Paludarium Waterfall Ideas

fish_4_all

I didn't know where to put this so if it needs to be moved, have at it.




The pictures show the idea. A pump will bring water to the top where the water "falls" to the lower compartments. The lower set would be set forward a little to allow room for plants to grow. The idea is to make the sections deep enough and large enough to support different species of plants in their own little cube. The water flows through all of them down into the fish tank and then starts all over again. Dosing is done in the tank with fert tabs placed under species that need it.

I can't decide if it would be best to make a waterfall out the top of the side down to the next cube or to have it come from the bottom of the cube so that each cube is "wet" but not "holding" any water. The substrate would either be Fluorite red or some other nutrient rich substrate that will stay put with the waterflow.

Anyone have comments or suggestions on this idea?

Alexis

I can't see anything but the grids.

The Pond Digger

My thought would be to have the waterfalls spill form one cube to the next but I'm a little waterfall crazy as I'm sure you know.

Have you done any specs on pumps? How big will the cubes be?

Sincerely in Ponds,

fish_4_all

The size of the cubes will all depend on the size of the tank I am going to run it above. A 10 gallon would have rather small cubes where a 55 would have pretty big ones and possible many more.

As for the size of the pump, it also depends on the sizew of the setup but also will be small enough that a waterfall off each cube is only strong enough that it doesn't dig holes in the places it hits. The last ones will also be right on top of the water so that any CO2 dissolved from bacteria in the pods will not be lost from splashing and the tank willmost likely have CO2 injection anyway.

What would you recommend as far as size and would you put a completely submersible pump in or use one that only needs tubing in the water and to the top of the waterfall?

For recommendations, I would say the cubes are 6 inches long, 4 inches wide and 4 inches deep. Just for a frame of reference. The ratio is going to be about the same ragardless of the tank size.

fish_4_all

The more I think about it, the more I feel that there needs to be a catch cube at the bottom instead of an aquarium. Too many factors with root tabs under the plants, water running over the substrate, water levels dropping too low and others that a tank is really not the best idea. Not until I can figure out the basics anyway.

Any suggestions on substrate, plant choices, how to keep the humidity high enough for emersed plants, any pump size ideas, anything?

bettababy

Cool idea, we have a set of "cube tanks" at our store here, they are 3 tiered cubes and 1 feeds into the other. With good lighting and plenty of water changes regularly, it grows everything like weeds. It was set up to show the ecosystem of a natural riverbed. The top cube feeds to the one below it, and so on... and with this running, the bacteria takes care of the filtration by itself. If the water starts at the bottom and has to work it's way up, it will put more strain on the pump, and it will also tend to send "muck" to the higher tank, where it will settle instead of running back down to the bottom tier. It is the course of sediment distribution as in a natural riverbed. The tanks I am speaking of are 3 seperate tanks, side by side with drain pipes to connect them. If I get to the store again soon, I'll try to get a pic of the set up for you. I always had a lot of fun playing with that setup. We ran CO2 into the top cube, and although we had to deal with a bit of hair algae, it was well worth it until we got it regulated properly.
As for plants... that will depend on the size tank you end up going with, and also the type of lighting you're planning to provide, and where that lighting is located, how high up above the tank, etc. Same thing goes for pump size... better to decide for sure what size tank you're planning before trying to determine the filtration, circulation, and lighting. Tank size will say it all.

fish_4_all

Well I am going to start with the smaller one I drew. I am going to go with cubes that are 8x6x4deep. The lighting will be more than bright enough, probably 2, 20-24 inch shop fixtures over the top and a little in front to light the whole thing. I think the bottom will likely be a custom tray that is about 8 inches deep, 8 inches wider than the top and probably 14 inches wide so there is lots of room for plants down there also. If I was top put a tank under it it would be a 10 gallon but I don't think I am ready to attempt that yet. Could always put one under there later. The bottom weill have a back chamber that is filtered to prevent mulm and gunk from being umped to the top.

The bottom is going to a place to attemp submerged to emersed growth right out the top.

So overall size:
Top: 48wide x 12deep x 18-24 tall.
Bottom: 56long x 8 deep x 14wide