My 250L paludarium to be.

Hi All

After 2 months of struggling at my new place to get plants growing, algae and a general sad looking tank I decided I had enough.
The only plants that really grow is my anubius , and a 63cm high tank with only a few anubias in the bottom is not very attractive.

So after some shopping at the nursery yesterday and looking around today I decided to give the tank a new look and hopefully a happier look.

I decided to turn it into a paludarium.
Will over the next few weeks get all my building material and plants in place to make this happen. Have an idea of what I want so I just need to execute it.

List of terrestrial plants I will be looking for, but will not include all of them, it will depend on availability.

Adiantum.sp
Ansellia gigantean
Begonia elatior
Calathea ornate
callisia elegans nana
codiaeum variegatum
Cryptanthus bromelioides
Fittonia verschaffeltii
Neoregelia carolinae
Pellaea rotundifolia
Peperomia caperata
Soleirolia soleirolii (Peace)
Vriesea
Terrestial Moss

A variety of Tillandsias.

For my aquatic plants it will mostly be moss and anubias.

Something almost like these:

http://www.paludariums.net/img/paludarium6.jpg

http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/3183/paludarium1.jpg

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/387/paludarium2x.jpg

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_dIs5pFNtbDA/S4CZouUYWdI/AAAAAAAAAs8/YbovRm4q9Ts/IMG_5470.JPG

Will keep you updated to the development.

Gerhard

 

Best of luck! Should look stunning!

 

Wow good luck. I'd also really want to do a paludarium but you need a big-ish tank. Are you considering the chameleon too?

 

Thanks guys, it will take some planning to get right.

No no on the chameleon, seems a little cruel. I think they added it for the photo only.

If I can get permits, I might add a tree or reed frog.

 

Cruel? :rofl: then put your wife in there! A frog should be nice and should be cool if it can breed. Wonder if you can put in those little frogs that lives in the arum lily's.

 

Keeping a keen eye on this thread the biggest problem I have this year on lucky 13, now that I have tented it, is fungus .. humidity is so high that most plants seem to be covered within days then start to die down. I have had zero success with peace in the home.

I am trying some Adiantum, Pellaea rotundifolia, Spathiphyllum and a few other. What seem to work better at this stage is plating them in a small terracotta pot, let that sit in the filter stream so the pot base is moist all the time.

Nice thing about these you can get them real cheap vs what the LFS charges ;-) for non-aquatic plants. In truth lucky13 needs to moved away from the window so that the sun falls on the front face not the back glass.

@Vis is the plan to do an extension on the tank to create more head room or rather do a shallow pool and fit everything in the current tank?

Later Ferdie

 

Isn't there some fungal treatment u can use?

Plan is 3rd water and the remaining two thirds terrestrial.
Will try and keep to some low growing plants and then maybe two higher focal plants.
Will add a sonic fog maker and maybe a small fan into the hood to create some airflow.

Will use a lot of terrestrial moss and peace in the home where needed.

 

Hi Gerhard,

Best of luck with this, look forward to seeing what you come up with! The tillandsia's generally don't like humidity though - they tend to come from dry climates - maybe consider tiny bromeliads or miniature orchids instead? I have a brom. contact if you need one!

 

I think fungus problems are due to ventilation problems, with proper ventilation, there shouldn't be fungal issues. +1 @tracyp with the bromeliads, and
Ludisia orchids will work wonderfully in high humidity paludariums. Also, have a look at Seliganella krausianna, stunning club mosses that do very well in such setups(They grow on our greenhouse floor too) I know @azurekoi has some tilandsia in his little paludarium growing just fine, Im sure he'll share his secret, though a high humidity will be a killer.
(Maybe you can even try some emmersed Crypts? That would be amazing!)
Enjoy! Im subscribed

 

Thanks for the advice guys, will keep all of it mind.
Will try and keep the humidity down somewhat.

 

I have one brom on the list and one indigenous orchid but will see if I can actually get more.

My concern is availability.

 

Interesting project dude. I am going to be keeping my eye on this one!

 

Tillandsia's ia a problem in paludaria due to the lack of air movement....the only one I got to grow with real sucsess is T.ionantha... go for the greener varieties as they handle humidity much better than the more grey coloured ones.... a Computer fan providing some air movement in the terrestrial part is an important part I think og getting it to work...

 

@Vis, cool idea for a tough project. Unfortunately that is teh problem with a tank exceeding a height of 50cm, stimulating plant growth as lighting becomes a huge problem on heights exceeding the 50cm mark. All of the best with your project and please place some pics for us on your progress. Would like to give it out a try at soem or other stage, at this stage want to built a filter at first and do away with my internal filters wich are irritating the living crap out of me.:evil:

 

I might just leave the air plants out now.
I would rather make it easier and stick to plants with close environmental demands.

I use to use driftwood to eliminate the height problem in my tank but got rid of most of my driftwood when I moved.

Also changed 2 10000K bulbs for 6500K bulbs and its as if I get more algae. Same time as I moved so might also be the water.

Maybe its just time for a change.

 

Ok need some help. I am lookin for those pieces of driftwood that looks like roots. Depending on size I might need a few. Anybody have an idea where I can find some?

Plan is to have the base of my paludarium build with this. I saw some really nice pieces in a few recent threads but can't remember who's threads it was. @shihr a lot like the ones you used in your ADA style tank.

 

@Vis - PM'd you re roots.... Just a word on lighting... Most of the terrestrial plants we use in paludaria have low lighting requirements and will burn/die if you give them very high light levels.... Remember that light does not get refracted (hardly) when travelling through the air part of the paludarium - only gets refracted/dissipated once it penetrates the water column....

I have a single 8W T5 undercounter light(10 000k) over my little palu - 43cm above water surface....both terrestrial and aquatics plants do very well under these conditions

 

Thanks Shawn.

Luckily I have individual lights switches in my tank and also looking at plants with high light requirements.

To add to the natural light feeling I am also gonna add a cover so only light patches fall downwards like a forest canopy.

 

Where do I find egg crate?

 

@Vis - Try interior Design/Lighting shops - that Fails...Pet Stop sells sheets of it....