So i started this project in the hope of making it a crabitat complete with a waterfall and land some land masses. i converted a 20L that had previously housed a bunch of celestial pearl danios and white cloud mountain minnows. my first vivarium!
i started with a large piece of eggcrate to produce the land mass. i used zip ties to secure the pieces together and form a standing structure. wish i had made it smaller as it was a really tight fit in the tank.
ended up getting the Tetra reptofilter 10i to be used as the waterfall/filtration for the tank; didnt want things getting stagnant in there. I cut the eggcrate to produce an opening for the filter and a open area in the front for viewing.
I then covered the egg crate with weedblocker mesh. The mesh will keep the substrate from falling through the eggcrate while remaining porous enough to allow excess water through.
here is a test placement of the eggcrate and filter in the 20 L
next the foaming.... what a mess that was. i used a whole can of great stuff pond and stone foam. i chose this foam because it was labeled as fish safe and came in black, did not want to have to paint over it. This was my first time using the stuff and one must have a really soft touch or spurts of the stuff will come flying out of the can. Here is the eggcrate with foam covering the entire outer edge and especially large amounts of the stuff applied to the center for the waterfall look.
i did not realize how much extra height the foaming would give the structure so i ended up with less vertical space for plants ... but i think this can still work! here is the tank currently with some riccia planted at the edges.
next up will be the background and the island substrates. the submersed areas contain Ecco-complete from the tanks previous setup.
i started with a large piece of eggcrate to produce the land mass. i used zip ties to secure the pieces together and form a standing structure. wish i had made it smaller as it was a really tight fit in the tank.
ended up getting the Tetra reptofilter 10i to be used as the waterfall/filtration for the tank; didnt want things getting stagnant in there. I cut the eggcrate to produce an opening for the filter and a open area in the front for viewing.
I then covered the egg crate with weedblocker mesh. The mesh will keep the substrate from falling through the eggcrate while remaining porous enough to allow excess water through.
here is a test placement of the eggcrate and filter in the 20 L
next the foaming.... what a mess that was. i used a whole can of great stuff pond and stone foam. i chose this foam because it was labeled as fish safe and came in black, did not want to have to paint over it. This was my first time using the stuff and one must have a really soft touch or spurts of the stuff will come flying out of the can. Here is the eggcrate with foam covering the entire outer edge and especially large amounts of the stuff applied to the center for the waterfall look.
i did not realize how much extra height the foaming would give the structure so i ended up with less vertical space for plants ... but i think this can still work! here is the tank currently with some riccia planted at the edges.
next up will be the background and the island substrates. the submersed areas contain Ecco-complete from the tanks previous setup.