# 40G Breeder Paludarium with Cement Waterfall Construction



## azure89

So I have been working on constructing my first paludarium, over the past few I have just been working on the cement work and the waterfall and am still not finished with the cement. So here's some pics, enjoy 

Any suggestions for inhabitants or design are welcome



















Side view









Close up of waterfall









Another of the waterfall from above










Here is the tube that will hide the power cord for the pump









Here is the pump box underneath the waterfall, I left it open here so I could see the pump


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## leuc11

Looks good so far like to see more pics

______________________
P. Vittatus


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## frogface

Ooh this is going to be awesome


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## Regalia

Nice cement job, are you going to be painting it. It looks really nice when people use a dark wash to get into the crevices and then wipe most off the surface, you know?

Also, what are you going to be putting in there?


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## Okapi

Looks great so far


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## azure89

I'll try to get more pics up when I finish the cement work, I do plan on going over it with some dark grout or mortar to get the shading to look good and then I might go over it with some sort of epoxy/sealer after I do the vinegar wash to balance the pH.

As for inhabitants I'm not completely sure what I'm gonna put in there yet, I'm not sure how high the water will be so that may have some influecne on what I put in there. I have been thinking a group of tarapotos, Azureus, leucs, auratus, please give suggestions are there any species that appreciate water more?

thanks for the comments/questions


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## Okapi

This tank screams fire bellied toads to me. Personally, I would be worried keeping darts in anything with enough water for a decent waterfall, and your cement work is too good to cover up with inches of gravel to make the water section dart safe.


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## Judy S

Will you be able to service the pump and/or remove it??? I looked sorta closely and couldn't quite decide...what did you use to separate the water part from the land part?? Was it Quickrete over styro?? How many coats???


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## azure89

I don't keep firebelly toads and don't plan on getting any because I don't want to have to feed anything crickets ever again, that being said this would be a good tank for them. However I do have a group of five marbled newts that might really enjoy this tank.

I know the water would be a little deep for darts but I do plan on keeping darts in here so I think I'll fill it with gravel so the deepest parts are only 3 inches or less and I plan on filling the water section with aquatic/marginal plants so that there are lots of places to rest and climb out if a frog were to get in the water. 

Yes the pump will be accessable in case it gets jammed up or the motor dies and I need to replace it, I should also be able to see the pump from the side of the tank as shown by the pics.

I used glass and siliconed it into place to seperate the water section from the land and then I hot-glued foam to the glass and to this point I have covered the foam with about 4-5 layers of concrete and plan to do at least 6 layers just for strength, then I will do another layer with colored grout/ mortar.


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## Okapi

Well, im sure that whatever you choose to put in it will love it. This is a sweet tank already and its not even half way done yet


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## azure89

Thanks Okapi


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## Frank H

Nice concrete work! Keep us updated.


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## frankpayne32

Okapi said:


> This tank screams fire bellied toads to me. Personally, I would be worried keeping darts in anything with enough water for a decent waterfall, and your cement work is too good to cover up with inches of gravel to make the water section dart safe.


This is a common misconception that keeps getting thrown around here. Healthy darts will be fine in here. BTW, I really like what you've done so far.


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## Vermfly

I love the concrete work Travis. Very cool.


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## azure89

Thanks everyone, I would like more opinions on the water section, it will be 4-5 inches of water and this is my first watter feature but Im not a beginner, I know darts aren't great swimmers.


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## BR5

Nice! What type of concrete mix did you use? I tried motar mix once and it wanted to flake off once it dried. 
thanks
Brian


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## frankpayne32

azure89 said:


> Thanks everyone, I would like more opinions on the water section, it will be 4-5 inches of water and this is my first watter feature but Im not a beginner, I know darts aren't great swimmers.


Dart's aren't great swimmers but they can swim just fine. Unless they have to swim over a foot to hit land or other haul out area they will be OK. It doesn't matter if your water feature is 2 inches deep or 2 feet deep, if it's deeper than the frog is tall it will have to swim. What you need to do is make sure they don't have far to swim. Rocks, branches and live plants in the water will take care of this. This is not the most natural of set ups for most dendrobatids but they are quite adaptable and their lack of swimming ability is greatly exaggerated.


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## azure89

I used underlayment cement mixed with a little grout for color I plan on coverinng it in epoxy once completely done.

Thanks for the extra opinions on the water section, I think I will just have to put lots of exit points in the water.


