# 60 Acrylic Hex Paludarium Project



## Citizen (Apr 27, 2015)

Howdy folks,

Been lurking on the board for a few weeks now while I did some research for my Paludarium build. 

My goal is to keep about 9-10 inches of water in the tank and possible keep a few fresh water puffers in it. I want to keep a couple darts in the land area of the tank. I have read that they do not swim well and made sure that they can easily get out of the water if they were to fall.

I went over kill with the water filtration as it has a canister filter fit for a 120g tank along with a custom sump I built in under the land. 

I started with a 60g hex I bought off CL. Came with a fluval canister filter and saltwater lighting.

Tank and stand were both pretty rough so I replaced some wood in the stand and sanded it down. Still not sure what finish I am going to go with on it. 

The tank had a lot of oxidation and scratches. I spent around 15 hours wet sanding the entire tank with 600grit, 800, 1000, 2000 and than finished it off with Plastix buffing. Turn out 1000x better although there are still a few scratches I didn't get out. 

Here are sequenced photos of the hardscape work so far. With a video of it during water test today.

This is by far the messiest project I have done...my garage is currently a superfund site. However, it's a ton of fun 


Started out by Siliconing in a Styrofoam wall to help define my land area and allow me to use less expanding foam. 




























Measuring and fitting my conduit for power cables for heater and pumps and also fluval intake hose. All these will be hidden inside the land area sump.









First layer of great stuff foam. I used the Big Gap stuff to try and take up more space. You can also see the two acrylic boxes I siliconed to the wall for my side waterfall feature.




























Siliconed in the water grate and added stryofoam supports on the back wall for my land to rest on.









Rough cut of what I want my floating island/land area puzzle piece to look like









Lots more foam! I name thee cow crap isle. I angled it down slightly when I made it so that it will float in the water and help support any plant/animal weight, it will also have the edges below the water level so the frogs can get back onto it. I also have a piece of nice diftwood that i can use to support it if need be.









Close up of the sump area for heater/intake/pump









You can see the full sump area with the land removed and far right is one of the waterfall boxes.









Better shot of waterfall boxes (2 acrylic boxes I had from an old sump setup that I just siliconed onto wall.)









Spent about 5 hours carving the foam with my dremel and a barrel sanding bit. Covered from head to toe in dust  I carved some pots into the wall area and also into cow crap island for plants/moss/???









More pictures of the foam post carving. You can also see in the bottom left the hole i cut out for my foam block. The water will circulate from the two pumps down 2 waterfalls, through the foam block, around the back of the tank through bioballs, through a final screen, to the return pumps/heater.


















As you can see from this picture the seams from my removable land are pretty hard to see. I don't think they will be visible at all once I have the foam textured/painted.









And here is the video of it during water test. I still have a ton to do...rain system, fogger, painting etc..but I wanted to make sure my custom sump i built into the land section had enough water flow to keep up with the pumps after going through the bioballs and the foam/screen. Worked like a charm thankfully!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdyiNxe7kq0

My current question for all you fine folks is about the foam painting. My thought is to drylock paint the the bottom 1/3 that is under water and have that fade into a silicone/coco fiber background for the upper portions. I want the background to end up covered in mosses and climbing plants, so I also though about some of that eco netting stuff so the plants can get a good grip.

Not sure what to do 

Any suggestions would be very welcome at this point! 

Thanks for reading and I will post progress as I go if anyone is interested.

-Vaughn


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## Psychosis (Feb 13, 2015)

I can't speak on the drylok issue, I wound up using silicone and flourite on my underwater foam. It looks good for my nub build, any way. 

Again, speaking from limited personal experience, I was just wondering how you'll access the sump compartment once you've planted it? I might just be squinting and missing it, but I can't picture how you actually reach the equipment with out disturbing everything.

That also doesn't seem like a whole lot of land for the frogs, but it could just be the scale of the build throwing me off. I like cow crap island, personally. Have you looked at geosesarma crabs at all? They could probably better utilize the space. 

Take anything I sat with a huge chunk of salt, I'm still working on my first build too. So far, it seems like tge majority of my plants root in to/on top of the old fashioned coco fiber and silicone background im using, if that helps with your eco webbing question. Looking forward to updates.


