my weekend warrior project, 125G paludarium

[deranged chipmunk]

not a pic update tonight. i decided to scrap that carved water feature on the left. after numerous discussions between the architect (me) and the contractor (again,me) they decided on constructing a hill/water feature instead. what that means is a bit of a re-engineering to the water feature plan. it also meant that i finally had to krap or get off the pot so to speak and silicone the land sections down so i can start on the background well that meant i needed to build my filter intake and return spraybar, and cover the spraybar in coco before i could silicone section 2 in. man, it sucks to be labor, it was much easier being the architect. but i got what i needed to get done and i still had to hang a light over my newest frog's temporary abode and get some plants into it. i'm beat. thank you for reading my mini blog....lol

[Adam R]

wow thats a fern. you plan on splitting it a few times im guessing..

[deranged chipmunk]

Yes indeed, that rabbits foot fern is going in 3 enclosures.

[Aaron Boswell]

looking fwd to seeing your finished product tanks looks great.

I just built a 20 long with a waterfall and it was the hardest part I cut the foam out of that section 3 times and put dif bits in trying to get it right all worth it when u see it working though I'm just planning on going bigger next year now got most of the materials just need to decide on animals, tank size and features

one thing with only 6 inches of water you do know BN Plecos get quite big? I had one in a 3 ft long 1.5ft high tank and it still was too small he used to bump into the sides so moved him to the 400g in the living room and that just about does it lol he's a big boy

[deranged chipmunk]

Yeah, cutting the foam to get the right look is a pita. And bristle nose plecos only grow to about 4". Rubber lips also stay small. In fact, there are quite a few species that don't grow big.

[deranged chipmunk]

in the home stretch.......starting to see the finish line!!!

i completed foaming the background last night and this is where we stand.:

looking down from the left, you can see where the rocky hill will be. i won't be able to complete that section until i cover the background and do some touch ups on the land mass.:


center:


right:


left half from the front:


right half:


full length from above (kinda)


sorry the pics suck, but it's hard to take a good pic when the thing is laying on the floor (sort of)

i also made a spray bar for a water return/flow system. all holes are angled slightly up to clear the substrate. and there are also holes behind the land mass to provide flow under the land to avoid stagnant water.



the background will be covered in coco fiber as well as hydraulic cement. it should look pretty cool. ( i hope..lol)

that's all for now. i will try to post pics as i go along with the back ground.

oh....and btw....in case anyone is wondering, if some of the stuff i posted in this thread don't make sense it's because i copied and zapped it from another forum and i am WAY too lazy to edit it...lol

[kmichael55]

Wow yours is complex and awesome!!
I just went with a water dish for the tomato frog and a part of the bottom glass and siliconed off for water for my Gray tree frog, filtration is way too advanced for me right now.

I'm definitely getting way too into this whole vivarium building thing but my bank account hopes I don't get to that size/difficulty level for a while haha!

Your plant options with so much more space make me jealous, it's going to look great once they're all planted!
(ps the architect/contractor bit was really funny and relatable!)

[LauraCox]

I love well-done tank-builds. I'm so jealous. So jealous. I currently have an empty 125 gallon tank that i'm still trying to figure out what to do with. GREAT INSPIRATION HERE.