35 gallon paludarium work in progress

Traz · #1 11-07-2009, 02:29 PM

Hello and salutations terrarium folks. I have decided to take the dive into the world of planted tanks. I have never had thoughts of doing this sort of experiment until recently but decided that this could be a fun and interesting project. But first a little about my background. I am a recent college graduate that studied biology and chemistry that is currently unemployed *wink wink*. I was looking for something to do with my time since I have no current research project to occupy me. I wanted to start another ecosystem project like my reef tank witch I will post some pics of later. In this tank, or system of tanks rather, I made 2 separate environments. One being a primary show tank with corals and exotic fish and another tank acted as a biological filter with macroalgae and filter feeders. These 2 tanks shared a water supply and I now do a water change every 6 months to a year with very little problems. This is a big difference between the water change every 2 weeks that is recommended for such a reef system. It is this sort of experimentation that has caused me to enter the world of paludariums, along with being unemployed and having too much time on my hands.

I started off with an empty fish tank on my back porch. I got it from a friend a long time ago and she said it was 37 gallons. I think it is much more like 35 gallons though.

I wanted to do something that could support a diverse ecosystem on a small scale so I had to keep everything sort of small but functional. I had never done anything like this before and I am no plant expert so I did a lot of reading online of course so I must cite Google as being the ultimate source of my knowledge on the subject. However, all the work you see is no direct copy of anyone's work; it is just a conglomeration of ideas synthesized into something that may keep some stuff alive. So here is the finished structure I built for the tank.

I didn’t take many pictures of early construction so I will explain what I did and you can extrapolate from these pics how it took place. I built a pond area out of florescent diffuser (bought from any major home center).

I hot glued pieces of the diffuser that I cut very meticulously to size. At first I made the pond area and covered the inside with stone I bought from a local garden center. I tacked the rocks to the diffuser with hot glue then after I was totally done I turned it over and put a small dollop of great stuff (that foam in a can people use for insulation) in each diffuser hole.

It foams up and cures rather quickly and can later be cut off flush with the diffuser with a steak knife. It left some yellow in between a few rocks. Some I cut back and tried to stain darker with a sharpie and some I didn’t. I think it will have algae or moss on it soon anyway though but it wasn’t that bad. I felt this level of biosecurity was needed though because I do not want any fish escaping confinement of the water pool into the rear of the system. Take note though I did made a kink in my pool where I mounted screening material I got from a craft store.

It is just that stuff you let grade school kids learn how to cross stitch with blunt fat needles but it is black. I used it all over this project for biosecurity but in the pool I made an area that I can access that is semi hidden.

In here I stuff filter floss to act as a mechanical filter to help with water clarity.

The water flows out through the filter floss and around the back side of the pool and over to the pump which is mounted in a pump housing that I can always access by lifting up the planter.

No hydroton or moss will get down in the pump housing and the pump will able to be accessed and maintained.

This is the pic of what the assembly looked like after I added the water/hydroton divider and pump housing and it was put in the aquarium.

It took a while to get it to fit because it was so tight but that was a good thing because it literally fit like a surgical glove. Not one grain bigger than the black plastic mesh will ever make it into the water table beneath the hydroton. There is also no escape route for any fish bigger than the plastic mesh from the pond area. Time was taken to hot glue any breeches in security. Hydroton was poured in then sphagnum moss was placed on top.

I haven’t decided if I want any other medium involved yet. Suggestions are welcome. I was thinking of aerating my water a little to do this like a deepwater hydroponic terrarium but I havent decided if it will be necessary yet with the waterfall that is going to be implemented in the future. For now I piled up some rocks to give a preview of the ideas I have but it will be something like this with thinner pieces of slate. You won’t see the tube when I am done. I hope this will be enough aeration but time shall tell that. I placed a few plants in I got from my garden center a week ago and they perked up. I am using a CF light I had laying around from an old saltwater tank.

