Cherry Shrimp Lagoon: Exo-terra 18x18x24h (Forwarned: Pic heavy!)

[edgeofthefreak]

Concept: Small circular lagoon terrarium, four parts terrestrial, one part aquatic.

Stripped and resealed the bottom portion of silicone for an Exo-terra 18x18x24h. Without any decoration, at highest possible water volume, gives just over 5 US gal for a pool. In the back right, a column for outgoing water to the filter is siliconed to the sides. Three areas are fortified with a mesh material, and will be the only exposed areas.

Closeups showing cable ties to keep the tighter mesh material flush with the light diffuser panel.

Three cans of "Pond and Stone" Great Stuff spray foam to cover all three sides, careful to create crude ridges, ledges, and crevices where possible. Most important is the waterline, a specific outward bulge that will create some dark areas near land. Moss will be growing from these surfaces, and can creep into the terrestrial portion, but also continue to grow into water. Next is the waterfall on the left, which needs to be able to carry most of the water down into the pool without creating a major current.

Spray foam takes a long time to fully cure. During that time, I took the opportunity to order some moss from a local online provider for dart frog supplies. This moss looked relatively generic at first, but there were about 5 varieties. Each of these have flourished in the viv.

I ended up keeping the moss in containers for about a month or longer while the rest of the background was being carved. This was achieved primarily with my rotary tool and a series of different attachments. Black foam dust is actually quite heavy and vacuums quite easily. I tried to keep the natural shape of any ridges, and kept in mind the flow of water for both the waterfall, and the dripwall down the back and right side.

I'm using a product called Spyra, by Folius, for the pool area. This is a water wicking fabric, and moss can adhere safely to it. Gorilla glue and pins, holding in place to ensure some water and moss will be directed onto land. There will be no soil in this vivarium at any time, so water is free to go wherever it pleases.

Once carving is finished, I began to use an additive-free grout to create rocky textures throughout. I added black acrylic paint, to give variety and contrast, but chose against using any other colours to enhance the rock effect. This grout covers about one third of the foamed surface area.

The waterfall and dripwall are both coming off a Turtle Clean 15 canister filter meant for turtle tanks. They can pull water up a great distance, and in this case, more than 24". The pump is at the very top, and sends the water back in the vivarium with a short 8" return tube of the same diameter. It splits immediately, half going to the waterfall, and the other half is sent down tubes that go around the top, and are foamed into place.

After a successful first water test, with all plumbing working as hoped, I moved onto the substrate phase.

 

The rest of background material is two parts peat moss, one part dried green moss, which itself was a mixture of two or three different mosses. This was all put into a blender, and turned into a very fine substance. In small patches of about 4" square, Gorilla Glue was spread out using a cheap black foam paintbrush. After 5 minutes, I generously heaped the substrate onto the glued area and pressed down firmly. This phase took almost as long as the carving phase, for the small patches. After about 5 minutes working time, Gorilla Glue begins to become very tacky and is about to cure. In a larger patch, the first part would be curing before the end is getting tacky. This stuff doesn't spread very fast, moves like honey, and sticks to nearly everything. It expands 3 times during the curing process, so once it becomes tacky, it will grab onto the dry peat moss mix easily. Gorilla Glue is also fully waterproof, so this is a perfect application for a dripwall.

I was able to add plants after the background had cured, which was just 24 hours after the last patch.

This is the waterline showing where moss will wick up from the pool onto land. I chose a lighter coloured gravel to simulate a river bed, but in hindsight, my shrimp would be more visible (thus more comfortable) on something dark like Fluval Stratum. I've since added small round black stones, and the shrimp seem to swim from rock to rock during the day. Both of those Anubias pictured are sparkling clean now.

This is a very short .gif of the dripwall at the base, dripping into pool.

I let the entire tank cycle for about 2 months before adding shrimp, and there are no other animals in the tank, aside from microbacteria. There was a decent amount of algae at that time, much of which is now long gone. The java moss is starting to take over, and needs a trim, but that's where many of the shrimp spend the daytime and graze off it. I feed with Omega One Shrimp and Lobster for now, so I need to pick out some different foods and treats at some point. I don't feed them too often, as they seem to prefer the tanks natural nutrients anyway.

