20 gallon rimless mish mash...paludarium?

51788 Views 28 Replies 13 Participants Last post by gonzochelle, Jul 16, 2015

tharsis

Discussion Starter · Sep 5, 2012 (Edited)

3

Current FTS 10/14/12

FTS 9/23/12

FTS 9/5/12

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tharsis

Discussion Starter · #2 · Sep 5, 2012

10

So I have this derimmed 20 long and I was bored this weekend so I decided to try something different.

I wanted to do a riparium but the height of the tank is fairly limiting so I decided to try a mish mash of a riparium/paludarium.

The tank is in my basement on a large shelving unit intended for storage (but is slowly becoming my fish rack...don't tell me wife). I had an led fixture that I made a while back so i mounted that to the underside of the shelf above.

I had this intank filter doodad from an old eclipse tank that i decided to turn into a sort of mattenfilter. It seems to work well, the only downside is that it is not very easy to change the filter floss.

Added the rocks and anubias...was going for a rocky steep sided river edge with emergent portions. Covered the out put of the pump and added a koralia nano and voila!

The output allows the water to cascade over the rocks on the right and splish splash into the tank.

I added some mosses and creeping jenny to the emergent portion.

I think i am going to add some terrestrial plants behind the tank to give it a jungly feel. I am undecided if I want to add some other plants in the foreground or leave it bare.

I also don't know whats going in the tank yet, thanks for looking! It was a fun little project.

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SpecGrrl

· #3 · Sep 5, 2012

Very dramatic!

It looks awesome!

rocksmom

· #4 · Sep 5, 2012

Very cool, I love it. I say leave the sand area bare unless you just tuck a few anubias or something around the base of the rocks here and there. Is that some anubias in the emergent area on the right? I don't think it will do very well, or at least mine don't. It's also really dry here though.

tharsis

Discussion Starter · #5 · Sep 5, 2012

thanks! The shimmering from the leds gives it a really nice effect as well... kinda adds to the drama!

Yeah on the right I have some exposed anubias. The rhizome is below the water line though and the leaves are above for the big plants. The leaves don't seem to be drying out but its only been a few days so I will keep a close eye on it. I also have some smaller plantlets under the rock that is getting a constant stream of water above it so it is pretty mutch entirely wet all the time.

thebuddha

· #6 · Sep 5, 2012

Looks awesome! I like the idea of adding terrestrial plants behind it

and if I were you I would throw some nana petite around the bottom of the large rocks

eager to see how this plays out

Kai808

· #7 · Sep 5, 2012

Great looking tank! Did you just stack the rocks or are they glued together? I wanted to do something like this on my nano tank. Great job again!

tharsis

Discussion Starter · #8 · Sep 6, 2012

thebuddha said:
Looks awesome! I like the idea of adding terrestrial plants behind it and if I were you I would throw some nana petite around the bottom of the large rocks eager to see how this plays out

Thanks, yeah plan on adding some more anubias around the bottom when I trim my 75 gallon tank. I wish the anubias were a little smaller leaved in general but that is what I had lying around. These anubias were actually sitting in a bucket outside for the last 2 months since I set up my 75 gallon tank. So they are in surprisingly good condition!

Kai808 said:
Great looking tank! Did you just stack the rocks or are they glued together? I wanted to do something like this on my nano tank. Great job again!

They are just stacked, I was going to glue them but they are very stable and won't be going anywhere anytime soon. Plus, once the anubias attaches itself to the rock it will be an additional anchor.

tharsis

Discussion Starter · #9 · Sep 6, 2012

So I am thinking of ways to get terrestrial plants in the back of the tank. I want a shallow slope leading from the tank to the wall to make it look like the edge of the stream. I will have grasses and mosses and maybe some ferns at the back. But I don't really know how to do this.

I was thinking of building a small plexiglass box that will lie flush with the back of the tank and the wall...but if anyone can think of something else i am all ears.

