Waterfall or Exposed Rock Reef Tanks!

[Darth Chingas]

After reading the tidepool thread, I thought about a tank I saw at a store in Tulsa a few years ago. It was a shallow tank that had a large rock waterfall. I thought it was a really cool idea but the waterfall was full of salt creep, the tank was full of algae and there was only one fish in it. At this point I thought that maybe it was too hard to maintain.

Fast forward to last month and I saw a really great tank at Aquatouch in Phoenix. It is a huge tank that is only filled half way and has a faux background that looks like a large mangrove tree trunk. There are various forms of algae on the rocks but it looks neat and groomed like a fresh water waterfall. There is also some mist that drifts down the waterfall into the tank which houses a few corals and a school of Bangaii Cardinals. I asked the sales guy about how they keep it so clean as there was no salt creep on the waterfall. He said that the mist keeps things moist but they still have to clean the glass daily due to the water only at midline in the tank.

After seaching the threads, I only saw two builds. One was two rimless tanks that had a rock structure that gapped the two tanks and the other was the volcano tank (AWESOME!). These are really beautiful tanks and I am suprised that there are not more builds like them. Here are the links...

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1823130&highlight=waterfall

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2016108&highlight=waterfall


So to wrap it up, I am thinking about doing a tank like this. I am looking for ideas or advice from those who have tried but would also like to see pictures of similar tanks. Thanks for the help.

 

[Darth Chingas]

Moved this thread to Reef Discussion due to no responses...

 

[philosophile]

I'm not sure how you would make a waterfall without a crapload of maintenance. Salt creep would just be the beginning... I'd also be concerned about things like getting at the pump for cleaning, and HA growing, unless it was a super low flow waterfall.


But the first link you have seems pretty amazing. Maybe you should PM the OP and pick their brain.

 

[Daemonfly]

Look into terrarium/vivarium/palludarium building, most common with the Dart Frog community. Most are freshwater, but I have seen some at least brackish mangrove setups. The construction and equipment should be quite similar, at the very least.

The paludariums are the half & half setups, so google search of that term should bring up a lot.

The misting should be enough to keep most salt creep off the backgrounds, but the glass would require the most attention to keep clear.

 

[EvilLost]

i'm new here but experienced in the viv setups...

just a thought but if you MISTED/"rained" with freshwater (esp a focused hose) you could effectively wash your waterfall?

you would of course have to account for this elsewhere..

 

[gp2]

That volcano tank is one of the coolest tanks I have ever seen. I think I may shamelessly copy it. You should do it! There is virtually nothing to lose, and I doubt there are even a handful of people on here who will know what issues you will have. I may go do some sea kayaking in the mangroves to see what new animals/plants we could keep!!

 

[supervdl]

The volcano set up looks great. def something different.