ISO Suggestions - Vertical 40 Gal Paludarium

[Toby_H]

I feel pompous saying paludarium. Terrarium to less technical older people (like me).

My fiancé (as a lifelong bachelor I'm still getting used to saying that) loves house plants and in the last few years we've been working them into my aquatic hobby. Which has me looking for ways to convert some "fish tanks" into terrariums / vivariums / paludariums.

In the hallway I have a typical metal stand that's meant to have two 40 breeders stacked one above the other.
So what I did was, I set up a 40 breeder on bottom, pretty normal. Lightly planted. AC110/500. It's been a cherry shrimp tank for years with a few different fish species making temporary appearances. But the top of that rack is where it's getting exciting...

Instead of a single 40 breeder on top... I have two 40 breeders standing on end turned with the opening toward the front. I had glass panels custom cut to fit perfectly covering the bottom half of the opening and siliconed them in place. They sat in my warehouse at work holding water for about 6 months to convince me they can be trusted to remain water tight in the house. I trust them. See Photos...

The plan is to build a concrete background with plumping installed to make the backwall a waterfall (what was originally the bottom). Have multiple cups (with a drain hole) built into the background to hold plants. Have multiple layers, shelves, caves etc in the background for plants to anchor off of and for critters to dwell. The bottom will have a cube of water 16"X18" @ 12" deep (13 gallons). There will be ample circulation/filtration with the waterfall.

My question... what critters?
The front will be open. This rules out anything with sticky feet that climbs on glass.
My house stays a bit warmer than the average U.S. home, so without heat it'll run 70-75*F (21-24*C), though I don't mind adding a heater for tropical options.
The whole tank will be wet. High humidity and splashed water everywhere.

The open front rules out most frogs and lizards.
I've always wanted Pygmy Chameleons but I'd be hesitant to add them here due to the open front and the water in the floor (if they fall in they'll likely drown).
Also, UVB will be difficult, since the ceiling of this enclosure is full glass. Glass blocks most UVB. I could put a lamp inside though but its one more thing to have to hide. I'll already have a cord sneaking out somewhere for the pump though.

All of my tanks end up with Springtails and Scuds. They mostly help with clean up and in some tanks an added food source. But with small environments like this the Scuds can be competition (such as baby shrimp).

Vampire Crabs are high on the list to consider. Though they're availability seems quite limited. A lot of places list them but have them marked "sold out".
I'd like to put a group of Cherry Shrimp in the bottom of each one. A different bright color in each one. I have green ones down below which are often nearly black and hide very very well.
I have a huge colony of Endlers so I can make small male only groups for each one.

What will go with those things or be a better replacement?
Since I already have Cherry Shrimp and Endlers, other options would be appreciated.
I highly favor things that can breed. Not necessarily to breed to sell or share, but enough to replace die off over years. Anything that over breeds can easily be used as food in another tank if I can't find someone locally who wants them.


The pictures aren't too exciting, but it's the price of admission on the internet. So here ya go...

 

[Toby_H]

Here is a mock up of the profile of the hardscape. Keep in mind this is oversimplified just to help you get an image in your mind of what I'm planning.

The (brown) background will be dyed concrete. I've used it in a few tanks. It's heavy as hell, but otherwise works excellent. Keep in mind this doesn't show any of the cups (for plants), layers, shelves, caves, etc in the background. I'll use corrugated plastic sheets and terra cotta pots beneath the concrete both to adhere it to the back wall (silicone terra cotton pots cut in half to the back wall that the concrete bites into) and to create voids in the concrete (both for caves and simply to lighten the overall unit). Each background will also have two pillars to help hold up the weight. That's what the paper towel rolls are for in the bottom of one of the tank.

There will be a roughly 2" (front to back) x 10" (left to right) @ 6" (deep) reservoir centered at the top. This will spill over creating the waterfall. The top of the background will be slightly lower in the center to keep most of the flow toward the middle. But the sides will also have some spill over with little grooves directing water to the plant cups and even some cups / depressions to serve as small permanent puddles with a constant turnover of water (we don't want stagnant pools do we!).

The plant cups (not shown) will be terra cotta pots completely submerged in concrete. They won't be seen from the viewing angle but the interior of the pot will be available for plants. I'll install tubing so the hole in the bottom of the pot is extended to daylight so even while embedded in concrete, so the pot will have drainage. The pots won't have soil. We have a few mediums for plants to root into that will work here without soiling the water that drains back to the waterfall / bottom.
In the beginning, we will use Pothos. It's very hardy, we have a ton of it and it's been well proven in our house to thrive in a wide range of environments including super wet ones like this. Once we have 4 or 5 pothos established in each tank, we'll pull one out and try something else in it's place. I hope to eventually work at least one Venus Fly trap into the design. I've never had luck with them in the past but this seems like just the right environment for them.
If you have any other suggestions of air plants that thrive in super wet environments, throw them out there. Vining plants will work best but clustering plants will also work as long as they stay small (or will thrive even though heavily pruned to be small).

