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“I thought you were just getting a SMALL tank” My 100g riparium

Aloe_Danielo

Seedling
Joined
14 Sep 2018
Messages
21
Location
Peak District
I’m incredibly indecisive. I spent a month building a 4ftx1ft tank with a custom 3D scape, background, cave system etc but didn’t like it so I ripped it all down and sold the tank.

I want bigger! I have six axolotl - Charles, Big Dave, Gary, Nigel, Steve and Tiny Tim. They’re fully aquatic salamanders that need floor space not height. The US sell lowboy tanks but you can’t get these in the UK. I stumbled across a 4ft square ex shop frag tank with sump and built in weir and convinced the OH to do the 7 hour round trip to pick it up for me!!

The whole idea behind this scape is to make the best environment I can for my lotls whilst also having a stunning living room centrepiece. I have a large cacti and succulent collection but have never delved into aquatic plants before so this is all a steep learning curve.

The drawbacks with axolotls:
No Co2
No ferts
No substrate courser than fine sand (can cause impaction)
The temp has to stay under 20 degrees
They’re stressed by intensive lights
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Here’s my first attempt. Pretty awful and with not many hiding places.


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The weir system in the centre if anyone is interested. It was really hard to find anything online about building a freshwater sump. I ended up having to solvent weld my own piping system :O

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I added a few more emergent plants including bromeliads and a peace lily

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Charles chilling on the thermometer. He also likes to watch tv.

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I went a bit gun ho and stuck a monstera in there for some much needed height. Friends and relatives are horrified and the parents in law asked if I’d got planning permission. I’m in love!!
I’ve also added a parlour palm and have a few pothos cuttings selotaped to the glass to root.

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I hated the moss pole so I stuck the bromeliads into it. I added calla lily, sweet flag and dwarf umbrella palm to the back left corner. The java ferns are pupping like crazy so I must be doing something right.

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The benefit of the weir system is that you never get any surface film :D

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There are also mollies and shrimp - the axolotls don’t take any notice.

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I’m still far from happy - there’s lots I need to do to get it close to the image I’ve got in my head.

I want to try a dwarf water lily and I’d also like to extend more plants up the walls to make a proper rainforest corner. I want the terrestrial section to be much bigger. I also have dreams of adding driftwood branches to the wall to continue the tree trunk/branches effect. Haha. Haven’t told the OH about that yet.
 
Looks great! Nice proportioned tank for doing this in too. I like the dappled under water look you get from lighting throw all your emersed growth too.
 
that's amazing, would love to do some sort of biotope in a tank like that
 
Really interesting, certainly stumps of food sticking out of the water are good for emergant growth. The wood stays moist, thus maintaining high humidity plants. Can the axlottle climb?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
You mentioned being somewhat reluctant to begin a journal ...

this is awesome :) :wideyed: :cool:

And it’s so nice to see a decent home for axolotl!

- I’d take out the moss ball & give it a good shake/clean - too much debris & the “moss” seems to suffer
(cladophora algae actually)


If the dwarf lily establishes it will easily remove every nutrient from the water (that your other plants might like) so I’d be inclined to sort out a basket/pot for it - you could try adding a thin layer of moss to the outside to disguise the basket etc
- choose a structured moss (see Tropica’s selection) rather than “java moss” which is very amorphous growth pattern
 
Wow great emersed growth on this tank!!

So rare to see Axolotyl in planted setups.
 
You mentioned being somewhat reluctant to begin a journal ...

this is awesome :) :wideyed: :cool:

And it’s so nice to see a decent home for axolotl!

- I’d take out the moss ball & give it a good shake/clean - too much debris & the “moss” seems to suffer
(cladophora algae actually)


If the dwarf lily establishes it will easily remove every nutrient from the water (that your other plants might like) so I’d be inclined to sort out a basket/pot for it - you could try adding a thin layer of moss to the outside to disguise the basket etc
- choose a structured moss (see Tropica’s selection) rather than “java moss” which is very amorphous growth pattern

Thank you and thanks for the heads up on the dwarf lily - I'll get working on a moss covered basket then :)

How do I keep the detritus down in the tank? I only cleaned the moss ball a few days before the pic and it quickly ends up looking dirty again. I use a turkey baster to pick up what I can and swirl up the surface grime whilst doing a water change. Everyone else has such pristine tanks! :drowning:
 
You can take the moss ball out & just swish in a bucket or run under tap water - see which works better

I suspect you have extra detritus from the combination of big “fish” and relatively low flow (I assume) - axolotl is much more mass than the mostly small fish you see in planted tank which also tend to significant flow

Check that your sump setup is removing/trapping most of the debris before returning water to tank

You might try daily small water changes with quick substrate vacuum for a week or so - that should give you a feel for what’s developing daily

Set up several moss on small driftwood, or stone pieces - this should be good at trapping debris & can be quickly rinsed
Choose “rough” wood/stone so moss attaches easily, just place a very thin layer of moss on wood, wrap with (lots) cotton thread (you can remove this in a few weeks, it will usually just break down & disappear over time but not sure I’d do that with axolotl), trim moss, then let it grow
Initially keep moss well trimmed so the lowest layer is green & healthy
(ADA videos usually show this technique)
 
Do you syphon for water changes? Just running the end of the syphon across the top of the substrate helps - works like a vacuum.
 
Thanks for the tips :) Nope so once a week I use a pump to pump the water out into my bath tub (about 50% or to the height of the pump). Then I use the pump to pump water from my kitchen sink into the sump and then turn the sump return pump on. I've tried and tried but I'm so useless with making a syphon - I can't do it! :arghh: Plus I really struggle lifting buckets of water. Any ideas?
 
I just syphon a bit to start with then empty the rest of the water, if you use a smaller diameter hose the bucket doesn't fill to quick so you've time to go around hovering. You could then just stick your pump in the bucket to empty it - no point lugging it around if you have a pump to hand :) There are a few ways to start a syphon - you can get one with a bulb in the hose you squeeze to start it, you can get a self starting one you shake up and down in the water, or you can hold the hose under the water so it fills, then pop your thumb over one end (keep the other end under water) and move it over the bucket before letting go. You can also suck on it but drinking tank water is icky so not my preference!
 
You might also like to look up the python water change system which is effectively a siphon started using the power of your tap water to which it attaches.

Have you heard of capillary matting? See James Wong's amazing tanks for inspiration for your walls of jungle!
 
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