38 Gal Paludarium Build - Page 4

jocie1976 · #31 11-24-2012, 09:00 PM

For the snail problem, why not add another snail or three? Assassin Snails that is, lol! I had a snail problem in three fish tanks and threw between 2 and 5 snails per tank. Within a week most of the pest snails were gone. After the pest snails are gone, they will eat algae and detritus. They will not eat your plants though, so they are the perfect snail for any tank. I also have two of these snails in with my Fire Bellies and they are co-existing fine. Hope this helps.

x5tr41ghtj4ck3t · #32 12-03-2012, 01:54 AM

I have a question... I don't currently have pvc to make pillars. Do you think Lego bricks could pose a valid substitute?

megamax42 · #33 12-04-2012, 02:00 PM

Jocie, as for the snails, well I had two assassins in a 5 gallon for about 2-3 months and they only succeeded in keeping the population in check, despite me trying to remove as many as possible during tank changes. So I finally gave up on the 5 gallon (gonna overhaul the tank) and put the assassins in the paludarium. I may indeed purchase some more to help out, however my new goal is not to entirely eradicate all the snails. Yesterday I saw one of the assassins chomping down on a big snail, very entertaining. Additionally the snails climb up to the shallow baby tears pool and crap everywhere, which I think is perfect for getting mulm to an area not accessible by fish.

Straight Jacket, I think you could definitely substitute lego bricks for the columns. They'd probably work even better since you can make the columns with ledges for the Great Stuff to adhere to.

Here's some pics to illustrate how much the sealer has changed color as it gets grown over with random life. Also it appears the shrimp are now breeding in full force.

x5tr41ghtj4ck3t · #34 12-10-2012, 03:18 PM

Aha, not everyone can understand my 1337 speak. Also, thanks! I suppose that does make a lot of sense.
Awesome pics btw; the shrimp look fantastic in this environment

megamax42 · #35 12-10-2012, 08:36 PM

Haha good ol' 1337

Thanks! The shrimp seem to really enjoy it too, they have grown to sizes much bigger than they reach in my 5 gallon dedicated shrimp tank, as well as breed faster; despite the white clouds bullying them when it comes to food.

I attribute this to both a larger, more diverse tank footprint and more hiding places, and also to the increased calcium carbonate levels to help with their exoskeleton. The second one is just a theory, but I think it holds ground since I have pretty soft tap water and the mortar mix has been slowly leaching. I also rarely see exoskeletons in the 5 gallon because they're eaten so fast, I assume to retrieve the lost minerals. Perhaps it's time to start dosing CaCO3 in the shrimp tank.

megamax42 · #36 12-31-2012, 01:20 AM

Earlier today I bought an Arduino board for the paludarium, a mega 2560 just like the one I have on the 5 gallon shrimp tank. My first goal is to implement a ventilation system that is switchable between an open and closed system, with some temperature/humidity sensors integrated into it. There's also an inexpensive flow sensor I've had my eye on for some time. Rather pointless for the 5 gallon, but with how the water feature works in the paludarium I wouldn't mind getting some feedback on the flow rate. Maybe programming a couple small LEDs to give me a green light for good flow, yellow for adequate, and red for poor flow; at least until I can get a LCD screen for this tank as well.

megamax42 · #37 01-31-2013, 10:28 PM

megamax42 · #38 02-06-2013, 10:19 PM

Gonna start breeding crickets in preparation for the toads, however I wanted to run something by you guys first.

My guess is that the local pet stores probably remove the female crickets once they're old enough to tell apart. Is it possible that the pinhead-sized crickets are young enough to have females? Or is it noticeable right away?