As you can see, the water pool in the bottom will be pretty small. 18" (left to right) and 12" deep will be uninterrupted, but the 16" front to rear will have the back 6" cut off as unusable space (though still there as volume). The black vertical line in the water is corrigated plastic with holes drilled through it (for water flow) to act as a door to hide the pump/filter. The grey block with yellow around it is the pump/filter/sponge. This will be an AC 110/500 sponge (just because I have a bunch of them) hollowed out to allow the pump to sit in it. This will serve as a sponge for mechanical filtration as well as a pad to keep the pump off the glass. In the hose going up the weird grey thingy is a "pvc 3 part coupling" so I can (somewhat) practically take the pump in and out.

The bottom will have pool filter sand, which is what's in almost all of my tanks. Lately I've been using HTH Pool Filter Sand from Ace Hardware ($20 for 50 lbs / 23 kg). Previously I used (and several tanks still have) Leslie's Store brand Pool Filter Sand. Each brand's product is about the same, but the manager at the Leslie's by me is a ****, so screw him. I like the guy at Ace.


I've had the stand in place and ready, as well as the tanks with the additional glass plate sealed in place and ready... for almost 3 years. Part of why I'm making this post is to give myself that external push to make progress and keep making progress. I'm really good at designing projects, buying the initial materials... and storing them for years...
So make fun of me if I'm taking too long.

 

[jjohnwm]

This idea has huge potential, and could be absolutely beautiful once you get all the bugs worked out of it...and, trust me, there will be bugs...

I would suggest that you consider possibly linking the top two tanks with the one on the bottom of the stand, allowing the bottom tank to act as the sump for the upper ones. Whatever filtration you have in mind for that bottom tank will be sufficient to also service the total water volume of all three tanks. A submersible pump in the bottom tank would return water to the top two, which would then overflow through drilled holes, bulkheads and hoses/pipes back down to the bottom. The top tanks could be interlinked with each other, with a water return from below emptying into one and the water then flowing through to the other top tank, from which it overflows back to the bottom. Or if you prefer, you could have a separate water system for each top tank; that would be a lot more work, with no real benefit since the water volume is still shared between all three.

I've done this many times with small tanks mounted above larger ones. The smaller tanks house animals that benefit from being kept alone, but they still enjoy the benefits of stable parameters that come with larger water volume. None of mine have been paludaria, just plain ol' fishtanks, but the idea is the same.

A huge...to me, at least...bonus of this system is the fact that the water level in the upper paludaria would be constant; the only place that changes in water level would show up is down in the bottom tank. None of those hideous stripes and deposits of calcium at the water's surface, which would be right in your face with a paludarium set-up.

Looking forward to seeing what you end up with, regardless of what route you take.

 

[Toby_H]

This idea has huge potential, and could be absolutely beautiful once you get all the bugs worked out of it...and, trust me, there will be bugs...

I would suggest that you consider possibly linking the top two tanks with the one on the bottom of the stand, allowing the bottom tank to act as the sump for the upper ones. Whatever filtration you have in mind for that bottom tank will be sufficient to also service the total water volume of all three tanks. A submersible pump in the bottom tank would return water to the top two, which would then overflow through drilled holes, bulkheads and hoses/pipes back down to the bottom. The top tanks could be interlinked with each other, with a water return from below emptying into one and the water then flowing through to the other top tank, from which it overflows back to the bottom. Or if you prefer, you could have a separate water system for each top tank; that would be a lot more work, with no real benefit since the water volume is still shared between all three.

I've done this many times with small tanks mounted above larger ones. The smaller tanks house animals that benefit from being kept alone, but they still enjoy the benefits of stable parameters that come with larger water volume. None of mine have been paludaria, just plain ol' fishtanks, but the idea is the same.

A huge...to me, at least...bonus of this system is the fact that the water level in the upper paludaria would be constant; the only place that changes in water level would show up is down in the bottom tank. None of those hideous stripes and deposits of calcium at the water's surface, which would be right in your face with a paludarium set-up.

Looking forward to seeing what you end up with, regardless of what route you take.

F*#& !!!

You're right and I don't want you to be.

The biggest complexity that I've been dealing with is making it so the "filter", behind the flap and tucked under the waterfall, is accessible. I hate working in tight quarters.
And it's well known that it's very difficult to keep small bodies of water stable.

Once upon a time I had a fishroom with triple stacked tanks, Two 48" x 18" @ 12" deep 50 gals over a standard 75 gal. Each was plumbed together to make each tier a 175 gal system. Later I started connecting the tiers together to make even larger systems. It allowed me to move fish between tanks with zero concern, made stocking choices based only on balancing aggression and allowed tanks to sit empty (of fish) and remained cycled. It would surely make each of these small tanks stable as well as having several other benefits.

I could drill it in the rear (I wish that's what she said) where the diagram shows the pump/sponge. This would also take up a lot less room keeping more space available for whatever lives in the water. The overflow would potentially suck up an occasional shrimp or Endler or whatever else lives in the tank. That sucks, but is an acceptable negative. Though I'll also look into some solutions.
It would increase my head pressure from 2.9' to 5.75'. So I'll likely need a bigger pump. Which isn't a big deal.

The PITA is that I have to drill each tank. Twice.
I've drilled tanks once before. though nearly 20 years ago. I broke a few 10 Gals, but they have ridiculously thin glass. The 40 will be delicate, but I believe doable.


This is really annoying that I posted here to help me pick critters, not rethink my project. I'll thank you when I'm done, but for now, I don't care for you. (thanks).