# 300gal paludarium project



## the_deeb

After months of researching, planning, designing and redesigning I'm finally ready to start this project. I initially planned to go with a custom built acrylic paludarium, but after seeking out some quotes I decided that the price was higher than I was comfortable with. So instead I've decided to do a DIY plywood/glass tank, and in the process ended up scaling up the dimensions a bit. 

The dimensions of the tank are going to be 60.5"L X 28"W X 41.5" tall (~300gal). Water depth will be around 15", so overall water volume will be about 100gal.

The tank will be viewable from the front and right side. The casing is going to built from 3/4" birch plywood and the interior will be waterproofed with Pond Armor. The right side window is going to be a single piece of 3/8" glass. The bottom part of the front is going to have a 15" tall piece 1/2" glass and is going to have a braceless top edge. I'm going to add sliding door track onto the top edge of the bottom piece and have 2 pieces of 1/8" glass as sliding doors so that the upper part of the tank will be accessible from the front.

I"m going to install a skimless overflow system that will maintain a constant water depth and filtration will be a 40gal sump under the paludarium. The sump will return water through a manifold that will divide the flow between spraybars at the bottom and surface of the water section, and along the top of the back and left side feeding a clay dripwall for the upper portion. I'm going to be carving styrofoam branches that will be partly submerged and partly emersed and planted with epiphytes. I haven't decided whether I'm going to have any true land area, besides small pockets of substrate nestled into the clefts between branches, so the viv will be planted primarily with epiphytes.

I'll update as progress is made.


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## frogface

Can't wait to see this!


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## vivbulider

wow can't wh8 i'm building a tank thats smaller but close here are pics viv build pictures from reptiles photos on webshots its 4',2',4'


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## wimvanvelzen

I am interested and subscribed - keep us posted!


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## daykinmade

Ive been brainstorming on a very similar project as well, so Im quite interested to see how this comes along. bookmarked! what kind of clay will you be using for the drip wall?


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## the_deeb

Thanks for the encouraging replies guys.

I managed to get a good start over the weekend. Got all the plywood sheets cut and have started working on the stand. I managed to get all the pieces I needed from 4 (4'X8') sheets of 3/4" birch ply and 1 sheet of 1/2" ply (for the floor of the stand and some additional support pieces). All the vertical joints are mitered which will hopefully give me a clean, seamless look when it's done. I didn't have the tools to make the mitered cuts and cutouts in the panels myself, so I got some help from a guy I found through craiglist who did a great job on the cuts. If anyone in the Triangle area is looking for some help getting some wood cut up let me know and I'll pass along his info.

In addition to the plywood, I was initially going to use 2X4s as an interior support frame for the stand, but didn't like the quality of the wood I found at HD/Lowes (too warped). So instead I'm doubling up 1X4 strips of pine and plywood into multiple overlapping lap joints. This is giving me strong square joints.

Here's a pic of the approximate cutting plan I used to get the pieces I needed:


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## the_deeb

daykinmade said:


> what kind of clay will you be using for the drip wall?


I was planning on using sodium bentonite/kitty litter mixed with some organic material like peat moss, coco fiber and tree fern panel. I'm a long ways away from that stage and will probably be soliciting advice from the pros on here when I get there.


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## frogfreak

It looks like a fun project.

I'll be keeping an eye on this one. I would like to do something like this in my office some day.


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## sandiegoleu

any progress on this? I want to make a 4' by 3' by 3' just like yours and want to see it.


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## the_deeb

Sorry for not updating. Progress has been a little slow. I'm almost done with the stand. I'll try to get some pics up when I get home from work. I ran into a few problems that complicated things a bit and have neccessited some sub-optimal fixes. Here's a few things I've learnt that would probably have already been obvious to a more experienced carpenter.

Were I to do this again I would NOT use miter joints on long structural joints. It's just too tricky to get everything to fit together perfectly and look good. I think a better method that would have given me a similar look and stronger joints would have been to just use butt joints on the plywood pieces and then covered them up with miter-edged trim pieces.

Don't assume that wood is the thickness that it's listed as. It turns out that my 3/4" plywood from Home Depot wasn't quite 3/4". It was more like 11/16". Unfortunately, when I made my calculations I figured that the inside edge of a mitered piece would be 3/4" less than the outside edge. Due to this oversight, the inside edge of a piece with two mitered corners is actually about 1/8" larger than I anticipated which means that my joints don't fit together as well as I hoped. I had to make some modifications to my initial design to work around this.

Epoxy glue cures very quickly. Most of my joints are glued with either Gorilla glue or Titebond III, but in the case of those poorly fitting joints with a 1/8" gap I decided to use epoxy for it's gap filling ability. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of thinking that epoxy glue would behave like epoxy resin (which it doesn't). I applied a heavy layer of the glue to both surfaces, assuming that excess glue would be squeezed out when I clamped the joint leaving me with a nice tight joint. Instead, by the time I'd applied the glue to all the surfaces and pressed them together the glue had already hardened enough that it didn't compress or squeeze out at all and instead left me with an even bigger gap! There's enough epoxy contact that I'm sure the joint is plenty strong but is cosmetically flawed and not quite flush with the other pieces. 

Hopefully my mistakes will help out others working on similar projects.


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## jpstod

vivbulider said:


> wow can't wh8 i'm building a tank thats smaller but close here are pics viv build pictures from reptiles photos on webshots its 4',2',4'


You are aware that you can rotate the pictures right ?


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## the_deeb

Ok, time for some long overdue updates to this thread. Progress has been very slow and I wanted to have something to show before updating. 

It all started out with a pile of wood and inadequate workspace (thanks to my wife for tolerating the mess!)










Here's the start of the stand. I added some 1X4 pieces as additional support to the sides. The plywood casing itself serves as a structural component.










One of the top/bottom pieces of the front showing the 1/8" misfit due to the plywood not being quite 3/4" thick (see my previous post).










One of the legs - 1X4s doubled up with similarly dimensioned plywood strips










Skip ahead a few steps and the thing is mostly assembled










Closeup of how the sides fit together with the front/back. In addition to the glue the pieces are held together with pocket hole screws










Crappy looking gap due to my mistake with the epoxy glue hardening too quickly (again, see previous post).










I ended up using a syringe to fill the gap with West System 105/206 epoxy and then covering over that with wood filler. This means the entire gap is bridged by epoxy which should hopefully leave me with a strong joint and I don't think it looks too bad.










I stained the outside of the stand with a coat of "golden pecan" and finished it with 3 coats of satin polyurethane. The inside got 2 coats of Kilz followed by 2 coats of white latex paint.










Here it is with the doors balanced in place (still need to add some edge banding and mount the hinges). I'm going for a sleek ADA style look.


