Creating A Paludarium

[Toaster]

Hi,
 
After owning/raising some african cichlids for a year I don't consider myself to be an amateur hobbyist anymore, and I like to think I've reached a intermediate stage, but I am new to paludarium's which is the main discussion on this page.. If this isn't the right place to post this just let me know!
 
I've started doing research on Paludarium's as I want to create one in my 33 gallon tank. I've figured out a good way to create the dividing wall between land/water. I've read up on what some other people have done:
 
http/www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/paludariums/72051-30-gallon-paludarium-how-journal.html
 
and
 
http/badmanstropicalfish.com/paludarium/paludarium.html
 
and 
 
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/359601-my-mudskipper-paludarium/?hl=paludarium
 
This guy used some egg crate to allow water to flow between I think that's a good idea too.
 
http/www.dendroboard.com/forum/parts-construction/72637-29-gallon-paludarium-build-post-i-go-details-very-pic-heavy-4.html#post657998
 
 
Tank:
 
I have a 33 gallon tank to work with. I plan on using some foam/plexiglass and silicon sealant to create the land portion, and maybe allow water to flow through the soil..
 
I have a Marineland Penguin 200B which I used for the tank, but I'm thinking that it probably wont work as a filter for the water, I'm wondering what pumps/filters I can get that are cheap. I was thinking maybe I might be able to use a smaller 5 gallon tank I have as a reservoir put my 50 gallon filter on that and run some tubes up/pump up to the main tank, would that work?
 
As far as soil goes I know I need to steer clear of some types of soil as it can leech into the water. I was thinking of starting with some larger gravel with smaller gravel on top. Followed by some sort of peat, and then a layer of sand and on top of that some aquatic planting soil? 
 
I'm wondering as far as water plants go which plants I can use to have my water filtered out as much as possible. I've read online this guy: 
 
http/www.tuncalik.com/2009/09/biotope-in-my-study/
 
He created a system that is filter free no noise at all, which I thought was really cool. He claims to only change the tank 3-4 times a year..
I'm not expecting that much laziness, but I would like to be able to leave the tank alone(besides feeding) for a week or two. 
 
I plan on having different levels of water inside of the tank. shallow, medium and deep water. deep. It shouldn't be too hard if I use enough foam/silicon with a egg crate structure. I also want to create a water fall I think that if I am already using the pump to shoot water to reserve tank then it should be able to pump it up and come down a rocky waterfall fairly easily.
 
Flora:
 
My father-in-law has some air plants I think I might buy a couple from him or he might give me a couple. I'll still need to figure out what water and land plants I want to have growing. I don't want anything that gets too big so it's a little easier to manage, although I imagine I'll still be pruning a lot. Also I want to have some sort of moss as well. Since air plants get their water from the moisture in the air it would be cool to use a fog machine as well. Which I was thinking I might be able to use a humidifier off craigslist and just Jerry rig it so that the cool air gets pumped into the tank via hoses, and a fan maybe? Also if I have brackish water I imagine that all of my water plants will have to be okay growing there... Is there a list of such plants somewhere?
 
Just some of the ideas I have for plant life.
 
Fauna:
 
I'm not entirely sure what I want to put in here. I know I want some freshwater fish to start off with. I might switch later on to a brackish water, and get some mini puffers, but they are kinda of hard to take care of.  I know what I don't want and that is cichlids. They are far too aggressive to keep with other more peaceful fish. However my wife does enjoy their color so if we could get some colorful/cute yet non aggressive fish that would be really great! The size of the fish also matters, angel fish although pretty can get quite large. I'm thinking I'll probably use 2/3rds of the right side of the tank for water. The water will probably be halfway up height wise so if I do the math it suggests my actual tank size will be approximately 11 gallons maybe a little more..
 
Fish Candidates(Fresh Water):

• Cherry Barbs
• Black Tetras
• A school of Cardinal Tetras

Fish Candidates(Brackish Water):

• Guppys
• Figure 8 Puffer(aggressive)
• Mudskipper
• Celebes rainbow
• Indian glassy fish
• Orange chromide(a cichlid that is suppose to be more peaceful)

What fish/snail/shrimp would be good for bottom feeding in brackish water?
 
