# Riparian rhapsody (paludarium)



## TOO (26 Jan 2018)

Hi all,

Long time since I was active here. I have been working on this Riparian rhapsody since the summer. "Rhapsody" because it is composed of so many different plants and elements. It has not been until the last months or so that the back has completely greened up with mosses, ficus, and an epiphytic fern. There is Riccardia, several species of moss (including the beautiful Fissidens "Miroshaki"), three species of Anubias, some crypts, Persicaria (the stems), Salvinia natans. I have not attempted to grow anything submersed because I work with just a thin layer of sand as substrate. At the moment there is a group of Corydoras trilineatus and a group of Aplocheilus parvus (seen towards the end of the video). Water is pure RO, for the fish, but mainly to avoid limescale buildup on glass, plants, and wood.

I hope you like it and feel free to ask any questions.

Video was taken with my Iphone, and handheld, so not top quality.



Thomas


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## Tim Harrison (26 Jan 2018)

Looking great Thomas, and good to see you back.


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## Edvet (26 Jan 2018)

Looking good!
Got some more info and/or pics of the build?


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## mort (26 Jan 2018)

Really like it. Would be interested in how you did it as well.


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## Smells Fishy (26 Jan 2018)

What's your filtration like?


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## alto (26 Jan 2018)

Fantastic


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## Nelson (26 Jan 2018)

Thinking of doing one myself this year.


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## TOO (26 Jan 2018)

Hi all,

Thanks for your interest, much appreciated.

I forgot to say the tank is 75x50x60. It has been used as a frog vivarium earlier. See here:

https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/dart-frog-vivarium.40566/#post-440463

I use an old ADA light with 2x36w. Filtration is just an air sponge. I have a misting system I used when I had frogs. It goes on for 5x20 seconds during the day. The background is a cork plate. 

For a while I had peat as substrate. The sand looks a bit clinical for my taste and normally I also have more leaves there, but just tossed out a lot during cleaning. However, with corys fine sand is a must in my view.

It is really nice to work with this kind of set-up, everything (almost) grows nicely and no reason to worry about algae. Super low maintenance.

And then there is just something strangely attractive about watching fish from above. I am guessing it is because this is the "natural" view point.

Thomas


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