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## Citizen (Apr 27, 2015)

Thanks for the ideas! Do you have any pictures of the flourite you used? Or a link to your build thread if you did one.


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## Citizen (Apr 27, 2015)

I made a quick reply at work, but apparently you can't edit your posts here.

In regards to your questions:

Once it is fully planted it will be difficult to get to the sump area, my hope is that it will end up being a set and forget system and I will not have to pull the land out to access the bioballs or pumps/heater.

However, if I do need to at least I can. And this way I can hide the hardware.

Once i add the ironwood into the tank there will be a lot more available land area. As is though I think there will be sufficient land as people seem to keep pairs or groups of the PDF's in 20 gallon tanks and there is at least that much land area available in my tank.

I have not looked into crabs at all. I have had hermit crabs in my saltwater tanks in the past...but normal crabs remind me a little too much of spiders 

So the coco fiber/silicone seems to give the plants/moss enough to hold onto and grow?

Thanks again for the reply!


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## Psychosis (Feb 13, 2015)

It's probably hard to see here, but essentially I just used black silicone and layered it with flourite just like you would with coco fiber along the pond just under the "shore." It blends really well. 


The flourite is really light, so it sticks pretty well. It probably wasn't necessary, since that part of the pond is in the shadows. 

I can take a shot later, but so far the plants are growing over the coco fiber just fine. My Begonia glabra in particular is sending a mosaic of roots over it, which looks really cool. I also have a brom anchoring itself like a champ. 

I gave the Geosesarma crabs a good hard look before I decided to eventually keep P. vittatus, they're really neat. I've dealt with plenty of crabs in my own reefs, but the coloration and live birth are unique enough to warrant attention. Maybe a different build haha.

I have a thread going some where around here, I'll probably update once I get my next order of plants in. Looking forward to a shot of your tank with the wood and the coco fiber. I used some coco husk and a fist full of flourite for some texture, but it's hard to tell the difference.


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## Citizen (Apr 27, 2015)

Quick update pics:

Finished with Drylok and am cycling water through it to get any residue out of the tank. I missed a few spots but I figure they will be covered in green stuff before too long. Not going to stress too much on it. 

Waterfalls both seem to be working well. However, the heater i installed appeared to be a dud...so I am going to have to pull it out and put in a new one sadly. 

One odd thing that happened is I appear to have a underground river flowing in my background. Some of my carved out areas for plants fill with water and overflow...so I am thinking I will end up pulling some sort of plant that needs roots fully immersed but wont mind hanging on the wall....any ideas?

Not really happy with the bottom wood placement but since I built out my waterfall the wood ended up being a little too big for where i had it planned...so back to drawing board on that piece.

Also, I plan to cover the roof waterfall pipe with one of the hollow wood tubes you can get at a pet store.

Tank is still ugly...but making progress.


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## Riona (Dec 3, 2009)

If you don't mind slow growth, anubias(common as an aquarium plant) enjoy that. To grow them emersed you need ridiculous amounts of humidity. Is it little pockets that overflow, or is it more a spot that just drips? They're epiphytic, so they'd love to have just their roots and rhizome planted on something and have the water running partially over them.


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## Citizen (Apr 27, 2015)

Riona said:


> If you don't mind slow growth, anubias(common as an aquarium plant) enjoy that. To grow them emersed you need ridiculous amounts of humidity. Is it little pockets that overflow, or is it more a spot that just drips? They're epiphytic, so they'd love to have just their roots and rhizome planted on something and have the water running partially over them.


I have 3 pockets that entirely fill with water that slowly overflows and drips down. I don't know that I would consider the water running but it should flow out fast enough to keep it from becoming stagnate.

I do like the look of anubias but im afraid the leaves wont be strong enough for those spots...the plant itself will stick out kinda at this angle \. Maybe a little more severe so I was thinking about some sort of vine. 

For the other pockets that stay dry I am not sure if I should use potting soil in them to widen my choice of plants or use some other media. Any thoughts?

And thanks for the replies so far!