I also would like some sort of amphibian, but most of my research suggests that newts, salamanders, and most frogs secrete a kind of poison that could kill the fish I choose. Not to mention newts and salamanders can eat fish..  Does anyone have any suggestions in this area? 
 
Issues:
 
Some of the biggest issues I see occurring come from using materials that can be toxic to both the plants and the creatures inside. The next biggest thing is the PH, Alkalinity, and temperature of the water. Since I've moved(reason why I got rid of my cichlids) my current water is very hard, and is most definitely well water. What can I do besides buying filtered water so I can fill my tank up, and do water changes? I also plan on buying a new water testing kit as well so hopefully I can keep an eye on things and make sure the water is just right for the fish.
 
If I go with brackish water would this: http/www.amazon.com/Automatic-Temperature-Compensation-Salinity-Refractometer/dp/B008560IXA/ref=lp_393272011_1_3?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1394570316&sr=1-3
 
be the best option for testing salinity?
 
Thanks for any help or advice! I'm sorry for the huge wall of text!

 
-Toaster
 
Edit: This has some really good advice http/badmanstropicalfish.com/brackish/brackish.html for brackish water.

 

[Ninjouzata]

Well this sounds interesting
 
As far as I know, not many plants like brackish water. One of the paludarium links you gave though someone had linked THIS, don't know if you've read it already or not.
 
For the fish..the only thing you listed that would be suitable in 11g are the guppies, but they aren't brackish that I know of.
 
Are the black tetras black neons?
 
Am not sure what fish or shrimp would work in brackish but think nerites might be okay? Someone else will need to say on that.
 
For an amphibian maybe a dwarf frog? If staying FW that is.
 
If you want puffers why not some dwarf puffs? Again you'll want to stay FW for this. Is there a specific reason you're wanting to go brackish? Sorry if I missed it :C
 
Sorry can't be of much help really, but looking forward to reading your progress on this

 

[Toaster]

As far as I know, not many plants like brackish water. One of the paludarium links you gave though someone had linked THIS, don't know if you've read it already or not.

I missed that link! Very interesting read!
 

For the fish..the only thing you listed that would be suitable in 11g are the guppies, but they aren't brackish that I know of.

I read that it's usually 1-2 gallon per inch of fish. I guess it would depend on how many you have, but I think I can increase the amount of water inside the tank, if I had a bit more money saved I would buy a new bigger tank.
 

Are the black tetras black neons?

I'm not sure, I looked them up and they look kind of different from the picture I saw: http/www.fishchannel.com/fish-species/freshwater-profiles/black-tetra-2.aspx
 

Am not sure what fish or shrimp would work in brackish but think nerites might be okay? Someone else will need to say on that.

Oh awesome! I've never heard of them before but after looking them up they do seem like they'd fit in a brackish environment depending on the salt content. http/www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/9/inverts
 

For an amphibian maybe a dwarf frog? If staying FW that is.

Yeah if I get any sort of brackish water/land creature besides the mudskippers it'd have to be crabs or something. For freshwater there is a lot of options so I might go with that. Although most amphibians prefer colder water.. I might be able to add fire-bellied toads with the fish they are toxic but I think if you have a decent filtration system setup and you do water changes enough people seem to think it should be okay. The question is do I really want to do weekly water changes..
 

If you want puffers why not some dwarf puffs? Again you'll want to stay FW for this. Is there a specific reason you're wanting to go brackish? Sorry if I missed it :C

Well I'm not entirely sure if a puffer is the best way to go, if I do decided on that I could maybe have 1 or 2 of them in the tank without any other creatures. They are very aggressive fish from what I am reading. I also read that Kuhli Loaches and Otocinclus might be good tank mates. This is a good read: http/www.tfhmagazine.com/details/articles/the-dwarf-puffer-a-pleasant-little-surprise.htm
 
After reading up on brackish water I think I'm going to do a freshwater tank for now. I can always switch it out later on if I want. I'm going to start a journal on here so that everyone can see my progress! I'll post pictures and updates as often as I can!
 

