# 75 gallon Paludarium/Water feature/Auratus construction



## Kugamazog (May 12, 2010)

I'm starting a 75 gallon paludarium. The tank will have 4 inch deep water, with a small pump powering a drip/waterfall. I haven't fully decided on the strength/aesthetics of the waterfall. Currently, I think will just extend some round cork board out like a tree branch, and have the water fall out the end.

It will house a couple of highland bronze auratus when all is done.

Start of the construction pics are below:










I'm using eggcrate on top of PVC for the backbone. I forgot to take a picture before attaching the weedblock. Weedblock was purchased at Home Depot in the gardening section. It's attached to the eggcrate via plastic ties.










Left side of the tank will have a sliver of land simply because I wanted the tank slightly asymmetrical. I'll coat the banks of the pond area with aquarium silicone and smash fish tank pebbles into it.










Angle from inside the tank. I have completed the weeblock and cutting more PVC fittings, so I'll post a current picture tomorrow.


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## Kugamazog (May 12, 2010)

Update on the tank so far.











I've made a small removable section at the center back to gain access to the cords/pipes if needed.










I also made an overlapping section covering up the pump. The fence around it allows me to move the LECA and substrate without everything caving in on the hole. Hole allows me to change the filter if needed, and adjust the pump speed. Pump was purchased from Amazon, but I think it may be too powerful. (Hydor SELTZ L30 Pump 320 gph)










Front view. I found some t-junctions that were exact 4 inches tall, so I'll use them for support.










I arranged the corkboard and cut it to fit. The plan is to have the background appear as the trunk of a large tree. The "branch" jutting out contains the output of the pump. If it all works correctly, the branch should pour water into the small pond below. Corkwood was purchased from the classifieds section of this board.











First step was to take it outside and silcone in the humidifer outputs and a pipe to allow the pump power cable to exit the tank. I used 100% aquarium silicone for this part.



















And just now I've filled the back with pond & stone great stuff. I'll let that set for a day or two, and then use the silcone/coco fiber method to fill in the gaps.


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## Kugamazog (May 12, 2010)

Updates from the weekend:










First, I put painter's tape over all the corkwood. Then I put down a copious amount of GEII brown silicone. After that, I mushed in coconut bedding fiber I bought at petsmart.

I let that set for a little over 24 hours before removing the tape.










Looks rather spectacular, I think.










Then, I siliconed down the T-junctions and egg crate with 100% clear aquarium silicone. I sealed all the sides to stall all of the substrate from falling through. I used the aquarium silicone to mash some gravel on the slopes and back of the pond area. Doesn't look that bad, and I didn't want to take the time to cover every inch. The hope is that the plants will obscure the bald areas.

Let that set for 48 hours. Currently I have some test water in with the pump running. The pump is way too strong, but I'm working on a remedy. I'll post more progression soon.

I have two things I haven't resolved:

-lid: What sort of lid solution would you recommend? It's a standard size 75 gallon oceanic tank.The top left center requires a small 2 inch opening at the back for the output of the humidifier pipe and pump cable. I would prefer venting at the front to reduce fogging on the glass.

-Plants. Any plant suggestions? I'm ordering 5 bromeliads for the tank currently. I plan on having pothos in the left pot, a creeping vine in the center pot, and an "elephant ear" style plant in the right. I also want a 4th plant as the center attraction on the main landmass.


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## vivbulider (Jan 23, 2010)

Is the tank 48",18",20" l,w,h, cuz if it is you could find a lid at petco/petsmart


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## dendro-dude (Jan 25, 2010)

Lookks wicked!

Plantwise- Look around at your Lowes and nursery stores. And you can go online, such as blackJungle.com, and look around.

Creeping fig should take over the background


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## Kugamazog (May 12, 2010)

Placed the Terra Lite layer down. For reference, this tank took 1.5 bags of "20 gallon size" bags from blackjungle. They worked well in 10 gallon I made earlier. Then I placed another layer of weedblock, and some exo terra moss purchased at petsmart. Plants are some pothos clippings, and a few bromeliads. Water plant is an Anubias (maybe) purchased at petco.










I didn't mention this before, but I actually put two outlets on the water feature. Just put a T-junction in the pipe, cut a hole, and sealed it underneath. This was so I could stop the waterfall while still circulating the water. Turns out 320gph is wayyyy too much for this tank, so I've just let most of it exit under the water, and used a cap to allow the front end to trickle out. It worked out rather well despite the visible plastic.










All I should need now are a few other plants. I think I'll go with Black Velvet in the back right, Peperomia 'mini melons' and Baby Tears to trail the background. Petco and Petsmart did not have anything helpful for a 75 gallon lid. It was too big for anything they had in stock, so I'll grab this one off of Amazon.


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## Kugamazog (May 12, 2010)

Tank is finished!










Home Depot/Lowe's/Ace wouldn't cut holes in glass. Finally found a local glass cutter that would do it. Then I just used hot glue and window-screen to seal it.










Water area looks much nicer now. After shoving a bunch of moss inside the cork tube, the flow rate is slow enough to give a very serene effect. There are currently two mosquito fish eating any stray fruit flies that fall into the water. 










Wide view of the tank. I found some umbrella plants at Home Depot, so I went with them and several clippings of pothos instead of the online order. It was a bit cheaper, and I'm not particularly picky about plant flora. As long as it grows.



















Frogs were introduced last week. 5 highland bronze auratus from Sean Stewart. They are incredibly pretty.










All 5 are already distinguishable via the dorsal patterns. And that's it! Tank is complete, I will post updates on the frogs under the "Member's Frogs & Vivariums" section (there were only a few images of highland bronze threads I could find) as they grow.


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## frogface (Feb 20, 2010)

That turned out really nice! Beautiful frogs. I love auratus


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## Totenkampf (Jun 25, 2012)

nice meeting you this weekend, the frogs look great. i like the turquoise! if my girl doesnt snap up my spare 75 gallon for her pufferfish project soon then i think that i will try something similar to this build. i havent had a big paludarium in many years but i have been hoarding cork lately.


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