I have this AIO tank with top overflows (formerly a reef tank) that has been sitting empty for a while, and I’m wondering if there’s any practical way to convert it to a paludarium in terms of plumbing especially. Any thoughts or experience with similar setups would be great.
by Glad_Effort854
4 Comments
So I’ve just done something similar with an aqua one mini reef, mine has a sump but I think the same idea might apply. What I did is cut out the weir, then scored and cut off the bottom by how much I wanted to drop the water level by. Glued it back in, and it’s been working great since
Where yours might be awkward is that it’s an aio and I’m guessing you’ll need to get into it to do maintenance, is there a way you could leave the top of that bit exposed, maybe do a false moss wall just in front of the filter?
Yeah. Create a barrier for your water section, maybe either have it on the left or in the front. Then fill the tank up with gravel or foam or leca up to the input of your AIO filter, then an inch higher. Add weed matting, then dirt.
If you want the water section in the front, you need to make a fake waterfall out of spray foam.
If you make the water section on the left, you don’t have to make a fake waterfall and the output can just flow down.
I mean not without destroying the functionality of the AIO. Easiest way would be to drill holes in the bottom of the wall below the top flows and then try to remove the baffles so the water level can be lower. Then use the pump to power a waterfall.
Would honestly be easier to do with an empty new tank and a piece of acrylic than modifying this one.
There’s a few ways you can go about this. One way is to actually have the pump be on the outside of the back sump, i.e. in the display, pumping water through what is currently the outlet, into the back sump. Effectively, you are reversing the flow. The idea is for the water to pour out of either side as waterfalls.
The other is to drill a hole at the bottom of the separator for water to flow into the middle chamber, and have the pump pump water as usual from where it is. Then basically ignoring the two sides.
Personally, I like the first idea more. 😀 You can have a piece of hollow log/driftwood in the center hiding the pump. Then essentially the terrestrial part of the paludarium is center towards the back of the display. Alternatively, same idea hiding the pump, but terrestrial part to either side with water flowing down both. Then maybe a bridge of some kind connecting both sides.