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## Riona (Dec 3, 2009)

How hard is the water movement? They've got harder leaves, and from what I've read, a lot of people use them on waterfalls(and they tend to grow stream-side or near waterfalls in nature) The thing I was wondering about was the cups of water, since I know that they normally get mounted onto things the same way an orchid or a bromeliad would.

As far as vining plants for it, I've got no idea, sadly


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## isias (May 12, 2015)

This is gonna be insane cant wait to see it completed


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## lochanrk (Mar 7, 2015)

Wow this is coming along great, can't wait to see it filled up!


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## Citizen (Apr 27, 2015)

The water movement is very minimal...just shy of stagnant it looks like. I think you are on to a good idea with the anubias!


Thanks for the encouragement guys! Coming along slowly...and already have found many things I will do different on the next one. But it is fun learning and putting it together.

*Since last update I have*:

-Added special aquarium plant gravel, also put it in some of the low laying areas on the land and will most likely just plant directly into it.

-Plumbed in a new heater

-Add 2 120mm fans that exhaust out the front of the tank and draw air in through the back. I was concerned about this lowing the humidity in the tank too far with the air turn over but I am still running 95% humidity in the tank with the fans on full bore. And that does not even include the fogger. All that warm water surface area makes all the difference I guess.

-Installed DIY fogger that flows out of the side waterfall (forgot to film)

**Issues that have come up**:

-Not real thrilled with how the top of my tank is turning out...too many wires etc...think I am going to have to figure out how to build a DIY hex tank hood to hide all this stuff.

-Waterfalls are splashing onto the front panels of the tank. Need to figure out a good way to cut down on that, I am sure once I get some plants in there I can use them to help cut down on splash...but for the moment I am stuck with lots of water droplets.

---FISH---

Here is my tentative fish plan. I was looking into Killifish but the short lifespan on the species I liked turn me off.










I also might consider swapping the Gourami for a Dwarf Cichlid but he may end up too aggressive for the frogs.

I will most likely add cherry shrimp and possibly some oto's depending on how tank is doing down the road regarding algae buildup.

---Frogs---

I was originally wanting to put a pair of leucs in here as they should make use of the vertical space from what I have read.

However, I would also like a frog that will rear its own young without intervention from me. I like the bigger frogs but if thumbs are the only species to reliably rear their own young I may have to go that route. Any thoughts or suggestions?


Here is a quick video if the current progress. Lighting is bad and so is camera shake...but it gives you an idea of progress. Thanks for reading and leaving the comments! I can use all the help I can get at this point.

https://youtu.be/iprxS385IXg


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## pooky125 (Jan 16, 2012)

Dwarf gouramis are notoriously hard to keep. They're quite inbred and have a several defect that leads to death in probably 90% of them quite rapidly. Better choices for your tank could be Honey Gouramis, Sparkling Gouramis, or Croaking Gouramis. Sparkling and croaking gouramis are vocal when they're happy, sounds almost like glass cracking.

Kuhli loaches will never be seen in that tank. They're extremely shy and nocturnal. You would probably be better off with 5-7 Pygmy Cories. They're active schooling fish who should spend most of their time out in the open and hanging out.


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## rigel10 (Jun 1, 2012)

Honey gourami: a failure for me in my old aquarium, but gorgeous colors! Thumbs up for dwarf cichlids, IMO: beautiful colors, interesting behaviors, affordable price.


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## Citizen (Apr 27, 2015)

@pooky125 - Thanks for the heads up on the dwarfs and kuli's. I will look into your suggestions. What are your thoughts on the dwarf Cichlids? Will they be too aggressive for the tank? 

@rigel10 - Appreciate the input sir! Have you kept Dwarf Cichlids before? Do you think they would attack a frog?


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## rigel10 (Jun 1, 2012)

I had some ramirezi: very beautiful cichlids, my favorite fish. I do not know about fishes and frogs: I have no paludariums. However, Dendrobatidae are not suitable for paludarium: many people say they are poor swimmers. There are species, as vittatus, who live near water. But if they fall in the water, probably cichlids could bother the frogs. 
I leave the floor to experts


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## Psychosis (Feb 13, 2015)

Citizen said:


> @pooky125 - Thanks for the heads up on the dwarfs and kuli's. I will look into your suggestions. What are your thoughts on the dwarf Cichlids? Will they be too aggressive for the tank?
> 
> @rigel10 - Appreciate the input sir! Have you kept Dwarf Cichlids before? Do you think they would attack a frog?