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## frogface

Wow, looks great so far!


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## the_deeb

Ok, here the progress with the tank itself.

As I mentioned earlier, I do not recommend using a mitered corner design like this. The joint lacks structural strength and it's very hard to get everything to line up. That being said, I decided to make the best of what I had and modified the edges to create sort of a haunched miter. This would offer a better supported joint with a much larger gluing surface. Here's the plan for how I hoped the edges would fit together. 










I began by epoxying and screwing some 3/4" strips of plywood to the edges of all the pieces. When I first started out I was using just regular West System 105/206 (one coat to saturate the wood and a second coat for excess glue). As the build progressed I started to thicken the second coat with Cabosil and I highly recommend doing this. The thickened epoxy doesn't squeeze out as much and lets you load the joint with more glue.










Next I applied a coating of epoxy to all the joints (first a regular coat to saturate the wood, followed by a second layer of epoxy thickened with Cabosil) and screwed them together with 1.25" and 2" wood screws as shown in the diagram above.










Here's a closeup of the joints to show how they fit together. There's a screw every 2" but they're spaced in an alternating pattern. I used clamps to hold the sides together while driving in the screws. As expected, the mitered part of the joints didn't fit together quite as perfectly as I'd hoped leaving a bit of a gap on the back edges where I couldn't produce much clamping pressure. I solved this by injecting epoxy resin into all the gaps to produce a solid, epoxy-filled joint.










For bracing around the top edge I installed some strips of 3/4" plywood. The back and left side are just 3". The front and right side are 4" wide and I used a coping saw to make cutouts for future fan access.










I attached the strips with Titebond III and pocket hole screws. This is really strong - I did a set of dips supporting myself just on the bracing and it didn't budge (though I admittedly don't weight very much)! Eventually I'm going to add an additional 3" center brace running from front to back.










Here's the tank flipped over and the bottom bracing installed. Here I used 1X3 poplar strips, epoxied and pocket hole screwed like the top. The difference here is that the strips were attached 3/4" away from the edge, so that once the 3/4" plywood bottom panel is installed it will be flush with the bottom edge of the sides. You can see the bottom panel leaning against the wall in the background, pocket holes drilled and ready to be installed.










Here's the bottom installed










The bottom is glued to the sides and to the lower bracing with thickened epoxy. It is also screwed into the bottom bracing with screws every 2" and also screwed to the sides with pocket holes (staggered relative to the pocket holes in the bottom bracing).

You might recall I mentioned near the start how I discovered that "3/4" ply isn't actually 3/4" (more like 11/16"). Because the sides are joined with miters and my bottom piece is inset into the sides, this meant that the bottom was 1/8" too small. To deal with this I cut some 1/8" slivers from some scrap poplar and epoxied them into the gap. The pocket holes are actually driven through some of these poplar shims. I think this has addressed the problem quite well.










I filled all remaining screw holes and gaps in the bottom with wood putty, sanded and them painted with 3 coats of Drylok. Here's how it looks:










For those of you know don't know, Drylok isn't smooth like paint. It's filled with bits of sand. This means the resulting finish is quite rough and can't really be sanded for a smooth finish. Here's a closeup:


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## JrayJ

Nice build. I'm anxious to see the outcome. 

If I might add that a simple 2x2 frame the exact size of the interior, screwed from the inside, would have tightened that bad boy up some.

You got it covered though...just tossing out thoughts.

Keep the pics coming!

Edit: Oh Shit! My fault I didnt see this last post, looks like what you did to some extent...


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## JrayJ

Now that Im looking at this last post Im wondering...do you work in a cnc router shop? With lots of wood products being delivered on a daily basis?


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## the_deeb

Haha, that would be nice but I certainly don't. All the wood that's lying around is stuff that I gathered together at the start of the build. I'm buidling the tank in the middle of my small apartment.


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## the_deeb

Here's the fan box for air circulation. It will work as explained here: http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/parts-construction/57420-recirculating-fan-questions.html

I used a coping saw to cut out the slits in some 1.2" plywood strips









Here's the box assembled









and installed in the tank. I coated the inside with 2 coats of West Systems 105/206 epoxy before installing it and then covered the openings with fiberglass window screen.


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## boabab95

Awesome!!! subscribed.


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## Mitch

Awesome work! That stand looks very ADA like... Great job.


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## RarePlantBroker

Coming along nicely.


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## fleshfrombone

Very impressive. Looks professionally done, can't wait to see it finished.


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## mitchandstuff

-Subscribe-
This looks impressive, have to stay updated on this.


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## the_deeb

Ok, time for another round of picture updates. The tank has (hopefully!) been waterproofed.

Because the tank has minimal bracing I decided to use fiberglass to reinforce the structure of the submerged section. I'd never worked with fiberglass before so, as with everything else about this build, it was a learning experience and I got better as a I went along. Here's how I went about it once I had the whole process figured out.

First I tilted the tank at an angle so that all residual epoxy resin would pool into the seams, deeply penetrating them and effectively creating a fillet. This was a little cumbersome because I had to reposition the tank for every seam, but it worked out very well.










I coated the seams with an initial layer of epoxy to saturate the wood and provide an initial barrier coating. I also dripped a little extra epoxy into the seams to make a slightly thicker fillet.










After this first layer had dried and was no longer tacky, but not completely cured, I layed out a strip of fiberglass cloth into the corner. I just used the cheap, lightweight Elmer's brand cloth from Lowes since I figured it would be adequate for my purposes. The lighweight cloth is pretty easy to work with. I found it made things easier if I took my time to make sure it was cut straight before starting.










Here's the strip wetted out with epoxy. After brushing it on I used the flat end of a stir stick and a gloved finger to really push it into the seams and force out any air bubbles. Make sure to work out the air bubbles while it's wet and you still can. Then I dripped a little extra epoxy on to really get a nice thick layer in the seams.










After waiting a few hours for the epoxy to gel (but not harden) I used my trusty paring knife to trim off the excess cloth to get a nice clean edges. I found that you shouldn't try to trim the cloth before it sets up or you'll pull it out of place and introduce air bubbles. Similarly, if you wait until it's completely cured it becomes too hard and sharp, making it difficult and potentially dangerous to cut. Leave an adequate strip of dry cloth to grip on to and do it when it's tacky and rubbery.










And there you have the finished reinforced seam. Hopefully it's completely sealed and will resist the formation of stress fractures.


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## the_deeb

So I had initially planned to just fiberglass the seams and then seal the rest of the tank using Pond Shield epoxy. However, after reading some accounts of people running into some leak issues using Pond Shield I decided to first fiberglass the entire water portion of the tank using West System 105/206 and lightweight Bondo brand fiberglass cloth. I feel that this will provide structural strength and an additional layer of waterproofing. Plus, now that I've gotten the hang of it, fiberglassing is actually quite enjoyable... almost addictive as observed by my wife  If I had more epoxy and fiberglass I'd probably glass the entire interior but I don't want to spend the extra money and I certainly don't think it's necessary.