 

Thanks for reading! I encourage questions and comments!

I have terrific water test readings, though I don't test for TDS. I've had some successful molts but no one is berried just yet. Only been a few months, so I know I have some time for that.

[Soothing Shrimp]

Wow!

[Wygglz]

So cool!

[PlantDude]

Amazing work! I'd love to see more pictures.

[seaj]

That's really nice! I'm a sucker for mossy walls. I'd like to make something similar for my micro mini sinningias. There are also plenty of miniature orchids that would be happy in one of those too. Any IDs of the plants you already have in there? Maybe some small drosera or pinguicula if you can provide them with pure water.

What are you using for a light? I know those screw in Jungle Dawn LEDs bulbs are popular.

[edgeofthefreak]

Thanks for the likes everyone!

41 minutes ago, seaj said:

That's really nice! I'm a sucker for mossy walls. I'd like to make something similar for my micro mini sinningias. There are also plenty of miniature orchids that would be happy in one of those too. Any IDs of the plants you already have in there? Maybe some small drosera or pinguicula if you can provide them with pure water.

What are you using for a light? I know those screw in Jungle Dawn LEDs bulbs are popular.

I'd like to get a few mini orchids in the stone wall, where the ventilation is. Something that likes to be wet near constantly.

The two orchids I have are a Dendrobium (right hand side) and an Oncidium (left hand, above the waterfall). The little pinkish green looking plant between them is just a Tradescantia, but I've had them as dry or soaking wet, and they do great. It's actually about ten times as big already... might get a bit big for the viv.

For lighting, I have a Finnex Planted+ 24/7 for full spectrum, and a pair of First Rays Orchid LEDs. One of those is on from 9am-4pm (and powers another LED for a cactus terrarium), and the other is on from 11am-6pm. This gives a super bright daytime, but a much cooler night. The moss and orchids are loving it so far. I'll reduce the 11-6 light, and eventually be able to take it away.

1 hour ago, PlantDude said:

Amazing work! I'd love to see more pictures.

Of anywhere in particular? Most of the pics above are a bit old, I'd admit....

[Shrimple minded]

Can't wait till the moss grows out..........

Thanks for sharing!

[edgeofthefreak]

1 hour ago, PlantDude said:

Amazing work! I'd love to see more pictures.

Here's a video from about 2 weeks ago:

 

[Big Blue Frog]

Great job! It brings me back to my days of terrariums for Dendros and geckos.

[Soothing Shrimp]

I'd love to see pics of the entire tank.

[PlantDude]

Thanks for the likes everyone!

Of anywhere in particular? Most of the pics above are a bit old, I'd admit....

The entire tank would be great!

[edgeofthefreak]

49 minutes ago, PlantDude said:

The entire tank would be great!

I'll try to get some good shots taken this week. Most of my videos come out very shaky, so I;'ll try for a series of pics!

[edgeofthefreak]

5 hours ago, Big Blue Frog said:

Great job! It brings me back to my days of terrariums for Dendros and geckos.

That's where a lot of this came from. Always wanted to do a lagoon as a bottom, so I just combined a lot of ideas into one!

5 hours ago, Soothing Shrimp said:

I'd love to see pics of the entire tank.

Didn't see that you've inquired for more pics as well! I'll be sure to get a bunch more pics together, hopefully tonight or tomorrow!!

Thanks for all the terrific replies everyone!!

[edgeofthefreak]

Until I can learn how to use my wife's awesome camera, or convince her to take some nice photos, we'll have to like my phone camera. It's done well so far, but I'm hoping for less washed out lighting for the next set of pics.

This is the viv from the front, trying to show the 4/5 terrestrial with 1/5 aquatic. It's on an Exo-terra stand, and they are very solid. I like the look of black trim all around, and the nice shelf is great for my testing kit/tongs. The top holds the crazy amount of technology (3 timers, are you nuts?) that keeps this box of nature as natural as can be. I likely forgot to mention the fogger, but it comes on at dawn for 30 minutes, and fills the whole viv.

And a close up with the viv doors open. All the top plants look washed out, but there's two orchids, a Tradescantia (middle, massive), Anubias, Tillandsia, some sort of fern, a few kinds of mosses... maybe some weeds in there too. Oh, and a spiral bamboo piece that may not actually be growing.... 

