# 38 Gal Paludarium



## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)




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## xjasminex (Jul 26, 2011)

This looks awsome so far! 
Good job! 
Im suscribed!


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## kwheeler91 (May 26, 2009)

Good idea with the balloon


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

xjasminex said:


> This looks awsome so far!
> Good job!
> Im suscribed!


Thanks! :biggrin:



kwheeler91 said:


> Good idea with the balloon


Thanks man, got the idea from looking at ways to make fake live rock for marine setups.


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## 2in10 (Feb 8, 2011)

Great looking start, great usage of eggcrate. I too love the balloon.


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

2in10 said:


> Great looking start, great usage of eggcrate. I too love the balloon.


Thanks!
The eggcrate has really been a lifesaver, couldn't have done this without it. 
Only issue is when I tried to pull out the balloon it didn't come out in one piece so now I gotta go in there and scrape it out. Probably due to my lack of patience in letting the great stuff dry :hihi:


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## 2in10 (Feb 8, 2011)

megamax42 said:


> Thanks!
> The eggcrate has really been a lifesaver, couldn't have done this without it.
> Only issue is when I tried to pull out the balloon it didn't come out in one piece so now I gotta go in there and scrape it out. Probably due to my lack of patience in letting the great stuff dry :hihi:


I wonder if coating the balloon with a slick substance would help.


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

2in10 said:


> I wonder if coating the balloon with a slick substance would help.


I bet your on to something there, I have one more spot I was planning on making a small balloon cave, I'll definitely have to try that.

My next obstacle is finding the right epoxy/sealer to coat the grout in, although it's non-toxic I want to make sure the grout doesn't affect the pH of the water portion too badly.


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## 2in10 (Feb 8, 2011)

megamax42 said:


> I bet your on to something there, I have one more spot I was planning on making a small balloon cave, I'll definitely have to try that.
> 
> My next obstacle is finding the right epoxy/sealer to coat the grout in, although it's non-toxic I want to make sure the grout doesn't affect the pH of the water portion too badly.


Good idea on the epoxy/sealer.


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

2in10 said:


> Good idea on the epoxy/sealer.


Thanks, really trying to fool-proof this tank, if there is such a thing :icon_roll

There will also be a ramp leading from the water portion to the land portion, and a waterfall, however for the time being I've been making sure I finish grouting/sealing certain areas before I block untouched areas in


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## nanette37 (Jan 6, 2012)

i love watching the progression of projects like this. good work so far! im subscribed =]


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

nanette37 said:


> i love watching the progression of projects like this. good work so far! im subscribed =]


Thanks! :icon_mrgr



Anybody have experience with a good long lasting, aquarium safe sealer that I could coat the mortar mix with?


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP8CLgjbw6Q&context=C34d6cf5ADOEgsToPDskL9FrHEV9fLqK40QFeahWSE


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## LetThereBeFish (Dec 7, 2011)

Nice start on the paludarium. Looks sorta like mine....Sorta. For a water proof seal, I used 100% silicone sealant. I used coco fiber, not grout, so I'm not sure how it would turn out. Good luck.


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

LetThereBeFish said:


> Nice start on the paludarium. Looks sorta like mine....Sorta. For a water proof seal, I used 100% silicone sealant. I used coco fiber, not grout, so I'm not sure how it would turn out. Good luck.


I appreciate it man, I'd love to see yours, do you have a tank journal?
Hmm, I may have to go that route, how does it look with the silicone? Is it very noticeable?


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## LetThereBeFish (Dec 7, 2011)

megamax42 said:


> I appreciate it man, I'd love to see yours, do you have a tank journal?
> Hmm, I may have to go that route, how does it look with the silicone? Is it very noticeable?


You should be able to find my journal in my profile somewhere. 

I know my situation was a little different; On the bottom half(water level) I coated the greatstuff with silicone and then sand. It helps give texture and takes away the shinyness of the silicone.