RedseaReefer

· #10 · Sep 6, 2012

Styrofoam is a pretty common media to raise up substrate. You might be able to use some inexpensive egg crate kinda like people do for coral frag racks. Besides that you might just be able to stack substrate up with some kind of dividers. Looks great! I'll be going rimless on one of my smaller tank setups. Great hard scape btw!

dudebro

· #11 · Sep 6, 2012

Cool tank. I like the rock set up.

Adding the wall to tank platform sounds messy. Maybe use some sort of plaster or arts and crafts cement to affix rocks. I have seen some DIY with resin as well.

RedseaReefer

· #12 · Sep 6, 2012

They also make the aqua-stick epoxy. you could use driftwood and aqua stick to make some kind of platform to grow from!!

tharsis

Discussion Starter · #13 · Sep 7, 2012

Thanks for the advice guys! After much contemplation i think i will build a little platform that will be flush with the back of the tank and then rise about 5" up to the wall. Then I will find some large shallow tupperware containers to place on the rack.

caykuu

· #14 · Sep 7, 2012

Creative! This isn't a commonly done setup, and you've done a gorgeous job with it.

Can't wait to see some fauna about in it, hehe; if you're planning on adding some, that is.

diwu13

· #15 · Sep 23, 2012

Wow this looks awesome. Where do you come up with all those anubias haha. Got like 100 in each tank!

Careful with the back platform. Not sure if the lack of rim might make the silicon weaker.

KFryman

· #16 · Sep 23, 2012

I love the look, I have never seen anything like it! Anubias is used in a lot of rainforest tanks out of the water, and I believe that it may grow next to rivers so in the wet season it grows underwater, but don't hold that to me. I like the bare substrate as well.

I think that some Pothos would look really good as it is kind of a viney type plant and you can trim it easily and replant.

bitFUUL

· #17 · Sep 23, 2012

Really nice setup! Keep us posted with tons of pics when the plants start to grow in.

tharsis

Discussion Starter · #18 · Sep 23, 2012

diwu13 said:
Wow this looks awesome. Where do you come up with all those anubias haha. Got like 100 in each tank!

Careful with the back platform. Not sure if the lack of rim might make the silicon weaker.

thanks haha, all of my anubias are sourced back to one purchase several years ago...they just grew like gangbusters!

I actually built the back portion last week, it isn't resting on the tank itself, it is basically just a sloped shelf that slides in between the tank and the wall. I have since loaded it up with mosses and weeds from my yard, it looks pretty good so-far.

I can't find my camera and my other camera has a stupid lens error so I am without pics unfortunately.

KFryman said:
I love the look, I have never seen anything like it! Anubias is used in a lot of rainforest tanks out of the water, and I believe that it may grow next to rivers so in the wet season it grows underwater, but don't hold that to me. I like the bare substrate as well.

I think that some Pothos would look really good as it is kind of a viney type plant and you can trim it easily and replant.

Thanks! The exposed anubias is actually growing really well. I mist it pretty regularly and it is sprouting new leaves.

I decided to keep the bare substrate but I added a few stems into the mix...wish I had a camera haha.

bitFUUL said:
Really nice setup! Keep us posted with tons of pics when the plants start to grow in.

thanks! Will do!

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tharsis

Discussion Starter · #19 · Sep 23, 2012 (Edited)

OK well I really wanted to share some pics since I am pretty happy with how it turned out. They are really crappy pics from a camcorder but I think you can get an idea of what I was going for.

It basically turned into a full on paludarium that is climbing out of the tank haha. I am really loving the mix of land and water, and there are so many cool things you can do along the shoreline. I really would love to do another one fully enclosed in a tank so I could keep some cool animals like frogs and newts etc. I think I have the paludarium bug haha.

Anyways here some crappy pics:

Everything seems to be growing well, I am slowly adding cool plants when I find them on my walks with the dogs in the mornings. I plan on adding some tall plants in the back against the wall...not sure what yet.

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diwu13

· #20 · Sep 23, 2012

WOW! Great job making that background. I was worried you would actually attach something to the glass

. Any thoughts on fish (or shrimp) for this tank? Where are you getting all these terrestial mosses and plants too haha?

Did you divert the water to come out the top of that mound? Or will you have to mist it daily? Will that be a problem for the wall?

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