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## Judy S

Just curious...how is the "underlayment cement" different than just "Quickrete" as far as curing technique...and the grout stuff that is mixed in with the self-leveling ingredient--does that necessitate a waterbath treatment because of its ingredients??? If time is of the essence for building a viv for frogs that you have waiting for their new home..shortening the time for "curing" would be a major element...


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## azure89

Judy S said:


> Just curious...how is the "underlayment cement" different than just "Quickrete" as far as curing technique...and the grout stuff that is mixed in with the self-leveling ingredient--does that necessitate a waterbath treatment because of its ingredients??? If time is of the essence for building a viv for frogs that you have waiting for their new home..shortening the time for "curing" would be a major element...


Underlayment cement from what I know is stronger than quickrete (because the ingredients are stronger I assume) its made for patching things up and also used as a skimcoat underneath floors. As for curing it is probably quicker than quickrete and yes you still have to do a waterbath treatment to balance the pH. I'm no expert on concrete so I don't know how much better or worse it is if time is of the essence. However you should never buy frogs unless you have a viv or temp enclosure to put them in the day that they are purchased.


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## Dendro Dave

My only concern with the frogs and the water is it looks like if a frog got into your stream it could swim up into your waterfall assembly...where it could get trapped. You might seal that area off with mesh siliconed into place or something so nothing can swim under there (if I understand what I am seeing correctly  

I really like the design...has the potential to come out really nice. Is the land area completely sealed from the water and water tight? Looks like you used a foam wall and had concrete around that right to the glass. I'm a little concerned that water may leach in there somehow. It may be fine though or even evaporate into then out of the substrate fast enough there is no flooding.

Wouldn't worry about darts drowning, most of those incidents occurred with frogs that were already sick and going to soak (typical sick frog behavior) then were to weak to get out, or just died there so it looks like they drowned. Only way a healthy animal will drown is if held under by another animal or trapped underneath something...or so freaking panicked it goes nuts and you keep pestering it till it exhausts itself.


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## Judy S

good advice...so how long did you "bathe" your waterfall...and the mental picture I get for "soaking" some of these vivs is colorful...my husband sharing the tub with a soaking vivarium... I like the appearance of the cement type backgrounds and that they can be colored..like the Permastone/Habecrete type. But the clay method does have its advantages because of no "down time" or waiting period for being able to put frogs in...


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## Okapi

You dont have to put the tank in a bathtub to soak it... Its nature as an aquarium is that it holds liquids. The aquarium is simply filled with a weak acidic solution and left to soak. Then it is rinsed with fresh water and soaked in fresh water. If the soaking water is to basic, then the steps are repeated until the cement is neutralized.


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## Judy S

If you are doing an Exo--that doesn't work... !


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## azure89

As of right now frogs could swim under the intake to where the pump will be and get in to the top of the water fall as well but I plan on putting some sort of mesh barrier there and making it completely safe, don't worry its not done yet. And yes the land section is completely waterproof but I plan on putting a false bottom in as a precaution to leaks.

I just filled the tank up with water the day after Thanksgiving, I'm going to let it cure completely for a week and then do the vinegar neutralizing soak then paint with acrylics and then epoxy the whole thing


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## Okapi

Judy S said:


> If you are doing an Exo--that doesn't work... !


Then the tried and true, frequently sprayed down with vinegar and water, method would be your best bet


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## Dendro Dave

azure89 said:


> As of right now frogs could swim under the intake to where the pump will be and get in to the top of the water fall as well but I plan on putting some sort of mesh barrier there and making it completely safe, don't worry its not done yet. And yes the land section is completely waterproof but I plan on putting a false bottom in as a precaution to leaks.
> 
> I just filled the tank up with water the day after Thanksgiving, I'm going to let it cure completely for a week and then do the vinegar neutralizing soak then paint with acrylics and then epoxy the whole thing


Rad...Figured it was worth askin about. Would hate to see an otherwise sweet viv suffer from some fatal flaw. But sounds good...looks great, can't wait to see it planted. The rock work is excellent. I'd paint it grey/black, mostly grey...but thats just me


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## azure89

I think I will mostly use grey a black paints but i may use some yellows and browns as well to give accents, the good thing about painting is that you can always go over with more paint if you mess up 

Does anyone have any suggestions for a good brand of epoxy to use?

thanks everyone


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## Judy S

Am waiting to read suggestions about the sealing over the acrylics...and how about an update with pictures, if possible...


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## azure89

I appologize for there being no updates lately I just moved so I haven't really had time to work on this but I have soaked the cement since thanksgiving to ensure a full cure of the cement.

