·
ill look into the grey pvc.....great idea! thanks
i did try the spray bar to that effect, however it was just too much pressure. I busted out a few extra holes and that helped, but the spray and splash was too much to deal with. any thoughts on the derimming?
thanks for chiming in
 
#5 · (Edited)
got some more carving done and starting to question the wisdom of the open top idea. That darn rim just draws your eye and delineates it so much......... obviously why ripariums are so often de rimmed.

I did get the drip wall plumbed in a bit more and tested the flow rate. It sure does pump a lot of water...........never done a drip wall before but it sure seems like its gonna flow instead of dribble. the length of the drip itself is only bout 10 inches or so. may need to look into a smaller pump i guess.

heres an update...................

been lurking on dendroboard, aquascaping contests, and pintrest: boy I sure am jealous of the exotic plants. Getting them up here in AK is not an easy task.

Bump:
 
#6 ·
Does the Great stuff stick to it's self very well ?
I am trying to design an HOB filter which will be built in to one end of the tank(the pick up line and the line flowing back into the tank)and then
using air and PCVC pipe it lifts the water over the top egde and into a 2.5G tank that will be on that end as an HOB.
I am still bouncing back and forth between doing that or just building the whole thing in that end of the tank. Obviously it would take up too much room if inside and have a greatly reduced capacity also were it downsized to fit into the end of the tank.
But either way I believe I will need tp put in one layer and then carve that for the pipe at least and then cover it with another layer.
So is it goingto stick to the original layer well ?
And what will make it stick to the end glass ?
 
#7 ·
Does the Great stuff stick to it's self very well ?

So is it goingto stick to the original layer well ?
And what will make it stick to the end glass ?
sounds cool!
the Great Stuff sticks to both the glass and itself quite well. I dont like to spray it directly to the glass but some guys do. I like to silicone a 1" piece of polystyrene (pink panther) foam onto the glass and then GS to that. If you scuff up the poly, it sticks great and it is 50 x easier to get everything off if necessary.

Dont try and build too thick with GS. It works way better if you let a 2" layer harden for 6+ hours or so before adding to it. It will cure better and more stable.

Leave the plastic nozzle attached to the can between coats. The foam will slowly bubble out and harden at the end. This seals and stops the bottle opening from getting gummed up. Then just snip off the hardened tip of the nozzle when your ready to make another layer
 
#8 ·
Sounds great andyes I am loig forward to more pictures from your tank.
I will take pictures of this one as do it.
The last two I only have pictures of it finished.
This is a top/side view of one. The water goes out at the bubbles and goes in at the bottom right on the second picture.
This one is built into the tank.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/picture.php?albumid=14289&pictureid=43393
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/picture.php?albumid=14289&pictureid=43393
Don't have a recent picture of it because I just switched computers and have yet to load my photoshop into the new one. But this is from when it was just filled.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/picture.php?albumid=14289&pictureid=43385
 
#9 ·
Awesome build! I have a 48-inch tank and an Eheim 2217. I don't think the 2217 will have so much flow that it will strongly push the current from one end to the opposite end. (It's a tank, so I'm sure the water will flow to the other end fine; it just won't be a strong flow.) I keep my intake at one end and the output about 1/2-2/3 down from there. I have a Koralia at the opposite end of my intake.

Good luck!
 
#10 ·
my thoughts exactly! I have decided to add a river like flow to the left side which will ultimately keep that water movement isolated and definately unable to reach the far side. I wont get the exact circular flow I was hoping for but the second 2217 will move the right side just fine.

I like the idea of the intake 2/3 down the tank..........ill stick with that. thanks for chiming in....stay tuned.

Bump: the beginning of the river was molded in today. Man i wish i would have decided that from the get go! It was a SOB to get that fitted and foamed in separately. I hope it works,

Started to think about livestock......thinking 1 large school of h. rasboras and shrimp..........open tank ruins a lot of possibilities........any suggestions??

Oh and one more thought for now: CO2 or not??

Thanks again

JD
 
#11 · (Edited)
new carving finished..............river is about finished on the left and I have decided to change the mangrove roots on the right into the gnarled up variety to match the left side

starting to look at ideas for the branches coming out of the tank. I am starting to flirt with the hanging light that will be installed soon.

