# 20 gallon rimless mish mash...paludarium?



## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

Current FTS 10/14/12










FTS 9/23/12










FTS 9/5/12


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

So I have this derimmed 20 long and I was bored this weekend so I decided to try something different.

I wanted to do a riparium but the height of the tank is fairly limiting so I decided to try a mish mash of a riparium/paludarium.










The tank is in my basement on a large shelving unit intended for storage (but is slowly becoming my fish rack...don't tell me wife). I had an led fixture that I made a while back so i mounted that to the underside of the shelf above. 

I had this intank filter doodad from an old eclipse tank that i decided to turn into a sort of mattenfilter. It seems to work well, the only downside is that it is not very easy to change the filter floss. 










Added the rocks and anubias...was going for a rocky steep sided river edge with emergent portions. Covered the out put of the pump and added a koralia nano and voila!



















The output allows the water to cascade over the rocks on the right and splish splash into the tank. 



















I added some mosses and creeping jenny to the emergent portion.




























I think i am going to add some terrestrial plants behind the tank to give it a jungly feel. I am undecided if I want to add some other plants in the foreground or leave it bare. 










I also don't know whats going in the tank yet, thanks for looking! It was a fun little project.


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## SpecGrrl (Jul 26, 2012)

Very dramatic!

It looks awesome!


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## rocksmom (Mar 6, 2012)

Very cool, I love it. I say leave the sand area bare unless you just tuck a few anubias or something around the base of the rocks here and there. Is that some anubias in the emergent area on the right? I don't think it will do very well, or at least mine don't. It's also really dry here though.


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

thanks! The shimmering from the leds gives it a really nice effect as well... kinda adds to the drama! 

Yeah on the right I have some exposed anubias. The rhizome is below the water line though and the leaves are above for the big plants. The leaves don't seem to be drying out but its only been a few days so I will keep a close eye on it. I also have some smaller plantlets under the rock that is getting a constant stream of water above it so it is pretty mutch entirely wet all the time.


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## thebuddha (Jul 16, 2012)

Looks awesome! I like the idea of adding terrestrial plants behind it


and if I were you I would throw some nana petite around the bottom of the large rocks 



eager to see how this plays out


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## Kai808 (Jul 19, 2011)

Great looking tank! Did you just stack the rocks or are they glued together? I wanted to do something like this on my nano tank. Great job again!


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

thebuddha said:


> Looks awesome! I like the idea of adding terrestrial plants behind it and if I were you I would throw some nana petite around the bottom of the large rocks eager to see how this plays out


Thanks, yeah plan on adding some more anubias around the bottom when I trim my 75 gallon tank. I wish the anubias were a little smaller leaved in general but that is what I had lying around. These anubias were actually sitting in a bucket outside for the last 2 months since I set up my 75 gallon tank. So they are in surprisingly good condition!



Kai808 said:


> Great looking tank! Did you just stack the rocks or are they glued together? I wanted to do something like this on my nano tank. Great job again!


They are just stacked, I was going to glue them but they are very stable and won't be going anywhere anytime soon. Plus, once the anubias attaches itself to the rock it will be an additional anchor.


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

So I am thinking of ways to get terrestrial plants in the back of the tank. I want a shallow slope leading from the tank to the wall to make it look like the edge of the stream. I will have grasses and mosses and maybe some ferns at the back. But I don't really know how to do this. 

I was thinking of building a small plexiglass box that will lie flush with the back of the tank and the wall...but if anyone can think of something else i am all ears.


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## RedseaReefer (Aug 21, 2012)

Styrofoam is a pretty common media to raise up substrate. You might be able to use some inexpensive egg crate kinda like people do for coral frag racks. Besides that you might just be able to stack substrate up with some kind of dividers. Looks great! I'll be going rimless on one of my smaller tank setups. Great hard scape btw!


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## dudebro (Aug 23, 2012)

Cool tank. I like the rock set up. 

Adding the wall to tank platform sounds messy. Maybe use some sort of plaster or arts and crafts cement to affix rocks. I have seen some DIY with resin as well.


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## RedseaReefer (Aug 21, 2012)

They also make the aqua-stick epoxy. you could use driftwood and aqua stick to make some kind of platform to grow from!!


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

Thanks for the advice guys! After much contemplation i think i will build a little platform that will be flush with the back of the tank and then rise about 5" up to the wall. Then I will find some large shallow tupperware containers to place on the rack.


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## caykuu (Jul 30, 2011)

Creative! This isn't a commonly done setup, and you've done a gorgeous job with it.  
Can't wait to see some fauna about in it, hehe; if you're planning on adding some, that is.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Wow this looks awesome. Where do you come up with all those anubias haha. Got like 100 in each tank!

Careful with the back platform. Not sure if the lack of rim might make the silicon weaker.


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## KFryman (Sep 4, 2012)

I love the look, I have never seen anything like it! Anubias is used in a lot of rainforest tanks out of the water, and I believe that it may grow next to rivers so in the wet season it grows underwater, but don't hold that to me. I like the bare substrate as well.

