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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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#7 ·
Thanks!
The eggcrate has really been a lifesaver, couldn't have done this without it.
Only issue is when I tried to pull out the balloon it didn't come out in one piece so now I gotta go in there and scrape it out. Probably due to my lack of patience in letting the great stuff dry :hihi:
 
#22 ·
Well I finally bought a coating/sealant for the grout, Rust-Oleum Parks Super Glaze, although I placed the order on the 18th and still hasn't even shipped out yet :mad: so I'm getting really antsy.

Now my goal is to find terrestrial plants that grow well in about 1.5-2 inches of substrate, any ideas are very appreciated.
 
#23 ·
Apparently the glaze is back-ordered :angryfire, so I'm currently trying to see if I want to cancel the order and buy something else, I know I've said this many times before but any advice on sealant is very much appreciated, looking for a paint-on epoxy/sealer that will withstand constant submersion.
 
#29 ·
So far I'm really happy with the sealer though, easy to apply, easy to clean and comes out looking great. In quite a few spots it gathered on individual coco fibre strands and looks like droplets of water

Here's a couple pics but it was tough to get a good shot of it. I'm also still failing at taking a good fts with the current lighting so I'll probably take a video later and post that.


 
#31 ·
Thanks!! First was a very light layer of just mortar mix, then a little bit thicker layer with coco fibre mixed in. In the beginning I was wanting to stick it on with the sealer but with the way the coco fibre was packaged and entangled it would've looked too artificial I think.
 
#32 ·
Ok Call me a dork (and there's a visual!) but more questions, if you don't mind? the steps you used were:

1. Egg crate covered in Foam
2. Foam covered in Thin layer of quikrete (with color added)
3. Another layer of colored quikrete with coco fiber added in (or Sealer with the coco)?

Then will you seal it all?

Looking forward to seeing more updates!
 
#33 ·
Not at all! That exactly it, on step 3 it's the quikrete with coco fibre mixed and then I've sealed everything right now with a couple layers. I still have to attach the walkway for them to get on land (wouldn't really be able to seal some parts of the columns with the walkway in front) and finish the waterfall portion (wanted most of the tank sealed for testing the flow) so eventually the tank will get another resealing.

Just took a video of the paludarium after the new light arrived. Not sure how I feel about the color, they sent 4x 6500k bulbs so I might look into replacing a couple. Sorry for the really dirty glass, I'm waiting on razor blades to clean up the leftover mortar mix. I also added some G.S. to the waterfall for a more realistic look. The blue led's are near the end of the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWPtOPaZFxI
 
#34 ·
Do you guys think I could get away without drainage holes? I was initially going to drill holes through the platform and planters however I was worried about what could get washed into the water, so I thought maybe I could bypass them with very careful waterings. What do you think?
 
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