# Planted Tanks > Vivariums >  setting up a paludarium

## kapitan

having read and seen this section and doing research on the subject, decided to plunge into it and create a paludarium... by the way, what is the difference between a vivarium, a terrarium and a paludarium????

My guess is a vivarium will have the land section soaked in water, a terrarium is basically dry and a paludarium is where land and water section are separated in the same tank......

so here goes.....

the tank is an old tank which I decommisioned and was sitting at home waiting for my itchy finger..... it is a 30x30x30 cm cube tank.... 

first thing is to decide how high the water level to be, I chose 10 cm... so cut the stilts to the required height, drill holes and cut gaps at the bottom of the stilts...



and those are secured to a platform with cable ties...


put the platform into the tank for fitment tests....




you can see that I have put in a water pump at the bottom left corner, a pipe will extend upwards where then water will be fed to a stream flowing downwards back into the water section....

----------


## kapitan

laid a piece of wool like filter cloth over the platform, this would also be filtering the water dripping into the water section....



stones will be on top of the wool cloth and planta soil on top of the stones....

but first, the background, which is false rock face of foam....



decided that boths sides need the background too.....

----------


## kapitan

more or less there and so rocks and soil are laid inside the tank....





and now the water feature, a stream running from top left corner downwards....

I cut a plastic milk bottle for the purpose.... adjusting it along the way in the tank fitting and deciding how the water will drop into the water section, so minutes spent on that ....





after some trial and error, got it correct and start laying pebbles onto the "stream" with silicon..... dried and start testing the water flow....

----------


## kapitan

having done all those... start piling in the soil.... 


having to be careful to ensure that the soil is packed in,... of course with water spray gun wetting the soil, with disposable spoon and a credit card... 

here's the result...


planted hc and some grass....






the tank is still in process.... have not planted and more on the land side and have not decided on the animals that I will have in the water section.....

would appreciate comments and ideas on improvements...  :Smile:

----------


## David Moses Heng

HI.

There is actually no need to create a fasle bottom like what you did. In my journey of building paludariums(I have build about 7 pauldariums in different sizes), I have come to realise that creating false bottoms are not really feasible.

There are a thousand and one reasons as to why it is not really good and I will share more in the future.

First, to create a reservoir for the pump, depending on tank size, I would usually use a small plastic container which is big enough for the pump to seat in. (For bigger tanks, I usually deployed sump tanks).
Second: To allow the container to remain in position, I usually surround the container with rocks to create a first biological barrier.
Third: For planting purpose, I would then create another area between this first cordon and the first cordon and fill it will pumice stone at the base followed by ADA Amazonia/Borneo wild for planting.
Fourth: To prevent clogging and also over adventurous faunas from going into the well, I usually put a piece of fine mesh over it and would usually leave it very accessible.
Fifth: to create water fall, i use drift/bog wood and rocks.

Given time and resources, I will try to create a build journal and post it here next week or so.

----------


## kapitan

> HI.
> 
> There is actually no need to create a fasle bottom like what you did. In my journey of building paludariums(I have build about 7 pauldariums in different sizes), I have come to realise that creating false bottoms are not really feasible.
> 
> There are a thousand and one reasons as to why it is not really good and I will share more in the future.
> 
> First, to create a reservoir for the pump, depending on tank size, I would usually use a small plastic container which is big enough for the pump to seat in. (For bigger tanks, I usually deployed sump tanks).
> Second: To allow the container to remain in position, I usually surround the container with rocks to create a first biological barrier.
> Third: For planting purpose, I would then create another area between this first cordon and the first cordon and fill it will pumice stone at the base followed by ADA Amazonia/Borneo wild for planting.
> ...


thanks for the tips...... 

like I mentioned earlier, my idea of a paludarium is a complete separation of land and water section... thats why the false bottom and also with the false bottom, the fishes will have a larger area to swim in rather then a small pool in front of the tank....  :Smile: 

my pump is in and it will stay and when the pump bust, I will then dismantle the whole set up ... probably in time for new ideas then.. lol, maybe next time I will use an air pump in staed of a water pump....

for the water channel, I had experiemtned with rocks and wood, but it does not give me the desired effect of how the water flow...

----------


## David Moses Heng

> thanks for the tips...... 
> 
> like I mentioned earlier, my idea of a paludarium is a complete separation of land and water section... thats why the false bottom and also with the false bottom, the fishes will have a larger area to swim in rather then a small pool in front of the tank.... 
> 
> my pump is in and it will stay and when the pump bust, I will then dismantle the whole set up ... probably in time for new ideas then.. lol, maybe next time I will use an air pump in staed of a water pump....
> 
> for the water channel, I had experiemtned with rocks and wood, but it does not give me the desired effect of how the water flow...


