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46g Paludarium details
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Click Here for construction details!
Welcome to my newest tank. I've owned this 46g tank for a few years now,
but never really did anything interesting with it. Some time last year, I got the idea to
do some kind of "river tank" setup. I started planning and dreaming. Finally, a few months
ago, I started moving the fish out of the 46g tank so I could get the new tank started.
The new tank was to be a Paludarium. In case you didn't know, a paludarium is a tank where
water, land, and air equally share the space. One of things I really like seeing is aquatic
plants that grow right up out of the water. Having animals that use the land AND the water
also helps to keep things balanced.
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A close-up of the left side of the tank. You can clearly see the aquatic plants growing up out
of the water. Bacopa is growing up into the air. I'm hoping to see some flowers soon! On the
right side of the picture, you can see Pennywort growing out of the water. I initially placed it
right at the end of the land, and it branched under the water surface to spread under water, and
grew straight across the small stream and started climbing up the waterfall.
You can also get a good look at the large piece of bogwood. It's got lots of great looking details
and forms some interesting nooks and crannys for the fish and newts.
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This shot takes a closer look at the main land area. You can see the stream flowing from the
right, and emptying into the water near the center of the shot. In the upper right edge of
the shot is one of the waterfalls.
The dark green plant in the center is an Anubias barteri. Behind and to the left is a
Strobilanthes Dyerianus, commonly called "Persian Shield". It has bright pink and silver
tops on the leaves. I'll get a close-up of it soon. A little further left is a bright pink
star shaped plant. That plant is a Crypthantus, part of the Bromeliad family. The plant collects
moisture in a cup in the center of the leaves. If you look REALLY closely, you can see a little
Baby Tears (Micranthemum umbrosum) growing on the land, but heading toward the stream.
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Now we get a closer look up into the air. And what better to feature up there but "air plants". All along
this back wall, we see various plants that don't use roots to get their moisture. Two large Crypthantus species,
one a marbled green color and the other striped red, are very eye-catching. These plants are growing
from cracks in the corkbark background. Lower on the wall are several Tillansia plants, with small and
subtle flowers growing on tall flower stalks. Growing all up and down the cork wall are spanish moss, and green moss.
The yellow/green color at the top of the shot is due to the color of one of the fluorescent tubes lighting the tank.
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What good would this lush jungle-like paludarium be without some cool animals to enjoy it! Here is
one of the main inhabitants of the tank. He is a green tree frog. He's a few inches long, and
eats insects, mainly crickets that are added to the tank daily. This shot shows him sitting in his
favorite perching area, at the top of the waterfall. The crickets always seem to head for the highest
point in the tank, which almost always leads them right to the frog. I sort of expected to see a
long tongue shoot out to catch the insects, but instead, he seems to launch his entire body right at
the prey, then his hind legs spring right back to sitting position. Being a "tree frog", he doesn't
go in the water. I was warned that it was possible for him to drown. When I was first placing him
into the tank, he was a little jumpy :-), and ended up in the water. He swam pretty well,
but clearly prefers being up out of the water.
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Ok, frogs are cool, but I wanted something that would go down into the water on a regular basis. I did some research, and
decided that some Chinese Firebelly Newts would do the trick. Now, I've read that sometimes they spend 99% of their
time on the land, and other times they spend 99% of their time in the water. Which would I end up with? Well,
I bought two, and got exactly what I might have guessed! One has spent all of the time on the land, mostly hiding in the moss covering the back wall. The
other has spent most of the time in the water. The one in the water is much more active and actively hunts down a variety of foods.
The one on the land seems more picky, but he has been eating a few small earthworms.
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In addition to the Frog and Newts, the other inhabitants of the tank are a family of cory catfish,
and 5 white-cloud mountain minnows. There are also usually some crickets wandering around, but
they seem to disappear quickly. I can't figure out why :-)
Now for some details about the setup:
The tank is a 46g bowfront. It currently has 3 20w fluorescent tubes in strip-light fixtures
lighting it. I hope to eventually build a custom canopy for it, and plan on running 2 30w
tubes, and 1 20w tube.
The background rock/land section was home made, built using 2 inch sheets of pink home insulation
foam. After glueing several sheets together to form the main structure, I then carved and shaped
the foam (VERY MESSY!). Once it was in the right shape, I painted it, and then covered it with
several layers of epoxy. The epoxy seals everything, making it 100% safe. On the last few coats
of epoxy, I covered it with some nice looking sand while the epoxy was still wet. This really
gives the foam a natural rock appearance. Note: A complete step-by-step construction
article for the background will be posted soon. Once that part of the job was done, I attached the
corkbark to the background using aquarium safe silicone. On the main land area, I added about
1/2 inch of profile aquatic plant soil, and on top of that in some places is natural sand, and in
other places is potting soil (the potting soil is used toward the back, so it doesn't get into
the main water area).
Hidden behind the main "wall" of the tank is a submerged RIO pump. Water flows behind the wall
thru a small rock-covered hole in the left side. The inside of the hole is covered with
fiberglass window-screen material to keep the fish from getting behind the wall. The area
behind the wall is divided into two parts. On the left side is the "dirty" side, where
water is pumped to the filter. The right side is the "clean" side, with water flowing from
the filter. The pump picks up the water from the "dirty side", and pumps it into a small
home-made filter box that is at the top of the tank behind the wall and waterfall area. The
filter is a plexiglass box, about 14 inches long, 3 inches wide, and 3 inches high. It
is divided into three compartments. The first compartment is filled with a filter sponge.
This traps the solid waste, and takes just a minute to remove, rinse, and replace. The
second compartment is filled with about a dozen bio-balls. The third compartment can
hold any other type of media. For the first week after setup, I had a flow-thru bag
of carbon to remove any residual chemicals from the epoxy, the silicone, or any other
substances from construction. The third compartment also has two holes for water to exit
the filter box. One hole, in the bottom of the box, lets water flow down some 3/4" tubing
to a spraybar in the "Clean" side behind the wall. Water can flow to the front area thru
another hole, also covered with fiberglass window screening. The other hole in the
filter box is in the side, and lets water spill out into the main waterfall portion
of the tank. Note: A complete step-by-step construction
article for the filter box will be posted soon.
The only other tank equipment would be a heater, placed in the "dirty" side behind
the wall. It is set low, about 70F, and doesn't seem to come on much right now.
I hope you have enjoyed this tour of my new paludarium. As the tank grows and
matures, I'll take more pictures so you can see the changes.
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