The Planted Tank Forum banner

75 Gallon Axolotl Riparium

6K views 14 replies 5 participants last post by  Allisonleigh 
#1 ·
I've had MTS for a few years now and have designed a few terrariums, paludariums and aquariums and have used this forums as inspiration many, many times but have always kept silent but now I've decided my 75 gallon axolotl breeding tank needs a make over and decided on a riparium theme so I wanted to share the build you folks. It's going to be a slow project over the summer but I'll keep you updated with pictures as much as possible.

Being in Nova Scotia my access to marginal tropic plants is limited and shipping prices are outrageous so I have decided to attempt to transition tropical plants I find at local garden centers and supermarkets from soil substrate to water. I am doing four test methods: Walstad method in mason jars in shallow water, egg create over water fertilized with liquid fertilizer (these two methods are being done in a nano exo terra and also have a betta fish adding to the bioload), floating tubs in the 75 gallon with gravel substrate and floating tubs with no substrate (both with axolotls as the bioload). I am also trying a fish bowl with the walstad method and shallow water that I am slowly flooding using water from my established planted tank.

I am going to be using a combination of driftwood support structure above water and diy showercaddy/riparium planters at water level. I am doing to let the individual plant's results from my test transition dictate where/how they are planted. I also have ordered some more Mopani driftwood from petsandponds.com to attach java moss to as I have in my established planted tanks. I've attached some pics of my nano planted tank with java moss tree (at various stages of growth) to show the effect I am going to be going for as well as pics of the plants in their transition tanks/tubs.
 

Attachments

See less See more
4
#2 ·
It's only been a couple days but I am very pleased to say the plants look very happy! I have some obvious new growth after only 2 days! Now I'm just nervous that the plants were neglected and so thirsty they didn't care how they got the water as long as they got it and now that they are doing better, will start to decline in protest of having their soil replaced with water. Fingers crossed I'm wrong!

I also broke down and ordered some aquarium plants through ebay, I have low expectations as I got them really cheap and they are coming all the way from Poland (which is quite the journey) but here's hoping at least some survive! I won an auction for 50 plants and another for 80 (both 20$ or less) so I have 120 plants, 12 different varieties coming from Poland:

Acorus Pussillus
Bacopa Myriophylloides
Glossostigma elatinoides
Sagittaria subulata
Saururus cernuus
Rotala indica
Micranthemum micranthemoides
Lilaeopsis novae-zelandiae
Eleocharis acicularis
Hydrocotyl "Japan"
Eleocharis parvula,
and Echino tenellus

and another few coming from Malaysia:

Cryptocoryne lingua
Anubias nana
and Java fern

That's right, I ordered Java fern, what is pretty much the only plant my local pet stores consistently have, all the way from Malaysia...

Also, my driftwood arrived today! I think... See, my birthday is in less than a month and my husband warned me not to open any packages that arrive. It is addressed to me and not him but I'm too afraid to open it and ruin a surprise so I am (im)patiently waiting for him to get home from work.

That's it for now, so far so good... from what I am seeing everyone seems to be doing great! So far the best results are coming from straight egg crate over the water for all plants except the mystery grass. I had the lowest expectations for it in the walstad method but it is doing the best in the mason jars with perelite, soil and gravel and it has tiny buds on it already.
 
#3 ·
The plants are all still doing well! Just planning the lighting now so I can pick which of the submersed plants I can use for it and which I'll be using in the 10 gallon walstad tank I'm planning (no axolotls in that one so I can be more flexible with CO2 and ferts). Now here's a question though:

If I have a plant that, lets say for argument sake, requires a minimum of 2 watts/gallon, is that gallons of water or gallons as in just size of tank? I am assuming the ratio is based on filled with water because light would lose more energy penetrating water than air but is the energy lose in 2 feet of air space negligible or is there a ratio I can use to figure out how much lighting I need?

I am currently using a 40w "aquarium and plants" fluro tube light in a standard 48" aquarium canopy with only floating plants in the tank but when I convert it to a planted riparium I was going to add 2 - 4 more bulbs in a shop light canopy, bringing the wattage up by 80 - 160 watts. Since it is a 75 gallon tank, if I want to have 2.5 watts/gallon I'd need 187.5 watts BUT does that mean if the tank is full? I also have 1 meter of hydroponic 5050 leds that I was going to add to this tank as an extra boost and so I can control color easily to encourage flowering.

