# Paludarium Paint "Model" ~ HELP. ME.



## NiceRhac (Sep 23, 2011)

Hey guys, I've provided a model of my idea for constructing my paludarium with the help of Paint! Yes, we all know that beloved program we sometimes tend to use in cases of immense boredom. It ACTUALLY proves sort of useful 










As you can see from the model, I placed the waterfall in the center of the background. What you CAN'T see is that the waterfall is 3-4" deeper than the substrate BG. Similar to what Okapi had done to her waterfall HERE. Except of course not as deep or thick, since the size of my tank is limited. But just so that you can get an idea of what I mean by it being indented into the wall.
You can also see that I am thinking about using the cement coated styrofoam underwater.. Good idea? You tell me. I know styrofoam floats, but i'm not sure if the cement weighs it down any. Need some help/suggestions here! Worst comes to worst I can just silicone the submerged background and press some tile or pebbles in... right?... *shrug*
I added a slope from where the waterfall hits the waterline but I made it a little higher up in hopes to reduce the splash-factor. Confused? So am I! But basically, the slope will have "blinders" on either side of where the water hits the slope, protecting the plants on either side of it from getting a little too wet.

ALSO. I have NO idea how to make the waterfall foggy to make it look natural. PLEASE if you do know, explain to me how you did it where to put the humidifier/fogger in place. Is it beside where the water comes out? Above? Below? I just want to have that realistic depth to my waterfall.. I would REALLY appreciate the help.

As far as the land area. You cannot see much but I will tell you what vision I see in my mind. The flat land area that sits above the waterline (not directly above, of course) will HOPEFULLY be around 7" wide and 8" long on BOTH sides. Meaning on either side of the waterfall. I am crossing my fingers that I will have adequate land area. And even more that I won't end up having less land area to work with. OR, the slope can be the only entrance/exit to the water and I can fill the rest of the area with land. But I'm afraid of anything drowning trying to get back onto land and I wanted to put some driftwood or ghost wood from the water onto land so i'm not sure if that will work.. My OTHER option with this is where the slope meets the water to provide a space where the water can enter but have land running in front of it, but a more water-tolerant body of land.. UGH I don't know, lol I'm just taking my ideas and running with them.

What are some good supplies to have when carving the background? I was thinking about buying a carving knife but what else makes it easier to shape out the BG? I was also thinking about doing a cork mosaic background with some sort of tile or rock or imitation rock made out of styrofoam/cement. But I left the background blank since I'm not 100% sure how I want to do it yet.

I want this to be very well thought out and planned out before I go spreading GS all over my tank and having no idea where to go with it. PLEASE help me out guys I need all the advice I can get.

Other random details:
Species intended for enclosure ~ Geosesarma sp. (Vampire Crabs)
Other Equipment: MistKing starter kit w/ Plus Package.
MiniJet 404 pump.
Fluval 105 canister/filter


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## NiceRhac (Sep 23, 2011)

........Nothing?


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## mllaursen (Jan 31, 2011)

I've seen people place the Ultrasonic foggers up above a waterfall and get some really nice effects from it. otherwise you could put it in the water itself but try and set it up so animals aren't getting near it. 

Michael


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## Neontra (Aug 16, 2011)

No offence, but fog is about as un natural as you can get. It's olny found above or high n the rainforest canopy, and doesn't come out of a hole in a few rocks..... But steam is another thing. I personally dislike the foggy look, water i much better. And a note about ultrasonic foggers in the tank, if anything touches water that the fogger is placed in (frogs) they will be deemed a sad death or be shocked. But I like your plans. With GS, don't worry. Go crazy with it! You really can't add too much or too little, you can always carve or just silicone empty patches. It's really a nice BG method imo. Cement covered foam will not float, but PLEASE make sure you cure cement. I don't believe you must cure drylok though.
You will really figure it out as you go. Carving isn't really nessasary either because it looks good as is.


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## BethInAK (Jul 12, 2011)

I like fog and think that mist is natural!! Saw lots of it in nature this past weekend in Seattle! But I have exactly one fogger and so far its used to entertain my son ;-). I would look at pictures of something that has the look you want and post questions about how to get that look!

I like the deep set waterfall idea and know absolutely NOTHING about vampire crabs!!

If it were my tank, though, and I wanted natural, I'd probably ditch the symmetry. You could offset the waterfall a bit and it would look really natural.

I think you can silicone the foam to the bottom of the tank, so it doesnt' float. I think even with cement on the surface it might still want to float up.


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## NiceRhac (Sep 23, 2011)

Thanks for the response guys!
As far as symmetry goes Beth, It will hardly look this straight cut lol I was just basically showing WHERE i would like things to go. I really like the look of fog as well.

I would like the fog to cascade down with the water. Sort of like what was done here


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## BethInAK (Jul 12, 2011)

you are another pangea friend, aren't you? its hard to forget that nick.
I have a fogger and the mist does sink so I suspect you'd be best off putting the outputs near the top but again, I have never used a fogger in a viv so I'm basically tallking out my a**.


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## Okapi (Oct 12, 2007)

NiceRhac said:


> Similar to what Okapi had done to HIS waterfall HERE. Except of course not as deep or thick, since the size of my tank is limited. But just so that you can get an idea of what I mean by it being indented into the wall.


Fixed that for ya  Dont feel bad, I did the same thing to another member once








(im the one touching the tv)



NiceRhac said:


> You can also see that I am thinking about using the cement coated styrofoam underwater.. Good idea? You tell me. I know styrofoam floats, but i'm not sure if the cement weighs it down any. Need some help/suggestions here! Worst comes to worst I can just silicone the submerged background and press some tile or pebbles in... right?... *shrug*
> I added a slope from where the waterfall hits the waterline but I made it a little higher up in hopes to reduce the splash-factor. Confused? So am I! But basically, the slope will have "blinders" on either side of where the water hits the slope, protecting the plants on either side of it from getting a little too wet.
> 
> ALSO. I have NO idea how to make the waterfall foggy to make it look natural. PLEASE if you do know, explain to me how you did it where to put the humidifier/fogger in place. Is it beside where the water comes out? Above? Below? I just want to have that realistic depth to my waterfall.. I would REALLY appreciate the help.
> ...


I carved the styrofoam with a steak knife, files, and my fingernails to get the textures I wanted. I then siliconed the first layer of foam to the bottom of the aquarium. I continued to stack the foam pieces, siliconing them to eachother and the glass if they were touching it, all the way to the top. I wanted to make sure they didnt float. The one piece siliconed to the false bottom in the middle of this picture did try to float off. I had to re silicone it:









If you go the cement route, make sure you neutralize it. That was the longest part of the process.

Also, keep in mind that water likes to wick from water features. It even defies gravity to wick from one area from another, that is why I recessed my waterfall (or rather made the sides jut out so far). Ive made many failed water falls before I made this one...

I wouldnt put a fogger into a tank. The vibrations can cause damage to any organism that gets into the vibrating pool of water around the ultrasonic disk. It would be better to pipe in fog from a cool mist ultrasonic humidifier. 

Good luck


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