OMG_FL1
Fish Fanatic
I always wanted to make a paludarium in my 100gallon but since it was a pretty expensive project and also had some fish in that tank I didn't really thought of trying.
Some time ago while I was scrolling through YT shorts I came across a video of someone making a paludarium in a small tank.
And I thought maybe I should start from a small one to get some experience but I didn't had any free small tanks either.
However, there was a one with a shattered bottom glass when my mom placed an oil can on it.
It leaked really badly and I had it in our storage room for quite a few years since it had no use.
Just out of curiosity I checked the cracks, and for some magical reason the cracks were only 2/3 way in from one side and it instantly cane to my mind that if I turned it on the other side and added a front panel I actually could make a paludarium.
After strategically getting permission from my mom to place another tank in the house I decided to go with a waterfall thingy with a moss wall.
Later brought some silicone glue and a pump for the waterfall and glued a piece of glass from another broken tank as the front panel (spoiler bad work with the glue) and started the layout with driftwood and rocks leaving spaces to fill with a soil mix for terrestrial plants and also a box made of filter sponge for the pump.
(Cracks are visible on the top left corner)
With some adjustments I glued them to the glass with silicone+coco peat mix and applied some more glue to the glass followed with more coco peat for the mosswall.
After letting the glue cure for about 36 hrs checked if the waterfall was working correctly and added a blended java moss mix to the back wall and covered the tank with plastic wrap for humidity.
A week later the moss didn't showed any growth and I decided to go on the the next step.
Added a soil mix to the spaces I left and started planting.
Since I already had some plants like fittonia, few ferns, anubias and crypts didn't really need to worry about plants and I planted them in places that suits them.
Also added some lava rocks into the sponge box with the pump.
Finishing the the initial setup with 3days of work.
And the first day of the fishless cycle it started leaking because of my bad glueing. After questioning my life decisions I had to remove all the plants, sand, substrate and also the front glass pannel.
Next I brought a new piece of glass and made sure to glue it correctly this time.
Next day checked the tank for leaks hoping there won't be and I did glue it correctly.
Added a thin layer of aqua soil cappped with sand with some rocks for details and replanted the tank to started the cycle again with some old filter sponge.
Tank cycled fairly well within 2 weeks with balanced parameters.
Later got a dumbo betta (Name suggestions welcome)
This is the final setup of the tank.
Aquatic plants- Anubias barteri, Anubias nana petite, Bucephalandra godzilla (i think) Windelow fern, trident fern, Cryptocoryne wenditii, New Zealand grass, Christmas moss, Pelia moss
Terrestrial plants- Cotton candy fern, Fittonia white & pink ones, Peperomia sp. , orchid sp., random mosses and some other plants idk the names of
Recently(1 month old) I added 4 pygmy corys and some botanicals.
The tank is doing pretty well. Most of the moss attached and growing except the moss wall part.lol
I'll update a pic.I don't have one now.
Some time ago while I was scrolling through YT shorts I came across a video of someone making a paludarium in a small tank.
And I thought maybe I should start from a small one to get some experience but I didn't had any free small tanks either.
However, there was a one with a shattered bottom glass when my mom placed an oil can on it.
It leaked really badly and I had it in our storage room for quite a few years since it had no use.
Just out of curiosity I checked the cracks, and for some magical reason the cracks were only 2/3 way in from one side and it instantly cane to my mind that if I turned it on the other side and added a front panel I actually could make a paludarium.
After strategically getting permission from my mom to place another tank in the house I decided to go with a waterfall thingy with a moss wall.
Later brought some silicone glue and a pump for the waterfall and glued a piece of glass from another broken tank as the front panel (spoiler bad work with the glue) and started the layout with driftwood and rocks leaving spaces to fill with a soil mix for terrestrial plants and also a box made of filter sponge for the pump.
(Cracks are visible on the top left corner)
With some adjustments I glued them to the glass with silicone+coco peat mix and applied some more glue to the glass followed with more coco peat for the mosswall.
After letting the glue cure for about 36 hrs checked if the waterfall was working correctly and added a blended java moss mix to the back wall and covered the tank with plastic wrap for humidity.
A week later the moss didn't showed any growth and I decided to go on the the next step.
Added a soil mix to the spaces I left and started planting.
Since I already had some plants like fittonia, few ferns, anubias and crypts didn't really need to worry about plants and I planted them in places that suits them.
Also added some lava rocks into the sponge box with the pump.
Finishing the the initial setup with 3days of work.
And the first day of the fishless cycle it started leaking because of my bad glueing. After questioning my life decisions I had to remove all the plants, sand, substrate and also the front glass pannel.
Next I brought a new piece of glass and made sure to glue it correctly this time.
Next day checked the tank for leaks hoping there won't be and I did glue it correctly.
Added a thin layer of aqua soil cappped with sand with some rocks for details and replanted the tank to started the cycle again with some old filter sponge.
Tank cycled fairly well within 2 weeks with balanced parameters.
Later got a dumbo betta (Name suggestions welcome)
This is the final setup of the tank.
Aquatic plants- Anubias barteri, Anubias nana petite, Bucephalandra godzilla (i think) Windelow fern, trident fern, Cryptocoryne wenditii, New Zealand grass, Christmas moss, Pelia moss
Terrestrial plants- Cotton candy fern, Fittonia white & pink ones, Peperomia sp. , orchid sp., random mosses and some other plants idk the names of
Recently(1 month old) I added 4 pygmy corys and some botanicals.
The tank is doing pretty well. Most of the moss attached and growing except the moss wall part.lol
I'll update a pic.I don't have one now.
