2.5ft (L) x 1.4ft (H) x 1.5ft (W) rocky paludarium journal

[lukielala]

the last looks of my 2.5ft tank's former "glory"




okays. so here's the plan. I'm going to do a "rock biotope" style of layout. There'll

be a so called "land" area where the rocks will be protruding out. There will also

be waterfalls. My stock list would include 2-3 red clawed crabs and 1 white

p.clarkii male and 2 orange p.clarkii female. I've already cleaned the tank down.

Forgot to take pics of the empty tank heh. will be posting photos of my tank

progress so far. Have added fake "rock" background on back and left hand

side. placed egg crates at the bottom to even out the rocks' weight. Egg crates

at the top to prevent any escapes. Weighted down with my light set. Light set

is a normal fluorescent light set that has 1 white daylight tube and 1 blue

moonlight tube. till tmr. Forgot to take pics while doing setup. now waiting

for the silicon to dry up. pics will be up tmr

[lukielala]

The caninsters im using. Dont bother about the co2 tank. It was used for my

previous setup. Im running one eheim 2215 filled with ehiem substrate, corase

filter sponge, fine filter wool and 1 x carbon pad. One boyu ef-05 filled with

coarse filter sponge, fine filter wool, ceramic rings, activated carbon. Both will

be used for fiiltration and the outflow as my waterfall .



Egg crates are used for weight distributions created by the rocks that I'm

going to place later. Egg crates are going to be placed at the top to prevent

any crabs or crays to escape. But that'll be the final step of this whole

setup.

[lukielala]

The lights that I'm using. 1 x 2.5 feet weipro light holder double tubes. 1 tube

is daylight, the other is moonlight. Tubes are just normal fluorescent tubes .

The second picture you see is when both moonlight and daylight are switched

on.

The background you is the 3D "rocky" background I got from Y618. Not made

from common styrofoam where you can see those rough dots all around.

They're made from synthetic styrofoam or something. I forgot the name of it.

[lukielala]

This is how the insides look like when cut.



The fan I'm running to maintain the temperature at 27-28 degrees. 2 x Ista

cooling fan large size .



My D.I.Y rainbar with the input for the pipe at the middle. This will be the

"long tube rain-style water fall".

[lukielala]

The sand that I'm going to be using for this setup. White fine sand. Cheap

and good.



The "equipments" that I am going to be using. A brush not too brittle not too

soft. I'm using those types that painters use.

[lukielala]

Look at how shiny the sand is!



Using the cup. I sprinkle the sand over the egg crate. Do not sprinkle the sand

till it covers the egg crate. Crayfish and crabs are diggers and because of the

rockwork, I want the rocks to rest on the egg crates and not the sand. This will

completely eliminate any possibilities of caving rock works due to sand digging.

So you sprinkle starting from the sides. Alittle at a time

[lukielala]

Try to stack the sand alittle up at the sides. When the sand is stacked. Using

the brush, you sort of "paint it" all over the egg crate. Spreading it finely. Think

of it like, making peanut butter and jelly sandwhich. Only this time you can eat

it.



So keep "painting" and pouring little cups of sand until you get it even out. Do it

slowly and dont pour the whole bag it. Taking sand out with eggcrates at the

bottom is harder then pouring it in. So play safe man.

[lukielala]

So when you're done. It will look something like this. I chose black egg crate

because of the colour contrast. Black n white. When you brush your palms over

the egg crate. You should feel the egg crate sticking out of the sand. Especially

at the areas where you rocks will be resting at.

[lukielala]

THE CREATION AND APPLICATION OF THE "D.I.Y LONG TUBE RAIN STYLE WATERFALL"

The waterfall rainbar was created by using rainbars from the eheim caninster

and Boyu caninster. A T-pipe was used to make the center placing rainbar

pipe inlet. A few pipe adjustments and siliconing were done due to pipe size

difference. The caninster running this "waterfall" would be the boyu caninster,

due to it's low flowrate; 150l/h. As you can see from the pics below the

rainbar is attached with the poor man's style. Using duct tape. Hehehe.

[lukielala]

Here you can see how it looks like when placed in the tank.





Here you can see how the piping will run.

