Nano Saltwater Paludarium?

[10MantisShrimps]

Finals are finished and I’m officially on spring break. I recently just found this bad boy in the basement (live in a townhome with a shared basement) and figured what would be a better use for it than…a stand for my aquariums. So I came to the conclusion that having a 20H completely full would probably be an extremely bad idea…but what if I did a paludarium? The thing is, I’m 100% certain that I want this tank to be saltwater. Ive set up paludariums before but they’ve all been freshwater, I’m honestly unsure as to how to go about making a saltwater paludarium. Please help! Photos are appreciated too :D

 

[Fish Fan]

Perhaps this will help :)

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/old-tenants-left-behind-a-wired-shelving-rack.1103016/

 

[vlangel]

I saw a saltwater tank that was set up as a peninsula with the substrate sloping from deep at one end to very shallow at the other end. They had a mangrove growing at the deep end with macroalgae growing down the slope. It was a beautiful tank and concept.
It's going to be tricky with a nano but instead of a gradual slope maybe you could make one end a planter with the substrate held back with a plexiglass retaining wall, (with rubble rock glued to it) and then plant your macroalgae everywhere else.

 

[fish farmer]

Search paludarium here. There was some recent posts of a large build.

Is it going to be covered or open? Plan on misting it frequently and search for salt tolerant plants. There are quite a few terrestrial plants that will work that aren't the mangroves. I personally wouldn't do a mangrove in a tank that small unless it was the showcase specimen.

Here's a link, in there is a link to my attempts.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/slope.640784/#post-6401819

 

[10MantisShrimps]

I saw a saltwater tank that was set up as a peninsula with the substrate sloping from deep at one end to very shallow at the other end. They had a mangrove growing at the deep end with macroalgae growing down the slope. It was a beautiful tank and concept.
It's going to be tricky with a nano but instead of a gradual slope maybe you could make one end a planter with the substrate held back with a plexiglass retaining wall, (with rubble rock glued to it) and then plant your macroalgae everywhere else.

Hmmm you just gave me an idea. I’ll have to see if I can do a rough sketch of it.

 

[10MantisShrimps]

Search paludarium here. There was some recent posts of a large build.

Is it going to be covered or open? Plan on misting it frequently and search for salt tolerant plants. There are quite a few terrestrial plants that will work that aren't the mangroves. I personally wouldn't do a mangrove in a tank that small unless it was the showcase specimen.

Here's a link, in there is a link to my attempts.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/slope.640784/#post-6401819

It’ll be open. Here’s the rough sketch I have now, planning on making a box to put into the back corner. I was unsure as to how to exactly sketch it but the bottom half of the box would be obscured by sand. That way the drainage layer and window screen will not be visible. Planning on using a combination of live rock and maybe black volcanic rock, and sand to build up the slope in the submersed side. On the emersed side I will probably be using gravel/black sand/lava rock or other inert dark colored rocks to build a slope going down in the opposite direction? Feel like driftwood would be a nice touch too.

This is the first thing that came to mind so I just sketched it out. will likely be adding tweaks to it.

 

[vlangel]

It’ll be open. Here’s the rough sketch I have now, planning on making a box to put into the back corner. I was unsure as to how to exactly sketch it but the bottom half of the box would be obscured by sand. That way the drainage layer and window screen will not be visible. Planning on using a combination of live rock and maybe black volcanic rock, and sand to build up the slope in the submersed side. On the emersed side I will probably be using gravel/black sand/lava rock or other inert dark colored rocks to build a slope going down in the opposite direction? Feel like driftwood would be a nice touch too.

This is the first thing that came to mind so I just sketched it out. will likely be adding tweaks to it.

Do you have enough space for a 20g ( 30" x 12" x 12") long tank? A longer tank might give you more space to work with.

 

[10MantisShrimps]

Do you have enough space for a 20g ( 30" x 12" x 12") long tank? A longer tank might give you more space to work with.

I should. Ive scaped smaller fw tanks so im going to try taking a similar approach by building up the slope/valley with mainly rock in both the submersed and emerged side. I would definitely have to use epiphytes in the land side in order for this to work properly though

 

[10MantisShrimps]

So…materials used will probably be

For the emerged side:

Coco coir for the back drop
Epiphytes: such as Java fern, air plants, English ivy, moss
Spray bottle to keep the salt creep to a minimum
Mini pieces of spiderwood
Black lava rock/black stones to help build the hill/valley
Plexiglass x5-6 debating on making a mini cover
Coarse sand and gravel, maybe crushed volcanic rock - white/off white and black
Sea grass???
Aquarium sealant

I’ll probably have this coming right up to the glass instead


Submerged side:
Lava rock/base rock to build up the slope/shoreline w/e lol
Live rock rubble
Algae
Sand (unsure if I should use crushed lava rock mixed with white to give a volcanic island effect)

Estimating the total cost to be around a whopping…$250 max for everything that I don’t already have on hand.

 

[Danny's Aquariums]

Finals are finished and I’m officially on spring break. I recently just found this bad boy in the basement (live in a townhome with a shared basement) and figured what would be a better use for it than…a stand for my aquariums. So I came to the conclusion that having a 20H completely full would probably be an extremely bad idea…but what if I did a paludarium? The thing is, I’m 100% certain that I want this tank to be saltwater. Ive set up paludariums before but they’ve all been freshwater, I’m honestly unsure as to how to go about making a saltwater paludarium. Please help! Photos are appreciated too :D

This is my saltwater paludarium, about 6 months old now :)

 

[10MantisShrimps]

This is my saltwater paludarium, about 6 months old now :)

Oh wow thats beautiful. Any advice as to how you’d go about doing that for a 20H? Thanks in advance!