10 gal paludarium

HDreptiles · #1 06-24-2011, 07:29 PM

OK, so I am new here. I am an avid fish keeper and reptile keeper as is my fiancee. I had an extra 10 gallon tank sitting around and decided to make a paludarium. When I posted it on one of the aquarium sites, one of the members instructed me to go here and check this site out. So I did. Now I want to keep frogs as well. Not in this 10 gallon of course, but in a bigger enclosure. (I have a 55 gallon tank sitting in the garage begging to be used.) Anyway, here is my attempt at a paludarium. At the moment, I am not planning on any animals in it save for some fish or shrimp. What I really want to accomplish with it is this: I would like to try my hand at making a fake background, making a false bottom, mixing a soil, and keeping plants alive. I don't really have a plant list yet. They will probably be a mix of terrestrial and aquatic plants. I really would like this to be a show piece, but it is, first and foremost, an experiment. Enough of my waffle, here it is.

Equipment is this:

Tetra internal filter
Incandescent hood with 1 full spectrum 10 watt mini CFL, soon to be 2
I have a piece of drift wood with some small pieces of Java Fern on it to see how it does.

The flower pots will not stay in there, and I am going to be dividing the tank to add a terrestrial part along with a DIY background.

Here is somewhat of a plant list:

Lobelia cardinalis
Bivittatus "ruby"
Creeping Fig
Moon Valley Pilea
Polystichum tsus-simense

Let me know if these will work, and if I should add any or omit any. I am thinking I am going to need more plants, but not sure yet. I want to see what I can do with this before I jump into any frogs.
I would love some plant suggestions. Even if it is 100 different species, I want to know what you would suggest so I can do research on them. Thanks all.

P.S. - For future reference, I want to keep Dendrobates azureus and adelphobates galactonotus Red.

P.P.S - I am also planning on Christmas Moss, Java Moss, and Peacock Moss for this tank.

EvilLost · #2 06-24-2011, 09:15 PM

Hey there!

First thing, if you haven't already also check out Dendroboard.com they have all the frog info you will need as well as a LOT of building info.

just a few bits of advice i can give you from having built many failed tanks and some successful ones now.....you will always try to do to much at once. its just a rule esp when starting out....things take up a lot more space than it seems so my biggest suggestion to you is to start SIMPLE!!

make a tank with NO water features at all and see if you can keep the plants alive (likely you will overwater/flood it). also, it depends on what kind of plants change syour soil needs etc etc

then try to add maybe a stream and move on....

last note along with the stuff takes too much room, i have personally tried and failed at least on 6 occasions to make a 10-gallon tank with a NOTICEABLE feature. you can squeeze in a stream or something but it becomes mostly a trickle and gets overgrown pretty fast anyway, the tanks are just too small.

just my 2cents

gl

HDreptiles · #3 06-25-2011, 12:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EvilLost

Hey there!

First thing, if you haven't already also check out Dendroboard.com they have all the frog info you will need as well as a LOT of building info.

just a few bits of advice i can give you from having built many failed tanks and some successful ones now.....you will always try to do to much at once. its just a rule esp when starting out....things take up a lot more space than it seems so my biggest suggestion to you is to start SIMPLE!!

make a tank with NO water features at all and see if you can keep the plants alive (likely you will overwater/flood it). also, it depends on what kind of plants change syour soil needs etc etc

then try to add maybe a stream and move on....

last note along with the stuff takes too much room, i have personally tried and failed at least on 6 occasions to make a 10-gallon tank with a NOTICEABLE feature. you can squeeze in a stream or something but it becomes mostly a trickle and gets overgrown pretty fast anyway, the tanks are just too small.

just my 2cents

gl

Thanks for the info man. I am actually on Dendroboards as well under this name. Someone from the fish forum told me about it. I am not too worried about how this tank turns out. I am using this as my classroom. I want to see if I can make it all work. The first thing I am going to do, is make a new light hood. I am thinking of going 3 or 4 13 or 27 watt 6500K CFL bulbs. And I am going to get a piece of plexi for the top to keep humidity in. If this tank fails the first time. I will try again and again and again until I get it right. Thank you for the info man. I have found some good info on here and the other one. Mainly the build thread by Grimm. I love that he did his in videos. That is what I needed. If you know any good threads, feel free to leave me a link on here. As soon as I get back in town next week, I am going to go into this at full force if funds will allow.

HDreptiles · #4 06-28-2011, 08:11 PM

Well. Not much to update. Well, actually, nothing. Just got back from Michigan, so I am going to be getting back to this build tomorrow. I will be making a new light hood for it then, and, hopefully, wiring it up next week along with some foam work. Stay tuned....