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

LetThereBeFish said:


> You should be able to find my journal in my profile somewhere.
> 
> I know my situation was a little different; On the bottom half(water level) I coated the greatstuff with silicone and then sand. It helps give texture and takes away the shinyness of the silicone.


Hmm, well I wouldn't mind a little shinyness in the hopes it would make it look like wet mud, the initial idea was also to coat it in peat moss or coco fiber during the sealing.


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

Bump for advice on sealer


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

Do you guys think this would work as a non toxic sealer?


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D0-puy42SQ&feature=channel


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

Well I finally bought a coating/sealant for the grout, Rust-Oleum Parks Super Glaze, although I placed the order on the 18th and still hasn't even shipped out yet  so I'm getting really antsy.

Now my goal is to find terrestrial plants that grow well in about 1.5-2 inches of substrate, any ideas are very appreciated.


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

Apparently the glaze is back-ordered :angryfire, so I'm currently trying to see if I want to cancel the order and buy something else, I know I've said this many times before but any advice on sealant is very much appreciated, looking for a paint-on epoxy/sealer that will withstand constant submersion.


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

I finally found something (for the billionth time), and ordered a gallon of it:
hytechsales.com/prod50.html


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

The sealer I ordered finally came in! Also did some experimenting with coco fiber and grout last night.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0grq...DvjVQa1PpcFObX-f3dl8iOAy2W7gh8gpyuaqrYyYtKSc=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0grq...DvjVQa1PpcFObX-f3dl8iOAy2W7gh8gpyuaqrYyYtKSc=


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

Here's some pictures of the tank after the first coat of sealer dried. Still haven't fully sealed the tank because there's more grouting and great stuff work to be done so there's no fts yet but here's some closeups of it


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## nanette37 (Jan 6, 2012)

looks good! nice texture


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

Thanks! 

Got the day off so I'll be posting a lot more pictures


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

So far I'm really happy with the sealer though, easy to apply, easy to clean and comes out looking great. In quite a few spots it gathered on individual coco fibre strands and looks like droplets of water

Here's a couple pics but it was tough to get a good shot of it. I'm also still failing at taking a good fts with the current lighting so I'll probably take a video later and post that.


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## duff (Feb 26, 2006)

It looks great. I can't quite tell, are you mixing the coco fiber/peat mix in the sealer then applying it or applying the fiber/peat mix then sealing it? It does look quite a bit like mud!


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

duff said:


> It looks great. I can't quite tell, are you mixing the coco fiber/peat mix in the sealer then applying it or applying the fiber/peat mix then sealing it? It does look quite a bit like mud!


Thanks!! First was a very light layer of just mortar mix, then a little bit thicker layer with coco fibre mixed in. In the beginning I was wanting to stick it on with the sealer but with the way the coco fibre was packaged and entangled it would've looked too artificial I think.


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## duff (Feb 26, 2006)

Ok Call me a dork (and there's a visual!) but more questions, if you don't mind? the steps you used were:

1. Egg crate covered in Foam
2. Foam covered in Thin layer of quikrete (with color added)
3. Another layer of colored quikrete with coco fiber added in (or Sealer with the coco)? 

Then will you seal it all?

Looking forward to seeing more updates!


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

Not at all! That exactly it, on step 3 it's the quikrete with coco fibre mixed and then I've sealed everything right now with a couple layers. I still have to attach the walkway for them to get on land (wouldn't really be able to seal some parts of the columns with the walkway in front) and finish the waterfall portion (wanted most of the tank sealed for testing the flow) so eventually the tank will get another resealing. 

Just took a video of the paludarium after the new light arrived. Not sure how I feel about the color, they sent 4x 6500k bulbs so I might look into replacing a couple. Sorry for the really dirty glass, I'm waiting on razor blades to clean up the leftover mortar mix. I also added some G.S. to the waterfall for a more realistic look. The blue led's are near the end of the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWPtOPaZFxI


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

Do you guys think I could get away without drainage holes? I was initially going to drill holes through the platform and planters however I was worried about what could get washed into the water, so I thought maybe I could bypass them with very careful waterings. What do you think?