The drip wall in the middle now has a pool for the first part of the wall to collect in before oozing into the main water area. Have never done one of these before so I am just staring at it dumbfounded as how to proceed. Trying to visualize it and just cant.

Right side needs some work........I am gonna have to really play with it in order to get it to lay in the tank. I had to squish it this time and wont be able to do that once its dryloked.

Vines and a layer of drylok next.
more coming
JD
 
#13 ·
here she is with some color and added hardscape. Got the left side siliconed in and the gap filled with GS. Ill trim it and cover it with silicone and playsand to make the main channel of the stream.

I also got some work done on the right side plumbing. The sump foam cut out for the Koralia Nano and the drip wall pump fits in the right corner and completely closes off that space. The Koralia points and shoots thru a tunnel cut out of the right side. It pushes water thru sump foam, and then along the back wall into the first of the 2217's intake. it is located right inbetween the two main BG pieces.

The right side 2217 snugs into the sump foam and flows thru the marine pipe towards the front of the tank so that it can ensure good flow for the main body of water.

The second 2217 is in the left side corner and creates the stream's flow. Its intake is also located in that chamber and is connected to the main body of water via another tunnel. This is where I will pour water for water changes. Should elliviate any substrate damage while pouring!

All three tunnel entrances that face the main body of water are closed of by flexible plastic screen and a layer of sump foam. I dont think I have any gaps.

Any thoughts??

More to come on the drip wall and rain system once I get the right hand side pieces siliconed in!

JD
 

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#18 ·
thinking about livestock...........rasbora school (x12) and amano shrimp (?12), another cheap and good starter shrimp x 12, a few snails (? sp).
I ve never really done shrimp except a few amanos. Will do my homrwork I guess and see what turns up. Any thoughts out there??
 
#21 ·
I filled the tank today up to the proper level after getting most all the plumbing in.

Most issues were minor:
2217 to create the river was a dumb idea. it blasted water everywhere. i moved it down below and pointed it out the small waterchanging tunnel. I fixed the stream issue with a small catalina pump. River now runs great with zero splash on the front glass!! A bit of titebond III & coco mix in a few spots and it should be set.

Need to punch a few more holes in the drip wall and add some titebond mix along the edge to break up the flow a bit and increase the dripping. right now it flows uniformly down the wall.

I have to take out some sump foam from the right side tunnel as the flow is just too little in the main water part. the screen adds much more resistance to flow than I anticipated.

I have to block the bright red light on my fogger unit. I just cant obstruct the opening of the cave enough to block the light and still get the effect i want. Any ideas out there..........silicone??

the rain system is really the issue. The mist king sprayers are great, but deceptively large for a shorter tank. the only way to mount them vertically is form the ledge above which gets water everywhere along with the tank. When i mount them to the glass with s.cups they look ok but sure grab your eye because they dip too far below the black rim. They look better mounted on the lip of the rim designed to hold the glass top. how can i attach the stiff platic tubing to that part of the rim?? electrical tape, hot glue???

What if i drill holes along the middle support and run a line of sprayers underneath it??? might work eh??
 
#31 · (Edited)
finally got all the kinks worked out in the flow of both river and drip wall. think it should be good to go.

Water is still outgasing all the silicone, GS, titiebondIII, and everythign else i used to build this thing. I have a bunch of activated charcol, some purigen sacs, and even some chemical absorber working overtime right now. should have some good water quality within a week or so. I am worried with this build a bit more than normal. The land sections are all silcioned together to displace major gallonage. i try and keep the silicone to a minimum and only on the edges (as the inner stuff doesnt cure properly), but i know the water finds its way into the whole thing.........Drylok deosnt keep all the water out; therefore any impurities are gogin to find their way into the main water column.

I am going to make an order for plants and pay thru the nose to get them shipped up here. I do not want to run the risk of killing them because of an impatient jumping of the gun!

at any rate: I think i ahve the hardscape finished. some moss to add and minor aesthetics but now its just a waiting game for plants!
 

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#32 ·
That looks really cool..

A pane of glass I used on one side of my homemade wet/dry sump
cracked so I sandwiched another piece of glass onto it with
silicon,it took about 3 weeks for the inner most silicon to cure.
I know because I used the type that is white then turns clear.
 
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