Anyways, here's a piece of cloth trimmed and layed out










Wetted out with an initial layer of resin. I used a bondo spreader to wet out the cloth and a small brush to do the edges










After it gelled I trimmed of the excess and then applied 2 more coatings with a roller to fill the weave. Here's the tank with the lower half all glassed up. It's almost hard to tell because of how clear it gets!










I finished the outside with a coat of "golden pecan" stain and 3 coats of clear polyurethane to match the stand. I lined the edges of the windows with some walnut stained trim for a picture frame look.


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## the_deeb

After the epoxy and fully cured I spent several hours carefully sanding the tank with 60 grit sandpaper. I used a sanding sponge and wet sanded by hand to keep down the dust. This should also help to completely get rid of any amine blush, which can prevent the next layer from adhering. I carefully inspected all the surfaces to make sure there were no glossy areas. I've read the main thing that causes issues with adherence is inadequate surface preparation so I really took my time at this stage to make sure everything was well scuffed up.










Then I applied my Pond Shield. This stuff was a little tricky to work with. It's thick - kind of like honey. As per the instructions, I thinned it out by adding about 8% ethanol which made it a little easier to deal with. I calculated how much I would need to cover each side and then did one side at a time, mixing up only enough epoxy to cover that side. I rotated the tank as I went so that the side I was working on was on the bottom. I think this made it easier to work with. I followed the instructions and first used a bondo spreader to spread it out and cover the entire surface. I then used a roller to evenly cover the surface. I used a cheap polyurethane roller, which I regret now, because some little bits of the roller pulled out and got stuck in the epoxy, leaving some bumps. So lesson learned - use a high quality short nap roller.

Here's the tank with the initial coating. 










After I was done there was a bunch of "fish-eyeing" and pinholes in the coating so I had to go back over and patch them with more Pond Shield. At that point the coating looked pretty good under regular room light but when shining a really bright lamp on it I could make out some areas had sagged a bit and the coating was a little thin (I could faintly make out the wood color under the bright light). This probably means I didn't quite get to the recommended 10mil thickness in those areas. I guess this happened because I was thinning it a little with alcohol but I think it would have been really hard to work with unthinned. I scuffed up the areas with 60grit sandpaper and recoated but I was running low on Pond Shield so are probably still some thin areas.

If this was over bare wood I would be a little worried but since I applied the layer of epoxy and fiberglass underneath (which I'm glad I did!) I think it should be ok. There are some thin areas over bare wood in the upper part of the tank but since they're not going to be submerged I don't think it should matter as much since all I really need is a moisture/humidity barrier, not a true watertight coating.


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## james67

can the material be thinned and sprayed? if you have access to an air compressor, the harbor freight $15 purple HVLP gravity feed guns are great for this stuff. they are cheap enough that with non standard paints/ sealants they can be thrown away if cleaning is too difficult.

james


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## the_deeb

Ok, so I hope to drill the tank and put in the bulkheads this weekend. Here's a poor illustration of my plan. 










Water will be drawn out of the tank through the blue bulkhead on the right. It will go down to the pump/canister/heater and into a PVC manifold that will allow me to distribute the flow between the red, green and yellow bulkheads. The red bulkhead will deliver water back into the submerged portion of the tank through a locline return. The yellow and green bulkheads will be connected to spraybars that will run along of the top of the back and side walls to feed the dripwalls. I'm thinking of making the spraybars out of 1/2" vinyl hose with a plug in the end and small holes poked at regular intervals along the entire length. That way I'll have a flexible spraybar that I can mold to fit the shape of my background.

The entire tank is going to be run by a powerful pressure rated pump, but ball valves on the PVC manifold will allow me to balance the flow between the 3 returns. I anticipate that most of the flow will return directly to the submerged portion through the red bulkhead and the top dripwalls will be adjusted to just be a slow trickle.

How does this sound to you guys?


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## the_deeb

james67 said:


> can the material be thinned and sprayed? if you have access to an air compressor, the harbor freight $15 purple HVLP gravity feed guns are great for this stuff. they are cheap enough that with non standard paints/ sealants they can be thrown away if cleaning is too difficult.
> 
> james


Possibly, but that's not how it's intended to be used. I think Pond Armor sells a polyurea coating that can be sprayed. Pond Shield is designed to be thick so that a single coating is sufficient to get to a 10mil thickness and complete water barrier. If you thin it too much you risk compromising its sealing ability.


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## stevenhman

Very nice! Can't wait to see it finished up.


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## Leidig

That is an awesome project. Looking great. I, like others, can't wait to see the finish results.


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## the_deeb

Glass is in!










I installed each pane by pressing it in horizontally and then tipping the tank so the glass was facing down. I stacked a big pile books on top for weight. I only kept the weight on the glass for about 24hrs and then turned the tank back upright - I hope that was enough time. I used a lot of silicone (about 2 full tubes of GE-I per pane) which resulted in a bunch that was squeezed out and had to be cleaned up later. The seal looks pretty good but there are some small bubbles in a few spots (they are completely surrounded by silicone though so I don't think it should be a problem. I don't know if they were there to start with or if they formed because I didn't keep the pressure on the glass for longer.

You can also see the holes I drilled on the back for plumbing. They are 1.5" holes for 3/4" bulkheads. I drilled them a little oversized and then gave them 4-5 coatings of epoxy. They are still a little bit bigger than the bulkheads need so I may try to backfill them with silicone when I install the bulkheads to make absolutely sure I get no leaks.

The bottom of the green tape on the back is approximately where the water level will be. The two holes on the right hand side of the pic are for drainage and the one on the left is for the submerged return. There are two more at the top left corner which will feed the dripwall returns but they aren't visible in the pic. The other hole that's slightly higher up on the right hand side will ultimately be connected to a fogger/humidifier.


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## frogparty

awesome stuff!


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## the_deeb

I think you guys are going to be excited with this update - I know I am 

I've gotten a lot of the hardscape finished. As I mentioned earlier, the plan for this paludarium is to have the entire lower portion of the tank filled with water with no defined "land" area. So my goal with the hardscape was to create some three dimensional structure to provide planting areas and help visually fill the large open space in the top of the tank, while not taking up too much swimming room in the submerged portion. Based on this, I ruled out the traditional buttress design that most people use because it would take up a lot of space at the bottom, rather than the top. Instead, I tried to emulate "flying" buttress roots that would leave open space at the bottom.

