# 4 Tanks - All COnnected, All Natural !?



## Capt. RI (Feb 7, 2006)

I am designing a 4 tank setup now for my fiance's classroom. The idea is as follows. 

Tank 1- 50 Gallon- Terrarium 1/2 water 1/2 earth (frogs/turtles)
Tank 2 - 10 gallon - breeding tank (mollies)
Tank 3- 10 gallon - clams in substrate (mollusks)
Tank 4 - 20 gallon Long - Planted tank 

The tanks would be connected horizontally and the returned water after exiting the planted tank would enter the 50 gallon a bit higher than the level of the 10 and 20 gallons to mimic a waterfall. The idea is to have a freshwater ecosystem in front of these childrens eyes. I am thinking too that since the 50 gallon is half full with water, the threat of it over filling from a clog somewhere will be nill since it has capacity. I believe if I slowly introduce species, I should be able to meet the needs of the system with only the biological filtration of the planted tank. Any thoughts, suggestions or guidance is always welcome.


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## yoink (Aug 31, 2005)

What is the plumbing going to look like? Are all the tanks going to be drilled with overflows and returns? I don't think a 20 gallon el natural tank will be able to cope with the bioload from all those tanks, especially if you have turtles.


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## czado (May 26, 2005)

Agree you need more plant mass. Perhaps consider a high volume tub instead of tank 3, so you can increase water volume, run an emergent plant filter, and keep the clams. Akin to DataGuru's plant filter. Could mess with photoperiod among tanks too.

If I remember correctly, many frogs leech toxins that affect fish. Maybe all that water volume will help. Something to consider.


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## Capt. RI (Feb 7, 2006)

*A little more info...*

Yes, the tanks will be plumbed to one another 3/4'' from the top of each tank. The final tank, 4, would drain about 4" down from the top of the tank to a pump that would return the water to the terrarium and the cycle would start again. I would also populate the other tanks with plants as well, so there would be 3 lightly planted tanks and one heavily planted. The toxins and turtle waste issue will need to be addressed. Maybe other vertebrates would need to be investigated for the terrarium. Many thanks fellow members!


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## JERP (Feb 4, 2003)

The turtles will take care of the frog problem. Toxins aren't a problem with aquatic frogs like firebellies and the like. I've had paludariums with both frogs and fish.

I would recommend Swordtails or Platies over Mollies. Mollies are really more of a brackish fish. Swordtails are nice because kids can easily tell males from females, not that mollies are much harder. IME Swordtails and Platies are more resilient than Mollies.

Whatever fish you get, keep them homogenous so they have pretty kids. Then your fiancee can sell the swords back to the store to buy food and supplies. Unless of course, you plan on feeding the mollies to the turtles.


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## schaadrak (Aug 18, 2006)

I would suggest newts or salamanders for the paludarium and nix the turtles. Maybe even FW crabs or crawfish, though I'm not sure how they would get along woth frogs.


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## sb483 (May 29, 2006)

Capt. RI said:


> Tank 1- 50 Gallon- Terrarium 1/2 water 1/2 earth (frogs/turtles)
> Tank 2 - 10 gallon - breeding tank (mollies)
> Tank 3- 10 gallon - clams in substrate (mollusks)
> Tank 4 - 20 gallon Long - Planted tank


Just a thought: maybe you could combine Tanks 2, 3, and 4 together, either by putting the mollies and clams in the 20 gallon or (preferably) getting a larger tank for plants, clams, and fish. Unless you're interested specifically in the idea of "separating out" an ecosystem, I don't see what you would get by keeping fish _outside _of the planted tank.


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## JERP (Feb 4, 2003)

sb483 - That's a thought. He could have one 100G tank with glass dividers to seperate the ecosystem. Then you could keep the plumbing to a minimum.


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## sb483 (May 29, 2006)

JERP said:


> I've had paludariums with both frogs and fish.


