How to Build a Paludarium

[sphelps]

What's a Paludarium? I'm not really sure but this thread will outline methods I used to construct one.

Step one, shut down your reef tank. Nothing in there will be useful for the remaining steps. This concludes step one.

[straightrazorguy]

...in my living room? I think I'll stick to reefing.

[Aquattro]

There was a thread a few years back, poster named Raf. Or his wife. Think it had pics.

[sphelps]

...in my living room? I think I'll stick to reefing.

You haven't even seen step two yet :lol:

[sphelps]

There was a thread a few years back, poster named Raf. Or his wife. Think it had pics.

There's a few kicking around.

[Skimmer Juice]

should not have looked at this thread . Now I want to build one after googeling . Will follow see how it turns out

[sphelps]

Step Two: Background.

I wanted something 3 dimensional that would hold some plants and act as a water feature. Only option was to build one from scratch so I picked up some rigid foam and some spray foam and got to work.

Foam outline and pots all siliconed in place
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/IMG_2253.jpg

Spray foam going on
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/IMG_2254.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/IMG_2256_1.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/IMG_2257_1.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/IMG_2258.jpg

After burning through 2 cans of the expensive black pond foam rather quickly I just decided to continue with the standard great stuff.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/IMG_2260.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/IMG_2261_1.jpg

Then I curved out the exist to reveal a more rock like structure.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/IMG_2266_1.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/IMG_2267.jpg

After one coat of Quickwall Cement with Acrylic Fortifier
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/IMG_2268.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/IMG_2272.jpg.

Next layer had brown cement coloring added
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/IMG_2274.jpg

Final Layer has charcoal coloring
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/IMG_2276.jpg

[sphelps]

Apologies in advance for poor picture quality, just snapped a few rather quickly with my phone as I worked through the process.

[mark]

looks great so far but no concerns with the regular foam?

[sphelps]

Another method used:

Rigid foam rough cut
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/IMG_2280.jpg

Followed buy some blow torch action
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/IMG_2281.jpg

First coat
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/IMG_2284.jpg

Finished product for the back wall
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/IMG_2287.jpg

[sphelps]

looks great so far but no concerns with the regular foam?

Not really, at first I thought it would be worth while using the black for the price difference but $50 worth went rather quickly, the regular foam is a quarter of the price and actually goes further and works better. It's not as rigid but after being covered in concrete it makes no difference. Also pretty much all spray foam will be above the water level so no real concerns, but either way the regular is more commonly used.

[sphelps]

Quick preview in tank
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/background150302.jpg

That concludes my weekend, stay tuned for more in the next few days.

[Craigdillman]

thats kinda cool i was looking on some google pic and some of those look pretty sick

[kien]

you shut your reef down Steve ?? :cry:

[straightrazorguy]

you shut your reef down Steve ?? :cry:

You shut down your reef for a swamp Steve???

[Ryanerickson]

After looking up that word, [Paludariumcan] had to paste it can't spell it lol or not trying. Amazing tanks from what you have started with this should be a show piece, maybe look into making statues lol looks amazing I'm very impressed.

[Seriak]

Lit by a mitras no less

[sphelps]

you shut your reef down Steve ?? :cry:

You shut down your reef for a swamp Steve???

You guys got to keep up, that was step one.

[sphelps]

After looking up that word, [Paludariumcan] had to paste it can't spell it lol or not trying. Amazing tanks from what you have started with this should be a show piece, maybe look into making statues lol looks amazing I'm very impressed.

Thanks, so far it has turned out pretty good, hopefully I can keep it up.

Lit by a mitras no less

Lit by 3, I removed 2 for access but eventually will go back up. The gimmick features of clouds and storms seem more appropriate for my "swamp" than my previous reef.

[MarkoD]

looks awesome. i did one of these 3d backgrounds before. using a sodering iron will give you a rock like appearance

[sphelps]

looks awesome. i did one of these 3d backgrounds before. using a sodering iron will give you a rock like appearance

Thanks, might try that on the sides.

[sphelps]

Power outage, not much else to do...

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/912139D7-4641-440C-B44D-FE65FFF7B2BA.jpg

That's the left side.

