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75g Paludarium build log (56k)

45K views 66 replies 24 participants last post by  Scottyhorse 
#1 · (Edited)
Hello everyone!

so a little bit of background on how this all started. all my previous tanks have been small (<30g) as i have had to keep them in my bedroom, so a 75g is a huge step up!

This project just sort of came about by accident. It started when i was browsing a local fish forum and came across someone selling a 75g tank, stand, light fixture (marineland 2x48" t5ho), gravel and filter (fluval 304) for 100 dollars. the stand was rusty and the filter was dirty, and the fixture had no bulbs, but i snatched it up right away.

at the time i was building a 10g shrimp tank, but scrapped that idea and left it unfinished (but up and running) in favor of the new 75g.

so anyway, i played around with various ideas on what to do with the tank for a long time. i wanted to keep it simple and not need to run co2, so an iwagumi was not an option. my second thought was a native st Lawrence river biotope with round gobies and zebra mussels, but i also scrapped that idea due to the fact that there were just too many unknowns about how to care for a temperate/cold water tank. my third thought was a brackish mangrove type tank with archers, anableps and bumblebees. i was all set to start building that when reality came crashing down... i couldn't have a full 75g tank on a second story floor.

so i went back to the drawing board and stumbled across paludariums/vivariums and instantly fell in love. combining water and land in one tank to get the best of both worlds sounded awesome.

i did a bunch of planning and finally settled on this current build. i really wanted to have a large water area, but needed to keep the gallons down. so, this tank has room for 4.5 inches of water under the false bottom, which equals about 18 gallons of water (48"X18"X4.5"). i'm thinking the water portion will be a blackwater type setup and be unplanted, although i may decide to add plants later. i won't be using co2 either.

the stand needed a lot of work. i had to strip all the old paint and rust and then repainted in a nice flat black. no pics of the stand as it was when i bought it.



this is the false bottom. i will cover the front panels in foam and silicone and coco coir. we'll see how it holds up underwater. if it fails, i have black acrylic i can replace it with. i'm hoping this will look more natural than a black panel.



All tie wrapped:



at first i was going to make a dripwall, but decided against it and opted for terraced pools instead. they are curing now. i'll start foaming tomorrow.



roughly what they will look like in the tank:



i'll update this thread as i go. i'm probably going to start foaming tomorrow and should ahve some more pics up soon :).
 
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#5 ·
i'm thinking i'll cover it with stuff like ficus pumila and pennywort. i wasn't sure how the coco coir on the background would hold up with water constantly running down it which is why i didn't make a drip wall. i'll try riccia and java moss too. not sure how well it'll do, so we'll find out.
 
#7 ·
Looks like you're starting to get moving on this project.

The only advice I have is that I would drill some holes in the PVC legs and zip-tie them to the diffuser just to keep things from shifting during construction.

How are you cutting the diffuser? I used tin snips, but find that pieces of plastic sometimes fly all the way into adjacent rooms. (I actually wear safety glasses when I cut it.)
 
#8 ·
i've been cutting it with needle nosed pliers, which works really well but does fling bits around pretty far :).

are you referring to the pvc legs under the main false bottom? i haven't attached them yet because i need to remove the whole thing to work on it outside the tank and having the legs on would make it hard to work with. when i finish it, i'll just silicone the legs in to the bottom of the tank and then place the false bottom onto them with more silicone.

i'm wishing i had some doors to open like they have on exo-terras... foaming the background is going to be a nightmare...
 
#10 ·
so quick update. i started foaming tonight. this is just really rough, and i'll probably end up carving it out and adding more sticks into it.









i can't really build the pools until i have the pump here so i can work out how fast the flow will be. not sure when i'll have time to go out and get it though. hopefully soon enough :icon_bigg
 
#13 ·
I'm not really sure how the great stuff will handle being submerged long term. If you seal it with silicone that can only help though. The real problem might be keeping it submerged, the stuff is going to want to float. However, if you add enough substrate/rock/driftwood atop it, you should be able to hold it down.

Are you planning on using great stuff for the background too? If so, I would recommend spreading a layer of silicone over it first. A rougher surface will help it stick.

And don't make the mistake I did... Leave the false bottom in when you create the background, or at least, be sure you will be able to fit it back into place after it is done. I didn't think of this and it was a PITA to torque the false in there after the great stuff cured. Luckily, diffuser is a little more flexible than one might think.

This is looking good though. I cant wait to see the finished product. Any thoughts on inhabitants?
 