[lukielala]

okay updates people. My rocks are still being treated with water after treated

with bleached water for one night. so you probably will only get to see them tmr

or something. Anyways, I've made a video without running commentary. It

shows the whole tank with all the pipings and stuff without the rockwork.

But first off, although I said I would do the cover as the final step. But heck

man, I got sick of lazing around so I went ahead and did the cover. Heh. It looks

good, sophisticated, "sci-fi" plus it's easy and fast to make too. Less then 30

mins. Oh and I added one more powerhead with flowrate of 600L/h to create circulation. Crays and crabs are messy eaters and good "waste producers".

I want my filter intakes at both end to be able to suck them in at the end of the day. HEH.

Okay here goes, I'll show the cover first.







As you guys can see from the pictures, I've "trimmed" holes that are kinda just

nice for my pipes to protrude out. In a way it allows my egg crate "tank cover"

to stay down, stay firm and still allow protection for my invertebrates by

preventing them to get a escape route.

[lukielala]

Following which, you can see here a full picture of how the whole tank cover

looks like.

[lukielala]

I'm sure you guys have noticed that gap at the egg crates "tank cover". Why

the gap? It's really simple. I just want my tank cover to be able to be lifted up.

So by using cable ties, I'll strap them together at various spots creating a nice

joint. Like this:

[lukielala]

After all of that is done, the tank cover will be weighed down by my lightset. As

egg crate is also a light diffuser it will also help to ensure that my light spread

will be even and nice around the tank. So from top view it'll look like this.

[lukielala]

Okay so in my first post, if you guys have noticed I said that all my filters'

output will be acting as a "waterfall". So how am I going to get a good water

circulation? My budget is tight as it is, so I went to dig out my powerhead which

has an astounding 600l/h for the size as it is. Im going to use it to act as a

wave maker. Here you can see it's temporary location.



It'll stay at that particular spot, but it'll be placed much higher. I'll be pointing it

around 45 degrees out so the circulation is good. It'll be hidden behind my rocks btw.

[lukielala]

To end this update, I'll be posting up a video of the tank before rocks are added

in. The tank cover is already in place. It's around a 4-5 mins video. You can see

all my fish equipments, filters, lights in action, background close up, sand, the

cover and all. Here it is:



Oh btw, It's my first time doing a video of my setup. So pardon the quality and

silent effect. HeheHEHe.

[lukielala]

Okay guys. Here's my first batch of rocks. They're pagonda rocks. I've taken

two sets of placement. Personally I prefer the second as the first ends too low.

My waterfall from that side comes out from my outlet at the tank's highest

point. I'll be building from bottom up, so this few days i'll be hunting for my "base

layer" rocks.





I won't mind if you guys have anything good or bad to contribute. Oh,

sorry ar, digi cam currently on use by my friend, so your eyes have

to blur blur for a few more days. HEHEHEHE

[lukielala]

Okay people, I've the rocks for my base pretty much done. I've filled in some

sand too. Guess I need another few more packs. The sand were sort of "poured"

in after I was satisfied with my base layer of my rock work.





The "base" layer of my rocks without the sand in.







The base layer of my rocks with my remaining sand from my first packet in.

Cheers! Guess my third batch of rocks would have to wait for quite some time.

My funds are running dry. hehehe.

[lukielala]

Okay "cray-nantics", I've my third batch of rocks in my tank already. Although I

said that my third batch would take some time, but hey I found a really good

deal by bro rainbow and now they're in my tank. Pics as below.









Cheers.!

[lukielala]

ladies and gentleman. First off, I would like to say, if you guys are considering to

buy any boyu external caninsters especially the low flow rate ones. I

recommend that you stay off them. It's not because their flowrate sucks, their

cannister sucks. It leaks, the self-priming is poor, the material is poor, start up is

not hassle free. Even a normal eheim classic line cannisters are easier to start

them this cannister. I know I am using the boyu EF-05 external caninster but I

am going to change it to a eden most probably. Anyways my tank is already up

and running today. Photos should probably be up tomorrow or the day after.

Got quite abit of bacteria bloom. I shall be nice and show you guys one teaser

picture of my right side waterfall.



Oh and I've decided to replace the red clawed crabs with Sulawesi shrimps.

So the final tank combo is 2-3 crays and 10-15 Sulawesi shrimps.