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38 Gal Paludarium

17K views 85 replies 22 participants last post by  megamax42 
#1 · (Edited)
Hey guys,
I have an account on Dendroboard but I figured since I've had this account longer it should definitely be shared here too.

The goal is a [STRIKE]Bumble Bee toad[/STRIKE], fire belly toad paludarium with small, fast breeding fish in the water portion. It will be planted in land, water and emersed conditions.

The cardboard in the pictures is in there just until some silicone dries





The destruction left behind:



I was initially gonna use the black foam for just the waterfall and against the glass on the sides, so it would be black when looked at from the side, however after seeing how little the pond foam expands I've decided to use it for just the waterfall.




Really should've been more patient with this part, got a lot of sag. For the time being it'll at least be a good base for the top layer:

















 
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#38 ·
Thanks! :icon_mrgr Think I could get away without drainage holes if I do careful waterings?

Right now I'm having trouble deciding whether I should get Flourite Original or Dark, or maybe a combination?
I also just ordered an Eheim 2213 for the tank.
 
#41 ·
Got the filter in today, hooked everything up but not entirely happy with a couple things. The little pool next to the waterfall that has water coming entering at a drop a second (literally) has a spot near the back where the water is dripping onto the platform, that same spot also needs some grout so I'll post pictures once everything is finished
 
#42 ·
I ran into a couple problems when I filled it up, the little pool to the left of the water feature (which slowly feeds the pool) had a low spot in the back where it was hard to reach. When it started filling up the water would drain backwards onto the platform instead of into the water portion, an obstacle I had for some reason not thought of when I was designing it. Thought I fixed it, filled it back up and there's still water back there! However it stayed the same level, so I tried draining the water portion and sure enough it drained from the platform, so there's a hole somewhere on it. I have it partially drained right now trying to dry out the platform so I can smother it in black silicone, since there will be soil over it anyways. Yesterday I added some of the flourite as well, will post pictures when everything settles.

Here's some pics now though to stay true to the title ;)

Bottom of the tank; when I first started and used black great stuff I ended up spraying normal great stuff on top of it while it was still wet because I ran out of the dyed G.S., that black streak along the bottom is the black G.S. expanding underneath the white. I was mindblown at first to come to the tank the next day and see black G.S. oozing out of normal G.S. about a foot from where I sprayed it lol.





Flourite original and dark, original seems a little too light, dark seems a little too dark, hopefully combined it should just about match the grout.






Heater and filter, really love the quick disconnects that came with the eheim, ball valves so I can adjust the flow to the water feature if need be.


 
#43 ·
Girlfriend lost the camera charger so in the meantime here's a crappy cell phone pic. The plant decisions/placement are not finalized yet and I still need to find some very high light plants that will be suitable for the upper planters.

Planted some dwarf baby tears in the little pool next to the waterfall in the hopes that they switch to an emersed state and form a carpet poking out of the water.

The plant on the right is a peace lily, not sure if this will stay but in the meantime it takes up some space.

The vals in the front will not be staying, I just threw em in there for cycling purposes.

That ivy-esque plant (species unknown, however it resembles Ficus pumila var. minima) on the left doesn't have a permanent location yet. I like where it is on the ramp, however I don't want it stopping the toads from climbing back on to land. I would be ecstatic if it started creeping up the planter on the left (the coco fiber thrown into the grout should be great for it to grab a hold of), however I also want some to remain hanging in the water. The white clouds (the only occupant of this tank at the moment) really enjoy them in the water and can very often be seen swimming through the leaves, an awesome effect with the backdrop of bright green and the fish so close to the surface.

I got the moss from my lfs a couple days ago, a huge patch I managed to cover most of the lower platform with for only $3. However the moss between the left cave and shallow pool isn't doing so well. I'm assuming it's the light intensity because the moss on the far left and right is doing fantastic, and they're shaded by the planter ledges. Fortunately there's a bunch of low light, medium light, and high light zones, so I'm just gonna let them do their own thing. Hopefully the different zones will do some landscaping/aquascaping for me.

