I Have Absolutely No Idea Where This Would Go

[GobyMaster]

Hello all, I received a 55 gallon aquarium for my birthday a few months ago, and I have been going through some ideas of what I want to do with it, and I recently came up with a new idea for it, but I didn't know how to do it, or where to post it.

I really want to set it up as a Paludarium, but I don't really know how to do it.
It's a project my dad and I are working on, and we've lowered it down to 2 possibilities of what type of habitat it'd be, either a tropical biotope with tree frogs and lizards, or a local biotope, in which we'd stock it with local fish and amphibian species.

The tank's dimensions are 48x13x21" (LxWxH), so we'd probably have it be about 2 feet of water and two feet of land, but that depends on what type of environment we decide on.

Our main questions are the following:

What would be the best way to construct the hillside for the tank so that it wouldn't erode through time, and that since it would have a creek running through it, what would b the best way to make it so that the creek won't leak through into the substrate?
Also, what would the best filtration be for something like this?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Sorry if my questions are confusing, just ask for clarification if needed!
Thanks again,
GobyMaster

 

[Snooks1!]

Use plexiglass lining for the creek bed running thru the land portion, and construct a plexiglass 'shelf' for the land to sit on. Use a rock wall for the parts of the 'land' that need to be under water. Also, if you plant some riccia or other surface plant at the waters edge , it will help to conceal this.

 

[GobyMaster]

Thanks Snooks, I thought it'd be something like that.

Anyone know if you can use planting soil for a planting medium in a paludarium?

 

[tim1]

I think this should help you.

http/badmanstropicalfish.com/paludarium/paludarium.html

 

[GobyMaster]

I'll look into it, thanks!

 

[Straydum]

well if you are into paludariums then my guess is you would want to have fishes and amphibians together. well correct me if i'm wrong but arent amphibians supposed to secrete something off their skin that would be in one way or another detrimental to the fishes?

 

[GobyMaster]

I dunno, I've seen fire-bellied toads and newts kept with fish all the time, I'll post a question over in the aquatic amphibian section.

 

[LauraFrog]

That would be poisonous frogs. There are some that can't be kept with fish. A lot of frogs are perfectly fine to be kept with fish.

I also have something like this in mind, but unlike you I don't have the tank yet. RRRR.
This could be useful, making false rock walls etc.
http/www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_other_netmax_styro.htm

 

[GobyMaster]

Cool, thanks!

I have a feeling this tank will look cool when finished