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

As for the water substrate I was thinking Flourite original for the color.


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

Here's a video of it I took today, having the light on it made me see all the spots that need touching up but other than that it's almost ready for plants.

So close I can taste it - YouTube


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## Chrisinator (Jun 5, 2008)

That's gonna be awesome!


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

Thanks! :icon_mrgr Think I could get away without drainage holes if I do careful waterings?

Right now I'm having trouble deciding whether I should get Flourite Original or Dark, or maybe a combination?
I also just ordered an Eheim 2213 for the tank.


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

Nighttime led's, although the camera I was using really hated the wavelength generated








I went ahead and bought flourite original and dark so I can do some experimenting.


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

Just ordered a heater as well:


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

Got the filter in today, hooked everything up but not entirely happy with a couple things. The little pool next to the waterfall that has water coming entering at a drop a second (literally) has a spot near the back where the water is dripping onto the platform, that same spot also needs some grout so I'll post pictures once everything is finished


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

I ran into a couple problems when I filled it up, the little pool to the left of the water feature (which slowly feeds the pool) had a low spot in the back where it was hard to reach. When it started filling up the water would drain backwards onto the platform instead of into the water portion, an obstacle I had for some reason not thought of when I was designing it. Thought I fixed it, filled it back up and there's still water back there! However it stayed the same level, so I tried draining the water portion and sure enough it drained from the platform, so there's a hole somewhere on it. I have it partially drained right now trying to dry out the platform so I can smother it in black silicone, since there will be soil over it anyways. Yesterday I added some of the flourite as well, will post pictures when everything settles.

Here's some pics now though to stay true to the title 

Bottom of the tank; when I first started and used black great stuff I ended up spraying normal great stuff on top of it while it was still wet because I ran out of the dyed G.S., that black streak along the bottom is the black G.S. expanding underneath the white. I was mindblown at first to come to the tank the next day and see black G.S. oozing out of normal G.S. about a foot from where I sprayed it lol.












Flourite original and dark, original seems a little too light, dark seems a little too dark, hopefully combined it should just about match the grout.













Heater and filter, really love the quick disconnects that came with the eheim, ball valves so I can adjust the flow to the water feature if need be.


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

Girlfriend lost the camera charger so in the meantime here's a crappy cell phone pic. The plant decisions/placement are not finalized yet and I still need to find some _very_ high light plants that will be suitable for the upper planters.

Planted some dwarf baby tears in the little pool next to the waterfall in the hopes that they switch to an emersed state and form a carpet poking out of the water. 

The plant on the right is a peace lily, not sure if this will stay but in the meantime it takes up some space. 

The vals in the front will not be staying, I just threw em in there for cycling purposes. 

That ivy-esque plant (species unknown, however it resembles Ficus pumila var. minima) on the left doesn't have a permanent location yet. I like where it is on the ramp, however I don't want it stopping the toads from climbing back on to land. I would be ecstatic if it started creeping up the planter on the left (the coco fiber thrown into the grout should be great for it to grab a hold of), however I also want some to remain hanging in the water. The white clouds (the only occupant of this tank at the moment) really enjoy them in the water and can very often be seen swimming through the leaves, an awesome effect with the backdrop of bright green and the fish so close to the surface. 

I got the moss from my lfs a couple days ago, a huge patch I managed to cover most of the lower platform with for only $3. However the moss between the left cave and shallow pool isn't doing so well. I'm assuming it's the light intensity because the moss on the far left and right is doing fantastic, and they're shaded by the planter ledges. Fortunately there's a bunch of low light, medium light, and high light zones, so I'm just gonna let them do their own thing. Hopefully the different zones will do some landscaping/aquascaping for me.