#14 ·
i'm hoping the foam will hold up under water but i'm also going to paint the foam black before i silicone it so that if by any chance the coco coir does come off you won't be able to see the ugly foam. i would rather just use black silicone, but unfortunately i can't find any that would be safe in the aquarium...

i'm thinking i'll just weight it down with rocks or something to make sure it doesn't float, and it'll be all siliconed into place too, so it shouldn't move around too much.

i'm going to make the background out of foam too and cover the back glass with silicone first, but i'm not sure how well it'll work. the tank doesn't have doors like an exo-terra so accessing it is going to be a real pain... and i don't think the foam gun will even fit in... lol i really don't want to use the straws... they just don't work.

lol that's funny about the background! i think i'll get the false bottom in place, then do the background and then put the pools in last. i think that'll be the easiest way to do it, so most of it is built outside the tank and then just placed inside it.

as far as inhabitants... i'm not sure... i think for the first little while i won't keep anything and focus on getting my plants to grow. at some point i will get shrimp (probably amanos) and i might decide to add frogs (either darts or tree frogs) later on, but i'm not loving the bugs requirement and the fact that i can't leave them to go on holidays without getting someone to come in and feed them.

i just spent a long time carving the foam and my back hurts a lot, but i think it'll look good when i finally finish :) i also picked up a little pump ( hydor pico 400) and when i find a tube to fit it, i'll figure out the flow for the pools and then foam them all in.





 
#16 ·
only thing is that epoxy has a tendency to melt foam. i haven't tested it with expanding foam, but it cuts right through the rigid sheets of blue and pink foam. i think sharkfood is testing to see how it goes.

silicone seems to be the most commonly used method of sealing it. i looked into drylok and cement, but decided against it it ( drylok because of price and cement because of weight and cracking).

if it fails, i can always pull it out and replace it with acrylic sheets that i have handy.
 
#18 ·
hmm i'm tempted, only thing is cost... i get my clear tubes of GE1 for 4$... and i'll be using about 4 of them... if i get that it'll be about 52$ (assuming it is 5.75$ to canada)... and then the wait for it to get here... ;)

i'll keep it in mind though. i may end up just getting them and being done with it. thanks!
 
#20 ·
i'm in quebec, which has funny laws about stuff... and i think drylok is 36$ a gallon at canadian tire. home depot and rona don't seem to sell it. would a gallon be enough to give the tank multiple coats?

i am coming down to the states for the day this weekend, so i might be able to pick some up when i come.
 
#21 ·
so this morning i covered the wood in painter's tape and i have now painted the foam black with krylon h2o. krylon fusion is used in lots of aquariums, but it can't really be used on foam because the acetone propellant melts it.







 
#22 ·
I did some poking around online, and apparently only cheap polyester epoxies melt foam. Resin epoxy is supposed to be fine. I actually found several applications in marine use where foam is covered with epoxy resin.

It seems to me that epoxy is 10X easier to work with than silicone. Then again, silicone is probably 10X cheaper.
 
#23 ·
good to know. i'm not really feeling spending a ton of money on this... have school to pay for and my future motorcycle :hihi:

i did a bit of work today. was a little shocked to see how orange the new can of GS is... it's really bad lol, hope the spray paint covers it all.




peeled off the tape, it isn't really dark or completely covered, but it will suffice. i hope never to see it anyway.



rough foaming of the piece that will become a stream from the pools down to the main water area.



the actual pools. yes, those are 10 cent food containers from the dollar store painted black. once they get foamed in an filled with water and sand, i think they'd look pretty good.



and some wood foamed into place in front of the place where the pools will be placed.
 
#26 ·
That is a perfect piece of driftwood to accent the cascading pools, leading the eye downward. I am really enjoying following this thread!
thanks guys! i'm really enjoying making this. it's pretty much the first DIY i've done, and i have to say it is fun :)



i'm thinking i'll try to coat the area around the pools with riccia to fill in the space and have ferns hanging over top of them.
 
#25 ·
That is a perfect piece of driftwood to accent the cascading pools, leading the eye downward. I am really enjoying following this thread!
 
#28 ·
bad news... i painted the pools outside and left them to dry outside, got distracted and then realized it was raining...

they got soaked. the paint was dry before the rain started which is good. it doesn't appear to be coming off, but i'm not sure what to do... should i just leave it to dry off inside or try and wipe it dry with paper towel/hair dryer?



 
#30 ·
it seems to be drying up pretty well, especially the painted parts and it isn't smearing so fingers crossed :hihi:



not sure why it keeps rotating like that...

still some hard to reach/near the wood places that are orange, but i'll just touch them up with a brush afterwards.
 
#38 ·
I would use cheap artist brushes, you can get them dirt cheap at Walmart and other stores.

Don't get it on your hands - besides being super unhealthy, it's very, very hard to wash off. It's very bad to breathe in, too. If I get any on me, I wash with mechanic's grit soap and Lemon Joy, and it's still hard to remove.
 
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