 

[Ninjouzata]

That rule does not take everything into consideration. Such as their activity levels and how territorial they are. It also mainly applies to smaller, streamlined fish.
Plus some of them are schooling fish so you need groups of 6+. Does not leave room for much.
 
Ooh, that is a black skirt tetra. Also not suitable for 11g IIRC. Think it's like 15-20g for them. Chunky things!
 
I'd definitely do freshwater cause there is so many more options. The dwarf frogs like it warm, if that helps.
 
You should do weekly water changes anyways IMO c:
 
Very true the dwarfs you could have 2, maybe 3. Lots of personality though.
 
I wouldn't put khuli loaches in a tank this small either. Am not trying to be negative I promise! I have khulis in a 55 and they do laps around the tank.
Otos could work though and sometimes work with the puffers.
 
Personally I'd be going for micro fish such as mosquito rasbora or celestial pearl danios. Beautiful and small.
Think spotted blue-eyes (pseudomugil gertrudae) might be small enough as well but not 100% sure.
 
I look forward to reading your journal!

 

[Toaster]

That rule does not take everything into consideration. Such as their activity levels and how territorial they are. It also mainly applies to smaller, streamlined fish.
Plus some of them are schooling fish so you need groups of 6+. Does not leave room for much.
 
Ooh, that is a black skirt tetra. Also not suitable for 11g IIRC. Think it's like 15-20g for them. Chunky things!
 
I'd definitely do freshwater cause there is so many more options. The dwarf frogs like it warm, if that helps.
 
You should do weekly water changes anyways IMO c:
 
Very true the dwarfs you could have 2, maybe 3. Lots of personality though.
 
I wouldn't put khuli loaches in a tank this small either. Am not trying to be negative I promise! I have khulis in a 55 and they do laps around the tank.
Otos could work though and sometimes work with the puffers.
 
Personally I'd be going for micro fish such as mosquito rasbora or celestial pearl danios. Beautiful and small.
Think spotted blue-eyes (pseudomugil gertrudae) might be small enough as well but not 100% sure.
 
I look forward to reading your journal!

Yeah once I figure out exactly how many gallons I have to work with I can better figure out what kind of fish I can keep inside of it. I've been doing more research and I think a sump might be the best thing to use for a palladium instead of rigging my HOB filter to work with low water. I'm still trying to find a way to use it in the sump though! lol
 
I don't want to cut a hole in my tank so I might end up having two pumps for the sump which I don't know if that counts as a sump anymore or not.. Also if my HOB filter can pump the water from the tank to the sump it might be worth using that and it'll filter all of the water before hand. I have been reading though that HOB filters can be really bad unless you change the filters regularly.. If it doesn't work I'll leave space so I can add a hidden pump to the tank. The sump's outflow will obviously go to a waterfall too! I'm going to draw up some stuff on how I want it to look.
 
Once I get home tonight I'm going to take some pictures of what the tank looks like right now, and include some pricing for the materials I'm going to be buying. I'll post that in a new topic when I start my journal!

 

[Puffer_Nat]

I'm sorry I haven't read all of this (it's been a long day) but I just wanted to chip in about puffers. Figure eights are generally pretty chilled from all the stuff I've read in researching before getting mine and they're supposedly pretty accepting of tank mates too. However 11 gallons is not big enough for even one figure eight but maybe dwarf puffers might be an option. Puffers just have so much character

 

[Toaster]

I found some tutorials on how to cut and bend the plexiglass incase anyone is interested:
 
Bending plexiglass:
https/www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkpqfcg1W_o
 
Cutting plexiglass:
https/www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCeHx-vvJ7k

 

[Ninjouzata]

Honestly am not totally sure what sumps consist of Have not read up on them much!
 
You do not want to change the filter media regardless of filter you're using unless it is literally falling apart, and even then only a small amount at a time. The filter media is what contains majority of your bacteria.

 

[Toaster]

Started a journal over here:
 
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/431128-starting-my-own-paludarium-image-heavy/