Greetings :: Newbie 29gal Paludarium

[Zurp]

I call those feeder fish! My fire belly newts love them! I found a nice rams horn snail at home depo, crawling on a tree??? One of my frogs ate one of his eyes, which is slowly growing back. It was funny watching the snail crawling around with only one eye...

Strange thing, the snail spends most of his time climbing up to the top of my tank. Then he hides until he falls down! Every time it is in a different location. I must have some strange type of tree snail???

[Chuck]

LOL... Those are some expensive feeders Zurp... Yeah frogs and newts would end up eating em eh ??... Looking for a source of nutrients for the plant growth (fish crap), without getting into heavy maintenance... That's funny about the snails eyes, didn't know they grew back, but it's good as both of em have one bum eye, the ramshorn has a crack in it's shell as well... Started to raise brine shrimp for feeding the neons and the little guys really dig the live food, they form like a miniature shark feeding frenzy... :lol:

Hey I'm still very new to posting here... Is it fair protocol to post on the general discussion board w a link to this post to get more viewers, or should I post this whole bit on another board ??

[Zurp]

I don't think there is a problem with cross referencing to another post... as long as it is on topic! As opposed to just plain direct advertising. EG... "Click here for my stuff, or free porn!"

I buy the fish because they look cool, they just turn into food. Variety is the key to extending life in a tank. If you think that is expensive food, you should see how I feed my iguana and millipedes. It took me forever to get my millipedes to stop eating my ferns! (The secret food trick was to feed them half rotten bananas and apples.)

[Chuck]

Here it is with the java moss surrounding most of the underwater slate chunks.. Looks like about 4-5 of the stems of moneywort are starting solid new growth... Now I'll have to figure out how to spread that moss out as it grows, or start getting chunks of riccia, to fill in around it.. ??

None of my local moss seems to be showing green yet, I made a yogurt moss milkshake, it went all white, and furry, but has yet to grow green...

As that island (even though I like it) blocks around a 1/3 of the underwater light, I'm gonna put another lamp to the right side of the tank, to help with the underwater growth, and give it a "moon lit" effect when the top lights go off at night... Any suggestions ???

Gracious thanks for the posts so far...

[Zurp]

They have mini lights with T-5 tubes (or smaller). They run off batterys or a power-supply. I even saw one that ran only on AC, (Normal Plug Power). I have seen them at, "Radio-Shack", "Wallmart", "Home Depo", and even at some auto stores. Wallmart had the better selection and prices, home depo was real specific in what they had, and didn't have great prices for those lights.

Alternately, if you wanted to spend a little more. I am sure that you could find a fully submersible light, similar to a UV setup. If you don't want assistance in growth and you only want additional visible light, you could get mini pond lights. They are usually submersible LED lights that act as little spot-lights.

The last two ideas might just cramp room and make the tank look gaudy. I would try the first one. Make a white diffuser, like sanded plexiglass, for the water background. That will help keep the light from being seen, and almost make it look as the light is actually under the island, reflecting on the back wall. (Use a standard background above water for the land area, or a black background.)

[Chuck]

That's a good idea man... I'd thought of something like that, but at first thought it might just draw too much attention to the filter and heater (and I liked the mirror back there as well)...
Now after looking at that plan, (gracious thanks for one of your signature Zurp diagrams, awesome) I see that it would be much better for the plants, and I might be able to get that nice lawn cover I'm looking for... Well, I'll find one of those mini ballasts, a Life Glo t-5 (if'n they make it) bulb for it, and play around with different configurations... Thanks again..