Here's one of my sources of inspiration:










Like many builds, I began with a pile of foam. I used one 8'X4' sheet of 3/4" blue foam (Dow, from Lowes) and one sheet of 2" pink foam (Owens Corning, from HD). The blue stuff is a little denser, but both are easily carvable.










Here's a rough mockup of my "tree". I cut out the rough shapes using a kitchen knife and glued them together with a mix of silicone and Titebond glue (whatever I had on hand at the time). I also stuck in some cocktail skewers as additional fasteners. As you can see, I used many layers of foam to allow me to create nice depth.










Now for the messy part! I used a keyhole saw, rasp and file to shape the foam. Good thing my wife was out of town that weekend 










After I had shaped the foam to my liking I attached it to the tank. I know a lot of people prefer to finish the background outside the tank and then attach it, but since mine was composed of multiple parts I thought it would be easier to stick them in first. It would probably have been easier to do the painting outside the tank, but it wasn't too bad (it helps that my tank is large enough for me to fit inside easily. Here's the left side siliconed into the tank. I used a full tube of silicone.










Another root added. I glued this to the tank bottom and to the first piece with Gorilla glue and added a bunch more skewers for additional structural support. The rope at the bottom was serving as a ghetto clamp.










Then I used GS foam to help hide the seams and add more structure. I also added GS around the bottom to hopefully provide better adherence to the bottom.










After carving down the GS, here's an overall shot of the background.


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## the_deeb

Next step was to paint the thing. I decided to use tinted Drylok, since I found that it's been used successfully for aquarium backgrounds. I decided to tint it with a blend of "charcoal" and "terra cotta" cement pigments. I was hoping to get brown but unfortunately the best I could get was sort of a grayish/purple instead.










Here's the background after the first coat of Drylok.










I unfortunately don't have photos of the next few steps. The color after the first coating was too flat and uniform. I mixed up a darker batch of drylok and used a dry brush method to feather and shade the background. This helped a lot but I still thought it artificial and rock-like. 

I had hoped to create a realistic bark texture but it was beyond my artistic abilities, so I decided to add some fake vines to try to make it look more organic. For the vines I used some lengths of cotton and vinyl rope in various thickness. First a draped/wrapped them around the background and held them in place with staples or nails. I then covered them with a coat of tinted Drylok but because the Drylok really preserves the underlying texture I thought they still looked too artificial and rope like. So I mixed up another batch of Drylok and added in a bunch of long-fibered Exo Terra "Forest Moss" and then applied that to the vines. I thought this was a huge improvement. Here's the end result:










and some closer views to show more of the details. You can see how well the Drylok preserves the texture of the underlying foam.



















Overall, I'm really happy with how it turned out except I'm still not completely satisfied with the color. I think it still looks too purple and not very wood like. I think I'm going to buy some "tan" cement pigment to mix with my current colors to see if I can get it a little browner. I may also try to finish it with some ground moss mixed in epoxy.


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## azure89

Great job so far, I love it! those are some of the best fake roots that I've seen here on the board. I think the color looks fine but thats just my opinion.

Keep up the good work, can't wait to see this planted


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## vivbulider

wow that looks amazing i would keep it the way it is


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## rcteem

Looks awesome...who's new happy home will this be for? Can't wait to see this planted.


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## frogface

Wow that looks great!

Hey Chris, I think we'll all need to take a short road trip to Chapel Hill soon


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## Nate Mcfin

Very nice! I agree the color looks great in the pics. Foliage is going to make it even better. 
Still amazed at how much talent is on this board...


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## Frank H

Dang! This is awesome!


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## fleshfrombone

Ummmm, yeah sooo.... HOLY SHIT THAT'S SWEET!


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## dendrothusiast

your tree roots look great, im really looking foward to your final results when they happen, good luck with the whole build process!


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## SMenigoz

Tremendous build so far!
So how long do you intend to stay in that apartment? I assume your tank dimensions account for the front door width...


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## raimeiken

you could've sprinkled some peat moss on top of the paint while it was drying to get some more texture on it or a more natural color. But don't worry too much about it. Moss or plants will start growing over it and make it look like a real root in no time


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## Venomos

This thing is insaine! Absolutely AWESOME! I keep putting off building a huge tank like that myself and doing the fake tree...But between yours and a couple others on here I have been reading this weekend, I think I am going to get the supplies this week and attempt it. But awesome work! Subscribed and cant wait to see more!


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## the_deeb

Thank you all so much for your comments and encouragement. They are much appreciated!

In response to a few of your questions -

rcteem - I'm actually still not sure what I want to do in terms of inhabitants. I know I'm putting a bunch of fish in the aquatic portion but I haven't yet decided what's going in the emersed portion. To begin with I think I'm just going to try to get some nice flora going.

Smenigoz - we're only going to be in this apartment until next summer (admittedly not the best time to begin such a huge project, but I wanted something to keep myself entertained). I actually wanted to do an even wider tank but was limited by my door width. The tank is 28" (about 31" when factoring in the plumbing on the back) and my front door is 36" so I do have some clearance when the time comes to move. Given how heavy this thing is, I'm already dreading that day.


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## the_deeb

Ok time for another update - probably not quite as exciting as the last one. I went ahead and got some of of the buff cement colorant and was able to blend a much nicer brown color. After adding a little extra brown shading to the roots I'm much happier with how they look (I think the originally color was actually more purple than it appeared in my photos). 

I've also covered the walls of the emersed portion with Ecoweb. The Ecoweb is really rough and cutting it up was a bit of a pain but I think it worked out pretty well in the end - here's how it looks: 










I thought this stuff was supposed to be black but it's actually brown (quite similar to the color of my roots). It means there's a little less contrast with the roots but it does look more natural. Hopefully it will all be covered in moss/plants anyway so it shouldn't matter. Once I've got the water circulation system running I'm also going to incorporate a little bit of clay/peat/moss mixture into some parts of the background to hide the Ecoweb seams and provide a little bit of organic planting medium.

You may notice that I've also added in my drip lines at the top of the tank. As I had planned earlier, I used two lengths of 3/4" PVC (one for the back and one for the side) with holes drilled every inch or so. This should hopefully provide a nice even flow of water down the Ecoweb. I painted the PVC with two coats of black tinted Drylok so it wouldn't stand out so much.

I've also done a bunch of work with the plumbing/filtration system but I'm not going to post photo updates of that because it's probably not particularly interesting to most of the people on this board.

Well, this thing is pretty much ready to be water-tested. I'm just waiting for a few strong friends to come over to help me heave this behemoth onto the stand. I'm pretty confident with my construction so far, so I'm taking a gamble and moving this thing into its final location for the first fill. Hopefully the next update will be report good news rather than disaster!


