Aquariums: My latest experiment

A couple of disclaimers before I get into it:

1) The thing sitting on top of my tank is a 15 gal bog filter currently growing pothos, cilantro, and catnip. (I know it looks ugly) it is not recommended putting a lot of weight on top of the tank, I am not advocating for it, nor do I recommend it. It comes with risks.

2) my tanks are in a 250sqft, unfinished basement complete with fans and dehumidifiers. The floor is concrete, the brick and wood gets treated for mold. In the slight chance my tank breaks because of how I set it up, it will not damage the structure.

3) the filter is not hanging off the tank so ideally most of the weight is being distributed down the length of the glass vs the acrylic sealant. (Glass has a very high strength on vertical index. I think 5,000 lbs. I could be wrong on the number, feel free to correct me) I am fairly confident this tank will not break. It’s been about a year since I set it up this way, having added a second drop to the waterfall ~3 months ago

4) I know it’s leaking I do not care. I didn’t glue the pipe in case I want to change it. Yes, that is mold on the wood holding the pipe, I treat it every now and then, it will keep coming back as long as the pipe keeps leaking. I will eventually just replace the board. (Probably soon, it is a year old and I have lots of scrap) I regularly screen for mold. There are 2 separate populations that I am monitoring. It is not effecting the tank as of yet. I like to think it’s because of the snails. I will eventually lock in and figure out how I want to route it and glue the pipe.

5) it looks cheaply made because it is cheaply made. Don’t drag me

I haven’t posted on this sub for a very long time. My turtle died about a year ago (right around when I constructed the tank) and tbh I lost the passion to share. I began to build this 500gal pond setup with a 2x 75gal shelf with the turtle in mind but the universe had other plans.

Sorry for all the info, I felt it was important and I like to yap

Now, onto what I am aiming to accomplish:

I fucking hate air stones. Not for any rational reason. I just hate how they look in the tank. I put them in the bog filters so I don’t have to look at them. But I aim to get rid of them altogether. It’s just an extra component sucking up my electricity.

So with this riverbed like waterfall I hope to get all of the aeration I need to keep oxygen in the water column and keep my babies happy. So far I’d say it is working beautifully. I have noticed my pothos in this big filter is growing faster in this filter vs the other tanks. could be unrelated as each tank has different species stocked, but I’m guessing the O2 levels in this tank are more stable than the others. I like how the algae and cyanobacteria cling to the rock. I do think it going to change it up a little bit so it’s not so aggressive returning to the tank.

Numbers are stable, water is clear, no dead fish. I’m willing to call this a success

For those wondering:

Used a Dremel w/pvc bit to cut pipe, aquarium safe epoxy to adhere the stone