You know, I did a lot of research on nano fish. I think a great fit for you would be Dario dario. I was also looking at the micro rasbora and dwarf cory cats, I really think they'd look great together. Another neat idea was pygmy hatchet fish. Just a few points for research, hope it helps.


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## Citizen (Apr 27, 2015)

Psychosis said:


> You know, I did a lot of research on nano fish. I think a great fit for you would be Dario dario. I was also looking at the micro rasbora and dwarf cory cats, I really think they'd look great together. Another neat idea was pygmy hatchet fish. Just a few points for research, hope it helps.


I like the look of the dario...the finicky eating might be an issue though...do you think they would clean up fruitflies off the surface to supplement their need for live food?

I will check into the cories and hatchets this evening! Thanks for the input!


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## epiphytes etc. (Nov 22, 2010)

It's hard to go wrong with a nice school of endlers. They really are nice fish and seem to do well with limited space. Killies of some sort would also be an option.


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## pooky125 (Jan 16, 2012)

Citizen said:


> @pooky125 - Thanks for the heads up on the dwarfs and kuli's. I will look into your suggestions. What are your thoughts on the dwarf Cichlids? Will they be too aggressive for the tank?


I think it depends on the species of dwarf cichlid. Personally, I think 20 gallons is pushing it for dwarf cichlids, they're small, active fish, who can get pretty nippy when breeding. And really, keeping just one doesn't do the fish justice. The males are most beautiful when kept with a fertile female, and the females are generally quite bland. The only exception to this might be a blue ram, but they're pretty sensitive to water quality. And in a system like this, I'm not sure you could keep the water clear enough for such a sensitive fish. 

Dario are lovely, but extremely shy. Keeping live food cultures for them is a snap though. They readily take microworms, which are about the easiest food you can culture. I had great luck with either potato flakes or even a piece of cheap bread moistened, and a dollop of culture on top. They don't require additional feeding, just a new culture every few months. Super easy to deal with. With that said, finding healthy Dario's can be challenging, and you'll pretty much only find males, as females aren't generally sold. 

For smaller tanks, I really like some of the smaller gourami species. They have a lot of spunk and personality, and all the beautiful colors of a cichlid, without the nippiness. Even a betta could be an option, honestly.


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## Citizen (Apr 27, 2015)

I will look into the endlers thanks!

I think you may be right on the Cichlid...while there is 20-30g's of water in the tank...not all that is available to the fish. Not to mention once i have it planted there will be even less room for them to swim around.

The live culture sounds pretty simple..long as the wife doesn't freak out about growing worms in the house =)

I will keep looking! In no rush for fish or frogs so enjoying this fish debate process.

Currently the tank is staying stable at 80* water temp 82* air temp and 85% humidity. This is with fans on 100% and no mist. I can bump the humid up to 100% in about 5mins with the fans off and fogger on.


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## Citizen (Apr 27, 2015)

Sooo my big question at this point is planting medium for the plants on the back wall and on my little cow patty island. 

I have some fairly high end plant aquarium gravel Amazon.com : CaribSea Eco-Complete 20-Pound Planted Aquarium, Black : Aquarium Decor Gravel : Pet Supplies

I would like to use this gravel on the island (to keep potting soil from mixing with the aquarium water) and would like to use it as the planting medium in the background hanging planters as well. 

However, I don't know if this will even work. I would like to do ferns/vines and possibly some mini orchids in the background...will they live in this medium or do I need to go with a dedicated planting soil?

Thanks for your help folks!


PS - I got bored and had some fake plants laying about...so I added a little color to the tank for now...and some fog.


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## Citizen (Apr 27, 2015)

Update:

Added plants into the background and a few orders of plants from plantedtank.net

Not sure what to do with the island...I don't want to put potting soil in the holes as it might get messy...but i don't think I can put plants into the gravel with just standing water in it? What do you guys suggest?


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