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## vivbulider

how deep will the water be


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## the_deeb

Around 14" deep (about 1" below the top of the front glass). The total volume will be around 100g.


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## vivbulider

If it was a few inches more you could get discus


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## Okapi

Looks good! any idea on what plants your going to put in there?



the_deeb said:


> Hopefully the next update will be report good news rather than disaster!


Im confident in your work.


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## dendrothusiast

looks like a great candidate for several killie fish or hatchets or small tetra schools. I had a paludarium setup very similar like this but half of your size with several neons and hatchet fish. 

It's looking real good right now and watching your post changes my way of constructing tree roots (they're awesome in your tank). But also i'm sure you've considered this - if you're gonna put dart frogs in there stick with aboreal species and acoount semi emeresed growing plants like cryptocornes, hygrophillia, tiger lotus or dwarf lillies and even aubias to cover all areas where your animals may fall off the tree limbs from above. those plants i listed are very few of what can grow both in and out of water except the lilles. I've always kept it as a principal for all my terrestrial animals to keep them from drowning but i'm sure you alreadywere aware of this and had plans. I'm subscribed and anxious to see the fish and plants in there!


----------



## Julio

amazing details on the root system, great job!!


----------



## the_deeb

I'm not running the dripwall yet. As per Ed's suggestion, I'm giving the clay a little more time to set up so it doesn't all get washed down into the aquarium.


----------



## the_deeb

I picked two types of selaginella from a local nursery, separated them out and stuck them into the background in various places. Hopefully they take. I've got some riccia arriving next week. I'd be glad to hear other planting suggestions. I'm looking for some sort of creeping plant. If anyone in the area has any cuttings of oak leaf creeping fig or small-leafed peperomia (or other plant that you think would work well) please let me know!


----------



## frogface

Outstanding!!! Can't wait to see it filled with critters


----------



## fleshfrombone

Very very impressive. You did an awesome job on this. I can't wait to see it planted fully and overgrown.


----------



## wimvanvelzen

Ah, very very good! This is going to be a great tank!


----------



## eos

This is an amazing tank! Great job on the roots as well as the overall setup! Man, I need a 300 gallon tank in my life.


----------



## frogparty

you need ARCHER FISH! I think it would be awesome to see them shooting water droplets at bugs hanging over the water! 
I really like this whole construction. It definitely looks professional.


----------



## the_deeb

It would really cool to have a fish that could take advantage of the emersed space above the water.

I've definitely thought of archers - I think they would look awesome in this setup. Unfortunately, most of the commonly available species do best under brackish conditions. There are some freshwater variants and populations but they are hard to find. I'm keeping my eyes open.

Another cool option would be splashing tetras. These guys jump out of the water and lay their eggs on overhanding leaves and the male then flicks droplets of water onto them to keep them moist until they hatch. Very cool, but I'm a little worried they might be a little too small to hang with my other fish, and they also don't seem to be commonly available in the US.


----------



## dendrothusiast

your thinking of copella arnoldi splashing fish. They would be a great option for broad leaf plants near the water and I know what you mean about it being difficult to find freshwater raised archer fish. But I've seen the splashers available for sale every once in a while, it really depends on the luck of what your local fish store has.


----------



## frogparty

I forgot they prefer brackish water. If it was going to be an all brackish tank, it would scream mudskipperes to me.


----------



## Okapi

If you cant find the splashing tetras, you could always go with neon tetras. Im always impressed when I see a huge tank with a large school of a single species of tetra.


----------



## frogparty

I think it needs to be brackish! mudskippers and fiddler crabs and archer fish


----------



## the_deeb

While that would be a really cool setup I think I'd have a hard time with plants under brackish conditions. Plus, dealing with salt creep with this much flowing water would probably be a royal pain. 

I just finished moving my pack of clown loaches into the tank so I guess it's going to be fresh water. I picked up a few more from a guy who was breaking down his tank so I think I now have a total of 11. Once they've all settled in I think they're going to look great.


----------



## Morgan Freeman

Can't beat a shoal of cardinal tetras.

What aquatic plants will you be going for?


----------



## the_deeb

I've currently got some anubias nana, java fern (regular, narrow leaf and trident) and a little bit of bolbitis heudelotii. If the bolbitis does well I may try and get a little more. I'm mostly sticking with rhizomous plants that can be mounted to the branches and won't get dug up by the fish. I would like to get some sort of dwarf water lilly/lotus.


----------



## rudukai13

What's that I hear? Sounds like a bandwagon, better jump on.

Looks incredible! Can't wait to see it with fish. Are you planning on doing any aquatic plants? EDIT: Whoops, guess I didn't read far enough down. Any pictures of it currently with plants and fish?


----------



## fleshfrombone

I've always wanted to do a brackish mangrove tank. That would be sick! I saw a mudskipper at a local feed/pet store. Crazy little animals. Super territorial.


----------



## GRIMM

Deeb, you said you were looking for plant suggestions....Im not a plant expert especially when it comes to aquariums, however I have some Bacopa vines in my viv and they are doing great. They grow submerged, then when they reach the surface they will throw our roots and climbs up the background. In reality my tank is too small since it grows quite fast, but in your tank I think it could look great. And as a bonus, they throw out lots of little white flowers. Check out page 10 of my build thread for pictures of the vines/flowers if you are interested...

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/pa...-weekend-build-clay-background-method-10.html


----------



## the_deeb

Here are a few updates after the initial round of planting. The plants so far are:

submerged - anbias nana, java fern 'narrow', java fern 'trident' and a little bit of bolbitis heudelotii.

emersed - riccia covering most of the ecoweb, a tiny bit of christmas moss, two types of selaginella, white rabbit's foot fern, pteris fern, pepromia 'mini melons' and three neos (not sure on the IDs).

It's only been a week or so, but so far none of the plants have really taken off. I think the tank really needs more foliage so I'm on the lookout for other plants that will work well in this setup. 

Also, as you can tell from the pics, my fan system isn't quite able to keep the glass clear. I hoping for it to be a pure air circulation system but that didn't really do anything to de-fog the glass so I have some small openings in the top for ventilation. I may replace the current 50mm fans with some 80mm fans to more more air.

Overall tank:









Closeups of the water area (believe it or not, there are about a dozen fish hiding in the shadows there):


















Closeups of the top part (notice all the water streaming down the background):


----------



## frogface

Ok, the next NC local's meet is going to have to be at Deeb's house so we can see this tank!


----------



## talbot777

WOW looking awesome! I reckon a school of about 5 neon tetra's would compliment that landscaping nicely


----------



## the_deeb

frogface said:


> Ok, the next NC local's meet is going to have to be at Deeb's house so we can see this tank!


You guys are certainly welcome!


