Paludarium type set up

[shihr]

was looking online the other day and saw this guys setup: http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum/showthread.php?t=60559

might not be ur cup of tea but i certainly liked it:) so i decided to build my own one! did some reasearch and i decided to go ahead..

for this new build i wanted to have an internal filter, polystyrene background and a water fall.. so after i planned everything, i got to work..


Saturday 19/12/2009:
first i took out all the plants in my spare tank:





for the filter, first i cut out the vents or what ever u want to call it.. i couldn find a cheap substitute so had to improvize with those plastic seed planters that u get at the nersarys:


next i had some spare glass so measured up the tank and got it cut to size for the filter (cut for free the guys at the glass shop were cool:))

here u can see i siliconed the parts to the tank




front pane of the filter had to be drilled.. they couldn do it for me on sat so had to wait till monday.. drilling cost R30..

monday came and the glass was 2MM too big!!!!! so.. had to go back. they told me it was goin to be done on tues..

So tues came along (yesterday), was really excited by this time:)

tuesday 22/12/2009:

hmm.. hole i drilled was too big for the filter in-take.. so i made it fit:P hehe..cut a piece of my paint roller  (coencidentially it was exactly the right size)


and made it work

[shihr]

had to mod the filter in-take pipe too..





finished product:) havn silliconed it yet cos have to do background first..





now for the Background:

took a piece of polystyrene that i bought and outlined the design:


cut it out:


used a lighter to giv it that rock pitted look:

[shihr]

now i had to make sure it fit:


checked out the water fall:


next i shaped up the waterfall area:


painted the cracks black to enhance the "rocks":


next i painted the rocks..about 3 coats of brown acrylic paint


and, *sound tada!

hav to use some imagination for now.. was bit late so will try work on it tonight:)
still hav to varnish with water based varnish and silicone every thing together! will update soon!

cost list +-
paint + varnish + paintbrush + polystyrene = R80ish
Tank = free from friend
glass = free, left over glass
plastic vents = R20/R30 cant rem
silicone = R20
filter intake parts = R9
glass hole that was drilled = R30
satisfaction = priceless
hope u enjoyed it so far.. i know i did:)

Richard

[shihr]

oh ya and the initial filter i made wasn going to work for my design. so had to re-cut another vent and glass myself..difference is in the 5th and 12th photo..

[Reafer]

very nicely done .i have often toyed with the idea of building one of those filters but you loose so much space :p . What paint did u use ? i know some can still be toxic even when dry

[Rattail]

I like the progress photos in this thread. Keep it up. You might want to go look at this guy's stuff too...http://www.ninjakidsrock.co.za/2008/02/23/diy-paludarium/

[shihr]

ya, cos i hate it when ppl build things and don take enough photos!:( it did take up alot of space but its neater.. i just used poster paint.. or as its known as acrylic paint.. its all water based so see how it goes.. think i'll run the tank for bout 2wks with water changes b4 addin in any critters:)

[shihr]

ha and i didn use any concrete cos its messy and im lazy i guess.. im hopin the varnish will be hard enough.. it will be more fragile but i jus hav to be more delecate.. hehe..

[shihr]

ok this was such an epic fail!:P aparently acrylic paint is water proof and the varnish i used was not!:P will show a pic nex time.. but the varnish turned a white colour in the water.. so im scraping the bg and just using black pond paint and its not going to be a palundarium type set up.. will experiment with that some other time:( oh well..was fun while it lasted..

on the plus side, the filter is a success though:) painted this tank last wk. on the bottle of the paint it says it needs a wk to cure so will fill it up this wkend:)

[shihr]

ok.. now to show u what happened:



sad isn it? oh well.. no use crying over spilt milk.. so i changed my idea completely..haha..

first i painted the back black with some pond paint, fiber flex i think..guys pls rem to buy the ones with out the membrain. otherwise it just becomes lumpy.. also rem to prepare the glass properly. i didn and now the BG is bubbling and im sure will be peeling soon:( any suggestions on this? i know i have to redo the whole bg but i thought of putting a acrylic black bg over the see thru glass??



anyways, next i scaped the tank..



next i added some sand and hydroton that i had left over..




Then I ran outa sand…and because it was jan, no one had stock!! So I settled for another type of sand..looks ok still I guess..
Filled up with water and added some plants:



Just a close up of my scape:)



And this is the finished product!:) cleared up within a day!! Filter works amaizingly:) now hav to wait for it to cycle!! I bought fish already its in my other temp tank:) but I want to add it now!! Haha..patience..



Overall it was a good build and a good experience:) will def try this filter on a big scale in the future:)

Hope u guys enjoyed it I know I did:)

Will continue these post to the members setup pages later..

[shihr]

ok, so i finally found the right lights.. i also built a custom light hanger:) heres some new pics

lights off



lights on



anyways, i'll keep a new diary of this tank here from now on:

http://www.apsa.co.za/board/index.php?topic=4021.new#new

[shihr]

i built the hanging stand so high so if the plant grows outa the tank i can adjust the light height:) but now that i think bout it, its bit too high.. oh well, crude but it works anyways..

[Gertjc]

I would like to suggest you use a piece of Pvc gutter, cut to the correct length with stop-ends
as a light shield. Pvc D-shape gutters are available cheaply in 3,4 and 6m. lengths.If you can get a 3m, get 4 stopends, and you are sorted for 2 x 1.5m light fittings!

[shihr]

i been looking for a solution like that.. but the thing is that my tank is only 60cm:( so its hard to buy a small one since ppl dont wanna cut that small a size? or can they? where can i get one? im keen..

[Gertjc]

Try Builders, Mica, Cashbuild or Brights.
Maybe there is someone that would like to share with you?