75gal Terrarium Constuction

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caseydmrc

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Oct 3, 2008
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Well I decided to do something with my unused 75gal fish tank. Well heres the plans..
Terrariumplans.jpg

I dont know if you can see what im going for but im thinking that I want a Greatstuff foam rock wall background with a branch work in it(not sure if im gonna find real branches to do the branch work or if im gonna making it with the foam). I plan on having a false bottom egg create land part with a slope of gravel into the water area. Unlike most false bottoms though mine is gonna be part of the water area. I want to have the fish and stuff be able to swim under nether the land part, I also want the plants that i plant to have there roots grow into the water.

I want to pump the water up through pipes to a upper little pool area. From there i want it to travel back to the water to ways one way is to drip down the back wall straight down into the water. The other way is down a branch stream that will led to another pool area on the land part then travel down a little stream area back into the water.

I would like to have many aquatic, semi aquatic, and terrestrial plants in this tank. I want some to drop down the background and look like hanging plants or vines.

Thats the plans ... now for the questions. (haha) First off what would be a good type of moss that likes high humidity and covers good and kinda will look like grass? Also what are those lily pad like plants that float on the top of the water and dont grow that big but tend to cover everyones water area in terrariums? (wish i could describe things better)

Also what do you think would be a good animal or animals for this setup? I dont plan on getting any tell the plants are well established but i want time to be able to read up on things.. Also what would be some good fish for the water area.. Im not 100% sure how many gallons it will be but im guessing about 30 gallons. I was thinking of guppies cause they would breed . Im looking for a type of fish that would end up really filling out the water area.

HAHA well im sure more questions will be thought of .. And im sure you guys will have plenty to say. Ill have more pictures as i start the fun process of construction.
 
first thing i notice is how far away the pump is from the pool its pumping water to in the diagram, you would wanna put it as close as possible for max output. and the plant your thinking of could be anything from duckweed to water lettuce but probably amazon frogbit. guppies are so mainstream, maybe an african butterfly fish or hatchetfish for top level fish and a school of smaller fish like ember or neon tetras. and never underestimate how good a betta looks as a centerpiece fish
 
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looks interesting :-) I cant wait to see how it pans out :-)

As for fish, I personally really like the way that neon tetras look in planted tanks, they just seem to pop. I agree that a betta could be a very nice centerpiece.

Keep us posted!
 
frogbit is what i am thinking of thanks for that. I always have liked hatchets but never have had one before. As for the Betta never been a big fan of them. they just look gross to me..
 
As for plants you can do bromelaids and you can even have them planted into your backgroud. For mosses you can actually use java, riccia or even tawaniese moss. You just got to make sure you have high humidity in your tank which you will since you are doing a water scene.

Alittle suggestion for ya, A good way to seperate your land from the egg crate is window screening. Get the plastic one from home depot. This way when you put gravel or even some sort of soil it will hold it up. Also for your foam background if you want it to look realistic. After you have the foam how you want it with your branches. Get some coco fiber the ones that expand when you put the brick in water. Dry that out completely and get silicone and put that on your foam background.
 
I have some moss that is just the ticket... I believe it is the same as moss I have seen sold as "string moss" but I am not certain. Java moss can also grow upright.
 
Yes I was planing on using plastic screening to hold up the land part, I figured this way the roots could grow threw it also. And as for making the background more realistic I read somewhere that you can put dirt on the foam as its expanding and it will bind to it? Is this true? or is silicon nessary because if I could cut it out of the process of the background that would be nice as cost is always a factor. HAHA

Probably start working on it today or sunday. So I should have pictures for you by monday. *Fingers Crossed* I know theres probably not but I was wondering if the water part would be big enough for two or three convicts? Also if there was any small easy to breed catfish species that might look nice in this setup?
 
Yes you can do that but you cant really control it since the foam expands. Also when you try to pat it down the sand will just go into the foam. I just like using silicone since its like a protective sealant over the foam and its easier to attach stuff to the foam itself.
 
Well turns out didn't have time to do anything over the weekend...

But the good or bad news depending on who you are is that when i went to get my pay check so i could get supplies i found out that im not working this week. So the good way to look at it is plenty of time to work on it. The bad way is a week of no money haha.

so hopefully picture updates this week.
 
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