New paludarium!

[blake]

...or aqua-terrarium or whatever you call it.
its mostly water but there's a good amount of land as well, as you can see. i haven't gotten anything except the cement and gravel, but it needs a week or so to make sure the cement is cured and then i can do some water tests. i plan on using alot of live plants underwater, and maybe a fern on the land section and hopefully i can get a good amount of moss growing up there. Suggestions for plants?

 

[andy]

Im sure your aware of this but i'll point it out anyway.
The lime in the cement will kill amphibians in about a minute flat. You'll need to completely emerse the dried cement in water and keep changing it for a good few weeks at least for the lime to come out.
I have tried this technique years ago and when i did it i let it all soak for a couple of months just to be safe.
When i was a kid garden ponds rarely had pond liners and cement was the common thing to use, i remember watching my dad make his pond and when it was all cemented he filled it up to let the lime come out. Not long after a frog jumped in the pool and died pretty much instantly.

 

[richard]

I have no idea about the cement, but for plants i would try:
Microsorum Pteropus
Cereatopteris Thaliotroides
Anubias Nana
Lilaeopsis Brasiliensis
Cryptocoryne Lucens
Cryptocoryne Wendtii
Cryptocoryne Willisii
Sagitaria Sublatta
Versiculara Dubyana
Anachris
Ceratophyllum Demersum
Epipremnum Aureum

- just to list a few

ps. maybe if you ran water in your bathtub into the tank and let it spill over , you might speed up the process of the lime-removal?

Rich

(Message edited by richierich on January 11, 2007)

 

[blake]

when people use concrete in fish tanks, like for the background, they use salt water to speed up the "curing" process, which i dont know what that is. but maybe it has something to do with the lime removal. i think i'll just keep the pump running, circulating water has to help.
as for the plants, thanks for the suggestions! i have no idea what any of those are so i'll be looking them up. haha

 

[wyatt]

Why wouldn't you have used grout and some kind of waterproof sealer? It doens't have the problems cement does. You may also be able to seal the cement with some kind of acrylic or waterproof sealer that could prevent any leaching, although it would be safer to let it cure.

BTW, that tank would look killer if you put some moss over all that cement, and some of the "chia" pet plant stuff. I also agree those plants that a previous poster listed would look good.

 

[andy]

Curing has nothing to do with what i've mentioned....that just refers to the cement setting and going hard. It will still leech out lime for a long time once it's rock solid.

 

[jennifer]

Be sure to get a pH test kit (and also maybe a high-range test kit, which goes above pH 8). Lime makes the water alkaline (ph too high). The pH should give you at least some idea if the water is safe.

 

[blake]

yeah i knew it messed up the ph alot. i planned on doing some water tests. i used grout at first but i didn't seal it and thought it would be waterproof... it isn't. dont use grout unless you can absolutely cover it completely with something else. i completely removed all the foam that had grout on it, and all the grout and started over with cement. i had planned on basically covering the land with moss.

 

[laura]

Im in love with your tank! its very well set up *claps*

 

[blake]

hahaha. thank you... it took me two tries, but you live and learn. it was my first time creating a land structure like that with styrofoam. it still has a long way to go

 

[ben]

Personally, if I were you, I would use epoxy to waterproof it. Lots of dendrobatid keepers use it if they end up using any type of substance that can leach chemicals, and it's rather easy to do. If you go to www.dendroboard.com you will undoubtedly be able to find some more info on it.

 

[blake_diehl]

finally! it ended up soaking for like 5 months cuz i got really busy with school. now that i'm out i had enough free time to finish setting it up! here it is. i'm still looking for one nice plant for the land area, there's a hole to plant one. i would especially like some type of small fern if anyone knows what would be good.

 

[jshadowstalker]

wowthat look's great ...what the plant you got on the land area .

jody