[sphelps]

Step 3 relates to the plumbing, the rough in for the filtration has started. On one side is the intake which includes a surface skimmer, the two valves will control how much flow is skimmed from the surface vs a submerged strainer (still to be added). The skimmer box will also hold items like a float valve for level control. The output from the filter is roughed in on the other side of the tank.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/96659A20-8DFB-4881-B235-FCF10D6C05C1.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/1A24651A-38D9-4937-AC23-2633A50B7E6B.jpg

[gregzz4]

Where's the pump go ?

[sphelps]

Backtracking to step 2 to finish the background, some addition foam is added to fill in the gaps and blend things together. Some vine work is also added at this time but will be completed in a later step when other rock and wood features are added. This virtually completes step 2, here's a full swamp pic to show the current result.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/background150309.jpg

[sphelps]

Where's the pump go ?

It's external, basically just a canister filter.

[gregzz4]

Guess I'll have to wait for pics as I can't imagine it plumbed

I thought it was looking good before, but WOW those vines and the rock coloring really bring it to life. And it makes it look huge

[daplatapus]

That really looks cool.

[es355lucille]

Nice job! :biggrin:

I had to look this up on the internet. Very cool ideas you have there. I might have to try one of these!

[Myka]

I thought it was looking good before, but WOW those vines and the rock coloring really bring it to life. And it makes it look huge

No kidding! I know how big the tank is, but that pic - it could be 15 feet long! Sweet looking Steve!

[sphelps]

Thanks all. To me the tank looks small in the pictures so I guess it's all personal perspective. For an idea on size here's a pic my wife snapped on the weekend.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/1264AC1B-15D2-4DA2-84FF-90BB3E91A6BE.jpg

[badAZZlars]

This is starting to look really good. Great work on the foam rock work.

Will you be setting up plumbing for misters or rain type simulation?

[sphelps]

This is starting to look really good. Great work on the foam rock work.

Will you be setting up plumbing for misters or rain type simulation?

Thanks. All plants will be hydroponic so each pot will have a drip line. I'm contemplating the idea of addition misters to work with the auto top off for rain simulation but I need to avoid getting the front glass wet so it might be tricky. It's something I can add anytime so I'll probably play around with the idea eventually.

[CM125]

nice, in for updates

[sphelps]

Skipping ahead again to step 4, substrate.

First I installed 100W of heating cable for substrate heating.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/6C88E457-0F67-4B46-BB3F-CB92ECA373D3.jpg

Followed buy 100lbs for black sand, 20lbs of Flourite and topped off with 80lbs of Caribsea Eco-Complete. I also added some 50lbs of lace rock, some driftwood and some mopani wood. Here's another FSS to show the result.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/paludarium150310.jpg

All three lights are up again as well :)

[Myka]

You are very creative (and patient).

[lastlight]

looks amazing steve! is that heating coil a hobby product or something from the construction realm?

[sphelps]

looks amazing steve! is that heating coil a hobby product or something from the construction realm?
It's a hobby product, Hydor 50w Hydrokable Substrate Heater

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71M4-b5K8jL._SX522_.jpg

[tang daddy]

This is a very cool build, learning a bunch here thanks for the photo steps and write up.... Tagging along!

[Scythanith]

Looks like it will be a blast Steve! Needed the sump room for beer keg storage? Wendy and I have been toying around with a mantella tank for sometime now. I have them before and have always wanted a properly built tank for them. Not quite a paludarium, but close :)

[sphelps]

Looks like it will be a blast Steve! Needed the sump room for beer keg storage? Wendy and I have been toying around with a mantella tank for sometime now. I have them before and have always wanted a properly built tank for them. Not quite a paludarium, but close :)

Yeah something like that. A mantella looks pretty much the same, and I'm not even convinced paludarium is the right word for mine, more like a mini ornamental aquaponic system, but it seems to fit the best.

[sphelps]

Going back to complete step 3, plumbing.

