How Can I Make A Budget Paludarium?

[Katty]

So I have this 5.5 gallon tank sitting around and soon I will have tons of free time. I've been wanting to make a paludarium out of the 5.5 gallon tank but I can't really find any instructions for small tanks and I don't know where to start. I've seen this thread (link) which is great but I'm not sure how to make it out of things I already have.

So what do you do to make a paludarium? Just glue stuff to the side of the tank, put plants on, and fill with water? I don't even know if or how the thing should be filtered.

I'm not really focused on keeping fish in it, I just like the look of the plants and the water together, but being able to keep a small fish or two in it would be a bonus. The silicone of the tank is stained with malachite green though so I don't think shrimp are a possibility. How would you even filter the water? Or if I wanted to have, say, a waterfall or something how would I make that work?

The stuff I already have is the 5.5 gallon tank with a hood, lots of black fine sand, lots of large grained sand, lots of gravel, airline tubing, tons of house plants, clear epoxy resin, and 3 extra HOB filters. I don't want to spend more than $20 (and hopefully less than that) on this thing in case it turns into a disaster.

Has anyone made a paludarium before? Any advice in general? Or even just some links to some good instruction guides would be helpful.

This is the kind of look I want:
http/www.paludariums.net/img/paludarium12.jpg
http/1.bp.blogspot.com/_dLSVgS5AxBI/Sdd5OHEPwHI/AAAAAAAAbHU/ODHCHf6Geow/s400/paludariummisty.jpg

 

[Mikaila31]

You need aquarium-safe silicone. Menards carries it, looks exactly like this... with the little fish on the bottom corner. Silicone takes much longer then glue, 24 hours to set and two days before it can actually be used. Process is similar no matter what you want to do. If you want to attach stuff to the back wall of the tank it might be a little harder if nothing is supporting it from beneath.

I would not filter. The tank you linked is still up and going strong ATM. It does need to be redone soon as I've only really been purning it back the plant scape kinda did its own thing. It has had no filter for over a year and has been fine with that. Cherry shirmp lived in there for a long time and currently it is home to a dwarf puffer. The stained silicone is not going to effect shrimp.

Go outside and collect small natural looking rocks and rinse them, then just gather all your hard scape together and sit there with the tank and just start stacking rocks and stuff until you get an idea that you like. Then start fixing a hardscape in place. Don't be surprised if it takes hours.

I am very happy with all the outcomes I have had with using dirt so I always recommend that. One thing that you should not do is to try to separate the two sides. Water should be able to move throughout the tank. A water-tight wall or something similar I would see as detrimental.

 

[Katty]

Oh! You made that tank! I am surprised you showed up in my little topic.

Collecting rocks is a good idea, I didn't think of that. I was thinking I'd have to use styrofoam or something, and silicone sand over it like I saw someone do on this forum so the styrofoam looks like rock. But, if you don't recommend separating the sides, how would you suggest making the land area?

Do you think I should have any water flow at all or just leave the whole thing stagnant?

 

[Mikaila31]

The styrofoam thing does work, though I have not done it myself. Mainly what I mean is don't completely cut off the land from the water and vise versa. I've seen people attempt to make paludariums by siliconing a piece of plexiglass as a small 'wall' in the tank that was completely water tight. Its not proper to have your water side completely cut off from the land side, a paludarium is meant to be an interaction between land and water. My rock wall was not water tight at all when I made it and much less now that roots have been working on it for years. It holds back the dirt which is all it needs to do. Water can seep into to and out of the mud. As far as what you want to build the wall out of, its up to you.

Water flow might be helpful when you set it up. Also I would change lots of water for the first week, especially if you use dirt like I did. Even if their is nothing in there but plants, your asking for algae if you don't control the very high initial nutrient levels. Its important to keep humidity high in the tank. I use basic plastic wrap over top my tank. I think it can be done stagnant, my stays crystal clear even stagnant and rarely gets even a hint of that film on the water surface. It does require balance, like all tanks. It may not be something that can be achieved until the tank is mature. Best way to find out is to ease off water movement by simply decreasing how long the pump is on.

 

[Katty]

Ooh I see, you just mean don't make the land part water tight.

You used a dismantled internal filter for the water pump, right?

I'm trying to think of what I can use if I want the water to flow without having to buy something expensive. I have HOB filters but I don't think they'd work for that...