What I really want to know is how you did this:-k 
Did you just have an ultra-steep slope, where the high end was above water? Seems like this would level out after a while, unless you were constantly reshaping it or you held it in place somehow. Describing this setup would help the Capn out quite a bit.


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## Capt. RI (Feb 7, 2006)

Seeing what Dataguru did with the tub-o-plants, I would prefer to keep the costs down with having the planted only tank (biological filter) be a tub of emergent plants. All the other tanks would have their share of plants; emergent in the terrarium, stem plants with the platies/swordtails/mollies, and stems with the clams (as long as they stay rooted with the ever moving clams). The idea with the multiple tank setup is the ability for a teacher to experiment with the system, and maybe bypass the clams for a day to show students how well they filter water when clouded with food dye for instance. This setup also makes breaking the system down at the end of the year for summer a bit easier (this setup will have a life span of 9 months a year).


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## Capt. RI (Feb 7, 2006)

By the way, I should be calling this a paludarium, not a terrarium.


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## DataGuru (Mar 11, 2005)

Interesting idea. 

Here's an article from a guy in our aquarium club who chained several rubbermaids together.

The 20 gallon plant filter and the potted plants in the 55 appear to be handling the fish load in the 55 gallon cichlid tank. I've been bad and haven't tested the water, but the plants and fish appear happy. Last week I sold 15 fry and my red top zebras partially cuz the opportunity arose and partially I've been worried it's overstocked. There are around 11 full grown yellow labs, 4 azureus, some juvie labs and a bunch of fry now.


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## JERP (Feb 4, 2003)

sb483 - I siliconed a 10-12" glass divider almost vertical in the tank. I then piled gravel, rock and soil on either side. The glass really wasn't visible. I put the glass in at a slant from front to back to have more transition/beach area. This was 15 years ago, so I can't remember the exact details. I had a mini submersable heater and a Fluval 2 minifilter.


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## flagg (Nov 29, 2004)

Paludariums are awesome! I have a 90 gal tank sitting in my garage (I know, I know, such a waste!!!) that I have no room for in my current apt. However, after my future wife and I buy a house I'm gonna set it up as an NPT paludarium to create an amazon habitat. It'll probably end up with about 20 gal of water so that will house some small tetras or maybe a pair of dwarf cichlids. The land/aerial part of the tank will be home to poison dart frogs and bromeliads, orchids and other SA tropical plants. Somehow I want to design a system that will simulate rain (other than me pouring water in w/ my watering can). Anyway, I'm interested to see how your tank turns out. The idea of plumming a couple of tanks together would be pretty cool. You could have a whole display and create almost a large microcosm. 

Good luck, and definetly keep us posted!

-ricardo


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

I think that one large tank could do the filtration for the other 3. Maryland Aquatic Nurseries (David Schuucks) promoted the "7% solution" for the pond folk. A small heavily planted pond just for plants (the 7%) purifies water for the main, much larger pond with the Koi (the 93%).

I set something like this up for my sister and it worked beautifully.

The key is good light and emergent plants. Here's where you can throw in house plants, bamboo plants, etc.

I'd love to hear how this setup turns out.


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## Capt. RI (Feb 7, 2006)

I have purchased a laundry tub (the type with rope handles) and a bunch of pothos and peace lilies. My fiance has these plants in the pots now and is introducing the idea of growing plants in water and what plants need in order to survive. I will get the tanks situated shortly and cut and fill them. Then the students will get to read Diana's book to decide what to do with the tank. We are using her book as the text for the club, Planted Aquarium Design and Maintenance. I will keep everyone up to date


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## czado (May 26, 2005)

Good luck!


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

This is a cool idea, let us know how it works out!


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## onemyndseye (May 12, 2006)

neat project... I also am very interested to see how this unfolds.

I dont know how much this will help.... but its what came to mind when I read this. This is a Thread where me and DataGuru discuss different ways of exporting nitrates using plant filters and the like.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...569-wet-thumb-forum-denitrification-in-a.html

Hope this helps..
-Justin
One Mynds Eye


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