What do you guys think of a saltwater paludarium? With a beach setup and foam baffles covered in silicone to hold back water from the plants. This sound like a good idea?
Saltwater Paludarium?
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BeltedCoyote
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This is actually something I’ve been thinking about ever since I’ve know what a paludarium is
OP
OP
I think it’d be cool to do like, live rock with foam in between the sides to make the baffle and then cover that in silicone and press sand into the silicone. Then have more lagoon themed fauna and then land hermit crabs or fiddler crabs. Maybe even make a tide pool or something.
BeltedCoyote
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Interesting idea. Look into a step down tank. I think this would work well for your idea.
OP
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Which I’ve planned out an idea for with a reservoir and two pumps. But one wouldn’t be necessary
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OP
I couldn’t, I’m sixteen and on a tight budget lol
OP
OP
That’s the issue. I’d say spraying down the tank with RODI water daily but that could only take care of so much. Also what is the source of the tidal zone smell? Bacteria/mold/fungus I’m guessing?
Breadman03
Valuable Member
There was a reef I saw either here or on ReefCentral that may have some good info. It was maybe 40-60 gallons and had an island in the middle that I think was planted. Here are a couple you might take inspiration from. There might be some good tidbits in the comments.
fish farmer
2500 Club Member
I've tried it..salt creep kills.
I still have my tank setup, it was a middle island tank between my reef and sump. 65 gallon reef ready tank with the overflow chopped down to 10 " maybe, filled with 3 to 4 inches of sand and the back stacked with rock and planted areas. It has three mangroves which are heavily pruned and wired.
It is now separated from my DT and running on its own wet/dry filter. I'm slowly converting it to some type of brackish system with the intent of keeping the salinity high enough for live rock to still function as well as some marine snails. I may add molly's, shrimp or killies. I hoping that the lower salinity will help with letting some plants survive better. I have a couple of shore species I plan to work with, but there are many temperate/tropical plants that are salt tolerant and easily purchased locally. Do a search for salt tolerant plants for beach landscaping.
Definitely have a dry contained area for planting where you can easily change out plants/soil. I set my tank up like the typical freshwater paludarium with back "drip wall" concept....My ATO made a water fall that kept moss alive and it grew really well and spread in the first year.
I think using a step down tank design is the way to go if you wanted to have corals. I've though a cheap idea is a planted tank/area next to a marine tank with the rock cascading into the main tank. You couple probably take the end off of a standard tank and add a short section of glass for your planted area. Then have this next to the main tank or toward the back if you want it to look more like a regular terrarium. I think having the two tank idea is good for two different lighting options, one for plants and one for corals and would have the planted area further away from the salt.
Also I know mangroves are awesome but...they are trees and they grow big and slow, eventually they will grow out of the aquarium. I prune the heck out of mine and they shade half of the aquarium now. I would rather have some cool jade tree(salt tolerant) in a pot that I can easily keep control of and take out when I want to try something else.
I'll post a link or some pictures in a bit, I have some info on a thread here somewhere.
salt tolerant plant lists
www.pubs.ext.vt.edu
I think this link is the most up to date I have on this forum regarding this topic.
www.reef2reef.com
I still have my tank setup, it was a middle island tank between my reef and sump. 65 gallon reef ready tank with the overflow chopped down to 10 " maybe, filled with 3 to 4 inches of sand and the back stacked with rock and planted areas. It has three mangroves which are heavily pruned and wired.
It is now separated from my DT and running on its own wet/dry filter. I'm slowly converting it to some type of brackish system with the intent of keeping the salinity high enough for live rock to still function as well as some marine snails. I may add molly's, shrimp or killies. I hoping that the lower salinity will help with letting some plants survive better. I have a couple of shore species I plan to work with, but there are many temperate/tropical plants that are salt tolerant and easily purchased locally. Do a search for salt tolerant plants for beach landscaping.
Definitely have a dry contained area for planting where you can easily change out plants/soil. I set my tank up like the typical freshwater paludarium with back "drip wall" concept....My ATO made a water fall that kept moss alive and it grew really well and spread in the first year.
I think using a step down tank design is the way to go if you wanted to have corals. I've though a cheap idea is a planted tank/area next to a marine tank with the rock cascading into the main tank. You couple probably take the end off of a standard tank and add a short section of glass for your planted area. Then have this next to the main tank or toward the back if you want it to look more like a regular terrarium. I think having the two tank idea is good for two different lighting options, one for plants and one for corals and would have the planted area further away from the salt.
Also I know mangroves are awesome but...they are trees and they grow big and slow, eventually they will grow out of the aquarium. I prune the heck out of mine and they shade half of the aquarium now. I would rather have some cool jade tree(salt tolerant) in a pot that I can easily keep control of and take out when I want to try something else.
I'll post a link or some pictures in a bit, I have some info on a thread here somewhere.
salt tolerant plant lists
Trees and Shrubs that Tolerate Saline Soils and Salt Spray Drift
Concentrated sodium (Na), a component of salt, can damage plant tissue whether it contacts above or below ground parts. High salinity can reduce plant growth and may even cause plant death. Care should be taken to avoid excessive salt accumulation from any source on tree and shrub roots, leaves...
I think this link is the most up to date I have on this forum regarding this topic.
Growing plants in a reef tank?
I've seen some tanks (such as the iconic tank of Wawawang) where there are air plants and succulents growing in crevices of the rockwork that's out of the water. How do they get this to work? Source: Nano-Reef
www.reef2reef.com
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