New minnow project

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convict360

convict360

Goliath Tigerfish
MFK Member
Dec 9, 2013
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Scotland
Hi guys,

Thought I'd start this thread for a new mini project I've been mulling over, which involves changing my 20ish gallon long; into a sort of palladarium for white cloud mountain minnows.

Been messing around with layouts etc, with rudimentary stuff in the pic below.

My plan is to find out about egg crate, and how I might possibly build a land area; letting me explore a whole lot of different plants that are semi aquatic.

Conversely, I still like the idea of maximising the water surface area; so there may be a lot of going back and forth.

Tank background is painted black, still deciding whether cork bark might look better or not.

I am entirely new to this sort of set-up, so I can see it taking me a good while, and making some goofs en route.

Input is more than welcome :)

IMG_20151217_230306.jpg
 
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convict360 said:
Hi guys,

Thought I'd start this thread for a new mini project I've been mulling over, which involves changing my 20ish gallon long; into a sort of palladarium for white cloud mountain minnows.

Been messing around with layouts etc, with rudimentary stuff in the pic below.

My plan is to find out about egg crate, and how I might possibly build a land area; letting me explore a whole lot of different plants that are semi aquatic.

Conversely, I still like the idea of maximising the water surface area; so there may be a lot of going back and forth.

Tank background is painted black, still deciding whether cork bark might look better or not.

I am entirely new to this sort of set-up, so I can see it taking me a good while, and making some goofs en route.

Input is more than welcome :)

View attachment 1155303
Click to expand...
Much much much more plants...and if you decide on cork, attaching plants to the cork is easy. Think about how stuff grows in the wild and take pictures. Go on line and try to mimic the pros.
 
boldtogether said:
Much much much more plants...and if you decide on cork, attaching plants to the cork is easy. Think about how stuff grows in the wild and take pictures. Go on line and try to mimic the pros.
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm really keen on establishing the land area, plants will be key in this set-up; I really like pics such as the one below, but they look super complex lol

My next step may be to order some egg crate, then mess about with cutting it; possibly siliconing on which of course necessitates me emptying and drying the tank.

I've seen styrofoam DIY stuff, but I've never attempted that sort of thing

paludarium.jpg
 
convict360 said:
Yeah I'm really keen on establishing the land area, plants will be key in this set-up; I really like pics such as the one below, but they look super complex lol

My next step may be to order some egg crate, then mess about with cutting it; possibly siliconing on which of course necessitates me emptying and drying the tank.

I've seen styrofoam DIY stuff, but I've never attempted that sort of thing

View attachment 1155356
Click to expand...

I have attempted vivariums and paludariums in the past and the key I have found, but the ultimate awesome result eluding me, is to try and visualize it as a whole from start to finish. Often, I will see them and they look like everything was layered like making a cake...it has to look like a sliced off corner or bank of a river or lake. I have built many dioramas in my day and this is very similar. The hardest part was getting the soil/dirt/substrate to stay in a banked position without actually filling the sides with 8" of substrate.
The foam idea is what I have hears people do....but not styrofoam...foam "embankments" are sometimes used to hide the filter pump and actually act as both mechanical and bio filtration. The substrate can then remain relatively shallow.
Also, your idea for a cork bark background has merit and I have also seen bamboo, actual wood or tree roots and even slate. I think the key is to get "depthof field" by actually hiding most, if not all of the background. Then the lighting is key....directed lighting, in my opinion, is probably better than flood lighting because the shadows play to the realism as much as every other component.
You have made my creative grears begin to turn....hope to see more progress.
 
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convict360 said:
Hi guys,

Thought I'd start this thread for a new mini project I've been mulling over, which involves changing my 20ish gallon long; into a sort of palladarium for white cloud mountain minnows.

Been messing around with layouts etc, with rudimentary stuff in the pic below.

My plan is to find out about egg crate, and how I might possibly build a land area; letting me explore a whole lot of different plants that are semi aquatic.

Conversely, I still like the idea of maximising the water surface area; so there may be a lot of going back and forth.

Tank background is painted black, still deciding whether cork bark might look better or not.

I am entirely new to this sort of set-up, so I can see it taking me a good while, and making some goofs en route.

Input is more than welcome :)

View attachment 1155303
Click to expand...

BTW....are you sure that's a 20...ish gallon?
 
boldtogether said:
Seriously....that is a cool tank.
Click to expand...

It's mad, I'll get a pic later with my hand in to show the scale, or a can of coke lol; it does look huge in pics tho, I've had other people think it's a 75 and above lol.

When I ordered it, I wanted a suitable tank for aquascaping, so this one is definitely a good project type one lol
 
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