I think that some Pothos would look really good as it is kind of a viney type plant and you can trim it easily and replant.


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## bitFUUL (May 14, 2010)

Really nice setup! Keep us posted with tons of pics when the plants start to grow in.


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

diwu13 said:


> Wow this looks awesome. Where do you come up with all those anubias haha. Got like 100 in each tank!
> 
> Careful with the back platform. Not sure if the lack of rim might make the silicon weaker.


thanks haha, all of my anubias are sourced back to one purchase several years ago...they just grew like gangbusters!

I actually built the back portion last week, it isn't resting on the tank itself, it is basically just a sloped shelf that slides in between the tank and the wall. I have since loaded it up with mosses and weeds from my yard, it looks pretty good so-far. 

I can't find my camera and my other camera has a stupid lens error so I am without pics unfortunately. 



KFryman said:


> I love the look, I have never seen anything like it! Anubias is used in a lot of rainforest tanks out of the water, and I believe that it may grow next to rivers so in the wet season it grows underwater, but don't hold that to me. I like the bare substrate as well.
> 
> I think that some Pothos would look really good as it is kind of a viney type plant and you can trim it easily and replant.


Thanks! The exposed anubias is actually growing really well. I mist it pretty regularly and it is sprouting new leaves. 

I decided to keep the bare substrate but I added a few stems into the mix...wish I had a camera haha. 



bitFUUL said:


> Really nice setup! Keep us posted with tons of pics when the plants start to grow in.


thanks! Will do!


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

OK well I really wanted to share some pics since I am pretty happy with how it turned out. They are really crappy pics from a camcorder but I think you can get an idea of what I was going for. 

It basically turned into a full on paludarium that is climbing out of the tank haha. I am really loving the mix of land and water, and there are so many cool things you can do along the shoreline. I really would love to do another one fully enclosed in a tank so I could keep some cool animals like frogs and newts etc. I think I have the paludarium bug haha. 

Anyways here some crappy pics:










Everything seems to be growing well, I am slowly adding cool plants when I find them on my walks with the dogs in the mornings. I plan on adding some tall plants in the back against the wall...not sure what yet.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

WOW! Great job making that background. I was worried you would actually attach something to the glass . Any thoughts on fish (or shrimp) for this tank? Where are you getting all these terrestial mosses and plants too haha?

Did you divert the water to come out the top of that mound? Or will you have to mist it daily? Will that be a problem for the wall?


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

Thanks 

Yeah I already felt i was taking a bit of risk by using this tank (no top or bottom rim) so adding a hanging rack on the back was nowhere close to happening lol

I have 6 different terrestrial mosses, 4 different runners and a bunch of various [STRIKE]plants[/STRIKE] weeds...most are taken from my backyard but I have been keeping my eyes to the ground on my daily walks through the woods. If I see something with a neat texture/leaf shape I will put it in my pocket. There are so many interesting stem plants that I have been seeing on my walks as well. I would love to make a terrestrial stem terrarium and scape it like an aquatic tank  

Have a moss foreground, some grasses for the midground and then some tall steams and leafy weeds as the background. I think I may try that next haha. 

I kept the filter as is, so the mosses need some misting. I mist them heavily 3 times a day: in the morning, when I get home from work and when I go to bed. It is ok for now but I may get a little mister system from petco to automate it. As it is now, the mosses and soil are staying moist and I am getting new growth so it seems everything is happy.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Think humidity against the wall or the wood rack will ever be a problem?


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

Probably 

This tank is in my semi-finished basement though so it is just a concrete wall at the moment and I am not too concerned about moisture. 

The wood rack will definitely be affected though. I used small tupperwares to hold most of the mosses and plants, which will cut down on the water coming in contact with the shelf. An added benefit of the tupperware is it results in a modular arrangement and I can change the plants/mosses as I want.


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

Here are some more recent pics, I changed things around a bit it is mostly the same. 

Still no fauna added... soon though.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Everything look so healthy :O!

Any issues with bugs or anything?


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## tharsis (Oct 9, 2009)

Thanks, yeah the plants seem to be pretty happy in this environment. I am misting alot, it is getting a little tiresome haha, need to get an auto mister. 

I am really wanting to upgrade to a bigger tank and do a real paludarium. 

I haven't had any major issues with bugs. One of the plants had some sort of inch worm that was eating the leaves but they were quickly eliminated. I actually found an earth worm in one of my planters that surprised me a little, but I figured it wasn't going to hurt anything to leave him in there. 

I really like this arrangement because it is completely modular. I have a bunch of planters (tupperware and cut plastic bottles) that I can put together in different arrangements and cover with moss to eliminate any seams. It works really well.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

How often are you misting everyday? Twice?


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## fishykid1 (Apr 5, 2010)

diwu13 said:


> How often are you misting everyday? Twice?


OP said 3 times per day - morning- home from work - bed time


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## gonzochelle (Jul 16, 2015)

Do you have any pics of the original build...would love to do this myself, would love to see the base, how everything was originally stacked! Thanks in advance...looking forward to having something half as incredible as yours in the future!


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