First Paludarium design - Large images

[OaktownPaludist]

Hi Everyone,

I'm Jonah, and I'm just getting started in the mixed up world of creating a bog paludarium.

I'm adapting my design for a reef tank setup that I'm ready to move away from:



I want to keep the bookshelves on the side and turn the center into a paludarium.


Here is my first drawing:



The construction will be plywood and glass, I'm up to hear your experience with the volume capacity of this kind of construction. I was planning on making a sump with heaters, pumps etc at the base of the unit with pump returns and overflows drilled through the bottom of the floor of the paludarium itself. The dimension of the water areas for the sump and the tank will be 10" high by 48" x 18", for a total of 2 ~40 gallon water areas. The glassed in area is 36"h by 48"x18" which should give me plenty of room to do all kinds of interesting plants.

I'm setting the bottom of the tank low so that when you're standing, youccan see what's in the water, lilly pads and fish, and when you're sitting you'll be able to more see the plants and frogs, salamanders etc.

I'm hoping to do a South-East Asian focused biotope, but does that limit my salamander options?

Thanks,

Jonah

[OaktownPaludist]

The wide bar between water and land was bugging me and with some research at the vivarium I figured I could go with a standard 75 gallon an build the case around it after that, the sump seemed extraneous.

the tank is 20"x18dx48w and the glass doors are 36"x1/4"dx25w:

thoughts?

[Landon]

WELCOME to VivariumForm!!

both are pretty cool designs. a reef ready 75 would net you the holes for the sump pretty easily. 75s are fairly common you may be able to find one used for cheap. id try and run a sump o na tank that size if possible. its nice to not have to worry about opening those big doors to add water in too.

[OaktownPaludist]

That's a great point Landon. I'll take that into consideration. I think a 40 breeder would fit in the base if I designed the doors differently.

[beckdg]

have you heard of 2 part epoxy paint for potable water sources.
great for waterproofing large areas!

not so sure how you are connecting every thing/ what type of plywood, but if it held that tank it should hold a viv/paludaium.

also a 40 breeder? for reptiles? glass will be thin and not guaranteed for holding water! 10" max, and you may want to add a support across the top to help keep from bowing still. not so pretty for a paludarium. 75 gal probably better idea.