Here you can see the return line which feeds the main return and two branch lines. The smaller branch line feeds the drip system, the larger branch line feeds the water fall.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/paludarium150320_8.jpg


For now I've just connected the canister filter, it's a Fluval FX6. Later on I will be adding a UV sterilizer, an inline heater and probe holders for control of various operations.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/paludarium150320_7.jpg


Here's a shot of the drip lines I ran. There's one main drip line that runs the top perimeter of the tank and essentially cascades down the rock keeping most pots wet. I also tee'd off that line and ran some dedicated lines to feed the larger pots. Valves will be added to these lines later to limit the flow a little more as it's pretty heavy right now, but for the time being the extra flow will help cure things up nicely. I also filled the pots with Hydrocorn for growing medium.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/paludarium150320_4.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/paludarium150320_3_1.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/paludarium150320_10.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/paludarium150320_2.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/paludarium150320.jpg

And that pretty much sums up step 3, plumbing is essentially done except the few extra options that will be added later down the road.

[sphelps]

To clean things up I added some moss. I also filled the tank and started curing the concrete. No idea how long that will take but once the water clears up I'll start measuring pH. Here's the latest FSS.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/paludarium150320_11.jpg

[gregzz4]

That is so kool :smile:

What critters are you planning on adding ?

[Howie]

You have done an awesome job so far. I am looking forward to seeing it once it's all completed!!

[Bayside Corals]

Nice work Steve, It's very impressive! can't wait till you put some livestock in there.

[Scythanith]

Looking awesome! Bet you're glad you didn't switch out to the blue 6200 mitras pucks now :)

[FishyFishy!]

You're a man of many talents brew. Looking simply amazing as usual.

[sphelps]

Thanks guys. No real plans for livestock yet as I'm not very experienced in the fresh water and haven't done much research. Open to any suggestions for some fish that are good with plants and the theme, also things like vampire crabs caught my eye just don't know much about them. The main goal is to keep maintenance down, don't want anything that requires special feeding on a regular bases, the whole point of this transformation was to have something I can essentially leave unattended for weeks without issue.

[intarsiabox]

I've seen Archerfish kept in Paludariums. They are an interesting species that are well suited to this style of aquarium.

[brotherd]

Thanks guys. No real plans for livestock yet as I'm not very experienced in the fresh water and haven't done much research. Open to any suggestions for some fish that are good with plants and the theme, also things like vampire crabs caught my eye just don't know much about them. The main goal is to keep maintenance down, don't want anything that requires special feeding on a regular bases, the whole point of this transformation was to have something I can essentially leave unattended for weeks without issue.
Pisces had some cool looking little frogs. Black with yellow stripes. Don't recall the species though.That is looking very cool!

[sphelps]

I've seen Archerfish kept in Paludariums. They are an interesting species that are well suited to this style of aquarium.

Yes, Mike also suggested Archerfish so they are on my list for sure if I can find purely freshwater species as appose to brackish.

[sphelps]

Pisces had some cool looking little frogs. Black with yellow stripes. Don't recall the species though.That is looking very cool!

I like the idea of keeping frogs, always wanted to but not sure they'll fit into my low maintenance requirements. If I could feed them something freeze dried with an automatic feeder then for sure but not sure that's really that feasible.

[StirCrazy]

looks cool Steve, only question I have is can you have fish or critters using the hydroponic nutrient drip?

Steve

[FishyFishy!]

looks cool Steve, only question I have is can you have fish or critters using the hydroponic nutrient drip?

Steve

I don't think many chemicals are going to be used. But i'll let Steve chime in on that one. The dirty water from fish is usually pretty good for nutrients to start with.

[sphelps]

It's an aquaponic system. The tank water feeds the drip and recirculates. The nutrients are provided by the fish waste. Other additives may be added if needed just like a standard planted tank.

[MarkoD]

I don't know if theyr suitable for this kind of tank. But poison dart frogs would be cool in a tank like that. They'd lay eggs in the water and you'd get tadpoles

[sphelps]

It would be a suitable environment for dart frogs however everything I've read on these suggests they require regular feedings and only take live food. For that reason I've crossed them off the list of possibilities as although I'd love to keep them I just can't commit to their feeding requirements. I really have no interest in keeping crickets or breeding fruit flies.

I do appreciate the recommendation though and would also appreciate any others.

[FishyFishy!]

You can do lower maintenance frogs like red eyed tree frogs and red legged running frogs. Both are easy to care for and are totally ok with eachother in the same environment. Also can be put with lots of other species as well.

[sphelps]

You can do lower maintenance frogs like red eyed tree frogs and red legged running frogs. Both are easy to care for and are totally ok with eachother in the same environment. Also can be put with lots of other species as well.