 

[Mikaila31]

Petco sells the Elite mini... a VERY tiny submersible filter that can serve as a pump.

 

[Katty]

Hmm maybe. I can't see it on their website though. How much does it go for?

I'm thinking of maybe dismantling an old tabletop fountain and using the water pump in it. We might have one in the basement. My bf has one he's willing to sacrifice but it's battery powered so idk if that would really work in an aquarium.

No one else has anything to say about palladiums?

 

[BigbruiserAl]

This may help you

http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/MARINA-i25-INTERNAL-FILTER-NEW-unboxed-FreeHikariPkts-/290573709693?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&hash=item43a78af17d

 

[Katty]

This may help you

http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/MARINA-i25-INTERNAL-FILTER-NEW-unboxed-FreeHikariPkts-/290573709693?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&hash=item43a78af17d

Thanks for the help but I've already bought a water pump and got started on the thing.

If anyone wants to see the progress, just let me know.

 

[mattbleasby]

Would love too see the progress. Im thinking about doing this. Setting up a small Paludarium. Like 10 - 30 ltrs. Would be awesome with just some shrimp and lots of greenery. Just dont have a clue how too lol

 

[Katty]

So I started out with some rocks I collected from the yard and glued them together with aquarium silicone. I left a hole in the rocks on the far-side of the photo for putting the tubing through for a pump. I didn't have the pump at this point.

At this point I hadn't really decided which was going to be the land or water side. I was thinking about doing the land on the right, water on the left but I later changed my mind.

Then I finally got the pump (Marineland Minijet 404) and some tubing so in the next session, I added another layer of rock and filled in some of the major holes in the wall with silicone and large pebbles. I put large grained sand on both sides, and then I put gravel onto the land side. I flipped directions in these photos because I changed my mind on which side I wanted the land on. I put the pump in the water side and the tubing goes through to the land side. I did a little silicone around the tubing hole but I probably have to patch it up some more. I put a sliver of sponge in front of the intake of the pump to prevent the sand from sneaking in and to provide some filtration.

The plan so far is to line the land-side of the rock wall with plastic garbage bag so water doesn't gush through the many holes, then fill that side with soil. I'm still undecided on what kind of soil to use. Then I'm making a riverbed out of Super Sculpey clay (a bakeable polymer clay) and either sticking gravel into it before it bakes or siliconing gravel on after baking it. Then I'll probably coat the piece with silicone or epoxy since Sculpey can get a white film if left in water constantly, but it is fish safe. The river piece will have a hole in it for the tubing to fit through.

Here's the general idea of what I hope to end up with. The plants in the sketch aren't what I actually plan to put in there. The water portion will be planted too.

I'm still deciding on if and/or what animals to stock But if I do put anything in it, it'll probably have to be shrimp or snails since the water portion is very small, probably about 1 gallon. I'm a plant person though so I don't really mind if there aren't any animals in it. I'm going to try to hide the pump somehow, maybe with a branch or rock over it.

Feel free to ask any questions. I tried to explain everything as clear as I could but it's not a perfect how to or anything.

 

[Mikaila31]

Looking good! Don't be afraid to use some dirt, though you may have to work on erosion control with the stream and a soft substrate...

 

[Katty]

Thanks! I had some leftover cactus soil (I think its just soil and perlite?) and its supposed to drain well so I thought that would be a good idea, but then there wasn't enough so I mixed in some normal potting soil, then a couple fist fulls of peat (on a whim) and some flourite sand (also on a whim) but the stuff was extremely bone dry (it repelled water it was so dry) so I stuck it all in a plastic bag, added a ton of water and just left that outside to saturate. But I'm still not sure if this is a good mix to use or if I should just go with normal potting soil?

 

[Katty]

Thanks! I had some leftover cactus soil (I think its just soil and perlite?) and its supposed to drain well so I thought that would be a good idea, but then there wasn't enough so I mixed in some normal potting soil, then a couple fist fulls of peat (on a whim) and some flourite sand (also on a whim) but the stuff was extremely bone dry (it repelled water it was so dry) so I stuck it all in a plastic bag, added a ton of water and just left that outside to saturate. But I'm still not sure if this is a good mix to use or if I should just go with normal potting soil?

Someone else suggested a type of pond soil/compost but, if I can even find it, it might be expensive.

 

[Mikaila31]

I used the stuff in my yard TBH....