My new Paludarium

[Diana]

This is my first attempt at an aquarium with terrestrial space in it. Its only 3 days old so it has lots of growing to do... I plan on adding some really funky plants like venus fly traps and small orchids. Maybe a killifish or two for the water, as well as some semi-aquatic plants.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/day3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/day3_2.jpg


:)
-Diana

[Delphinus]

I ****love**** well done paludariums and vivariums. Awesome work!

Please post more info like the size of tank and what lights you're using and stuff like that??

Hope to do one myself one day .. time allowing.

[LeeR]

very cool! is that a local moss?

[Diana]

yah i'm pretty excited about the result so far- and its so young! It is local moss, i put about 4 or 5 different types in there to see what will do well with the warmth, humidity, and light. I think I know what one will do well based on where I collected it, but we will see. Worst comes to worst I will have to use a more tropical moss.

Stats:
32 gallon Hagen rimless aquarium
36" Giesemann HO T5 light fixture with plant bulbs
~3" of water (small pump & heater) plus stream
river cobble & petrified wood base, small layer of dried moss, and then on top a layer of sphagnum peat.
I will get a humidity & temp reading today

:Banane42:

-Diana

[Delphinus]

Are those mushrooms? I think I'd be careful about that. I dunno. Maybe it will end up being a neat effect if they spread.

[LeeR]

mushrroms are nothing to be worried about all my terrariums have had them at one point... most people on the dartfrog pages see them as a sign of health... sorta like coralline algae in a reef tank

[Carmen]

WOW! Very nice!:mrgreen:

[Diana]

Its weird I have an amazon aquarium with a peice of driftwood poking out of the water and there are always mushrooms growing on it. Strange cus I never introduced any- there just must be spores in the wood!

I am hoping they will spread! It would be tres cool. I want to add some dried turkey tails onto the back glass. Like this:

http://turtle_tails.tripod.com/raisingbabyturtles2/rbt24_image01.JPG

[Diana]

I did some tinkering today. I am just loving playing in this tank. I can't wait to get some orchids and stuff in there:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/topdown.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/palu1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/water1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/moss1.jpg

:)
-Diana

[PoonTang]

Wow very cool. I saw one like that yesterday. It had neons in the water and water dragons living in it.

[viperfish]

I think a black background would look awesome!

[ElGuappo]

very nice.. i want to do this with a 48" 45 g tank. nothing special just some firebelly newts and toads. some white cloud minnows. maybe something else.

I like white clouds because they reproduce rapidly. i had a set up simular to what i mentioned above just newts dwarf frogs and white clouds. totally self sustaned. newts and frogs would eat the white cloud fry and were too slow to catch the adults. always had around 15- 20 white clouds in the tank. white clouds would eat the hornwart thus i never had to feed this tank.

[Diana]

Cool, yeah I hope to keep this tank really low maintenance. I will have to figure out what fish to add, if any, down the road. I don't know how the white clouds would do cus I am heating the water?

I think a black background would look awesome!

You know, I religiously put a black background on every one of my tanks. But on this one I have decided against it. I just think cus its a rimless tank and I have a white and black asian "zen" bedroom thing going on that not having a background looks really cool. It also makes the tank look more open and airy. We'll see down the road, but for now I'm digging the look. :mrgreen:

-Diana

[mark]

wow, very nice.

[LeeR]

ahh your tanks made me catch the terrarium bug again:neutral:

[steve fedyk]

very nice terrarium, can't wait to see the inhabits.

[ElGuappo]

i have kept white clouds in heated and unheated tanks. they max outabout an inch. they are a mountain stream minnow.

[dsaundry]

Don't know how well orchid's will do, but bromeliads should work nice..:biggrin:

[Haloreef]

Very nice ,but watch out, you may end up getting bit by the Dart Frog bug like me! Just what I needed another expensive hobby! That leads to the Bromeliad and orchid bug and the etc. etc. etc. bug.
Best of luck!
Keith.

[Diana]

Sooo sorry to do this to you guys but I went to the nursery today and got some amazing plants. So I just had to post more pictures to make everyone jealous :mrgreen:. Last pictures I promise. I really wish I could capture the colors, but pictures just don't do any of this stuff justice (but we all know that ;) ).

Full tank shots

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/fulltank4-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/fulltank1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/fulltank3-1.jpg

Air plants & bromeliad on the log

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/leftside.jpg

Pitcher plant

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/pitcher.jpg

Sundew carnivorous plant

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/sundew.jpg

Venus fly trap

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/venus.jpg


Cheers,
Diana

[blueyota]

Super kool:mrgreen:

[Delphinus]

Last pictures I promise.

Completely unacceptable ... :p

What's the brom? Looks a little like a Vriesea sp. maybe. I really love the miniature broms, there's very little selection (really none) out this way though, I have to mail order everything like that.

[Kryptic4L]

i would liek to say thank for , for inspiring me to get back on a 4 month old project.

[andestang]

Looking very nice ! Looks like you're inspiring a few of us. Now I'm going out to garage and dig out my set-up to see what it would take to get it going. What did you do for the flooring, unless I missed it somewhere ? And yes keep the pic's coming.

[dsaundry]

Looks really nice, Love the Amazonian look:biggrin:

[Diana]

Thanks everyone! Raf now wants to tear down our amazon tank and make it a terrarium. Addictive!

