OT: im sick of my brackish set up, ideas needed.

[BEELZEBOB]

So, i have a 55 gallon brackish tank, that i want to do somethin else with.

so heres the gig, i was thinkin of getting a chamelon. ive had them before and really enjoyed the lil fellow.

i was wondering, do y'all know if be do/have ever attemped to apply the "reef" method to a reptile terrium?

what i mean is i was thinkin of like puttin a layer of sand on the bottom, a bunch of dirt, worms and plants in the tank. settin up a lil river thingy by like modifyin a couple of those terrium water falls etc.

is it possibe to set up a whole living ecosystem with plants and bugs and dirt before i put the chamelon in?

if i get a smaller breed of chamelion ((i had a dwarf jacksons, and am lookin for a mated pair of those) could i also have like a skink, or house geckos in the tank as well?

also, what ides could yall throw out as filtration ideas for this water in the tank.

i was going to slope the ground, and have the water flow down one side to the next.

i had a lil waterfall thingy with my old chamelion, and gosh darn did it get filthy.

i was thinkin of buildin and acrylic resovior in the bottom and fillin it with sand?

so it would flow out of the first artifact, down the stream, and into a lil resivior with like 3 inches of water and a foot of sand, then have the return pump plumbed into the bottom of the sand pit thinggy?

[Dentoid]

Here's a thought. Get one of those pet waterers and modify it with dirt, rocks, moss plants etc to hide it. It has a carbon/filterfloss filter in the back of the unit. You could bury the whole thing up to the spout and have your water flow down the river. Get my drift!

[deaclauderdale]

Nice idea dentoid. Following this to see what comes of the setup.

[saltwaterfarm]

[SubRosa]

Here's an idea I have been tossing around for a while,although the 12" depth of a 55 will limit things somewhat.Basically you glue dividers into the tank to partition off a dry land area.These dividers are drilled for drainage.Build up your land area with gravel,leaving room for a 4" layer of topsoil,and any structural features you want.You want the bottom of the soil layer an inch above water level.By pumping water up onto a waterfall and allowing it to trickle through the soil you get serious biological filtration.I have a 180 sitting that is going to get this treatment soon,complete with external plumbing and a sump set up to maintain a constant level in the tank.The extra depth of 24" will really come in handy!