What do they eat?

[Snappy]

Very cool project, nicely done.

[sphelps]

Thanks Greg.

[lorenz0]

Pisces had some cool looking little frogs. Black with yellow stripes. Don't recall the species though.That is looking very cool!

Those are dendrobates Tinctorius (dart frogs), As of last december dart frogs are not illegal to keep as pets in alberta. Debating if they know about the law yet. Besides that, tank looks amazing.

[Myka]

As of last december dart frogs are not illegal to keep as pets in alberta. Debating if they know about the law yet.

I think you got your words mixed up. As of December 2014 dart frogs are banned in Alberta. Not sure why...seems well intentioned, but ill-informed.

[sphelps]

So added some livestock, just a bunch of random stuff. Will see what does well and what doesn't then clean things up a little. Some of the plants have been in there now for over 3 weeks and all seem to be doing well.

[sphelps]

FSS

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/paludarium150424_2.jpg

[sphelps]

For fish I added 4 discuss, 4 gouramis and 3 clown loaches. All seem to be doing well.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/paludarium150424.jpg

[sphelps]

A couple more views

From the top
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/paludarium150424_4.jpg

A little further back
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/paludarium150424_3.jpg

[Wretch]

Wow. Looks very nice. Just one question though, why only 1 tap?

[Myka]

Love the Discus! I thought this was supposed to low maintenance though, don't Discus require frequent water changes? Or is that just for spawning? I've never kept them.

[don.ald]

Very nice, beautiful system :mrgreen:

[sphelps]

Wow. Looks very nice. Just one question though, why only 1 tap?

lol, why indeed.

[sphelps]

Love the Discus! I thought this was supposed to low maintenance though, don't Discus require frequent water changes? Or is that just for spawning? I've never kept them.

Well I'm no expect but from what I know they require good water quality which doesn't necessarily mean high maintenance. The nutrients are kept in par by the plants which also use up the water which is replaced with new RO. I also monitor nutrients with conductivity and it's been decreasing with all the new plants, and with no water changes meaning I'll need more fish especually with more plants. Even if water changes are needed it's freshwater so basically just drain as needed and let the top off do the rest. Also for the discus in general these are all captive bred so hardier than wild caught which is likely where most of the complications come from. For instance a lot of discus articles state a ph requirement of around 6.5 to 7 while all these were raised in Calgary tap water with a ph typically over 8.

Overall it's been pretty easy so far, time will tell but compared to what I'm use to I'm pretty otimistic.

[sphelps]

Very nice, beautiful system :mrgreen:

Thanks Don

[Myka]

Well that sounds promising then. I wish you the best with them. You give me some faith that maybe I could have some Discus one day.

[sphelps]

Well that sounds promising then. I wish you the best with them. You give me some faith that maybe I could have some Discus one day.

Damn now you're scaring me, I should have stuck to goldfish.

[Myka]

Damn no you're scaring me, I should have stuck to goldfish.

:eek: I didn't mean to do that! I've just always written off Discus as being thee high-maintenance fish. You might be right though, I've heard some about the captive bred ones being a lot more resilient. There's a local breeder here that I've talked to a few times about them.

[sphelps]

Yeah on the other hand if Brad can keep MIs alive anything is possible.

[Myka]

Yeah on the other hand if Brad can keep MIs alive anything is possible.

Ya, but he's not really successful yet - well there was that one time... :p

[Howie]

Looks absolutely amazing! Great job, I love the fish choice as well.

[FishyFishy!]

Daaaaaaaang brew! Thats looking amazing. Beautiful discus.

[kien]

Holy crap! Leave it to Steve to go ALL THE WAY. You never do anything half assed do you :). That looks amazingly pro. Wow.

[sphelps]

Thanks guys :biggrin:

I've been working on remodeling the existing fish room, filtration is now down to cupboard size so the rest of the room with nicely for other purposes.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/paludarium150425_1.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/paludarium150425.jpg

[StirCrazy]

A couple more views


A little further back
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/paludarium150424_3.jpg

Ok now, forget the tank and lets see the making of the celling. I love that look.