As for the construction, I'm generally quite pleased with it. The only negative aspect I'm seeing is the sealer turning cloudy after being submerged. Though hopefully over time bacteria and algae will have grown and died repeatedly on it until it's no longer noticeable. If you look at the water feature where it dumps into the aquarium portion you can see it's already turned from milky colored to a dark greenish-brown.


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

Good news everyone! 
Found my gf's camera charger, let the pic deluge begin. First off with some pics of a hitchhiker snail that found his way up the waterfall and into the upper pool.. and the very high surface tension that's up there.


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

Next up, some pics of the ivy grabbing a hold of the lower platform and the ramp. Also the moss that I collected for free outside my door, which is flourishing compared to the 'frog moss' I paid $3 for. Last is the entrance to one of their caves with a moss entry rug (they wouldn't wanna get dirt on their nice dirt floor), with some of the ivy's roots creeping in from the left.


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

Here's another video update of the paludarium, the water level was a little low but you get the general idea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-a28ZTLqYM&feature=plcp


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## thatfernkid (Sep 25, 2012)

This is amazing! Any tips for someone trying to do this on a small (10 gallon) scale? I would love to see any progress on the project.


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

thatfernkid said:


> This is amazing! Any tips for someone trying to do this on a small (10 gallon) scale? I would love to see any progress on the project.


Thanks!! Hmmm, if I were to do this on a small scale, instead of using mortar mix, dye, and sealer for covering the G.S. I would use a dark colored 100% silicone, then just after applying the silicone stick on a mixture of your materials. For example I would stick on a combination of flourite, coco fiber and eco-earth onto it. This way you can create a more consistent color/texture pattern throughout the tank. However if you were to do this I would make sure to use only flourite (or whatever underwater substrate you use) on the underwater walls, as the eco-earth and coco fiber would decay. 

I haven't tested this yet so I can't guarantee anything but I feel the consistent materials would make the tank look a lot more seamless, not to mention get rid of that nasty white color the sealant turned underwater. Although the white color will eventually go away once enough stuff grows on it, I would rather not wait.

I'll probably post another video update on Saturday, the moss near the water feature on the far right side has been growing like mad due to the occasional splashing. I'm dying to get some toads in there


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## thatfernkid (Sep 25, 2012)

megamax42 said:


> Thanks!! Hmmm, if I were to do this on a small scale, instead of using mortar mix, dye, and sealer for covering the G.S. I would use a dark colored 100% silicone, then just after applying the silicone stick on a mixture of your materials.


do you think it would be a bad idea to just go ahead and use the quikcrete if I am on a budget and already have the quikcrete available? 

I will definitely use the flourite only below the water level- that's a good idea.

I can't WAIT to see those toads!!! :hihi:


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## Sd760 (Apr 25, 2011)

So awesome


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

thatfernkid said:


> do you think it would be a bad idea to just go ahead and use the quikcrete if I am on a budget and already have the quikcrete available?
> 
> I will definitely use the flourite only below the water level- that's a good idea.
> 
> I can't WAIT to see those toads!!! :hihi:


Nah, I wouldn't say it would be a bad idea at all. Even though I'm super picky about my workmanship, and approach, I still love the tank. I literally can't pass it without spending a good 5 minutes zoning out on it, and it's not even finished.



Sd760 said:


> So awesome


Thanks! :icon_bigg


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

Here's a pic of a baby snail that rode on its parents back all the way up to the tiny pool next to the waterfall, at first I thought it just had a large growth.












The next project I'm starting on (out of impatience waiting for the touchscreen and sensors to get here from Hong Kong for the 5 gallon project) is the DIY fogger for the paludarium. Just bought a humidifier earlier today, I'll post some pics up tomorrow once I've finished rigging it up.


