# New project 75g paludarium



## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Been a while since I started a new project. Decided to get working on something new now. Going to try my hand at building a paludarium out of a 75g drilled tank I picked up last week. Decided to take out the 3d foam rock wall I built about 3 yrs ago where I use to have an in wall 75g tank. I'm removing that wall and then framing in a new area that will recess back and create a new area of space that will be around 25-30sqft.

Planning on doing a very tropical style paludarium with at least one/two waterfalls, about 6" of water, ultrasonic fogger, lots of plants and also plan to use a couple of my tropical bonsai trees in the build and have them stick up over the rim of the tank. The tank I got is a drilled 75g that is in "ok" shape so I plan to reseal that so it looks better as well as remove the upper and lower trim so it will be trim-less.

Got a little done today. Thank God for the new hammer drill, that thing is a life saver for drilling into concrete.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Looking forward to the new build as it sounds interesting!!


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## Chasmodes (Jul 9, 2015)

Wow, this sounds like an exciting project. I will be following along!


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Got a little more time to work on this project today. Got all the framing in done, so picked up some drywall and got that all roughed in. Still have to do the ceiling, tape&mud then sand and paint then I can do the floor and the new area will be done so then I can start working on the actual paludarium tank itself then.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

New area for the Paludarium project is done now. Finished up the framing & drywall a couple weeks ago, so spent the past few days doing the sanding, painting, flooring and lighting. Went with a color called Sandy Sage which I thought would have a real natural / earthy look to it which should go well with the heavily planted tank. Wanted a contrast for the floor so went with a white/cream pattern to help designate the area better so it didn't just run all together with the rest of the shop/office. Now I can start working on the tank itself soon.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

I like it!! I think having that separate area for the paludarium will look great.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Thanks Deeda. I wasn't sure if making it look so separate was going to be the right choice at first, but now that it's done I think I like it like this. Been doing some work on the tank this morning. Paludariums always look much nicer rimless so just got done removing the tip trim. Next will be cleaning it up and resealing.


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## Chasmodes (Jul 9, 2015)

Looking good! What kind of critters/fish are you thinking of for your stocking list?


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Not 100% sure yet. Some sort of small fish like tetra's and maybe guppies or something like that. Also been looking at fire bellied newts which I have never had before but they really caught my interest so been doing a little reading up on them lately.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

A lot of the nicer looking paludariums usually have a custom front panel that is cut much lower than the rest to give unobstructed view of the plants and land area above the water line. So my plans are to take this bottom panel from an old 55g that I have and get it cut down to 8" height. I've already gave it to ol' polarized glasses/LCD screen test to see if it was tempered and it does not seem to be so should be cut-able. Took quite a while to clean it up though. Part of it was painted and spent a couple hours with vinegar & razors to get it as clean as I possibly could so it cuts without issues.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Took the 12" x 4*" piece today to the harware. Not only lucked out that its not tempered, but the cost for them cutting it down to 8x48? $2.00.....BOOM!


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## Chasmodes (Jul 9, 2015)

Cool. You can't beat that!


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Been workin on the paludarium tank a bit more lately. Got the top and bottom trim removed so it will be rimless, removed the front glass and replaced it with a piece of glass I had cut down to 8". Scraped out all the old silicone and cleaned it all up and just resealed the tank so just curing up now. Slowly but surely.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Looking good!


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Thanks Deeda. I lucked out on that piece of glass. I looked online and most places wanted $75 for a 48x8 piece new. Thankfully that bottom panel of the 55g was not tempered so that really saved me a lot of cash there. Gonna wait till morning and then leak test it and then I can start the actual in tank work then.


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## Chasmodes (Jul 9, 2015)

Nice looking tank! How did the testing go?


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Nice and dry. Left water in it for 3 days and no issues.


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## Chasmodes (Jul 9, 2015)

Fantastic! I'm so looking forward to watching your progress on this project.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Took some time today to get back to work on the paludarium. I decided to airbrush a sky with clouds onto the back glass, then back lit it with a full spectrum LED light to give it a more realistic pop. really happy with the way that came out. Built a stand for it now but still have the skin and finish the stand. Starting to plant some of the bonsai trees and plants to form islands. Just mocking up rocks right now to get some ideas, still have a lot more to do till it is finished but starting to get into the fun part now at least.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

I love the painted background and the way you back lit it!

Nice job on the rock pile and bonsai on the left. Are/will you be using pond foam to secure the rocks to each other?

The island on the right will look cool once water is added.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

The rocks are actually siliconed together to secure them. The way I did it was the silicone about 5-10 rocks per pile together. That way they fit together like a jig saw puzzle lol. I figure that way I can rearrange them when/if I want and just refit them together in different configurations without worrying that they will fall and hit the glass.

Just picked up 100lbs of PFS about 10 mins ago so gonna play around with building up the islands some more now today.


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## Chasmodes (Jul 9, 2015)

That looks fantastic! Nice work on the background!


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Put about 8 more hours into the paludarium today. It's enjoyable, yet so frustrating. Trying to get rocks just right so the waterfall runs down correctly and get the flow adjusted right. Then making sure certain plants are above water and other with roots in water. Definitely a lot more goes into one of these than I first anticipated. About halfway done now, starting to shape up nicely.

Video-


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## Chasmodes (Jul 9, 2015)

Looks great! Maybe airbrush the wall behind with the same pattern...is that doable? Did you get the newts yet?

Man, it really looks like the sun wants to poke through the clouds. Nicely done. I am considering doing a shadowbox background for my oyster reef tank, using backlighting in a similar way. Down the road though, because I have a lot of work to do to get that project going.