A couple of days ago I filled it back up and added some vinegar to get the pH balanced, once I get the pH right I'll start working on the painting and waterproofing then I'll start the false bottom and the portion of the background that isn't cement. 

Hope to get some updated pictures while working on the items mentioned above. I will hopefully have some time to work on this since I am on break.

thanks for the interest


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## Judy S

Did you ever get any suggestions on the type of epoxy to use to completely seal the acrylic paints?? From what I understand there is a somewhat shiny surface from the epoxy...someone suggested to me that sand, or colored grout be sprinkled on as the epoxy was drying which I thought was a great idea. Any pictures yet??? Has the partition stayed leakproof??? Pictures when you get a chance would be wonderful....thanks...


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## azure89

Sorry I don't have new pics yet and I haven't done anything since my last post also haven't had any suggestions for good epoxies. The partition has stayed waterproof for several months now so I think it should stay that way but I do still plan on doing a false bottom in the land portion.


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## Okapi

Do you happen to have any pictures of the foam structure before you covered it? Im working on a similar idea and would like to see how much detail came from the foam, and how much was from sculpting the cement as it cured. thanks


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## pnwpdf

Do you have a bulkhead in the back of the "land" area, or some sort of drain pipe that will let you drain it if it gets soaked for some reason? I probably wouldn't drill a bulkhead in there at this point... too much to lose if it cracks the glass! But a pvc standpipe or something like that would be easy to stick in there...


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## azure89

I may have some pics of the tank when there was just foam in there but I don't know if they're on my camera or my old computer, but just so you know all the detail comes from the foam, I didn't sculpt it at all after I put the cement on. 

As for the bulkhead in the land area, I'm just gonna do a false bottom in case of leaks


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## Judy S

So have you decided on an epoxy finish??? And how do you apply it... Glad that your divider worked for you...my first attempt at a water feature has been a complete failure...am licking my wounds and gonna try again...am looking forward to your pictures...


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## Erikb3113

how would like a poly clearcoat spraypaint work on something like this after you paited it? would it let off chemicals?


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## andyrawrs

I think some Dendrobates truncatus (don't know if anyone's suggested it yet) would do nice in this setup. Great rockwork and structuring, by the way!


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## azure89

I have not decided on an epoxy yet, as for the spray on epoxy I suppose it would depend on the brand and what is in the ingredients. I would like to do more research and see what others have used in the past that was effective and safe.

As for the truncatus I had not considered those yet and nobody has mentioned them so that could be an option but I'm not neccisarily looking to buy new frogs for this just upgrade some of my old ones to a new home.

I appologize for not getting pics up yet but I am working on it

thanks everyone


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## azure89

As for pics of the foam before the cement was added I can't find any, I think I may have accidently erased them, sorry about that I know that it would be kinda nice to see because this is a construction thread but I just don't think I have any


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## Okapi

Any updates?


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## jacc1234

I would love an update also. I just picked up a 38Gal setup and am basically planning on doing the same thing as you. I hope I have the skills to make the rock work! 

I find all of these journals helpful so an update would be great!


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## pet-teez

I'm keeping my eye on this, looks pretty interesting


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## Cam

looking forward to your updates, i have not worked with cement before so this has been a great thread for me  also i am quite excited to see how your water feature comes out as my wife would like a tank with a similar amount of water in it for her class room


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## azure89

So I know it has been a long time since I posted anything on here but I finally finished the cement work and background on this viv and am getting pretty close to putting the whole thing together, so hopefully I can get some updated pics up pretty soon, I think it may be awhile before its finished completely but I will get pics soon, thanks for hanging in there


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## Okapi

azure89 said:


> So I know it has been a long time since I posted anything on here but I finally finished the cement work and background on this viv and am getting pretty close to putting the whole thing together, so hopefully I can get some updated pics up pretty soon, I think it may be awhile before its finished completely but I will get pics soon, thanks for hanging in there


Looking forward to it


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## azure89

So here are some updates nothing special but I got the background up, the next step is to make the false bottom for the land area, I also still have to build the lid and then I can finally setup the whole thing 

Anyway here are the pics


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## NSGoeden

Any updates?


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## that Frog Guy

OMG I hate you guys. 

Everyone on this site is so creative and my Terrariums always look like crap. 

Amazing Job and not even done. 

More pics please.


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## azure89

Sorry to anyone who wanted to see this tank finished, I sold it and never got any good pics of the finished product


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## BlueRidge

Say what?


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