New Paludarium

[jratuszn]

Hi All,

I'm new to this board, so bear with me -

I am in the process of setting up a 70gal all glass tank. In a pretty labor-intensive endeavor, I am gluing 100lbs of lava rock to the back and sides of my tank. It will come up out of the water about 4" and hang over the tank slightly, with a few waterfalls and streams in a sort of pseudo-paludarium setup. Ok, here come the questions:

1. While the lava rock is secured to the tank (100% silicone), there are lots of spaces behind the rocks, and I am worried that they may become traps for all sorts of detritus and anaerobic bacteria. Would you reccomend snaking airlines down between the rocks to provide some water movement behind the rock, or will this just suck more junk in?

2. Because the rock is so porous, and will have water pouring over it and sitting below it, will the portions of rock that are supposed to be "dry" and above the water line become covered in mold and algae? I boiled all the rocks and then dried them in a 500 degree oven (took forever).

3. I plan on having the tank mildly planted, with a few swords underwater, and a bunch of terrestrial/bog plants in the top part. I would appreciate some info on what sequence to add the plants and fish to cycle the tank.

Sorry about the hodge podge of subjects,

Thanks alot!

-Jeff

 

[justDIY]

Welcome to Aquarium Advice Jeff

That sounds like a wonderfull project! I hope you'll be able to share some pictures of it's construction / completion with us.

1: I don't know about using airline tubing, but maybe a powerhead or some other device to keep water flowing over the rocks that are under the water - that should help prevent debris from settling in there too much.

2: The rock will become covered with algae and bacteria, but not mold or fungus. You should look forward to these coatings, as they form a crucial part of your system's biofiltration. The algae I think would make things look more natural.

3: Add all the plants up front and a very light load of fish (maybe 3 whiteclouds or danios) ... tanks that are planted don't follow the "traditional" cycling pattern because the plants naturally keep the ammonia and nitrite under control... this doesn't mean however that you can just pile in a huge bioload and hope the plants take care of it - patience is still required

just curious, what livestock do you plan on keeping?

what are you using to filter the tank, and where is your water level at?

ttyl

 

[jratuszn]

Thanks for the reply!

I have a bunch of construction pictures- I'll try to post them soon.

As far as equipment goes, I have an xP3 canister filter that will output through a spraybar that sits at the very top of the tank. It'll empty into a small pool at the top of my lava rock, and then flow through a little waterfall back into the tank. While this will be the primary filter, I will also be running an old HOB filter, primarily to provide more water to flow into another little waterfall.

I hav a 300 Watt heater and an auto top-off that I made from a toilet fill float (new idea, hope it works!) sitting in a small pocket behind the rocks. there should be plenty of water flowing through (from the HOB filter) to ensure the heated water flows throughout the tank.

Eventually, I will use this tank to house 3 or 4 red belly piranha. I picked the sort of "cave" setup, because I thought the minimal light would make them less skittish.

Sorry if I go on and on- I'm really excited about this project!

Thanks!

-Jeff

 

[justDIY]

oooh piranha - sounds exciting!

sounds like you are running the tank completly full of water then?

300 watts of heat! - I guess it does get darn cold here during Michigan winters

the auto top-off sounds interesting - did you design the system yourself, or have a website for inpiration - I'm curious to learn more!

looking forward to the pictures.

 

[jratuszn]

I'll have the water level about 4" from the top- that's as low as I can go and still use the HOB.

The auto top off is really simple, and I'm kinda shooting from the hip on this one. It's just a basic toilet float valve from the inside of a toilet tank. $5 in parts from the hardware store, and one of those kits you use to hook up a refridgerator ice-maker is all you need to connect it to your house's water line. I guess it'd be pretty hideous in any other tank, as it's about 4" in diameter and 12" tall, but I can hide it behind my rocks so it's no problem. I am a little worried about Chloramine, but as this will only be used to make up for any evaporation between water changes, I don't anticipate any problems (knock on wood).

If I do run into chlorine problems, I may hook up a sealed container (a gallon or 2) to a home-made doser, to add a drop of chlorine remover every day or something. Just an idea, tho.

Any suggestions?

 

[justDIY]

how about put an icemaker filter inline to your top-off ... the carbon in that cheap filter should nock out most of the chlorine and chloramine, and whatever is left in there shouldn't make much diff with the 65 or so gal of water in the tank