Converting tank into a Paludarium....Maybe.

[Mudslinger14]

So I have a 125g tank that I want to do something different with.
I've thought about making it saltwater, as I have a reef tank already but wanted something bigger, but it would just be too expensive in the long run, and then I found paludariums...

Some things I wanted to know before I even got thinking about this though...
Mold. How to stop the humidity of roughly 70 gallons of water creating mold and fungi all over the land part of the tank?

Also, could I drain the tank one day, set it up the next and then put the fish back in?
I have fish in my tank that I want to keep and I was thinking of storing them in a 50g rubbermaid tub for the night (with my filter) and then putting that water back in the tank?

One more thing - Would a Fluval Fx5 work with this?

Any answers are appreciated

 

[ChrisLife]

Mold? Fungus? why would they be an issue? It might grow if the land portion is soil and is constantly wet, but other than that you should have no problem. I think you will be fine.

As for draining the tank it depends, you going to be cleaning the filter or substrate? how many fish etc, i would play it safe and just do it in one shot and plan well before, but you could try the 50g Rubbermaid container, this also depends on the type of fish. If you are going to put them back dont clean the filter and maybe just the substrate, but like i said it s hard to say without knowing kind of fish and how many.

 

[Fat Homer]

unfortunately i don't have time to write all the points out, but just as a heads up, a paludarium is something that takes a lot of time to setup, but if you do it properly then it will last you one heck of a long time before needing to touch it again...

All i can say is plan things out very carefully and think about things such as how you are going to cut the roots of the plants when they get too long and any other problems you may encounter and how you will solve the problem...

The last thing you want to do is rush it, so take your time and really plan it out carefully so you can avoid having problems later down the line...

 

[hydrophyte]

Riparium setups are a lot easier to put together than paludairums, and they are generally better for keeping fish.

For most kinds of paludiariums you would need a lot more time than an evening to build op the land portion, but you could hang up riparium plants in no time.