my first paludarium attempt

[76brian]

Keep at it, you're making such great progress.

Thanks

[76brian]

I've been testing regularly and have never seen much ammonia. I did a small partial water change last night so I thought I'd test again tonight...

Even though it's only been 2 weeks, I thought it was good news...


but then...

The tanks been running with 4 zebra danios for nearly 2 weeks now. I haven't been feeding them lightly either. There's never been more than .25 ppm of ammonia (hard to tell with the colors if it even got to .25), and there's never been nitrite either.

Before you ask, I used prime in the water bucket before it went into the tank... 18gals of water estimated in the tank, I used a 3 gallon bucket with half a cap of prime. The fish are doing great, nicely colored and quite active, plants are growing, and the water is clear... but I don't get this at all. Do I have a magic filter? 

[76brian]

I'll be moving the fish and plants into my other tank and taking this apart. I think I used the wrong silicone. Apparently it has mold/mildew inhibitors, which is why I'm not getting the bacteria established... I knew better... but I wasn't paying close enough attention I guess. That's what happens when you're impatient!

I had done some re-arranging and decorating, and I was starting to like how it looked too. I guess I'll rebuild something like it at a later date. For now though, I fail.

[Greatwhite]

That sucks.   But - from my past experience, it's always better to try something once and fail - because the second time, it'll be AMAZING.

[sas]

That sucks.   But - from my past experience, it's always better to try something once and fail - because the second time, it'll be AMAZING.

Well said.
Good job that you realized your mistake early on.
We've all  made mistakes in this hobby, so you're not alone.

[76brian]

This "thing" is still up and running because I haven't yet found a new tank to move everything over to. The fish are doing well despite the fact the nitrogen cycle isn't happening... and the plants are all growing pretty good too. Water tests still indicate no discernible levels of toxins.

When I realized I made the silicone mistake, I decided shortly after that I would move the light/fish/plants/rocks/wood/substrate from this, along with the fish/plants/wood from my 20 long, all into a new tank... then I would use the 20 long for the shell dwellers I want. None of it can happen until I decide on a new tank for all the plants and fish I already have though.

I've been leaning towards buying a 40 breeder, hanging the light from the ceiling and leaving the top open for riparium plants above the planted aquascape. It may be hard to balance having surface plants and still allow the submerged plants to get enough light, but I have a 4x36" T5HO fixture so I definitely have enough light overall. Thankfully most of the plants I have are pretty undemanding, but I just don't have the knowledge to balance light and nutrients, etc. so it seems much more difficult to me. Maybe too much to learn here.

So on the other hand, part of me wants to forget the plants, because I suck at "aquascaping" as well. In this case I would go for a bit bigger tank, and when it's ready get some mid-size african cichlids (piling rocks is much easier than planting, amirite?!). Unfortunately I would then have about $150 worth of flourite and plants (and fish!) that are useless, and a really expensive light fixture that I won't need. I would definitely not get my investment back out of any of it. In addition to losing money on that, it would cost more to get going... however it may be more rewarding to me than the above setup (more colorful, active larger fish with some personality), and may be more sustainable for me long term.

Then again, yet another part wants to do saltwater with live rock, in which case my light fixture will be useful. I doubt I will do this, it's probably too expensive and too much effort... but it's on my mind and I think it might be the most rewarding of all of them in the end.

If I had the money (and the space!), I'd do it all lol ...but since I can't, I'm plagued by too many options and indecision at the moment. I wish I'd started out with a little bit more direction, but I jumped in head first. I'm enthusiastic about it, but I'm also impatient and I want it all now... I know that is not a good trait for this hobby, so I'm trying my best to make a wise decision on something I can sustain long term, both financially and effort vs reward wise.

Sorry for the wall of text but if anyone has words of wisdom on any of these ideas, I'm open to hearing it. That's why I'm here There are probably factors I'm not considering because I'm blinded by my impatience.

[exv152]

I've been leaning towards buying a 40 breeder, hanging the light from the ceiling and leaving the top open for riparium plants above the planted aquascape. It may be hard to balance having surface plants and still allow the submerged plants to get enough light, but I have a 4x36" T5HO fixture so I definitely have enough light overall. Thankfully most of the plants I have are pretty undemanding, but I just don't have the knowledge to balance light and nutrients, etc. so it seems much more difficult to me. Maybe too much to learn here.

I can assure you the 4x39W 36" T5HO bulbs are way too much light. Even if you hung the fixture 36" from the substrate, you would still have too much light. Are you able to cut that back to two bulbs instead of four? That would be much more inline with a med intensity light. Watts per gallon is not an accurate means of measurement with T5HO bulbs, you have to know what the PAR is, and I guess it would be somewhere above 100 micromols. Anything over 50 is considered high already. If you can't reduce the number of bulbs, try a T8, or a T5NO fixture if that's doable.

[76brian]

I can assure you the 4x39W 36" T5HO bulbs are way too much light.

Yep, I was warned about that already, but it's what I'm using above this tank and it's been on there for 3 weeks or so with no signs of problems yet. In this current setup it's only about 20" above the substrate.

I did however take steps to cut back the light output. I only run one bulb for 10 hours a day (39w 5000k flora-sun). There is a second bulb (39w 10,000k), but it is only on for 5 hours of the day in the middle of the 10 hour period. I also cut a piece of fiberglass window screen to the right size and laid it on the inside of the lexan shield inside the fixture (between the bulbs and tank). It cuts back on the brightness a fair bit. I will probably remove this screen and use both bulbs for about 7-8 hours a day if I go with the planted tank/surface plants option, but I'll seek out advice on that.

I know the it's WAY overkill, it's the AquaticLife unit with the timer system built in. The thing is I got it cheaper than I could have had a standard dual T5 fixture, and it gives me room to... "grow" if I ever want to do high tech or SW.

[76brian]

Are you able to cut that back to two bulbs instead of four? That would be much more inline with a med intensity light.

So you're saying that if two 39w T5HO lamps are 36" from the substrate, that's likely to be medium light?

I can go as high as 40" above the substrate but I'd much rather be lower.

What about the same two lamps, with window screen in front of them to cut back the intensity a bit, at lets say... 24" above the substrate? Obviously I'd need a PAR reading, but failing that, do you believe this would get me in the ballpark of "medium"? This will be for a different setup, I tore this tank down last night.

[exv152]

Actually two T5HO bulbs at 36" (regardless of the wattage) would be on the cusp of med-low, maybe even on the low end more. If you held the fixture 28" from the substrate, you'd be at about med-high, and around 20" it would be considered definitely high intensity. If you don't have a PAR meter you're better off just doing some trial and error attempts. As for a window screen, that's a great idea, but again it's a trial & error thing, but I would say you can definitely hang the fixture closer to the substrate. I personally prefer the look of an open top tank because of the aesthetic aspect.

As a side note, and from personal experience, I would aim for low light intensity in your case. With low light there is no need for any addition of CO2, whereas with med light you will run the risk of encountering issues with different sorts of algae, to varying degrees.  Best advice I can give anyone is to begin small and work your way up.

[76brian]

I definitely prefer it to be open also... that's what it will be, I just don't want the light too far above as I think it would spread too much light into the room and make it hard to see the tank. I would like the tank to be lit but the room to be darker.

Thanks for your input. I really wish I could buy or borrow a PAR meter, but I'll experiment a bit before I go to the expense of buying. I just wanted some confirmation I guess. I'm going to aim for 26" from the substrate to start off, but I'll use window screen. Based on what you're saying, I think that would get me in the high end of the 'low" range. I do want a few surface plants as well, so that will definitely cut back on the light under water.