----------



## frogparty

I keep looking at this viv every day, and have decided that I need to do one like it just for archer fish, and maybe some frogs. I like it more and more every time I see it.


----------



## Okapi

Archers would be cool in a tank like that!


----------



## Okapi

Btw, I found this thread while doing a google search for epiweb backgrounds and thought you might like it:
http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/members-frogs-vivariums/6447-display-vivarium-update-planted.html


----------



## leuc11

Nice tank thats just...... I'm speechless that is so cool, and are you gonna put frogs in there? 

__________________________

0,0,2 P. Vittatus


----------



## wgama

Looks great!


----------



## saided

Mossy Frogs! 


Gorgeous Tank, I wish I had the space!
Very Inspirational work with the pink foamboard, I must get to work on my piles!


----------



## Dendro Dave

Very professional looking, glad to see people getting ambitious!


----------



## Caden

Darts would go well in it, but I know that some vietnamese mossy frogs would absolutely love that tank, and look absolutely great in it.

Your roots are amazing. I could never get styrofoam to do what you have done, but I hope it will come someday.

Great job.


----------



## Morgan Freeman

I do really love this tank.

If you're ever thinking of ways to make it stand out even more, a fake rain system would look fantastic. Imagine the drops bouncing off the water.


----------



## the_deeb

Plants are slowly starting to establish themselves. Thought I'd post a quick update of some new additions.

Nepenthes ventricosa. I wrapped it in some moss and mounted it on the suspended "branch". I hand mist it with distilled water every day and it seems pretty happy there. Some of the leaves are getting red blotches on them but, according to the Black Jungle care sheet, this is a just a cosmetic response to bright light and isn't detrimental to the plant.









Anubias nana sp. "broad leaf". I like the look of this plant.









I've also added a bunch of bolbitis, xmas moss and a few other plants, but they're all still looking a bit ratty so I'll post some updates once they've settled in a bit better.

But, IMHO, the most exciting new additions are....









A school of 5 Toxotes microlepis! These guys are freshwater archerfish that have been raised their entire lives in fresh water. Took me a while to track some down and a 6 hour road trip to get them, but it was well worth it. They really look great in the tank. Can't wait for them to settle down so I can start training them to spit


----------



## GRIMM

Oh very cool. Gotta try and get some video of these guys shooting down prey!


----------



## Morgan Freeman

Those fish are great!


----------



## the_deeb

My fish were all out in full force this morning so I snapped a couple of updated pics. Please pardon the dirty glass.


----------



## frogface

Beautiful!! Great job


----------



## Okapi

Thank you for the update, this thing rivals and even surpasses many zoo displays!

Ive really really really gotta try this method. The tree I started carving didnt turn out so well, but at least I have that experience for the next time I try it.


----------



## GRIMM

This tank is really looking great now that its starting to green up. Any chance of posting some larger pics?


----------



## hukilausurfer

Those roots are AMAZING I really need to try that method!


----------



## tclipse

Awesome... makes me want to set my old brackish setup again. We'd love to see a vid once you get the archers shooting!


----------



## dendrothusiast

wow deeb your paludarium is looking great!

congrats on your freshwater archer fish find, what is the tallest green plant on the right corner emersed from the water?


----------



## the_deeb

Thanks guys.



GRIMM said:


> This tank is really looking great now that its starting to green up. Any chance of posting some larger pics?


Sure thing. Do you just mean a larger version of the pic I just posted?



dendrothusiast said:


> ... what is the tallest green plant on the right corner emersed from the water?


That's an Anubias hastifolia. It's a real beast of an anubias. The current leaves look a little cramped in that spot but I'm hoping the new leaves will fill in with more appropriate proportions. Here's a better pic of the same plant from hydrophyte (who I bought the plant from).


----------



## housevibe7

Wow! wonderfully done


----------



## GRIMM

the_deeb said:


> Sure thing. Do you just mean a larger version of the pic I just posted?


Yeah a larger picture...More pictures...All pictures!


----------



## azure89

This is a sick tank! Some of the best viv building I have seen on here, I really like all your plant and fish choices they look great!


----------



## HunterB

as soon as theres archer fish - the tank gets my seal of approval  haha very awesome


----------



## mantisdragon91

Great setup!! If you are going with the mangrove theme consider some tree monitors-black, green or blues would love that setup and would really set off the land area nicely.

Alternates would be emerald tree skinks, Indonesian velvet geckos, or tree dragons or a combination of all three.


----------



## Okapi

GRIMM said:


> Yeah a larger picture...More pictures...All pictures!


And then more pictures after that!


----------



## the_deeb

mantisdragon91 said:


> Great setup!! If you are going with the mangrove theme consider some tree monitors-black, green or blues would love that setup and would really set off the land area nicely.
> 
> Alternates would be emerald tree skinks, Indonesian velvet geckos, or tree dragons or a combination of all three.


I'm not really familiar with those species but wouldn't most of them get too large for the tank? One thing to consider is that there aren't too many horizontal surfaces for an animal to rest on, and many of the vertical surfaces have water running down them, which I imagine may not be pleasant to all inhabitants. Don't reptiles also generally need some sort of UV supplementation? At this point, I'm hoping to just let the plants grow in really well before considering inhabitants for the land area.

Here are some slightly larger photos to satisfy the photo hungry crowd. I can email the full-sized 6MB pictures if someone else would like to host them.



















I'm hoping to add a few more plants in the coming weeks so I'll post some more updates after that.


----------



## mantisdragon91

the_deeb said:


> I'm not really familiar with those species but wouldn't most of them get too large for the tank? One thing to consider is that there aren't too many horizontal surfaces for an animal to rest on, and many of the vertical surfaces have water running down them, which I imagine may not be pleasant to all inhabitants. Don't reptiles also generally need some sort of UV supplementation? At this point, I'm hoping to just let the plants grow in really well before considering inhabitants for the land area.
> 
> Here are some slightly larger photos to satisfy the photo hungry crowd. I can email the full-sized 6MB pictures if someone else would like to host them.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm hoping to add a few more plants in the coming weeks so I'll post some more updates after that.


You are corrent in that unless you have at least a couple of perchs that remain dry on a regular basis, fungal infections will be a constant problem for any reptile inhabitants. In regards to UV with proper supplementation most species will do just fine without it, although an argument can be made that the most natural behavior patterns and the most vibrant colors will only be displayed under full UVA/UVB lighting.


----------



## AaronAcker

Looks very very nice! More pics are needed for sure


----------



## myersboy6

I think it would be cool to have some sort of small water snake in there.


----------



## mantisdragon91

myersboy6 said:


> I think it would be cool to have some sort of small water snake in there.


