kimcadmus

A year a so ago a good friend of mine took a trip to Vietnam and sent me pictures of Halong Bay. It truly is an incredible looking place. Though I lived in Japan for school and was able to travel to Thailand and Indonesia I've never been to Vietnam much less Halong Bay.

Image is in public domain (wikipedia)


I've been wanting to set up a shrimp tank with lots of mosses and then it dawned on me that they would look great hanging off of and climbing 'mountains.' I had some pumice/lava rock around and black sand and set out to create the bay against a moss wall.

I also had an antique stainless steel framed 10g tank with slate bottom and original hood and light that needed restoration. I stripped it down to the metal and rebuilt it with black silicone and opted for new glass while I had it apart. (you can see other less interesting chores I am avoiding in the background)


Halong Shrimp Scape
Specs:
10g antique (60's) stainless framed glass aquarium with slate bottom
Stand is metro-style chrome shelving which I made laminate covered birch ply shelves
2 15w 6500k GE coiled compact fluorescents in original stainless light fixture
100w visitherm heater (diy inline in progress)
ZooMed 501 Turtle Canister Filter
pumice rock
black silica sand

I will be concealing wiring in a basket or box on the bottom shelf but haven't found one yet.


Flora:
Christmas moss
Weeping moss
Singapore moss
Flame moss (maybe..)
Pellia (hoping to find some mini and change it out)
Riccia (hoping to find some mini and change it out)
Fissidens Fontanus
Najas sp 'Roraima' (for cycling but I love this crazy plant)






Fauna:
Currently only one ottocinclus and one amano shrimp
Coming soon...hopefully
15-20 Yellow Shrimp
5-7? Boraras Micro (from Niko at http://www.invertzfactory.com/ , if you haven't checked out their stock you should, really cool fish and inverts)
5 Amano Shrimp

This is a terrible picture I realize but imagine yodeling and lederhosen in a headstand and it works



I just can't get over how funny and interesting shrimp are.
I'll continue to post progress on this tank.

Many thanks to Niko and Texgal for moss and ongoing inspiration.

Seattle_Aquarist

Hi kimcadmus,

Very nice job, especially the moss! I look forward to seeing it after it fills in! BTW, some of us might take offense to the term "antique" for the tank because it might be something many of us grew up with! LOL!

kimcadmus

Thanks Seattle. No offense intended. In fact my first aquariums in the 70's were 2 stainless framed 20longs on a simple cast iron stand. So they hold fond memories for me and this new tank is a trip down memory lane. I'm older than the tank so I should watch what I say!

gravy9

Nice work, Kim. Can't wait to see them as it starts to fill in.

Wet Pet

What a great twist on a vintage tank.

kimcadmus

Thanks Ravi and Wetpet! I suppose this vintage tank style is the antithesis of the rimless but I do really like them.

Tex Gal

Kim, I love it. It's gonna be so neat. Can't believe how fast your moss is growing. Have you thought of some longer stems or crypts to hide the equipment on either side? I'm subscribed!

dj2606

This is going to look wonderful with some time? Curious, did you consider putting the moss walls on the sides of the tank and leaving the back open? That would have looked really cool in comparison to the picture that inspired the setup.

kimcadmus

Thanks Texgal. I have thought about stems...so many textures and varieties but I want this to be a low maintenance tank. I also plan to take out the heater and thermometer eventually. Always a work in progress. I'll just have to see what happens as the moss fills out. I did try some needle leaf java fern but it just didn't look right. Do you need any needle leaf?

Thanks DJ - really good idea for the moss on the sidewalls. My thought was the stainless tank created the framed look and similar depth of field.

Tex Gal

I had some needle leaf but passed it on.