55 gallon Paludarium - my first!

Ninja Noahloaf · #1 (**permalink**) 12-31-2008, 09:45 PM

My roommate has a few frogs in his terrarium and also has a couple aquariums and it made me want to start one! So, over the past couple months I had been researching the topic and in the past couple weeks I have put together my first paludarium! I really like how well it has turned out but I know there is alot of room for improvement. I took pictures to make a build log thread but never managed to actually make the thread.

So, today I had just added the plants and I have time to make a post of all my progress!

Pittylova · #2 (**permalink**) 12-31-2008, 09:56 PM

It looks like it's coming along real nice! What types of plants did you use? I'm starting to research plants as tomorrow my basic construction will finally be finished on mine (after house construction is finally over). What do you plan on putting in it?

Austin · #3 (**permalink**) 12-31-2008, 10:00 PM

Looks great =)

Are you just going to leave the rest of the background uncovered? I think it looks good either way.

Ninja Noahloaf · #4 (**permalink**) 12-31-2008, 10:23 PM

I started the project by using the Great Stuff for ponds (which took me forever to find at this time of year) and foamed 3 different egg crate backgrounds. Each piece has different center pieces. One has a large piece of Mopani wood sticking out that I wanted to use to mount plants. One has 3 cups foamed into it so I can add some larger broms to it. And the last panel has a couple mounds of a 2nd layer of GS so I can mount a plant and make a small waterfall. I used black GE silicone II to glue them to the glass and I put the waterfall panel diagonal so I could have easy access to the water pump. I baked some rehydrated coco fiber and some of it caught fire :P but I managed to get enough to cover half the panels and I figured I would leave it like that to make the effect of a dirty rock wall. I then added an "L" shaped peice of Mopani wood to divide the soil/LECA layer with the gravel layer of the pond. There was a small gap in the back that the mopani wood didn't reach so I used some slate rocks my cousin used in his aquarium to plug the gap. It worked out well because the rocks act like a ramp for any future poison dart frogs I might add. I then proceeded to add aquarium gravel, terra-lite, and the dendro bedding + tree fern fiber. Today I received 5 various air plants, a fern (White rabbits foot), a vine (cissus amazonica), and a couple grasses that I'm unsure the name of. I added them in certain areas and realized my 55 gal terrarium still looks empty. I managed to poke a hole in the GS and made a small waterfall. The pictures don't do the waterfall justice, I've managed to make it look nicer. I currently have it at 85%ish humidity and have glass on the top on the terrarium; I added a tiny computer fan in the back to keep air circulating within it. I will continue to update with the progress of my paludarium.. promise

. I made it with the future goal of adding PDFs, but I want to establish a decent environment first. Any tips would be greatly appreciated! I'm trying to do all my major maintenance before the semester starts so I can concentrate on classes. I am good with criticism, so don't hold back

. Oh, and this forum is amazing!

Ninja Noahloaf · #5 (**permalink**) 12-31-2008, 10:31 PM

I ordered the plants from blackjungle and I simply ordered the tillandsia sampler, which is the 5 air plants. They didn't provide me a list of the names though so I have to research each one

. The 2 grasses and the larger plant came from Petco. But they also didn't have the names... So I will get back to you on that also :P. And I think I am going to leave the background the way it is, I kind of like the half with-out the coco fiber. I am going to try to fill it out with some type of hanging plant. I plan on adding some PDFs but until then, I am going to add some more ground foliage. It looks pretty empty in the front. I was thinking perhaps some creeping ivy (peperomia angulata from BJ.com) and mosses. And I also plan on adding some broms to the pots.. I tried to make the pots accessible to frogs by adding a ramp

Austin · #6 (**permalink**) 12-31-2008, 10:48 PM

Sounds good.

If you could find a fairly large fern, that would take up a lot of space and look good =)

froggsong · #7 (**permalink**) 01-02-2009, 05:09 AM

Take a look at some of the different types of peperomia, I have 4 types in my CWD vive and another that I am still propagating from cuttings that is similar to the one that you listed (I think I will order some of that one at some point), and they are just gorgeous. Definitely one of my favorite vive plants (second only to mosses). I got three of the ones in the CWD tank from Home Depot for like a buck a piece, in tiny little pots. They stood up to a bit of trampling before I found a better place to plant them, and they have recovered wonderfully, especially since I started misting with fish tank water. Another good plant that will get somewhat large is dracaena, I have two in the 40G breeder the CWD is in. If you get one, make sure you get a baby one, so it can grow into the space, they can get big.

Ninja Noahloaf · #8 (**permalink**) 01-02-2009, 02:11 PM

Thanks for the advice, I saw some of those at home depot too and i thought they looked nice. I may end up going back to go set some now. What kind of mosses do you recommend? I was thinking of getting riccia to place on the log between the water feature and the soil so it could grow in both, but i also would like some moss. Ive done research and found Java moss is popular. My roommate has some sphagnum that he hasnt been able to grow for a about a month so we put it in a blender with some sugar and beer last night to see if that may help it grow quicker. The long time its taken for it grow has turned me off on the idea of sphagnum.. or any compressed brick of moss for that matter. I also have some wild moss but I don't want to have to go through sterilization yet..

froggsong · #9 (**permalink**) 01-02-2009, 10:05 PM

Generally, the compressed stuff will not grow, unless there are a few spores that take off (unlikely). Personally, I use found mosses, rather than buying any. I am always excited to come across a new type. My favorite looking one is what I call sidewalk moss (I think it might be pillow moss), but I haven't been able to keep it looking so green and beautiful in a vive (I'm probably not providing the right conditions for it, probably not high enough light). There is this type that is growing all throughout my yard that is my all-around favorite right now, because it grow well in the vives. I don't know what the names of any of the ones I have are... It would be a real pain to try to look them up, I think. Sterilizing the moss is really easy. You can put it in a bag or a bowl with a cup of hot water, then drop in a piece of dry ice. The CO2 produced by the dry ice "melting" will kill anything that is already hatched in the moss. Then you can let it sit the way you have it for a while (can someone chime in on a good time period to let it sit so that any eggs will have time to hatch but not so long the bugs will have time to lay more eggs?), then do it again. After that it should be perfectly safe to put in the vive with no problems.

Ninja Noahloaf · #10 (**permalink**) 01-02-2009, 10:56 PM

Awesome, thats really good to know! My cousin's moss hasn't shown any promise so i will let him know about that. Im excited to try the sterilizing too.. it sounds fun.

I am also going to use some techniques i learned in my biotech class that worked incredibly well. I am going to do a 10% bleach wash.. ive noticed other people do it on this board too. Im just a real stickler for keeping malevolent bacteria and mold out of my set-up.. I one of your projects (very impressive btw) and liked the real moss.. it makes me excited to add some of my own.