What filtration are you using?


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Originally I thought about doing some water/wave paint work on the wall but decided against it, just seemed like it might be a bit too much. So this way I think the tank background pops more. Decided against newts. Did some more reading on them and found they actually are climbers so with the low front panel they may escape. So probably going with some guppies and or neons and CAE and maybe some shrimp, but not sure on the shrimp yet. Using a 404b for filtration. Figure there's probably only 20g of water in it so even with 404b it is pretty well over filtered for whatever I put in it.


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## Chasmodes (Jul 9, 2015)

I used to collect and keep my own salamanders. Of course, you'd need to check your states laws. I kept Eastern spotted salamanders, Northern red salamanders, and a marbled salamander. They were awesome pets. I wound up donating them to a nature center when I moved. But, I had them for five years. The ate just about any insect that I put in there, including my leftover spikes and waxworms at the end of ice fishing season. But they're favorite food was earthworms. I always fed them after a rain when the worms were easily collected on the sidewalk. Perhaps you can collect your own amphibians... Not only were mine colorful, but entertaining as well. They became quite tame in a short amount of time. They'd hide until they saw you open the tank, with only their heads poking out of their hidey holes. Then, when I'd open the tank, they'd come out looking to be fed. You have to be careful to make sure that they're all about the same size though, because I learned quickly that they were cannibalistic.

My buddy kept them too. And, come to think of it, he had problems with them climbing out. He didn't have a lid on his tank. I had a lid on my tank, so I didn't have problems. So, I thought that maybe there could be a way to keep them in without a lid. Maybe just have a lip of glass or something that they can't negotiate, kinda like the border wall, LOL. No matter what you do, the project looks great and I look forward to seeing it though on here.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Basically finished it today. Other than moving over a group of about 25 bloody mary shrimp I just got for it, and add a shoal of cardinal tetras to it as well.

First here's a vid of it- 




And pics


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

:dancing: Beautiful job, the pics look great and the video gave a great sense of the lushness of this set up.

Any chance of posting an equipment list of this set up?


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## Chasmodes (Jul 9, 2015)

Wow...I mean WOW! That is amazing! You put a ton of work into this project and got it up in a short amount of time. Well done!


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Here's a brief list of the equipment Deeda-

75g tank cut down to 8" front
PFS & pebble substrate
Rock islands built up with brick underlayments
Sunsun 404b filtration (also powers the main waterfall on the left of tank)
two 70gph pumps for the two waterfalls on the right of tank
200w heater
4ft LED light behind tank for back lighting of the airbrushed sky
Two full spectrum LEd grow lights
4ft LEd shop light
Two LED flood lights


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Fog is rolling in on the paludarium tonight. Can even hear the spring peppers singing away (sound on)


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## Chasmodes (Jul 9, 2015)

That's so cool!!!


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Thanks Ken. It's doing really well, much better than expected. Most research I did before building this said that you'll lose plants for a short period of time as they acclimate to being planted in the new environment. So far though only thing that has changed is my one ficus bonsai on the left dropped its leaves and died back a tad. Which is normal for replanting/moving a bonsai tree, that happens to me every spring when I take all my trees out of the overwintering spots and put them outside. But it already has some new buds popping. And a few spots of the moss on the back rock have browned, but other than that so far so good which is a bit surprising to me.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Palurdarium is fully cycled now so added some life to it today in the form of four giant danios, 2 doz bloody mary shrimp, few guppies and few snails.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Added four male fancy guppies today. Hard to believe because guppies are such a common fish, but these are actually the first time I have ever owned guppies.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Loved the video, it's looking great!!

Guppies, OH NO, just kidding. :lol:


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

I know, I dunno what is happening to me. First shrimp, then danios and snails, now guppies. I hope my cichlid card does not get revoked


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## Chasmodes (Jul 9, 2015)

Very cool! I loved the video. Have you thought about collecting your own fish (natives)?


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Hey Kevin. I have thought about maybe doing that at some point. Wanted something a bit more colorful for this tank though so that's why I decided on guppies. Sometime down the road I might do a native species tank though I always thought that would be cool.

Figured I'd do a little 5 week update on my first ever paludarium. Things are going surprisingly well in it so far. I did not experience any sort of die off of any plants during the acclimation period which was a little surprising. Only thing that happened was the ficus bonsai tree on the left dropped all its leaves when I repotted which is normal for it, but now it's pushing out a whole new set of growth the past 2 weeks. Shrimp are doing well and some are pregnant. Snails have been thriving and went from 3 snails to who knows how many now, 50+? Added 7 male guppies and 4 giant danios and they are doing well. All plants are doing great and even have some very nice lush green moss growing naturally on the rocks and wood now which is nice. For my first paludarium build I could not be happier with it so far.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

It's looking even better if that's possible.


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## Chasmodes (Jul 9, 2015)

Steve, your paludarium looks amazing!!!!


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Thanks guys. It's really doing extremely well since setting it up. Growing like crazy. Really need to get in there and do some trimming soon I think. Here's a short vid of it from the other day


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

The plants are looking great! Are you having to remove the duckweed? regularly to keep it under control?


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

YEP! lol. I started with a bag of duckweed from a buddy in my local club, now I could fill a bath tub with duckweed :lol: I moved some over into my 75g senegal bichir tank, but I also net out and trow away about a cup full every few weeks just to keep it under control.


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## Chasmodes (Jul 9, 2015)

Awesome work Steve. That video is fantastic. I almost envision King Kong coming around the corner!


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