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

*Video:*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf67MyrzeNM&feature=plcp


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## rainbuilder (Sep 21, 2011)

Wow! You did an awesome job with this! Looks great, very creative and natural looking.


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

rainbuilder said:


> Wow! You did an awesome job with this! Looks great, very creative and natural looking.



Thanks! Appearing natural was definitely the goal so I really appreciate that. With your username does this mean you have experience designing rain simulators for terraria? Because if so, I would love some advice on how to build one for this tank while retaining the natural look.


*Price List:*
$6 for the humidifier from a thrift store
$6 for pvc adapters and hose
Total investment: $12


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Hey that's looking great!

Do you have plans for more plants? You could use some sweet Borneo aroids like lbacha has in his setup. They would love it in there.


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

I definitely want more plants, but unfortunately I don't have any plans as of right now. I just looked up what you're referring to though and those would definitely look great in there. The two main regions I've been trying to find something for are the upper planter ledges and the bowls in the water feature. Hopefully the plant will be spilling out of the bowls and create a consistent path for the overflow water to take.

I always love opinions on plants for the tank, terrestrial and semi-terrestrial plants are a whole new game for me.


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## Cobfreak (Aug 2, 2010)

This is great. Would like to hear how that humidifier-fogger works.


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## mommabear1007 (Nov 8, 2011)

wow!! incredible!


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## Patriot (Dec 22, 2010)

Throw in a crab hahahaha


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

Thanks for the comments!

The fogger is actually really simple, it's just an ultrasonic humidifier with the outlet reduced to 1/2" hose. The reduction causes the vapor to concentrate and become a little more visible. The adapter pieces all fit snugly or screw in so fortunately nothing is glued.

Some crabs would be awesome! Perhaps I'll have to make a tank one day for them.


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

The increased humidity from the fogger has caused the terrestrial vegetation to grow a beautiful bright green, it's insane the difference it made, especially since I usually only turn it on 15-30 minutes a day on it's lowest setting. 

A new dilemma has also come up. The snails have been populating like crazy, I feel like I see 10 new snails every day. This has led me to come to two possible solutions:

*1.* The 5 gallon shrimp tank had a snail infestation recently as well, except a much smaller species. I dealt with those by using assassin snails. They're still at work but it seems the battle is being won. So one solution could be introducing quite a few assassins to the tank.

*2.* The second solution changes my future plans a lot more. It's based off the fact that the snails love to climb out of the water and explore the various pools of the water feature. Sometimes the water is flowing over the edges of the waterfall (and they can only get in to them if it's overflowing) and sometimes the outside is completely dry, meaning the snails get stuck in the pools. Doesn't seem to bother them though, I've seen a couple generations mature in the pool at the very top before the outlet gets clogged up and the water starts overflowing. Once that happens most usually migrate back down into the water portion. The lower waterfall pool is usually overflowing constantly so they always have access to that one, as well as the calm pool next to the waterfalls. Anyways, my idea is to introduce pea puffers to the tank. Then hopefully they have a sustaining supply of snails from the pools above. The problem with this approach is I don't think a pea puffer would get along well with the fire belly toad, and I know it would decimate the RCS. I could live without the RCS, but I definitely want a couple amphibians, as that's what I built this tank for.


I would love to hear your opinions


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## Robotponys (Sep 7, 2011)

Wow amazing! It looks crazy good. that fogger is so simple yet effective. Great job on this!

I want to do this, but with a turtle and maybe green anoles/mourning geckos. Bad idea?

Pea puffers...I wouldn't do it personally. It would have to become a puffer only water section, unless you get exceptionally docile ones. Then it may look pretty inactive since they're 1 inch fish and you can't keep too many together. But it's totally up to you.


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## HostileGardens (Jul 17, 2012)

megamax42 said:


> The increased humidity from the fogger has caused the terrestrial vegetation to grow a beautiful bright green, it's insane the difference it made, especially since I usually only turn it on 15-30 minutes a day on it's lowest setting.
> 
> A new dilemma has also come up. The snails have been populating like crazy, I feel like I see 10 new snails every day. This has led me to come to two possible solutions:
> 
> ...


