Paludarium or heavily planted tank

carb850

carb850

New member
I doubt I will take this route, but recently I been looking up information on Paludariums. Does anyone here have one or know much about them in general? The ones I like the most have plants and driftwood that stick out of the water 6" or more with hanging lights. Also they tend to have a very light fish load, sometimes just a small school of neons.
 
If you mean freshwater, I have a 55 gallon totally full of plants. Fish are a couple of Angels, maybe some guppy escapee's (tried to move them all to another tank. But later found some, must have been babies) and a Pleco, and a black molly or two. This tank maintains itself. I just add top off water occasionally.
 
Yeah, speaking of FW sorry about the confusion.

I'm surprised to hear yours is low easy maitenance. I was viewing some pictures on ratemyfishtank.com and just about all of the top rated tanks claim they do 25% water changes weekly.
 
I really don't like doing much to the tank as I like the plants to look wild. I do occasionally(sp) thin the plants out when my brother in law comes in from Virginia. I usually give him plants to take home.

I think it is probably because I use Eco-Plant for the gravel in the tank.
 
aquaticplantcentral.com is a great site for planted tank info. Spinnerbayt on here is also a planted tank enthusiast.
 
same here. I have a planted tank and all I have to do is feed the fish and top off every once in a while. Almost maintenance free.
 
Hmmm I must be missing something, my 75 gal. jungle need pruned at least every other week and I have to do a 25%-30% every week on it to maintain healthy growth.

fwp.jpg


It goes through many many changes but this is if a few months back.
 
You can make a tank as high or low maintenance as you want. I have 4 planted tanks. I have a 6,10,55, and 125. All I do to the 6 and 10 is add water and feed. The 55 is somewhere in the middle. It has DIY co2 and mostly slow growing plants, and I add ferts about every other week. Now the 125 is my high tech tank with pressurized co2, and a good amount of ferts, alot of light, with weekly water changes. If you need a good plant substrate let me know, as I have some Soilmaster that is just setting here if you want it. Any thing I can help with just let me know. I give tons of plants away when I trim.
 
Low light jungle tanks are low maint. I had a 10 gallon planted tank with eco complete & alot of PC lighting (IMO all you REALLY need for a small planted tank.. small meaning not abnormally deep). I also injected cO2. I kept my mosses trimmed to a nice thick mat, & the rest of my plants grew like crazy. I was trimming like mad every week. It was a huge PITA due to the EC being such a light substrate.... When trimming plants without a (relatively) large root system, they would pretty easily become uprooted. That was not always the case, but you did need to be careful... and working in a 10 gallon with these giant ham fists of mine didnt work out to well.

I would have been wiser to get slower growing plants, & staying away from some of the prettier ground cover plants like the clover I had. The slower growing plants would have kept me out of the tank as much as I was, so I wasnt tearing plants out of the dirt. The clover I had (marsilea quadrofolia I believe) was a beautiful plant I loved... but when it began to die off, I had to gut my tank to get it all out due to the way it grows small stalks with a continuous root system. I think Spinner may have had a similar problem with some riccia he had... but dont quote me on that.

Basically you can have a REALLY pretty tank that you never touch, or a stunningly beautiful Amano style tank that you spend hours trimming every week, sometimes daily. If you do your homework you can tailor the tank to your time/interest. Mine was really pretty, but if I am going to put the time.money into a large tank, its going to be salty!
 
I like both my salt and Fresh water planted equally. I plan on moving it to a 120 halide configuration and putting a Tunze River pack on it next year or so and hooking up the pressurized Co2 system. Right now it's all just lights (about 380 watts or so on staggered timers), timers and lots of trimming but I would'nt want it any other way right now.
I'll try to post a more up-to date pick of this tank.
 
Here are a few pics of my 125, they are not that great but give you an idea.

5.jpg


7.jpg


I can help with just about any problem in a planted tank, and DIY projects for them also.
 
I appreciate all of the responses. I have spent some time on aquaticplantcentral but I still have a lot of reading to do. However, I might have found a nice starter solution. My wife was given a 10G Aquarium Starter Kit many years ago and she never used it. I opened this box this evening and it is a net tank, hood, filter, and even some chemicals (they are probably trash from being 5+ years old. Anyhow, I have table that this 10G fits on perfectly.

The plan, I'm thinking about sitting it up as a moderately to heavy planted dwarf puffer tank. First off, the hood is an el-cheapy with no lights but it has to bulb sockets and on the bottom it says it is rated for 25W max. Could I use Compact Florscent bulbs in this hood or should I just go buy a CF hood with approx 30W rated?

Next up the filter, I have sitting in the floor a new never used Whisper that was included that is rated for 5-15Gallons. Will this suffice or should I get something else?

As for Co2, at the moment I'm planning on a DIY kit with the soda bottle and yest but this is just to get me started and see how everything goes.

Any thoughts on this beginner setup or the dwarf puffer tank?
 
A paludarium is NOT simply a heavily planted tank. I've set up paludariums for myself and a customer. A paludarium is partially immersed, partially emerged, like plants and wood rising out of a swamp or marsh. It can also be a very wet terrarium.
One paludarium I set up had a three-foot long piece of wood rising halfway out of the water. A small powerhead at the bottom pumped water via a small hose to the top to the wood. The hose was then concealed with a thick mat of Java moss and Java fern. Apple snails climbed this and laid their eggs on it.
Another paludarium I had in my youth was a 30-gallon tank with a sheet of acrylic angled between the soil and water. Pothos and other vines grew profusely. I kept freshwater inverts in it, such as crayfish, water scorpions and other aquatic insects. It was very interesting.
I have been toying with the idea of doing a 75-gallon paludarium in the future.
 
I have seen pictures of some very cool paludariums online. As I have read more, a heavy planted tank is probably more likely the direction I would take but I still think the paludariums are ubber cool.
 
Sounds if the best tank for a paludarium would be what is called a turtle tank. It has a slot cut out in one end for the HOT filter. They are awesome and If I had one I would probably do this setup. These tanks compensate for low water level while fully filtering the water with a hang on. My brother has one he bought for a turtle. It is way cool. I just never bought one as they seem to be expensive for the cost.

But a broken tank and replace the end with 2 pieces of glass rather than one might be a cheap way to go. I have or had an old 55 gallon that is broken I believe it is the end that is broken. HUMMM.
 
Yes! - THAT is a paludarium!
BTW - Jim, do you know where one could buy such a thing?
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

W
Cycling new Tank
Replies
2
Views
444
C.Eymann
C.Eymann
T
Kessil A360XE TUNA BLUE Setup Help Please
Replies
2
Views
618
tgurske
T
Carl_Lafon
Hello, everyone.
Replies
2
Views
585
Reefing102
Reefing102
ClownBubbaJoe
Large Crab For Special Tank And Few Fish & Plants ?
Replies
3
Views
630
griss
griss
V
[Edit: Its active - got a response] Is Coralux.net still active?
Replies
2
Views
505
Reefing102
Reefing102
Back
Top