Steve

[sphelps]

Steve, check out my old build thread from back in the day when reefs were cool. The ceiling talk starts page 16.

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=90042&page=16

[Scythanith]

Beauty buddy!

[StirCrazy]

Steve, check out my old build thread from back in the day when reefs were cool. The ceiling talk starts page 16.

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=90042&page=16

Cool, did you make the wood beams yourself or have a carpenter do it?

Oh and you need to put some Big Rock "Purple gas" in that beer fridge, I drive to Alberta every summer to buy that.

Steve

[sphelps]

I did it all myself, wasn't overly difficult. Thanks for the beer tip, I'll keep an eye out for it.

[The Codfather]

Update please....

[soapy]

Great looking build, very interesting.

[sphelps]

Not much to update on really, it's pretty much unchanged which is perfect, I literally do nothing on this tank and it still looks nice. Here's a couple quick phone pics, maybe I'll get the camera out later but no promises. I did add archerfish last year which turned out to be not so compatible with discus, six of these guys now rule the tank. They are pretty interesting fish but might get rid of them and go back to discus.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/image1.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Paludarium/image2.jpg

[Delphinus]

Looks great.

Do the "pot holes" themselves have drainage, or does the water just sort of overflow the edges?

I came pretty close to turning my 280g into a terrarium when I had my crash last summer. In the end didn't, for various reasons, or maybe the more accurate depiction is "In the end, haven't yet." Anyhow seeing the Radions here ... well, let's just say it's good to see.

[sphelps]

Looks great.

Do the "pot holes" themselves have drainage, or does the water just sort of overflow the edges?

I came pretty close to turning my 280g into a terrarium when I had my crash last summer. In the end didn't, for various reasons, or maybe the more accurate depiction is "In the end, haven't yet." Anyhow seeing the Radions here ... well, let's just say it's good to see.

Thanks. The pots have drains so water drains through eventually but the clay media soaks up some of the water so plants are always contained a wet like substrate. I have zero regrets going the way I did, way more time for other hobbies like making beer which is way more fun
http://www.4smileys.com/smileys/drinking-smileys/celebrating-smileys.gif

[gobytron]

Totally rivals a reef for aesthetic appeal...

Nice job.

[Ginu]

Wow, that is really cool and fits the room. You sir have some mad skills.

[gobytron]

Are archer fish the ones that spit water?

[sphelps]

Are archer fish the ones that spit water?

Yes and it does causes some grief relating to keeping the dry portion of the glass water spot free :doh: hence why I may give them up to go back to discus.

[sphelps]

Wow, that is really cool and fits the room. You sir have some mad skills.

Thanks! :biggrin:

[gobytron]

do you have any pics or vids of that?

Can you put crickets or something in there for them to "hunt"?

Discus schmiscus...

The way that looks combined with the cool factor of those fish...I'm not sure you could make a better conversation piece tank.

[sphelps]

do you have any pics or vids of that?

Can you put crickets or something in there for them to "hunt"?

Discus schmiscus...

No I don't as they actually scare a little easy and tend to hind or play it cool when you're around so getting a picture would be difficult. A video would be easier if you left a camera running for a while but I've never bothered. I've only seem them do a few dozen times, often I get sprayed sitting at the bar minding my own business. They can easily spit out the tank top with decent velocity.

I won't put live crickets in due the lack of containment. I had reptiles before and often had to deal with the cricket noises around the house from the odd one that would get away. But yes they would hunt them and they do certainly get any spiders or other house bugs that find their way in there.

[gobytron]

No I don't as they actually scare a little easy and tend to hind or play it cool when you're around so getting a picture would be difficult. A video would be easier if you left a camera running for a while but I've never bothered. I've only seem them do a few dozen times, often I get sprayed sitting at the bar minding my own business. They can easily spit out the tank top with decent velocity.

I won't put live crickets in due the lack of containment. I had reptiles before and often had to deal with the cricket noises around the house from the odd one that would get away. But yes they would hunt them and they do certainly get any spiders or other house bugs that find their way in there.

Yeah.

That's awesome.

[Aquattro]

Step one, shut down your reef tank. Nothing in there will be useful for the remaining steps. This concludes step one.

Ok, step one complete. Next...!!

I'm going with the frogs :) Enjoyed the build, looking forward to it :)