Getting shots of the underwater portion is a challenge, from a lighting standpoint. In almost every shot, I can see myself or the LED reflections. Here's what made it from those:

You can see one of my little shrimps in the middle of the big Anubias, and the tiny Anubias up front is looking much better! Was only able to keep 2-3 leaves maximum.

And this is the waterline today. Most of the sphagnum moss turned brown/black, but the java moss is climbing it upwards from below. There's a few blades of grass still hanging on, but it needs a place for deep roots.

 

So that's the whole viv, but I can still focus in, if someone needs to see something up close. For example, I mentioned "weeds". That's what I was told this was hanging from my orchid, but it's now a really pretty, super aggressive edge of the water plant. Anyone take a guess? Even just the family it's from?

 

 

[Soothing Shrimp]

Awesome!  Thank you for the whole tank pics.:)

[heatherbee]

Looks ludwigia-ish to me 

[edgeofthefreak]

2 hours ago, heatherbee said:

Looks ludwigia-ish to me 

That's a diverse looking group there.... some do have a pretty close leaf shape.

Does it help that whole plant in the pic above is no taller than 4", and there's little root nodes that stick out like Selaginella, but doesn't have the same clustering of leaves. I think it's purely terrestrial, but little shoots of it are showing up all over the viv.... and in another viv too.

I'll be looking through images of Ludwigia now... some of those are quite nice!

[Mr. F]

17 minutes ago, edgeofthefreak said:

That's a diverse looking group there.... some do have a pretty close leaf shape.

Does it help that whole plant in the pic above is no taller than 4", and there's little root nodes that stick out like Selaginella, but doesn't have the same clustering of leaves. I think it's purely terrestrial, but little shoots of it are showing up all over the viv.... and in another viv too.

I'll be looking through images of Ludwigia now... some of those are quite nice!

looks most like L. ovalis but i dont think it can grow terrestrially. (?)

[heatherbee]

I'm pretty sure ludwigia can all be grown emersed but hopefully somebody else will chime in on possibilities. 

[Mr. F]

I'm pretty sure ludwigia can all be grown emersed but hopefully somebody else will chime in on possibilities. 

Yeah, after some research it looks like it. What I'm unsure about is its size. It seems VERY small for a lud. Maybe it is just a terrestrial weed... lol. A pretty one tho!!!

[edgeofthefreak]

It's really tiny, was attached to the orchid, and has spread to another viv. Weed indeed, but so far the big piece hasn't taken over very much.

I'll post pics of it again if it flowers or changes much. Thanks for the ideas on it!

[edgeofthefreak]

Update time, but it's not a happy one.

In the many months this tank has been active, I've never found a berried mom. That's been in the back of my mind from day one, knowing how prolific these creatures are. Over the last two weeks, this has escalated to losing shrimp. Around 8 in those two weeks.

 

Water parameters are 7.4 pH, 0/0/0 for cycle, gH is 5, kH is 10, and there's a leaf in the back giving nice tea colouring to the water. It's only 4ish gallons, but 18"x18" open water so it gets a lot of evaporation. This is always topped up with distilled water.

 

Side note: I haven't had time to post about it, but I also have a 10 gallon with blue Neos, and they are beyond thriving. Started with 24 shrimp, two of which were alerady berried at the time, and I've since had about 8-10 new berried moms. This tank is only 2 or so months old, and is filthy with algae. The Cherry Lagoon is almost spotless.

 

 

My three top theories for sudden deaths:
1. Is that kH too high? I can do WC with a good amount of distilled if needed, and I use a slow drip method to add any water to any tank.

2. Any food given seems to only get half eaten, and eventually molds on the bottom. I feed sporadically, but might feed too little. I do try to feed mostly up front, but put some near the leaf at the back. I worry about mold where i can't see it. I use Omega One Shrimp & Lobster. They go crazy for it within about 10 minutes, but they apparently only get through half of it. I feed 8 or pellets every other day, but have cut that back to every three days.

