# Hans Pietersma's wonderful tank



## wimvanvelzen (Nov 1, 2008)

I have still nothing to show from the construction of my new wooden hill stream paludarium.

To offer you something in the mean time, I would like to show you some pictures I took yesterday. A friend of mine, Hans Pietersma, has a wonderful tank in his loft, as you can see here:











Well, that is actually just a really small part of it.
The tank is quite large (about 8'wide, 4'high and 3'deep), so it is not easy to take pictures. But anyway, here goes:










Click here for a larger version!


From a bit closer: 









Click here for a larger version!


The waterside. The tank is built for a 1'6" water height, but Hans lowered this drastically about a year ago to create more area for his frogs:










Click here for a larger version!


One of the inhabitants: 










Some Ecuador ferns, brought back by someone I met a couple of weeks ago (he took entire branches with all kinds of epiphyts):












Some more details and scenery:










































































I hope you enjoyed. For more information on the tank, visit Hans-Paludarium!


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## Arrynia (Dec 27, 2009)

WOOOOOOW! That one is jaw dropping!!


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## Reefer420 (Oct 18, 2009)

WOW!! great shots, the first one is very cool...what a beautiful tank.


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## calvinyhob (Dec 18, 2007)

that is a sweet setup!! now get back to work on yours!!!!


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## Deli (Jun 24, 2008)

Holy crap, that a nice viv. I'm really diggin' those Ecuador ferns (I want one now. lol).


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## fleshfrombone (Jun 15, 2008)

OH
MY
GOD!

This seriously looks like a chunk of the rainforest. Absolutely beautiful. I don't think I have the artistic skill to combine that level of hard and soft scaping that goes into a project this incredible. Let me guess this is European.


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## chinoanoah (Mar 9, 2009)

Absolutely amazing! Can you provide a video?


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## hexentanz (Sep 18, 2008)

MMMmmmmm! I never get tired of seeing that tank!


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## nathan (Jul 24, 2009)

One amazing jem of the rainforest he has there !


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## ChrisK (Oct 28, 2008)

Don't show that to my frogs!


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## iljjlm (Mar 5, 2006)

Beautiful photos. This was, still is, one of my favorite tanks. I like the new look of having less water in it.
Dave


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## wimvanvelzen (Nov 1, 2008)

chinoanoah said:


> Absolutely amazing! Can you provide a video?


A local broadcast company made a documentary film - Uitzending Gemist

All in Dutch, but you´ll probably like the images!


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## wimvanvelzen (Nov 1, 2008)

fleshfrombone said:


> (..) Let me guess this is European.


That is correct, Dutch to be exact. 
I often find praise here for European tanks, but please remember you get to see the best. There is a lot of mediocre landscaping to be found too.


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## ChrisK (Oct 28, 2008)

wimvanvelzen said:


> That is correct, Dutch to be exact.
> I often find praise here for European tanks, but please remember you get to see the best. There is a lot of mediocre landscaping to be found too.


Haha  well we don't see too much of it


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## PumilioTurkey (Feb 25, 2010)

hehe

the Dutch, the German and maybe also the spanish and swiss are masters when it comes to creating beautiful tank


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## R1ch13 (Apr 16, 2008)

Absolutely stunning.

Words cant describe how stunning this is.

I'm sure the frogs love it in there, how many Leucs does he keep in there?

Or are there multiple species?

Tanks this huge are serious, business and I want one 

Great pics Wim!

Richie


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## R1ch13 (Apr 16, 2008)

Just watched the video...

Its wonderful, and now I see it is infact a mixed species tank.

Really has left me speechless, how longs the tank been up and running?

I wish I could speak other languages...

Cheers

Richie


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## goku (Nov 11, 2009)

simply amazing! first thing I thought when I saw it was "sure this is a dutch tank"..the masters!!


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## wimvanvelzen (Nov 1, 2008)

Hans has 10 leucomelas, some terribilis and since a few months a couple of lemasis. Mixing species in tanks this large is common practice over here.


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## R1ch13 (Apr 16, 2008)

Yeah I know, I think mixed tanks of a size like this are wonderful.

Really fantastic display.

Richie


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## hans7 (Aug 11, 2006)

Thank you all for the nice compliments.
And Wim for posting the realy nice photo,s.
Greets.
Hans7


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## R1ch13 (Apr 16, 2008)

hans7 said:


> Thank you all for the nice compliments.
> And Wim for posting the realy nice photo,s.
> Greets.
> Hans7


Great to see the creator of the masterpiece is a member of the board.

I am now looking through your site intently.

Loving it.

Well done Hans

Richie


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

pretty amazing viv! that first shot is really great!!


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## Erikb3113 (Oct 1, 2008)

It is the tank we all have in our dreams. I've been kept awake in bed thinking about building tanks like that. Bravo


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## Erikb3113 (Oct 1, 2008)

ok after reading the process on the site, it sounds like more of a nightmare until it is done. sounds like alot of work. unrelated but, looks like u use foam discs instead of lids on your cultures? never seen that before


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## ReptileNinja101 (Jan 31, 2010)

That's one Awsome Vivarium.


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## eos (Dec 6, 2008)

ChrisK said:


> Don't show that to my frogs!


LOL. You said it!

That's a great viv!


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## thercman (Feb 18, 2010)

Absolutely amazing.... I wish I never looked at this post because now I want one!


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## hans7 (Aug 11, 2006)

thercman said:


> Absolutely amazing.... I wish I never looked at this post because now I want one!


No problem for te wright sum jou can buy the tank.
But transport the tank jou will have some problems i think.

Regards
Hans


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## thercman (Feb 18, 2010)

I probably don't have that kind of cash. But I could build one though. However I don't believe the wife will go for it especially with all my projects. Check out the 375 gallon reef tank I built... on face book..

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## dendrothusiast (Sep 16, 2010)

Ive been looking at han's paludarium now for over a year and recently attempted a 4x4 foot cube paludarium modeled similar to his but it caught on fire unfortunately (no inhabitants were in there thankfully). I never got finished with construction but ive been studying more on south american biotopes too base it off the amazon one day hopefully. Ive been at the hobby since i had my first fish and anoles and I must say you two completely bring the hobby to a new experience for the projects you've done - I saw yours recently . great job you two and I hope to see your habitats as they mature


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