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Steeldrifter

Palurdarium project

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Have been kicking around the idea of building a paludarium for over a year now. For those that don't know what that is, its an aquarium/tank but it has water and land areas to it. This one will probably only have about 6" of water then the rest will be all built up with soil and plants. I also plan to incorporate a couple of my ficus bonsai trees into the build inside it. Going to do a waterfall as well as use an ultrasonic fogger so it has a very tropical look to it.

 

Picked up a used 75g drilled tank about 2 weeks ago so decided to finally start building this since I have thought about it for the past year. Finally feeling a bit better and coming a bit out of the depression since all that happened this past year so figure no better time to start a new project then now because projects always keep my mind busy and feeling good.

 

Decided to rip out the in wall tank and foam carved rock wall I built about 4 yrs ago and then frame that area in and dry wall it to add about 30sqft of new alcove area which is where the new 75g paludarium will go. Still have to do the ceiling, floor, tape/mud/sand/paint but got all the framing and roughing in of dry wall done now.

 

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Do they climb? I remember finding smooth newts all around the lounge as a kid when they found a small gap to escape from

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New area for the Paludarium project is done now. Finished up the framing & drywall a couple weeks ago, so spent the past few days doing the sanding, painting, flooring and lighting. Went with a color called Sandy Sage which I thought would have a real natural / earthy look to it which should go well with the heavily planted tank. Wanted a contrast for the floor so went with a white/cream pattern to help designate the area better so it didn't just run all together with the rest of the shop/office. Now I can start working on the tank itself soon.

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A lot of the nicer looking paludariums usually have a custom front panel that is cut much lower than the rest to give unobstructed view of the plants and land area above the water line. So my plans are to take this bottom panel from an old 55g that I have and get it cut down to 8" height. I've already gave it to ol' polarized glasses/LCD screen test to see if it was tempered and it does not seem to be so should be cut-able. Took quite a while to clean it up though. Part of it was painted and spent a couple hours with vinegar & razors to get it as clean as I possibly could so it cuts without issues.

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If it's lower, then you might want to be careful of the fauna you put in there. They might not climb to the top of a full side, but a lower side might be irresistible.

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Not planning on any real land based animals. Probably just some small fish species and I think maybe some newts, but the ones I am considering if I do newts aren't really climbers from what I read. With that said I might not even do newts and just keep it to small fish and the beauty of the plants and such and forego any land animals. Don't want to make it harder on me for leaving on long fishing trips.

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