6G Hexagonal Tank May Become A Paludarium

[sorgan]

righty so after the great success i am having with my 60lt planted tank (it is very feral and jungle like but i love it!) i decided i wanted more of a challenge. i have recently emptied a 6g hex tank (was a species azoox coral tank) and it is sat in the garden getting dirty so weather permitting tommorow i intend to give it a clean and look at setting it up.
my plan is to make a paludarium and plant both water and terrastial parts so my question is what could i use?
now the water section is only going to be a few gallons at best so fish would obviously not work but i may get some shrimp (shame as a few small fish would look good but ho hum)

also i am wondering what kind of substrate to use, would plain old soil work? or would something like this (what i used in my other tank) be better?

i know this isnt your run of the mill planted question but i hope you lot can help

 

[lljdma06]

6g is rather small for a paludarium, but still doable. An exercise in manipulating scale. I'll say more later. Getting ready to have lunch with my sister & her husband.

Liz

 

[bae1994]

Well endler live bearers don't need a shoal so if it's like 2-3 gallons then you could keep one male

Also most aquatic plants will grow emerged but you could always go to your local river and get some off the bank

 

[StandbySetting]

John Innes no.3 capped with Sand would be good, but you could use pretty much any nutritious substrate you want to, a few gallons would be fine for a single dwarf puffer, as for plants, any semi-aquatic species would be fine, which includes most commonly sold.

 

[sorgan]

so things like crypts, javafern and anubias would be ok out of water?

 

[StandbySetting]

Yes, they can all be grown emmersed, just make sure that the paludarium has relatively high humidity.

 

[sorgan]

pretty sure it will lol nows time to google tiny filters lol

 

[bae1994]

All pond solutions sell a micro external for 20 pounds

Just looked it's out of stock

http/www.allpondsolutions.co.uk/aquarium-1/aquarium-filters/external-filters/aquarium-external-filter-150-l-h.html

 

[sorgan]

Wondering if I need something that bog for 15lt of water, wouldn't a little air driven sponge jobby be alright?

 

[bae1994]

Yeah it would it just might stand out plus plants like flow but you can pickup mini filters cheap which may be easier

 

[micko]

Yes, they can all be grown emmersed, just make sure that the paludarium has relatively high humidity.

How do you have a high humidity? What do you need to do that?

 

[sorgan]

Warm and enclosed And wet will make it humid.

 

[micko]

Would you need a heat lamp or similar as used in a vivarium and a normal water heater or would the water heater be enough?

Only reason I'm asking is that I would be interested in making one myself. Have seen a few topics related to this on here and other forums recently.

Thanks in advance.

 

[StandbySetting]

Water will evaporate and condense without a heater, if the paludarium has a lid it will be humid inside.

 

[lljdma06]

John Innes no.3 capped with Sand would be good, but you could use pretty much any nutritious substrate you want to, a few gallons would be fine for a single dwarf puffer, as for plants, any semi-aquatic species would be fine, which includes most commonly sold.

Like the idea of a dwarf puffer.