First Try on a Viv/Palu Biuld--29gal
 

So a couple weeks ago i discovered the art that is vivarium and paludarium building. Needless to say I was quickly pulled in with all the beautiful builds so I HAD TO MAKE ONE!! So this past weekend i started the process to turn my 29 gallon tank into a viv. I'm trying to do this on the cheap, but thats not always easy to do, and I HAVE to HAVE some sort of a waterfall. :)

Couple things it must have for me to be successful-
1. At least 10 gallons of water
2. Waterfall of some sort
3. At least one amphibian
4. Great Stuff DIY background and shelf
5. Easy maintenance

Holding Tank for the fish while their new home is built
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/pH...03a.jpghttp://
My plants and shrimp in a 5gal paint bucket
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/pH...=IMG_0104a.jpg

The filter I selected will be a Tetra Whisper 10i. I hear these filters are fairly good and make good waterfalls. I'll hang the filter about 2 to 1.5 inches above the substrate.

Eco-Complete substrate
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/pH...e=IMG_012a.jpg

Eggcrate shelf measures 29 inches long and is about 5 inches deep.
(Note to self- Never get Great Stuff on your hands again!!)
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/pH...=IMG_0107a.jpg

Looks like you are off to a good start. Nice and sticky isn't it?

oh yeah....that great stuff is brutal. if you don't get it off with solvent before it semi-cures on your skin, you're stuck with it. and that is according to the company....LOL

keep up the good work, this should be very cool :)

Dry fit, just to get a general idea.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/pH...=IMG_0110a.jpg

Looks good so far. You may want to beef up your supports though. At that height, as thin as they are, it may eventually sag under the weight of the soil.

I had to go back to the drawing board. I put everything together and it looked to cheap!!

So did my first one. In fact, it looked so bad, i didn't even take pics of it......lol you'll get it, keep trying. If you have any questions, just ask :)

So I'm having a hard time with my false bottom and substrate. The eggcrate is sitting on 4 inch PVC supports. How do you keep the soil contained within the 'false bottom'

I use expanding foam on the edge of the false bottom to hold my substrate up. Then i cover it with coco fiber to try to give it a somewhat integrated look

This is a interesting build.

I think I'm going to use small pots for plants and fill in the area with gravel and coco fiber or moss


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

oh crap, you meant how to keep it on the eggcrate since there are holes? duh....i use weed blocker material.

ya know what Dan, i don't normally do this, but i am going to link you to another forum i belong to. i get asked so many questions on construction, that i did this thread as a "how to". maybe it will help you wrap your head around things
http://www.frogforum.net/vivarium-te...aludarium.html

If you are doing a paludariums a false bottom isn't a great idea I would do net pots mounted in GS foam to plant in. Your tank isn't big enough to do a large water and land area effectively. Check out my Borneo tank to see what I did. (I did have custom foam rocks made so a little different but you could easily build up foam in their place)

Len

I wouldn't worry about this too much during construction.

Once you get it setup and some plants in there, they will grow over and camouflage quite a bit.