The challenge is that most water snakes are fish eaters don't think the archer fish would appreciate that


----------



## myersboy6

Haha yeah thats true. Idk if there ate any type of real small snake cuz I'm sure any snake that would grow to be over 3ft would probably eat just about anything haha


----------



## BR5

Wow, very impressive.
Brian


----------



## Brotherly Monkey

Deeb, did you end up nixing the Nepenthes idea?


----------



## mongo77

Brotherly Monkey said:


> Deeb, did you end up nixing the Nepenthes idea?


It's up in the middle left of the tank on the branch.


----------



## Okapi

If you didnt have the fish already, tentacled snakes would be cool in that set up. I dont know why i didnt think of them before now. As for arboreal animals, maybe some mossy frogs if the temps arnt too high.

Oh, and thanks for the extra pictures!


----------



## xxohmycaptainxx

If they didn't get so big I'd say a caecilian. They are awesome little aquatic amphibians that are normally seen in zoos. Im pretty sure they're native to some parts of the US like florida and in South America but I could be mistaken.....


----------



## Morgan Freeman

Dātokaeru56;534817 said:


> If they didn't get so big I'd say a caecilian. They are awesome little aquatic amphibians that are normally seen in zoos. Im pretty sure they're native to some parts of the US like florida and in South America but I could be mistaken.....


I think the aquatic caecilians are from the northern parts of SA.


----------



## xxohmycaptainxx

Yes, so I was right!


----------



## the_deeb

GRIMM said:


> Oh very cool. Gotta try and get some video of these guys shooting down prey!


I'm here to please. I managed to take some videos of my archers shooting at pellets. Hope you guys enjoy the entertainment


----------



## xxohmycaptainxx

Very nice! Was it hard to train them or did they figure it out quick?


----------



## boabab95

Awesome!!!!


----------



## the_deeb

Not hard at all. I guess it's their natural instinct to do so. My wife actually noticed one of them randomly spitting at my pitcher plant a few days ago, which is why I decided to try it. I started off sticking the pellets close to the water and have gradually been moving them further up the wall.

Here's another video that shows how accurate these guys are, especially when the pellets are in motion. If pay close attention at the end, you'll note that the fish that successfully shoots down the pellet isn't always the one that ends up eating it.


----------



## xxohmycaptainxx

Awesome! I wonder what goes one in their little heads as they're doing this? I've always wanted Archer fish. Maybe when I build my turtle pond I'll buy some Archer's to go in my Red Eared Slider's 55 gallon.


----------



## Dendro Dave

Pretty rad...that behavior is one of those mysteries of evolution that just makes me scratch my head. Was there just some quirky/genius fish that decided to try spitting at bugs, or just spitting for fun then got lucky or what? I mean how the hell?


----------



## GRIMM

That is actually incredible! I cant beleive how accurate that last fish was. Hit the pellet 3 times within a couple seconds! That is honestly the coolest thing to watch in a palu for sure.

So does it make you want to add more overhanging branches, then a bunch of crickets into the tank?


----------



## johnachilli

Gosh that is awesome! must be great fun to watch!


----------



## GeorgiaB

Wicked fish and spectacular build!!! 

Georgia


----------



## AaronAcker

Oh wow... The videos are great I need another display tank, that would be too much fun.


----------



## BOOSHIFIED

GRIMM said:


> That is actually incredible! I cant beleive how accurate that last fish was. Hit the pellet 3 times within a couple seconds! That is honestly the coolest thing to watch in a palu for sure.


I didnt know they could rapid fire like that


----------



## eos

Man those fish are awesome!


----------



## the_deeb

Dendro Dave said:


> Pretty rad...that behavior is one of those mysteries of evolution that just makes me scratch my head. Was there just some quirky/genius fish that decided to try spitting at bugs, or just spitting for fun then got lucky or what? I mean how the hell?


There are actually a couple of other species of fish that spit as well, such as certain dwarf gouramies. They have no where near the projectile force or accuracy of the archers, but it is an interesting example of how the spitting behavior may have originated.



GRIMM said:


> So does it make you want to add more overhanging branches, then a bunch of crickets into the tank?


That would definitely be cool but I think it would be hard to install new branches with the tank up and running. It's something to consider for when I eventually have to break this thing down to move it.


----------



## the_deeb

Well, I added a few more plants so it's time for another quick update. I'm pretty happy with the way this "stump" is starting to look, especially with the moss that's starting to establish on the wet parts. The moss covering most of the stump is Christmas moss and the brighter green area is mini riccia. You may notice that I've got a few types of selaginella that are doing quite well on the drip wall and the oak leaf creeping fig is starting to slowly establish itself as well. All the anubias seem to be very happy with the setup and the broms are doing pretty well too (you may notice the big one throwing out roots). The three small "mo peppa please" broms are new additions - thanks Taron!

Another neat observation - if you look carefully at the center of the image you might notice a coo little fern growing just above the highest anubias. That's a white rabbit's foot fern. It seemed to pretty much die off completely due to the wet conditions, but I left the rhizome in there as little bit of organic matter. It's now sprouted new leaves that seem to have a miniature growth habit that's completely different from the original plant and seems to be doing well under a constant flow of water. Plants are cool 

The bare section on dripwall towards the left side of the picture is a section where a bunch of clay slid off the wall. I'm going to get some more xmas moss to cover that area.


----------



## Julio

sweet broms!


----------



## fleshfrombone

Those fish are out of control. I remember watching a thing Attenborough did about them years ago. Man I'm jealous of this thing. Turned out great.


----------



## dendrothusiast

deeb that paludarium is looking real cool everytime you update it.


----------



## wetpiggirl

Been a while since I've been around. However with out a doubt in my mind, this is one of the best tanks I have seen in a while! It was great reading that you continued on even after you found and or made mistakes. One of the biggest let downs is when you find a mistake of your own. Sometimes it can kill a project. That is one beautiful tank and the fish are superb! Even more so that you found freshwater archer fish and were able to share their shots with us. Bravo!

It's projects such as this that help me move along with building my frog/jungle room. People look at me like Im crazy when I tell them I will have a 12 foot long section of wall with nothing but 20 vert tanks. Even if they are not filled with darts for months/years to come, seeing the jaws drop when your friends see it... Worth it every time.

Thanks for posting!
Pig


----------



## housevibe7

This thing just gets better and better every time. Wonderful!


----------



## xxohmycaptainxx

Hey how big do archers grow on average? I was planning on making a 30-40 gallon riparium and I wanted to know if a group of like 3 or 4 archers along with some smaller tetras or guppies and I want to know if they'll be ok.


----------



## james67

they can get 7-20inches depending on sp. although ive never personally seen one more than about 6"

james


----------



## xxohmycaptainxx

OK well maybe I'll just put my Blue Gouramie in the riparium with some tetras.


