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Paludarium help.

andy

andy

Member
Joined
14 Sep 2007
Messages
261
Location
Lewes, East Sussex
Hi, not been around for a while....i parted company with my planted tank earlier on in the year to go back to marines. But, im now looking at a project to turn it into a superb paludarium.....and i need some help and advice.

I have a 57" long x 19" wide x 24" high aquarium which is built to fit in an alcove. The plan would be to lower the tank so it sits about 12" off the ground. This tank will form the "wet" section and will aquascaped to allow low light plant species as well as having a partitioned off area for tropical bog plants.

But it's the "dry" section i'm having a few probs with. The plan would be to construct a back and two sides using ply which, when finnished, will fit snugly on top of the fish tank. The "dry" section would be 48" tall giving me lots of scope for terrestrial aquascaping and planting. A ventilation grille will act as a lid and sliding glass doors on the front will seel the unit.

The plan would be to construct a series of pools which would go from top to bottom and zig-zag from side to side creating a cascade effect type waterfall. Planting pockets would also be made and then i'd seriously considder fibreglassing the whole of the inside. Painting it all with G4 would be another option.

I would then fill in the "gaps" using an inert rock...possibly lava rock or even expandable foam which would then be sealed with varnish. The back area will be a kind of "wall" that runs from the bottom of the aquarium to the top of the dry section. Bogwood would then be added to create roots and also areas for epiphytes to grow.

It's this "wall" area that im having problems with. I need to create a fairly natural looking area otherwise the whole project will look hideous. Im not sure i like the red colour of lava rock but i like its porousisity (?) Does anyone have any suggestions about what i can use to form this dry wall ? Are there any other inert rocks around that are reletively easy to get hold of and could be used ?

Any help, suggestions or critisism will be most welcome.

Regards

Andy
 
You can use wood, bark (cork would be better and easier to work with), black lava rock (yes there is also black, although rocks are kinda heavy), polystyrene or foam (coated with cement & resin, see african chiclid forums), etc.

Mike
 
clonitza said:
You can use wood, bark (cork would be better and easier to work with), black lava rock (yes there is also black, although rocks are kinda heavy), polystyrene or foam (coated with cement & resin, see african chiclid forums), etc.

Mike
Click to expand...

Thanks for that....hadn't thought of cement. I suppose it could be sealed with varnish again or G4 even.
 
dw1305 said:
Hi all,
Sounds like a really good project, I want to do something similar. Have a look a this web site: <http://www.brianstropicals.com/>. It has been re-arranged since I last visited, but but should have a step by step guide to building back-grounds using expanding foam and coir.

cheers Darrel
Click to expand...

Thanks mate....couldn't find the step by step on there but it's still a good site to go on.
 
The most authentic - although that is not really the correct word, perhaps "appealing" designs I have built have been made from polystyrene.
I would suggest you carry out your own experiment as the effect is very difficult to describe but, here is the method...
Acquire a sheet of 75mm polystyrene although as an experiment any decent sized piece of polystyrene packing will do.
Next with you fingers tear, rip & pull out a rough surface.
Next apply a heat source like a heat gun or flame gun, you will need to experiment but, the effect is dramatic shrinkage & a dramatic effect too.
This leaves a hard surface that then needs to be painted, you can use water based paints for this.
If you are not especially artistic then try to source black polystyrene for a completed end product with out any further work.
I have built numerous aquarium backgrounds & back drops with this method & also including large stage sets like Aladdin's Cave & huge boulders etc...
 
Thank you all so much for the ideas....please keep em coming.

I like the idea of sprinkling sand, gravel and compost onto a adhesive background....black G4 pond sealer for example. If i could get the waterfall built, the background created using either polystyrene or expandable foam and then painted with G4 and covered in sand etc, i think i might be getting somewhere to what i'm looking for.

I would add some plastic flowerpots of various sizes just to give me planting areas and i'd like to have quite a bit of bogwood in the dry section to grow epiphytic plants on.

Again, keep em coming :thumbup:
 
G4 is very high gloss & will melt polystyrene, it will work on polyurethane & it will dull down if you brush sand into the wet suface.
I also use black spray foam but it is difficult to source, I have plenty at the moment but, you cant just send it in the mail!
 
Thanks mate....all advice is taken on board.

One thing that didn't occur to me....well it did but i was being thick...is that intend to keep a lot of Orchids in this paludarium. Now i live 2 miles from one of the biggest orchid nurseries possibly in the world....McBeans Orchids, so i'm going to take a trip out there and see if they can add anything to the advice ive already been given.

Keep em coming though :thumbup:
 
It's really inspirational that one, I've always had a bit of a gripe with terrariums/paludariums/vivariums because they all seem to be exactly the same, like the racks of coral you could more or less guarantee that they'd be a load of plastic plants, a bit of curly wood and some dirty brown backing, tanks like this are all the better in that they prove it doesn't have to be that way.

Sorry I can't help with you Pal-build, but I'll be watching intently as they're something I'm looking to try.
 
Thank you all so much for the help...but please keep em coming.

Done loads of research particularly on the "dry" area. I've kept planted tanks before so im not to concerned about this bit just yet. As i intend to keep some orchids in the tank, i need to monitor the day/night temps and humidity. I think a few well placed small fans, some to take air out, some just to circulate, will be included...possibly linked to hygrometers and/or thermometers.

Im just working on ideas for the background and waterfalls now....i obviously don't want niagra falls as this is going in my lounge but a nice, steady trickle of water over the back will be superb.

Thanks again...as soon as something happens, i'll get a journal up.
 
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