Future plans are of course to finish the waterfall. I am going to go get a piece of window plastic cut for the top to keep humidity in. I want to get dart frogs later but in my current state of brokenness this is a ghetto project. Before I get dart frogs I plan on getting cork slabs for the back wall and having some 2-3" cork tubes protrude from the walls for more habitat and planters for epiphytes. I have spent very little money and used mostly things I had lying around already. So I expect after I get my top I am going to get a couple local tree frogs and maybe an Anolis carolinus, which are everywhere where I live. But not before I get them a food supply. I plan to use the aquarium stand to culture food for the wildlife that I get but that isn't quite decided upon yet. Any and all suggestions for good fish or good fauna will be appreciated. I will be improving on this as my financial situation looks up or I come across more materials. This is a work in progress and I will finish it a little at a time and give you guys updates. I am not really in a hurry. This is about a months worth of tinkering here and there so far. Fish? Frogs? Plants? Compatibility? How often will I have to break this down? I need ideas. Taking a break from thinking about this. Tell me what ya think.

RecycledAgain · #2 11-07-2009, 09:26 PM

Well thought out and executed.. Nice work.

My question would be .. What are the plans with the vertical space on the back wall?

Traz · #3 11-07-2009, 09:36 PM

The back wall will get cork bark siliconed to it eventually as soon as I get the cash to do so. Maybe a couple small cork tubes will protrude from the wall as well if I keep going with the way I have it planned.

boabab95 · #4 11-08-2009, 07:32 AM

terrestrial creatures- dart frogs would look amazing AFTER you're finished adding cork, finishing waterfall, etc.

Fish- minnows/guppies

dirt- might want to add some cocofiber then on top, MOSS!!!!!

question- are those two palm both dwarf palm???

Traz · #5 11-08-2009, 03:13 PM

I suppose they are dwarf palms. I got all those plants from my garden center from their terrarium section. Those particular ones were growing out of tiny coconuts the size of peas. They were like 50 cents a plug so I just nabbed them. But I have a friend with many many plants literally thousands of different things that has a huge personal greenhouse. I am grabbing some duckweed for my pond from him. He may have a bromilliad or 2 as well as some good moss rocks. I am thinking of doing a temporary back wall of palm bark because it is native where I am on the coast and free. Epiphytes will grow on it as well. I just worry about it rotting. But it is replaceable for free. I have plastic wrap over the top for now to play with the humidity but I am about to go get a piece of plastic. And will I really need the coco fiber? I am thinking of sliding a bubbler into my water table to make the hydroton the primary rooting medium. I think the aeration will make it like a deep water hydroponic system. I just need to get a few fish to dirty up the water some.

Traz · #6 11-08-2009, 09:36 PM

Ok here is an update. First here is a pic of my show tank that I promised in my first post. It is poor quality but I am taking all these pics with an iphone. the actinics are on. I will get a better pic when the halide is on during the day.

I picked up a piece of glass for the top and some plants. Most of these were given to me by a friend. Nothing is permanent. Just trying to get some stuff starting to get established. All the green is a mat of liverworts. I think I can just take plugs out and plant in the hole and use it for ground cover. That is duckweed in the pond and the flower is a passion flower just floating. I also got a few other things including some bromiliads and some mosses. Still havent decided if this will be the final arrangement but we shall see.

Here is a pic of my wife right after we cut the flower off. I thought it was quite amazing so I snapped this pic.

I also got some palm bark and am pondering using this for my back wall. It seems like it may be the perfect cheap thing for a background. Tell me what you think.

So tell me what you guys think and any ideas will be appreciated. I think I have crowded this thing too quick but I just stuck all these things in here tonight to get them out of the plastic bag I had them packed in. I will rearrange them and get everything more in order in the next few days. I may do the back wall soon too.

beckdg · #7 11-09-2009, 02:34 AM

greetings and salutations our newfound terrarium friend. i must admit i have not read through yet but i plan to. the pics look nice though so far. welcome to the site.

SamG88 · #8 11-12-2009, 03:50 PM

looking through the pics and reading and just wanted to ask you,did you seal the GS(the foam stuff) with anything?i thought it would color the water and do something to the water

Traz · #9 11-15-2009, 12:32 AM

As far as I know it is inert after it cures. I don't think this stuff will hurt the water but who knows I could be wrong. If I have problems I will post them here.

beckdg · #10 11-15-2009, 10:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Traz

As far as I know it is inert after it cures. I don't think this stuff will hurt the water but who knows I could be wrong. If I have problems I will post them here.

in most cases you're absolutely right. i don't forsee any issues.