HDreptiles · #5 06-29-2011, 07:48 PM

Ok, so there was supposed to be a fun update today. Well, due to some material issues, (I HATE MDF) it is not going to happen. I started making the hood, and got 90% done with all the sawing and wood working aspect of it, and hated it and tossed it in the bin. I will need to get a good piece of plywood to do this, as MDF is crap. So it will happen next weekend instead. Stay tuned.

HDreptiles · #6 09-01-2011, 10:00 PM

Ok. I have been away from this project for a while. I took out the pots and added some more Java Fern. I also added another light bulb since the hood build failed for the moment, and added a glass top over most of the tank. I am going to use saran wrap over the back 2 inches to keep the humidity in it. Here is how it looks at the moment. The big piece of Java was added yesterday.

I am hopefully going to get this done soon. I am still in need of some materials to finish it, but I am hoping that will come in the next few weeks.

HDreptiles · #7 09-16-2011, 10:40 AM

Ok. This tank is quickly becoming a catch all for the plants I don't know what to do with. That is ok though. I added some gravel that I had left over from my 2 gallon and some plants I don't have anywhere to put yet. Here is how it looks ATM.

Flame and Java Moss. They will get separated into a couple different tanks.

Guppy Grass. Not sure what I am going to do with it, so it will stay put for the time being.

HDreptiles · #8 09-17-2011, 11:18 PM

So, after like 2 hours of tying plants and moss to pretty much anything I could put in the water, here is what I have.

Java Moss on the sponge. The water runs down the sponge so I am hoping the moss will do well like that.

Flame Moss on the lava rock.

I am really liking this tank now, and don't think I want to do the false bottom and all that. I am on the fence about it now. Not sure what I am going to do yet. You guys will be the first to know though.

Pavel · #9 09-18-2011, 11:28 AM

It may not be what you originally envisioned, but if nothing else it looks like it is becoming a learning experience for you. LOL Nice thing with a tank this simple is that if you start to change your mind about what you want to do with it (and it sounds like you have) then changes are easy to make.

Is that an actual sponge you are using? If so I would change that. Sponges tend to become breeding grounds for all sorts of bacteria and fungi -- often ones that are detrimental. Instead, especially since it looks to be particially submerged, I would suggest using either some ecoweb or even a piece of rot resistant wood to attach the java moss to.

Lobelia cardinalis would be a "No" as far as advisability of use. It Is beautiful but you are talking about a plant that grows to be over 3ft tall. Not something that will work well in a 10gal tank.

Polystichum tsus-simense would probably not be a wise choice either. While it is one of the smaller growing ferns, it still grows to be about 12in tall and wide which in a small tank like a 10gal means it is going to become very cramped and will muscle out other plants in the terr. And ferns, IME, tend to become 'thugs' in a terr -- taking over all available space -- as it is. With this fern being a fast grower that would likely be an even bigger problem.

Because I'm lazy, I'll just do a link -- there are some smaller growing plants here amongst the bunch: https://www.vivariumforum.com/communi...hp?do=ad&id=90

Hope I didn't 'pop' too many dream bubbles.

HDreptiles · #10 09-18-2011, 09:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pavel

It may not be what you originally envisioned, but if nothing else it looks like it is becoming a learning experience for you. LOL Nice thing with a tank this simple is that if you start to change your mind about what you want to do with it (and it sounds like you have) then changes are easy to make.

Is that an actual sponge you are using? If so I would change that. Sponges tend to become breeding grounds for all sorts of bacteria and fungi -- often ones that are detrimental. Instead, especially since it looks to be particially submerged, I would suggest using either some ecoweb or even a piece of rot resistant wood to attach the java moss to.

Lobelia cardinalis would be a "No" as far as advisability of use. It Is beautiful but you are talking about a plant that grows to be over 3ft tall. Not something that will work well in a 10gal tank.

Polystichum tsus-simense would probably not be a wise choice either. While it is one of the smaller growing ferns, it still grows to be about 12in tall and wide which in a small tank like a 10gal means it is going to become very cramped and will muscle out other plants in the terr. And ferns, IME, tend to become 'thugs' in a terr -- taking over all available space -- as it is. With this fern being a fast grower that would likely be an even bigger problem.

Because I'm lazy, I'll just do a link -- there are some smaller growing plants here amongst the bunch: FS Plants for sale - Vivarium Forums

Hope I didn't 'pop' too many dream bubbles.

You didn't pop any dream bubbles.

The only reason I used the sponge was cuz it was all I had at the moment. I need to find some wood and a few more rocks that are more suited to this size tank. And I am thinking that for the land part, it is only going to be a corner of the tank with an ivy type plant and a cryptanthus sp. Red in it. Not sure what I am going to do with all the guppy grass yet, but I will figure something out at some point. The sponges were acquired by my Father-in-law from a medical company and were sterile when we got them. So it does not have any strange chemicals in it (as far as I know) but I am still going to devise something else for the waterfall part. Thanks for all the info man.