Lighted Cave Scape

[Gilbotron]

Originally this was just supposed to be an experiment making a grassy hill, but I couldn't stand the thought of losing so much water volume in an already small tank (10g) so this quickly went off the rails and became quite an involved project with the addition of the cave.  What good is a cave if you can't see in it? So lights were added, then the interior was textured using thin slate (the cave is a plastic container).  Water flow was also a concern so I added an air pump, and a chimney at the top (pvc with rocks glued to it).  Taking a page from Errol's book I also frosted the back panel and added an LED backlight with dimmer (thanks Al!). 

The hill was built up using alot of plastic card cut into strips to make retaining walls, then the space underneath was filled with lava rock and sand to get it nice and compact.  I then dirted the whole thing and capped with small pea gravel (the path capped with crushed dark flourite).  In hindsight I should have used something more coarse/small than pea gravel as it does have a tendency to roll down hill.  Originally I wanted to try it with dwarf hairgrass but couldn't find any in time for this (and probably for the better as it might not have been strong enough to hold up the hill like the dwarf sag).

All in, I'm pleased with the result but it was a ton of work.  The true test will be time if the hill can retain its shape.  If the dwarf sag can out-grow gavity's levelling ability then it should be ok.  If not this will become a sludgy mess in no time given its dirted! 

Livestock will be a school of CPD's and some cherry shrimp.  Just waiting for plants to fill in some more getting this to be more Walstad-esque.  Its quite fiddly so trying to minimize need for water changes.

Cost: ~$50 for the lights and ~$20 worth of glue (seriously).  The rest was all scraps/supplies I had on hand and all the plants came from my other tanks.

[charlie]

First i want to thank you for sharing your joy and journey with us.
Great start! , look forward to the updates as the tank progresses .
Errol