As for the construction, I'm generally quite pleased with it. The only negative aspect I'm seeing is the sealer turning cloudy after being submerged. Though hopefully over time bacteria and algae will have grown and died repeatedly on it until it's no longer noticeable. If you look at the water feature where it dumps into the aquarium portion you can see it's already turned from milky colored to a dark greenish-brown.


 
#45 ·
Next up, some pics of the ivy grabbing a hold of the lower platform and the ramp. Also the moss that I collected for free outside my door, which is flourishing compared to the 'frog moss' I paid $3 for. Last is the entrance to one of their caves with a moss entry rug (they wouldn't wanna get dirt on their nice dirt floor), with some of the ivy's roots creeping in from the left.

 
#48 ·
Thanks!! Hmmm, if I were to do this on a small scale, instead of using mortar mix, dye, and sealer for covering the G.S. I would use a dark colored 100% silicone, then just after applying the silicone stick on a mixture of your materials. For example I would stick on a combination of flourite, coco fiber and eco-earth onto it. This way you can create a more consistent color/texture pattern throughout the tank. However if you were to do this I would make sure to use only flourite (or whatever underwater substrate you use) on the underwater walls, as the eco-earth and coco fiber would decay.

I haven't tested this yet so I can't guarantee anything but I feel the consistent materials would make the tank look a lot more seamless, not to mention get rid of that nasty white color the sealant turned underwater. Although the white color will eventually go away once enough stuff grows on it, I would rather not wait.

I'll probably post another video update on Saturday, the moss near the water feature on the far right side has been growing like mad due to the occasional splashing. I'm dying to get some toads in there
 
#52 ·
Here's a pic of a baby snail that rode on its parents back all the way up to the tiny pool next to the waterfall, at first I thought it just had a large growth.





The next project I'm starting on (out of impatience waiting for the touchscreen and sensors to get here from Hong Kong for the 5 gallon project) is the DIY fogger for the paludarium. Just bought a humidifier earlier today, I'll post some pics up tomorrow once I've finished rigging it up.
 
#55 ·
Thanks! Appearing natural was definitely the goal so I really appreciate that. With your username does this mean you have experience designing rain simulators for terraria? Because if so, I would love some advice on how to build one for this tank while retaining the natural look.


Price List:
$6 for the humidifier from a thrift store
$6 for pvc adapters and hose
Total investment: $12
 
#57 ·
I definitely want more plants, but unfortunately I don't have any plans as of right now. I just looked up what you're referring to though and those would definitely look great in there. The two main regions I've been trying to find something for are the upper planter ledges and the bowls in the water feature. Hopefully the plant will be spilling out of the bowls and create a consistent path for the overflow water to take.

I always love opinions on plants for the tank, terrestrial and semi-terrestrial plants are a whole new game for me.
 
#61 ·
Thanks for the comments!

The fogger is actually really simple, it's just an ultrasonic humidifier with the outlet reduced to 1/2" hose. The reduction causes the vapor to concentrate and become a little more visible. The adapter pieces all fit snugly or screw in so fortunately nothing is glued.

Some crabs would be awesome! Perhaps I'll have to make a tank one day for them.
 
#62 ·
The increased humidity from the fogger has caused the terrestrial vegetation to grow a beautiful bright green, it's insane the difference it made, especially since I usually only turn it on 15-30 minutes a day on it's lowest setting.

A new dilemma has also come up. The snails have been populating like crazy, I feel like I see 10 new snails every day. This has led me to come to two possible solutions:

1. The 5 gallon shrimp tank had a snail infestation recently as well, except a much smaller species. I dealt with those by using assassin snails. They're still at work but it seems the battle is being won. So one solution could be introducing quite a few assassins to the tank.

