Acrylic Shelving

[Ltrepeter2000]

I was wondering if anyone has used acrylic to make plantable shelf space higher in the tank.....to give more background to what I was thinking.....I was looking to move a few of my mangrove into the 75 gallon tank and since I am making the tank for apistos primarily I was thinking that above where I set up the cave systems I might be able to add a "planters box" of sorts....this would allow my mangroves to stay above water in the tank and allow me to spread my mangroves out a bit more as they are starting to take off in the 10 gallon that they are in. I have an idea in my head but am wondering about what I could use to support the shelving system without the supports standing out too much.probably looking to make the box about halfway across the back of the 75 about 4 or 5 inches wide and about 3 inches deep to allow for substrate material. With the current height of my mangroves the shelf would have to be about 12 inches from the top of my tank. Guess my concern on the supports is that its sturdy enough to stand up to substrate weight.
Feedback would be great

Thanks
Rob

[krisw]

I've never done this myself, but what you're describing sounds very much like what is done in most paludariums. There are various methods of accomplishing what you want with styrofoam, rocks, wood, cement, plastic, glass etc... Google around on paludarium constructing. This one came up for me:

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/paludari ... arium.html

[Ltrepeter2000]

Thanks Thats a start....

[Ltrepeter2000]

Ok ....I have been looking around and the most similar thing I have found to what I am envisioning are the boxes in wet/dry filters. I think I am going to have to do some trial and error and figure out what will work best. Being new to this I was hoping I could get some feedback on good places to get the acrylic near Herndon, VA.

I will try to take photos of my learning process and post when I get a chance. Still working on photos of my tanks as well.

Thanks
Rob

[krisw]

Rob,

Please do make sure to photo document your process. If it works out nicely, we can post it up on the website with our other articles. I'm always more than happy to help out with the web-work if you have the pictures and process.

-Kris