The substrate is river pebbles, large enough to allow water movement through them. I stacked them using wood and petrified wood as barriers. Then a layer of re-moistened dry moss (for reptiles), then a layer of sphagnum peat moss, then the layer of living moss. Stream feature provides dampness to the top of the "hill". :)

-Diana

[Delphinus]

What a fabulous idea to use petrified wood by the way. What a great look. One thing I've always noticed with paludariums is the stark contrast between land and water (ie., tank looks great except for the black siliconed in baffle kind of thing or something like that). But petrified wood to the same end ... brilliant! :)

[JDigital]

That is a fantastic looking Paludarium... :mrgreen:

[lastlight]

Are these tanks a lot of work? They look fascinating but I'd be scared of environment a meeting environment b and making a mess! Either way I love what you've done.

'Energy' off the large tank forum on RC turned his massive reef into one of these. Don't have the link handy but it's crazy.

[mark]

For a Paludarium, any advantage running a sump?

Friend picked up a chipped, drilled 240g. Been sort of sitting until figure the right way to get started.

[Haloreef]

Do I detect a visit to, Hawaiian Botanicals? I love that mini Brom! Great work!
Keith.

[Delphinus]

For a Paludarium, any advantage running a sump?


I've seen some incredible vivariums running sumps. I don't see why a paludarium setup couldn't benefit from a sump as well. I've seen some where they hide a fogger in the sump then pipe the fog up into the display as well on a timer.

A 240g tank would make perhaps the mostest awesomest setup yet. That would be something to see! :)

[Leah]

Very cool Diana :mrgreen: How do you find the time????

[Diana]

mark, I did see this tank while looking for inspiration. It looks awesome & clean with a sump.

http://www.plantedtank.net/articles/Paludarium-Construction-Photo-Journal/28/

Haloreef, yep Hawaiian Botanicals it was! They have some awesome little carnies in right now. :)

Leah, haha, really- this wasn't very much work! I'd say it took maybe 5 hours all together over the days. A quick mist twice a day (I'd love to get a fogger in there) and top up the water in the pool every few days. Thats it! And I would definitely consider it on the same coolness/interest level as a reef tank. :)

[Haloreef]

Dianna, the tank looks great! It has given me a much needed kick in the a$$. I have a 125 gal reef ready tank and a 340 gal reef ready tank that are just sitting in my basement calling to me. I have been meaninng to turn one into a planted Dart frog display to go beside my reef tank. I love the petrified wood where did you find it?
Keith.

[Diana]

Nice, I can only imagine the possibilities with a large tank! I got some of the petrified wood at "Island Tropical Pets" formerly Big Al's in Burnaby, and some at King Ed's. I love rocks & fossils so its neat for me to be able to use it in my aquascape/landscape. :)

[bignose]

Wow your tank is amazing. Excellent work did you follow the steps from your link?

[BC Mosaic]

That is soooo nice.
Hmmmm. I do have a small tank (24lx12wx20h). I'd rather not have to drill this tank. Would it still be doable?
Any other really good links?

[kien]

OH... EM... GEE..

I LOVE carnivorous plants and have always wanted to set up a terra/viv/palu full of them..

hmm.. I have a 104.72G tank sitting in my basement empty right now not doing much of anything.. hmmm...... :lol:

[Delphinus]

Everytime I see your tank volume I think it's a radio station frequency.

[Diana]

No I didn't follow the steps, but I read them beforehand to get kind of an idea. It was pretty straightforward the steps I needed to take to set it up. Really I only looked for inspiration in the style of palu I was going to do. :)

Another site I checked out is www.vivariumforum.com

[Diana]

Here are some updated photos from the Paludarium! Some things have really taken off, while others didnt do so well. I also replaced the moss with sphagnum moss because it was browning out. It is by far one of my most favorite tanks!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/palu1-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/palu5.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/palu3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/palu4.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v234/dinostar00/palu2.jpg

Cheers,
Diana

[snow1]

that's so cool, any fly traps in there?

[Diana]

I had two, but they have receded back to nothing. I think there is too much light for them, and/or the aphids in there are bugging them. I wish I could get better pics of the tank, I will have to set up the tripod. :mrgreen:

[4lti7ude]

Thats soo natural looking.
You have access to so many assortments of plants in your area!
In Calgary theirs noooothing for fresh water.

:question: Do you have to feed the pitcher plants yourself? (Kinda reminds me of a coral hhahah)

[Diana]

This is where I get all my plants from, at times they have the best selection:

http://www.hawaiianbotanicals.com/

You can order & they will ship across canada!

You can feed carnies fish food pellets once in a while as a sub for insects. I think its only like twice a year or something though. I havent fed mine yet. ;)

[LeeR]

any updates?

[davidwilsoon]

yah i'm pretty excited about the result so far- and its so young! It is local moss, i put about 4 or 5 different types in there to see what will do well with the warmth, humidity, and light. I think I know what one will do well based on where I collected it, but we will see. Worst comes to worst I will have to use a more tropical moss.

Stats:
32 gallon Hagen rimless aquarium
36" Giesemann HO T5 light fixture with plant bulbs
~3" of water (small pump & heater) plus stream
river cobble & petrified wood base, small layer of dried moss, and then on top a layer of sphagnum peat.
I will get a humidity & temp reading today

:Banane42:

-Diana
Are those mushrooms? I think I'd be careful about that. I dunno. Maybe it will end up being a neat effect if they spread.

[nikole957]

I did some tinkering today. I am just loving playing in this tank. I can't wait to get some orchids and stuff in there:


:)
-Diana
Wow very cool. I saw one like that yesterday. It had neons in the water and water dragons living in it.

[skabooya]

any updates here?
Can you post details of the build? as well as plant selections, lighting, feeding schedules, etc. I would love to do one of these for my classroom. Test it out first here in my home then move it or start another one in my classroom :)