----------



## the_deeb

Dātokaeru56;544472 said:


> Hey how big do archers grow on average? I was planning on making a 30-40 gallon riparium and I wanted to know if a group of like 3 or 4 archers along with some smaller tetras or guppies and I want to know if they'll be ok.


As james said, it varies with species. Of the commonly available species, T. microlepis (the species I have) is the smallest and gets to around 6". This is the biggest one I've seen a picture of: 









T. chatareus is the largest and supposedly gets to around 16". I have personally seen some at the Baltimore aquarium that were probably at least 12". Here's a pic I took of one: 









I think a 40 gallon riparium would be a little on the small side even for T. microlepis. A 40g tank would definitely be too small, if you're talking 40 gallons of water I think you could get away with a one depending on the dimensions. They are schooling fish but can be aggressive to each other if you don't have enough so I think 4 is probably a minimum number. They are also quite piscivorous and might end up eating tetras/guppies as they grow.

It sounds like the gourami would probably be the more appropriate choice.


----------



## Okapi

So... Any updates?


----------



## NRF

Awesome build and an enjoyable read!

Thanks for taking the time to document the process - Great stuff!


----------



## lauraleellbp

Wow, what an amazing project!

I'd love to see some updated photos!

How is the submerged area of the background and tree holding up?


----------



## frogparty

EPIC! Im so glad you went with the archers!


----------



## the_deeb

I was out of town for a week and when I came back the tank had gotten pretty overgrown. Here's how it loos after a trim:


----------



## ryangreenway

Wow this tank is simply gorgeous. Great job.


----------



## Julio

looks great!! do you have darts in there as well?


----------



## dendrothusiast

wow deeb! that paludarium is growing nicely! can you increase the photo size by chance so we can really see the details?


----------



## karag

It's beautiful man!


----------



## the_deeb

As some of you may have seen from my sale thread, due to some unfortunate life circumstances I've sadly decided to break down the tank. I hope to be able to set it up again one day. Here's a final video of the tank from this morning:


----------



## Okapi

Thats sad to hear. This was my favorite vivarium.


----------



## VicSkimmr

Ah that sucks


----------



## myersboy6

dude that sucks so bad! i am sorry too hear that. It was my favorite build also. I one day would like to have a build like that. What are you going to do with your archer fish? im sure you would get a pretty penny for them.  haha


----------



## fleshfrombone

I don't think I would be able to break that down.


----------



## LemurLad

I know I'd break down if I had to break that down...


----------



## spoggy

Whoa! I just found this thread, and the tank's gone. How sad Hope you get it running again.

Steve


----------



## Alegre323

wow.... truly an inspiration


----------



## the_deeb

Thanks. Breaking down the setup was definitely depressing. I ultimately ended up donating the tank to the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science. Hopefully it'll be set up again as a public display one day. 

Incidentally, I've settled into a new apartment in NYC and am probably going start to set up a new paludarium soon (though probably no where near on the scale of this setup). Stay tuned for a new thread!


----------



## Okapi

A new one will be a good winter project


----------



## eos

the_deeb said:


> Thanks. Breaking down the setup was definitely depressing. I ultimately ended up donating the tank to the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science. Hopefully it'll be set up again as a public display one day.
> 
> Incidentally, I've settled into a new apartment in NYC and am probably going start to set up a new paludarium soon (though probably no where near on the scale of this setup). Stay tuned for a new thread!


Welcome to the Tri-State!


----------



## Thomas01

I just joined the board and saw this thread, that tank was amazing. Really sorry that you had to break it down.


----------



## jacobi

the_deeb said:


> Incidentally, I've settled into a new apartment in NYC....


Escape while you still can! lol


----------



## JB_orchidguy

Wow wow wow that tank was amazing. I did have interest in the plumbing and filter systems for ghat tank. It was fantastic! Very wel done and I hope to aspire to that level one day!!!!! Wow.


----------



## gardennub

Awesome tank! Sorry you had to break it down :/


----------



## Apistograndma

thats a great tank. thanks for such indepth detail on how you created it. sorry to hear you had to take it down. I was wondering if you had anyshots of the plumbing?

thanks and hope you've able to bring some rainforest to nyc

chris


----------



## terrorsquad

hmmmmm very nice


----------



## atticus22

Amazing tank


----------



## Okapi

I know that I am resurrecting a really old thread and that The Deeb has long since donated this tank, but I happened to find a picture of it on a website from Indonesia where the poster claimed that they made it as well as another (probably also a stolen picture) and are offering their services making paludariums.

https://fjb.kaskus.co.id/product/58a901309e74040d768b4574/jual-paludarium/

So unless The Deeb moved half way around the world its pretty sad.

Edit: Here is the post translated:
Product Description
Paludarium 
AquaStigma aquarium design services provide professional services and support because we make the whole of the existing ecosystem, starting from the aquarium to the entire life support equipment of the ecosystem. The team from Aquastigma can provide expertise and time for services that you don't get elsewhere. 
Our services are also available for housing, offices, hotels, restaurant hospitals and others. The services we provide are new installations, redesign services, aquascape maintenance services and consulting services and you just have to enjoy them.
Do you want to show the water park to your beloved family's favorite room ?? AquaStigma will give a nuance of the water park to your favorite space, for those of you who are busy in the office you can give a natural touch to the living room or lobby office with an aquascape aquarium and sea water aquarium. 
we can do the installation: 
Design Aquascape 
Design Paludarium 
Design Vivarium 
Design Aquarium Ornamental Fish Freshwater 
Aquarium Design Ornamental Seawater 
Do you have an old aquarium that you want to update? As well as added an ecosystem or do you want to redesign or redesign your tank? 
We can do: 
Redesign Aquascape & Sea Water Aquarium
Old aquarium cleaning and revamping services Equipment repair 
services or equipment that has not been used for a long time. 
Maintenance and design consultations for Aquascape 
Maintenance Services 
Maintenance / Maintenance Services 
You do not have time to take care of the aquarium at home or in the office? We can help you 
Regular visits for replacing water and trimming 
Algae cleaning 
Care and checking equipment 
Replacement of plants and fish if needed 
Adding coral reefs to saltwater aquariums
We serve aquascape design for all cities in Indonesia, and for maintenance / aquarium maintenance services only for Depok, Jakarta and surrounding areas. The size we design is from 60cm to 4 meters. 
Please visit directly to our gallery / workshop, or contact us at:
Phone / wa: *************
To get offers about aquascape design and aquarium water services, check our portfolio to see the design that we have done.


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## tropfrog

Aquastigma....lol, I Wonder where they got that name from!

Nice build by the way.

Br
Magnus


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