2. The second solution changes my future plans a lot more. It's based off the fact that the snails love to climb out of the water and explore the various pools of the water feature. Sometimes the water is flowing over the edges of the waterfall (and they can only get in to them if it's overflowing) and sometimes the outside is completely dry, meaning the snails get stuck in the pools. Doesn't seem to bother them though, I've seen a couple generations mature in the pool at the very top before the outlet gets clogged up and the water starts overflowing. Once that happens most usually migrate back down into the water portion. The lower waterfall pool is usually overflowing constantly so they always have access to that one, as well as the calm pool next to the waterfalls. Anyways, my idea is to introduce pea puffers to the tank. Then hopefully they have a sustaining supply of snails from the pools above. The problem with this approach is I don't think a pea puffer would get along well with the fire belly toad, and I know it would decimate the RCS. I could live without the RCS, but I definitely want a couple amphibians, as that's what I built this tank for.


I would love to hear your opinions
 
#63 ·
Wow amazing! It looks crazy good. that fogger is so simple yet effective. Great job on this!

I want to do this, but with a turtle and maybe green anoles/mourning geckos. Bad idea?

Pea puffers...I wouldn't do it personally. It would have to become a puffer only water section, unless you get exceptionally docile ones. Then it may look pretty inactive since they're 1 inch fish and you can't keep too many together. But it's totally up to you.
 
#66 ·
Thanks again to everyone for the nice comments!






Hmm, you could possibly do that setup if it was a big enough tank, and you had enough levels so the anole could live in the top half and the turtle in the bottom half, hopefully never interacting. But the research I did in planning this tank seemed to always disapprove of multi-species tanks, so I think it would be very risky.


I had a guy at my LFS tell me to put either a piece of cucumber or a piece of celery, don't remember which, in the water and the snails would migrate to it and you can remove them easier that way. I don't know if it works i didn't try it yet
I'll definitely give it a try one of these days.
In the meantime for the small snails I just crush a couple on the glass, then watch the RCS eat em. Free food! lol


Wow... This is pretty creative and inspiring!

If I missed it somewhere, I really apologize, but are you planning on having any other fauna in the water itself?

On the snails. I know everybody dislikes them, but they don't harm a thing. They even look cool. I mean how cool is it you have generations of something living breeding and dying in your pools lol. They aren't doing too much harm :/


MABJ's iDevice used for this message :p
I would definitely like to have one more species of fauna in the water portion, I've been pretty stuck on what to use though. I would love to hear your opinions on it!

You're definitely right about the snails, and I decided to go the assassin snail route, which won't completely eradicate them, but at least keep the population in check.
 
#65 ·
Wow... This is pretty creative and inspiring!

If I missed it somewhere, I really apologize, but are you planning on having any other fauna in the water itself?

On the snails. I know everybody dislikes them, but they don't harm a thing. They even look cool. I mean how cool is it you have generations of something living breeding and dying in your pools lol. They aren't doing too much harm :/


MABJ's iDevice used for this message :p
 
#80 ·
Why does everyone dislike them so much? As far as I've seen, they're harmless, whereas Gammarus occasionally nibble plant roots if they can't find food. But as for the pond snails, I've always found a balance of invertebrates to help as a cleaning crew, and I figure the more variety, the better. Assassin snails, mts, pond snails, the more the merrier, and they'll balance each other out.
 
#67 ·
My next dilemma is what plant to use for the water feature :confused::confused:

Preferably something dark green, that will hang over the edges of the basins. I sorta want green hair algae, except minus the algae part. This way the water has a path to follow, as it sometimes tries to drip into the soil if the flow is too strong.
 
#68 ·
I'm also trying to work on proper ventilation now. My plan is to have the system re-circulating the air as a closed system most of the day, then at 'sunrise' and 'sunset' have it evacuate the old air and bring in fresh air.

Would this be an acceptable route to achieve air movement while retaining humidity?

Also my plan is to build it using computer fans, is there any system you would recommend over a computer fan?
 
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