Aquarium conversion

[Longroots]

I've picked this aquarium up for £5, which I'm very excited about. I had initially thought of landscaping the floor but leaving the back bare of this aquarium, but now I've been seeing what this aquarium has, like very convenient ledges for me to place a pump, and create a waterfall, I'm considering going full on and using foam to scape a back.

I have some led light strips (6500k) to use and plan to grow Dracula and Masdevallia in here primarily. The gap at the top will be very convenient for adding a cheap computer fan to aid movement, which I doubt I'll need 2 for such a small tank (12"h x 12"w x 9"d).

The plan is to have a bottom layer of LECA in a capillary matting and create a bag that will hold it all, hide the LECA substrate and wick water whilst hopefully inhibiting algae growth. This matting will be glued to some aquarium wood and have live Sphagnum Moss growing on it, with orchids attached the moss and wood. The wood is pretty thin, 2 inches wide max, a circumference of about 5".

The back will be sculpted out of Polyurethane foam, and I'll attach some Coir to it as it dries, perhaps strips of capillary matting going up the foam also to water the back as I may want to attach plants to the back also. In the top left is where the waterfall will come down, and it'll stay mostly on the back left corner. I'll shape the LECA bag to have a dip in it to create a pool, the pump water extractor will be in the bottom right corner, behind the foam, and suck it to the top and through the black plastic tray holder thing.

I've also attached a VERY rough sketch (drawing and writing is truly a weak point of mine). The LECA substrate will be 2" deep, the planned waterline will be 1", maybe 1.5" if the pump struggles. Ignore the bottom pump, that's where the pipe will extract water from. The waterfall will be 1.5" in from the left (that's where the aquarium pump hole is, and be 2" wide, I may have a rock where it splits into 2 streams if my designing skills allow it. The foam will be 2.5" thick as to not lose too much space for plants, with coir and naturalised ledges it'll peak at perhaps 3".

The bottom will be covered with orchid bark to hide the capillary matting.

Any thoughts, better materials to use or obvious design flaws to anyone would be appreciated!

[tmoney]

sweet! your plan sounds awesome and i definitely want to see some progress pics!

[SADE2020]

woow, I love it!!! is going to be great. I am super fan of Masdies and Dracs.

Have you thought about using Hygrolon instead of coco pee? I don't care to use degradable material, except moss with the masdy and dracs. I experience that Pee brings things ... fungi, little creatures.

I have a tank with the back cover exactly as you mentioned, but the rest of the tanks are pee free and for me has worked better.

[Longroots]

The capillary matting is basically hygrolon Sade. If I can buy enough moss then perhaps I can not use coir. Instead I could set some cork bark into the foam also for more colour difference. I wanted a low light bulbo, the same as Masdies and dracs to grow on the floor of the tank. I will have a lava rock which will wick water up which will maybe have a Lepanthes on it but to waste the floor would also be a shame. Ideally a Bulbo thats flowers don't reach for the stars also and ramble too much. Not sure if anyone can think of any species?

[SADE2020]

Ups, sorry , didn’t get the capillary matting, new word in my vocabulary.

Ok, so sound exiting and that you have it all on your your mind already.

What size is it, because with the dracs you’ll need at least 20 cm above and 20 to the bottom. Except for the D. Lotox, no?

[Longroots]

I actually plan on putting my Lotax in there. I'm going to research some shorter spiking Dracs becuase I know their spikes are going to be a little annoying. Alternatively, I could position it so that a 270 degree angle of spike direction would be ok for the plant, however the other 90 degrees would unfortunately spike into a wall or the floor. Perhaps in the back or front right corner?

Also with a fan, the glass shouldn't have any condensation so if the spike hits the glass then it still shouldn't rot

[Longroots]

[update]

If sculpted everything and done everything. I'm awaiting some moss and some orchids that hopefully arrive tomorrow!

However, in my stupidity I have not been washing my hands thoroughly enough and rinsing soap off. The small waterfall is producing small amounts of sud-induced bubbles. It's nothing crazy but it does get pretty bulbous if left for a few hours. What concerns me the most is I have been using cappilary matting to transport moisture around, which will have small amounts of residue from my hands soaked in.

Will these suds degrade and dissapear over time? Will the orchids and moss be ok if the matting has a small amount soap residue? If it's a big issue, how shall I flush it all out?

The image is after I removed 2 large tablespoons of bubbles.

[SADE2020]

Originally Posted by Longroots

[update]


Will these suds degrade and dissapear over time? Will the orchids and moss be ok if the matting has a small amount soap residue? If it's a big issue, how shall I flush it all out?

The image is after I removed 2 large tablespoons of bubbles.

You can add a tablespoon of vinegar to try to kill the soap

[Longroots]

I'll try that in a bit then. In going to be growing Masdevallia and Dracula in there which are notorious for there dislike for anything but pure water, do you see any problems arising with them?

[SADE2020]

But the plants won't be touching that water, do they?

a bit of soup won't damage much, it actually uses to treat pets. In the other hand, vinegar will give acidity, if the PH is below normal because of the soap could be even good. But forget all these chemical things... before that. How that water will be used? it will irrigate the plants? I suppose no, it is just to create humidity, right?