I know it's controversial whether the 5050 led light strips have enough intensity to grow plants but I am using a strip of the waterproof rgb leds on my planted guppy fry tank and I alternate between red lights 80% of the time and blue 20% with the stock white leds the canopy came with on during the day. I set this up 2 months ago as a test to see if the leds would work for plant growth and that tank is doing fantastic. Much better than my other tank with no leds. The planted guppy fry tank is only 10 gallons though so the light has a very short distance to travel and I am not sure that the leds will work as well in the 75 gallon.

Advice? Criticism? Anything? I'm finally starting to understand wave lengths and kelvins and stuff but I'm floating in a sea of lumens, kelvins, pars, wavelengths, HOs vs LEDs, I'm lost. Help?
 
#6 ·
Sorry it's been a little while since an update and an update with no pics at that... sheesh...

Anyways, I received my plants from Poland and they were in fantastic shape! A couple died but only because they arrived while I was on vacation and were stuck in the hot mailbox for a few days, which I didn't expect because that means they only took a week to get here!! From Poland!
Can't recommend him enough:
[Ebay Link Removed]

While away on vacation I had timers set on all the plants so they received the proper lighting and had them set up in fish tank hydroponic set ups so they were happily watered. Amazingly they all thrived! I'm getting submersed growth on terrestrial plants already! I've been soaking the drift wood for a week and a half now and with the plants doing so well I figured it was time to start putting this thing together! I did some diy clear plumbing for the canister and the pvc cement is on the 22nd hour of curing (of 48) so we are getting close to being able to start this bad boy up. I'm hoping by tomorrow night I'll be able to start up the filter and finally plant it! That's when the pics will follow with a list of plants that I used, I promise!

Lessons I'd like to share:
1. Order plants from Poland...
2. There are lots of cheap and beautiful terrestrial plants that will work great in an aquarium.
3. Iris' are not suitable for the tank because they are toxic (as I discovered a couple of the plants I was excited about were... do your research!!)
4. 5/8" clear tubing kinks bad
5. 1" clear tubing doesn't!
6. Those round clamps that I used to connect the 5/8" tubing to the 1" tubing are called "jubilee clamps"
7. I have a serious addiction to building planted tanks
 
#7 ·
So the tank is pretty much planted, just waiting on some java fern and anubias to attach to the big chunk of wood on the right and some crypts to go in planters on the back. Only set back so far is there seems to be an air leak in my fluval plumbing because it will run for a minute and then slow and stop and there are lots of air bubbles so I threw the old filter in for now while I mess with the plumbing. Now I have to not mess with it and let the plants acclimate... provided the axies will stop messing with them :p Curious little tykes.
 

Attachments

#8 ·
I am very pleased with the tank's progress! The plants have only been planted for a few days now and I already have new shoots and leaves showing, and even a flower!! Yay!! I think the plants are happy!
On a side note, at first I was annoyed the driftwood was still leaching tanins so bad but the more I stare at the tank the more I like the look of it. I think it looks more natural, what do you think? Leave it for awhile to let the plants acclimate or do a water change, which will drop the water level and might disturb the plants (hopefully not, but it could)?
 

Attachments

#9 ·
My anubias, java fern and crypts arrived today. Had little hope for the crypts since they were in transit so long but everything looks good and the crypt rhizomes were already growing new shoots in the bag they were shipped in! I mixed organic potting soil with some sand/pebbles I collected from the beach and washed/soaked thoroughly. I planted these in a hanging planter just at water level in my smaller axie tank and in my riparium I tried one crypt rhizome in one of the floating rafts to see how it works out.

I also have been experimenting with java fern grown emersed and I transferred some from their mason jar/saran wrap set ups to the floating rafts as well. We'll see how they do. On a side note my prayer plant has given off 2 more flowers and a new shoot. Yay!
 
#10 ·
Whats the large leafed plant called with the red veins/bands and light and dark green leaf coloration (far left last photo)?
 
#14 ·
My wife just bought one yesterday. Maranta leuconeura

Thank you, looking it up I really like the variant without the red streaks too... Might have to hunt one of these down!
 
#15 ·
You're right, it's a prayer plant. I'm really impressed with how it's been doing in the tank! It's bloomed three flowers so far!

Thanks guys, I'm loving this tank. I put a pregnant guppy in a few days ago and now there are tons of guppy fry enjoying the root systems. Most of them will probably end up axolotl food but in the meantime at least they have a lot of space to enjoy!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top