38 Gal Paludarium Build

[megamax42]

Good news everyone!
Found my gf's camera charger, let the pic deluge begin. First off with some pics of a hitchhiker snail that found his way up the waterfall and into the upper pool.. and the very high surface tension that's up there.



---------- Post added at 08:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:10 PM ----------

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.

[x5tr41ghtj4ck3t]

Wow! that looks great!
The balloon thing is so simple, and yet it blows my mind too (never thought of doing that, and I've been trying to figure out how I was going to make a cave/removable pot holder with gs foam)
Excellent work.
Does the cement give a significant weight increase?

[megamax42]

Thanks!! Just added a lot more moss and removed the peace lily, will add some more pics soon.

Surprisingly the cement added quite a bit of weight, I used nearly two 10 lb bags of mortar mix. Kind of shocked me the first time I went to lift it after finishing.

[x5tr41ghtj4ck3t]

Wow, is that stuff cheap? Would you still suggest using it, despite the weight?

And how many cans of foam did you go through?

[megamax42]

The price wasn't too bad, I think it was something like $6 per bag. And I wouldn't say the additional weight was much of a deciding factor either, the real reason I might not recommend this approach would probably be the difficulty of applying the mortar mix and getting the right water ratio. And the messy aftermath.

The other reason I'm slightly turned off by this approach is the difficulty of finding an underwater substrate to match the color of the mortar mix. If I were to do it again I would probably use a dark brown 100% silicone caulking, smear it all over the G.S., then stick on bits of the underwater substrate, coco fiber, and the terrestrial substrate. For the underwater portion I would glue on just the underwater substrate (since the coco fiber and terrestrial substrate would slowly decay over time underwater).

This way there are consistent patterns and colors throughout the entire tank, replicative of a biotope in nature.

I believe the entire project took about 6 cans of G.S., however I had to get used to how much I could pile up in one spot and a lot was wasted in the learning process.

[megamax42]

Here's another video update of the paludarium, the water level was a little low but you get the general idea.
Paludarium Update #6 - YouTube

[EricBel]

Nice build! I really like your video too

[megamax42]

Thanks!! Hopefully soon I'll get the stars of the tank, the FBT. So far I've been waiting to collect enough moss to cover the lower platform. This way it helps prevent eco-earth from entering the water portion.

[megamax42]

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.

[megamax42]

Video:
DIY Fogger for Paludarium - YouTube