3. This whole tank has about a baseball sized amount of non-sanded additive free grout, spread all over the walls, directly in the path of the waterfall/dripwall. This might be spiking my pH, but any of my tests (just now) have been stable. I keep a "peat bomb" in my canister to combat the alkalinity of the upper portion.

3b. This dripwall is covered in a mat of thick rubbery algae, that one might call cyanobacteria. It's not blueish, but very dark green, and has been growing since day one. It's about a quarter inch thick in some places, and I can likely remove it. Just looking at it now... it's really gotten out of hand.

 

I'm putting the remaining shrimp into a holding tank, and trying to see if I can cure this one. If not, stay tuned for the rebuild! *cry*

 

Any ideas? This community has been awesome, and I still lurk daily.  

[Mr. F]

Update time, but it's not a happy one.

In the many months this tank has been active, I've never found a berried mom. That's been in the back of my mind from day one, knowing how prolific these creatures are. Over the last two weeks, this has escalated to losing shrimp. Around 8 in those two weeks.

 

Water parameters are 7.4 pH, 0/0/0 for cycle, gH is 5, kH is 10, and there's a leaf in the back giving nice tea colouring to the water. It's only 4ish gallons, but 18"x18" open water so it gets a lot of evaporation. This is always topped up with distilled water.

 

Side note: I haven't had time to post about it, but I also have a 10 gallon with blue Neos, and they are beyond thriving. Started with 24 shrimp, two of which were alerady berried at the time, and I've since had about 8-10 new berried moms. This tank is only 2 or so months old, and is filthy with algae. The Cherry Lagoon is almost spotless.

 

 

My three top theories for sudden deaths:

1. Is that kH too high? I can do WC with a good amount of distilled if needed, and I use a slow drip method to add any water to any tank.

2. Any food given seems to only get half eaten, and eventually molds on the bottom. I feed sporadically, but might feed too little. I do try to feed mostly up front, but put some near the leaf at the back. I worry about mold where i can't see it. I use Omega One Shrimp & Lobster. They go crazy for it within about 10 minutes, but they apparently only get through half of it. I feed 8 or pellets every other day, but have cut that back to every three days.

3. This whole tank has about a baseball sized amount of non-sanded additive free grout, spread all over the walls, directly in the path of the waterfall/dripwall. This might be spiking my pH, but any of my tests (just now) have been stable. I keep a "peat bomb" in my canister to combat the alkalinity of the upper portion.

3b. This dripwall is covered in a mat of thick rubbery algae, that one might call cyanobacteria. It's not blueish, but very dark green, and has been growing since day one. It's about a quarter inch thick in some places, and I can likely remove it. Just looking at it now... it's really gotten out of hand.

 

I'm putting the remaining shrimp into a holding tank, and trying to see if I can cure this one. If not, stay tuned for the rebuild! *cry*

 

Any ideas? This community has been awesome, and I still lurk daily. [emoji3] 

1. KH is too high but pH seems good. Confusing but can be explained by the leaf litter giving off some tannic acid which is neutralized by the alkalinity as well as the pest which working to lower pH, but pH remains above 7 because of the extreme carbonate hardness. I'd bring it down, tho your GH looks good, maybe a bit low.

2. You could feed half as many pellets? But if you make sure you remove the remaining food once they're done, it shouldn't be an issue.

3. If it's not changing the pH then that's good. I'm not sure what it's made of, but it could be leaching something else? That could be it.

3b. That happens on my HOB outflows and glass hoods. They like to colonize the water-air interface. Not harmful, but don't hesitate removing cuz it's pretty ugly.

IMHO, it's theory 1.

[edgeofthefreak]

Thanks for the speedy response!

 

I'll see about lowering my kH right away. Just feed half as many pellets now, and placed them around the ledge where I know they lurk. I can check these areas with a flashlight later tonight.

 

And I'll pull out some out the surface algae, in case it has something sinister growing beneath.

[edgeofthefreak]

Did a 20% water change last night, using distilled water. Then a water test of just gH/kH today. Getting 7-8 for gH and 4 for kH now.

 

Will do another 20% WC using de-chor'd tap water tomorrow. Going to test my gH/kH much more frequently.

 

Pellets from yesterday are gone, and will feed same amount tomorrow. Still yet to pull the surface algae.