How to make Hanging Land platform in aquarium

Land parts offer unique designs making your aquarium very special.

 

And land parts often are necessary requirements for amphibians. 

And land parts often are essential for making self-feeding sustainable ecosystems. 

In the past I made floating land for self-feeding aquariums. 

And then I made a hanging garden vertical aquarium - it's still work in progress. 

And you can see the progress in the design of the land part of this 29 gallon paludarium for newts. 

Here I used wires to make hangers for keeping the land part in the desirable position. 

I use steel spokes from an old bike wheel for this purpose. 

This spoke is about 31cm long. 

Remove the screw from the spoke.

 Let's fit the spoke inside of a silicon tubing. 

Notice: The bent end of the spoke goes first inside of the tube - seems easier this way to me. 

Force the spoke 2 cm deep inside of the tube. 

Cut the tube leaving about 2 cm on the other end of the wire as well. 

Now, let's shape the wire starting from the bend end of the spoke.

 Use pliers for holding the wire at the desirable spot for making the bend. 

I start by making the hook to hang the wire on the brim of the tank. 

It helps to measure the brim to know how wide it is. 

Make sure the hook will fit over the brim. 

And now let's make two more bends for making a V shaped corner for resting the land base on it. 

I think the V shaped corner would hold better than the L shaped corner. 

But feel free to try either way you fancy it. 

The spokes for bike wheels are made from much tougher steel compared to...hmm... wired cloth hangers. 

It takes effort to bend this wire. 

Which is reassuring for holding the land part properly. 

Now let's trim off the spare tubing leaving a less than 1 cm stub to seal the tubbing. 

I use a lighter to heat-and-melt the end of the tubing and squeeze it with the pliers to seal it. 

Trim off the burnt end of the tubing to make it look neat. 

Congratulations, we have made a hanger.

 I made a total of 8 hangers of the same size in this example. 

I have two land parts - 4 hangers should be enough to hold one land part.

 Now, I am going to remove the milk crate I used to rest the land part on.

 Let's remove the ramp.

 The base of the land part and the ramp are also made of milk crate side I cut off. 

I explained how I did it all in the previous video. 

Let's hook two hangers on the front and two hangers on the back wall of the aquarium. 

And now we can rest one land part on 4 hangers. 

Just like that.

 I cut the land part to fit in the tank leaving at least 1 centimeter space on each side along the walls. 

The tubing protects the wire from the water and vise-versa.

 Now let's fix the other land part in the same way. 

You can see right away how much space gets open with hanging land parts. 

Also, there is no need of making ramps for amphibians to climb on hanging land parts.

 Well, that is something I should probably explain in a separate video... 

I use two land parts to make as much land space as the size of this aquarium allows. 

And as you can see it makes it very easy to remove any land part to get instant access to the water.

 Which is important for aquarium maintenance. 

Now, I am going to use this flat rock as a bridge to connect both land parts. 

And this flat rock also will serve as a feeding spot for land critters.

 Okay. That is how my hanging garden looks like in this paludarium on August 9th, 2022. 

It is sturdier than the version I made suspending the land part on fishing lines in the vertical paludarium.

 Fish seem to enjoy the huge open space they have now to explore. 

The tank is much brighter now!

 I've been working on a video about the cover for this aquarium. 

I started this video showing this paludarium during day time on November 19th. 

And now you can see it in all its beauty at night time.

 Initially, there were 9 Endlers fish of different ages. 

In the past 3 months or so I got about 20 fish here and 3 Red-spotted newts. 

All looks pretty nice so far. 

There are Isopods and Springtails on the land part thriving among moss and plants. 

The design of the hanging garden works well for the purpose of making a sustainable self-feeding ecosystem.

And it looks great! I am looking forward to seeing how Efts may like this design.

 Will keep you updated. 

Have fun and happy hanging garden aquariums :)