I had a guy at my LFS tell me to put either a piece of cucumber or a piece of celery, don't remember which, in the water and the snails would migrate to it and you can remove them easier that way. I don't know if it works i didn't try it yet


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## MABJ (Mar 30, 2012)

Wow... This is pretty creative and inspiring! 

If I missed it somewhere, I really apologize, but are you planning on having any other fauna in the water itself? 

On the snails. I know everybody dislikes them, but they don't harm a thing. They even look cool. I mean how cool is it you have generations of something living breeding and dying in your pools lol. They aren't doing too much harm :/


MABJ's iDevice used for this message


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

Thanks again to everyone for the nice comments! 






Robotponys said:


> Wow amazing! It looks crazy good. that fogger is so simple yet effective. Great job on this!
> 
> I want to do this, but with a turtle and maybe green anoles/mourning geckos. Bad idea?
> 
> Pea puffers...I wouldn't do it personally. It would have to become a puffer only water section, unless you get exceptionally docile ones. Then it may look pretty inactive since they're 1 inch fish and you can't keep too many together. But it's totally up to you.


Hmm, you could possibly do that setup if it was a big enough tank, and you had enough levels so the anole could live in the top half and the turtle in the bottom half, hopefully never interacting. But the research I did in planning this tank seemed to always disapprove of multi-species tanks, so I think it would be very risky.




HostileGardens said:


> I had a guy at my LFS tell me to put either a piece of cucumber or a piece of celery, don't remember which, in the water and the snails would migrate to it and you can remove them easier that way. I don't know if it works i didn't try it yet


I'll definitely give it a try one of these days.
In the meantime for the small snails I just crush a couple on the glass, then watch the RCS eat em. Free food! lol




MABJ said:


> Wow... This is pretty creative and inspiring!
> 
> If I missed it somewhere, I really apologize, but are you planning on having any other fauna in the water itself?
> 
> ...


I would definitely like to have one more species of fauna in the water portion, I've been pretty stuck on what to use though. I would love to hear your opinions on it!

You're definitely right about the snails, and I decided to go the assassin snail route, which won't completely eradicate them, but at least keep the population in check.


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

My next dilemma is what plant to use for the water feature 

Preferably something dark green, that will hang over the edges of the basins. I sorta want green hair algae, except minus the algae part. This way the water has a path to follow, as it sometimes tries to drip into the soil if the flow is too strong.


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

I'm also trying to work on proper ventilation now. My plan is to have the system re-circulating the air as a closed system most of the day, then at 'sunrise' and 'sunset' have it evacuate the old air and bring in fresh air. 

Would this be an acceptable route to achieve air movement while retaining humidity?

Also my plan is to build it using computer fans, is there any system you would recommend over a computer fan?


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

Found a very large shrimp in the little pool next to the waterfall the other day. I still have no idea how he got up there but he was just chilling in the baby tears. Then I moved the light to take a picture and he darted under the ledge, so this was the best picture I could get:













The vine has been doing incredibly well. I should probably get in there and do some trimming soon.


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

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.


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

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.


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)




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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

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?


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## toksyn (Aug 15, 2011)

I've never not had a mix - I doubt that anyone takes the time to sort crickets by sex. They smell too bad for starters, and I think most standard pet shop employees (at least here ) just really can't be bothered.



megamax42 said:


> 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?


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## jmeister (Sep 3, 2009)

megamax42 said:


> The vine has been doing incredibly well. I should probably get in there and


I might have missed it somewhere but did you figure out what that vine was?


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

toksyn said:


> I've never not had a mix - I doubt that anyone takes the time to sort crickets by sex. They smell too bad for starters, and I think most standard pet shop employees (at least here ) just really can't be bothered.


