Wy Renegade's 30gal Paludarium

[Wy Renegade]

Originally Posted by CatB

the roots DO look good. yeah, i think they definitely have potential.

Thanks, hopefully so.

[Wy Renegade]

Had to redo the terrestrial portion today, its been staying too wet, and I was afraid the plants would rot off and the salamanders wouldn't go into the soil. I pulled everything out and added another inch of gravel and then put in a siphon drain so that when things are too wet I can siphon the water out of the gravel under the soil. I also replaced the Lady Slipper with a Paph. Venus orchid which will hopefully be a little more tolerant of wetter conditions. When I finished up and dropped the leaf litter back into place, I added a few redworms to the soil as well. I noticed I have a pretty significant fruit fly or gnat population going in the leaf litter as well. Need to remember to order some springtails to help with terrestrial decay. If I had frogs in there, they would sure be happy with the fly population.

[CannaBrain]

Once all my toads had escaped from my 5g palu, I very quickly developed a spider mite problem! I was surprised considering how wet everything stays in there, but they did some damage for sure. Hopefully those gnats don't become a problem. Lookin good, hope to see a picture of that new orchid soon

[Guns286]

How are things going? I'm coming up with a plan for my own paludarium and your thread is helping me alot.

[Wy Renegade]

Well its been a while since I've had time to think about an update, but I have been messing with the tank all along, and its doing great. I've added a number of things since my last post, the first and foremost being the tanks new vertebrate inhabitants. After quite a bit of consideration, I decided against the salamanders due to size and instead introduced a Western Chorus frog as my main vertebrate inhabitant. Like the salamanders, they prefer the moist environment rather than the water, yet they are considerably smaller, only reaching 1.5 inches in size so I think they will make a better choice. This little guy was about the size of a quarter when he is pictured (I say he tongue in check, as I've made no effort to sex it at this point).

The first shot here he is in a plastic container;


The following two were after he was introduced to the tank;




And here he is once he finally crawled out of the water;


I also added in some nice small rush from one of the local ponds, so we will see how it does long term as well;


I've added a mist/sprinkler system to the tank as well, which I took pictures of but can't find at this point as well.

[Guns286]

That looks great! I think the frog was the way to go. When you can, let us see a full tank pic..
Also, I was wondering what this was:



I like how you can see the twisting roots/vines. Did you do something to make it that way? If so, what? If not, what would I have to order to get that?
Thanks,
Bill

[Wy Renegade]

Originally Posted by Guns286

That looks great! I think the frog was the way to go. When you can, let us see a full tank pic..
Also, I was wondering what this was:

Attachment 49610

I like how you can see the twisting roots/vines. Did you do something to make it that way? If so, what? If not, what would I have to order to get that?
Thanks,
Bill

Thanks Bill, I'll work on the FTS, but it will be later this weekend, as I'm currently out of state. The picture you're looking at there is a picture of a Rabbit Fern that is planted in/on a piece of Lava Rock. I picked them up at the local Greenhouse, and the root system you see was already established.

[Wy Renegade]

Well as those of you who have been following the thread will recall, one of the things I've planned all along is to add a number of miniture orchids on the cottonwood bark and driftwood. I got those orchids quite a while ago, but just haven't had time to mess with them. I finally got an afternoon this summer that I managed to slip into school and spend some time placing the miniture orchids. I tied the orchids in place using brass eyehooks and fishing line, if you look closely at the first two pictures, you can see both the hooks and the fishing line. Once the orchids roots grow onto the medium, I should be able to remove the eyehooks and fishing line.

The orchid on the driftwood I simply attached in position in the tank;


The cottonwood slabs I was able to remove and I attached two minitures to two of the pieces of slab;


Unfortunately, the picture of the one that was blooming didn't turn out, but here's a shot of the flowers once it was placed in the tank;




We had also gone hicking that morning up in the mountains, and I brought home some more moss that was growing on a North slope that had a couple other plants mixed in with it, and some Mountain snails. Unfortunately none of the pictures of the Mountain snails turned out, so I'll have to get some more as well as a updated FTS, but these will have to do for now.





If you look closely you can get just a hint of the mist system up in the top left corner.

[Guns286]

The pic's look great! I like the eye and fishing line thing. Where did you order the micro inverts from? I've been searching and cant seem to find anything.

[Wy Renegade]

Thanks. I ordered mine through a biological supply company that I have access to as a teacher, its called Carolina Biological. I'm not positive, but I think you can find it online and I believe that with the exception of certain chemicals its open to the general public.

[Wy Renegade]

Had a chance to get home this past weekend, so I was able to get the requested FTS shot;


I'm pretty pleased with the way this tank has filled in at this point, although a lot of the aquatic grass was floating. Not sure if that is a result of the auto fill method or what.

The blooming orchid is about done at this point;


the Rabbits-foot fern has lost all of its original foliage, but the new leaflets are looking very dark and healthy;


The Java moss I added at the foot of the driftwood piece is growing like mad, and is actually starting to come out of the water on the driftwood;


And the hornwort has pretty much exploded, filling the little pool area quite well;


I also got a couple of decent pictures of the Mountain snails, which are a terrestrial species of snail that likes higher moisture and generally is found below the leaf litter;


And here is one of them working its way up one of the orchid leaves;

[schoolzoo]

Very cool mini ecosystem Have a great summer.

[Wy Renegade]

Thank you! Should be good, but busy as I am starting my Master's program.

[skabooya]

This is wonderful. This is something similar I would LOVE to do in my classroom. My biggest hurdle this year was dealing with contaminated school water. Ewww.

[Wy Renegade]

Thank you. Yeah contaminated water can be a real drag. Have you looked into a RO/DI system? Or even just using bottled spring water.