Interesting, well that's really good news in that case. I always figured they'd separate them by sex because I've read the females grow wings.
After some quick research it seems they start to develop their wings at around 4 to 5 weeks old, so there is _no way_ the lfs sorts them at pinhead stage. 



jmeister said:


> I might have missed it somewhere but did you figure out what that vine was?


I've seen from multiple sources (websites, forum members, google pictures) that it appears to be a "creeping fig" vine, with the latin name: Ficus pumila minima. I'm still unsure whether or not mine is that exact species, but it's the closest I've gotten to pinpointing it.


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

Paludarium update, dirty and overgrown.


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

Getting ready for a big trim

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_60p8O5ldU&feature=youtu.be


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

Trimmed way more than I expected

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPQfHN-gHro


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## Trail_Mix (May 17, 2011)

MABJ said:


> Wow... This is pretty creative and inspiring!
> 
> If I missed it somewhere, I really apologize, but are you planning on having any other fauna in the water itself?
> 
> ...


Why does everyone dislike them so much? As far as I've seen, they're harmless, whereas Gammarus occasionally nibble plant roots if they can't find food. But as for the pond snails, I've always found a balance of invertebrates to help as a cleaning crew, and I figure the more variety, the better. Assassin snails, mts, pond snails, the more the merrier, and they'll balance each other out.


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

Trail_Mix said:


> Why does everyone dislike them so much? As far as I've seen, they're harmless, whereas Gammarus occasionally nibble plant roots if they can't find food. But as for the pond snails, I've always found a balance of invertebrates to help as a cleaning crew, and I figure the more variety, the better. Assassin snails, mts, pond snails, the more the merrier, and they'll balance each other out.



I don't mind the large snails, in fact I'm trying to actually get the large ones back in the paludarium, but the hiding assassin snails always....assassinate them haha.

The snails I was trying get rid of never got bigger than 2 mm and there were hundreds, maybe thousands, of them in the tank. Because of the small size they really made quite an eyesore, because you couldn't enjoy looking at the snails features, instead they just looked like hundreds of moving specks. Jerks also did a good job of clogging up my filters.

I think they were so proliferous at first because the mortar mix was slowly leaching calcium carbonate into the water, which they snails were stoked about for their shells. And the population exploded


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

Update video! removed the left wall, built a stand, and implemented arduino for the lights and fogger.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2szCR1IxwVA&feature=youtu.be


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

Major update; rain bar built, full tour of tank, awkward narration, and demonstration of rain bar. Check the description of the video for time stamps describing what feature is being described to skip the awkward narration. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktZy8Ohjxyw


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

*Thunderstorm lighting effects with triggered rain and fog finally implemented!*









I bought a new LED light for the tank that has thunderstorm lighting features and I wanted to synchronize the rain bar and fog with it. A cheapo IR receiver was used to decode the various buttons on the remote and trigger the rain bar and fog effects, each on a slight delay after the lightning starts.

I had fun working with this effect, but there are several other dynamic modes I'm looking forward to experimenting with. In the future I plan on getting a small fan to simulate wind as well, perhaps for the rolling cloud function, or an addition to the thunderstorm function.


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## tamsin (Jan 12, 2011)

Very cool! I think it would be interesting to set up more natural weather effects in tanks e.g. slightly lower temperatures at night and having a wet/hot/cold/shorter day seasons and moonlight on a 28 day cycle etc.


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## megamax42 (Oct 12, 2011)

tamsin said:


> Very cool! I think it would be interesting to set up more natural weather effects in tanks e.g. slightly lower temperatures at night and having a wet/hot/cold/shorter day seasons and moonlight on a 28 day cycle etc.



Thanks! I agree, it would be fascinating to see how a true moonlighting period and temperature fluctuations would affect breeding rates. Next project is incorporating a small fan to blow on the ivy and ripple the surface of the water when the rolling clouds function is triggered on the light.


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