Roger that. 

I am just sharing my experiences here.  :Smile:

----------


## kapitan

> Roger that. 
> 
> I am just sharing my experiences here.


 
very much appreciated....  :Well done:  :Well done: 

this is my first attempt and if successful may get myself a exoterra tank to play with.....

----------


## David Moses Heng

Sure. Do share with us your journey here and allow us to comment on them for the others to learn.  :Smile:

----------


## kapitan

plucked a wild fern from a uncultivated garden at the foot of my block and transplanted into the tank.... also some moss from the same area.... these are Singapore moss??

----------


## Zenith82

Nice try! But i can see the tank top is open and no retention of humidity. Therefore you need to water your plants frequently, especially your moss. I can also see you are using LED light set. Do choose your plants wisely as I think the LED you are using might not be strong enough for the plants. Setting up a paludarium is not so tough, but maintaining the plants and the scape is the tough parts. Happy setting up!

----------


## kapitan

> Nice try! But i can see the tank top is open and no retention of humidity. Therefore you need to water your plants frequently, especially your moss. I can also see you are using LED light set. Do choose your plants wisely as I think the LED you are using might not be strong enough for the plants. Setting up a paludarium is not so tough, but maintaining the plants and the scape is the tough parts. Happy setting up!


yes, watering with hand spray every few hours, the domestic helper does it when I am not home... intend to get a mister...

----------


## AhVy

Nicely done!

Post more updates and if possible video too! Hehe



Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

----------


## kapitan

> Nicely done!
> 
> Post more updates and if possible video too! Hehe
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2


here we go......

----------


## cdckjn

A terrarium is an artificial habitat created for the purpose of keeping flora/fauna.
A vivarium is always planted, and the plants are A major part of it, like planted aquariums.
a Pauladarium is basically water/land mix.A habitat for aquatic and or semi aquatic or terrestrial creatures.

vivarium - generally tropical; high humidity, well planted, running water features.
terrarium - generally arid; low humidity, dryer climate animals, little water
paludarium - vivarium or terrarium with a large body of water. 50/50 water/land type tanks.

Vivarium
A vivarium is usually an enclosed area, which tries to resemble a natural habitat of a certain area.
An aquarium is a vivarium, simulating a water habitat, for instance a river, lake or sea, but only the submerged area of these natural habitats. A terrarium is a vivarium, simulating a dry habitat, for instance desert or savannah. A riparium is a vivarium, simulating a river, this vivarium could also be seen as an aquarium interconnected with a terrarium, having both the underwater area as well as the shore, often used for aquatic lizards.

Terrarium
A terrarium is a clear container (often plastic or glass) used to grow plants and to examine or hold small creatures. They may be cubical, spherical, rectangular, or other shapes. Often in terraria the species' ecosystem is copied in smaller size and is even controlled in humidity, temperature, and water chemistry.

Paludarium
A paludarium is a vivarium, simulating a rain forest or swamp environment.

so to me, this is my definition;
a terrarium is a habitat - normally drier, more plants, more "land",
a vivarium is wetter, more water, more humidity, can be half land half water, fishes crabs,
a paludarium has more water, like a swamp, forest, higher humidity, "very" much wetter, more fishes, newts, frogs etc.

----------


## garylim

Nice! May I know what kind of pipes you use to secure platform? 

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Tapatalk 2

----------


## kapitan

> A terrarium is an artificial habitat created for the purpose of keeping flora/fauna.
> A vivarium is always planted, and the plants are A major part of it, like planted aquariums.
> a Pauladarium is basically water/land mix.A habitat for aquatic and or semi aquatic or terrestrial creatures.
> 
> vivarium - generally tropical; high humidity, well planted, running water features.
> terrarium - generally arid; low humidity, dryer climate animals, little water
> paludarium - vivarium or terrarium with a large body of water. 50/50 water/land type tanks.
> 
> Vivarium
> ...


thanks for the detailed explanation.....

----------


## kapitan

> Nice! May I know what kind of pipes you use to secure platform? 
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9305 using Tapatalk 2


clear pvc pipes from a lfs....

----------


## dzylim

Nicely done. I did something similar for my 3ft tank but for now am waiting for the plants to spread out naturally. What you did is considerably neater then mine.

----------


## TS168

Nice design. more plant will be nice. any fish?

----------


## kapitan

> Nice design. more plant will be nice. any fish?


yes, slowly adding plants...... no fish yet..... no time during the weekdays to work on it... wait until weekend...

----------


## kapitan

completed what I wanted to do over the weekend, added rain bar, connected to a small pump activated every 6 hours for 15 minutes by a timer.... this should keep everything moist...  :Smile:

----------


## bernie

Inspired me to do a 4ft paludarium with goldfish  :Smile:

----------


## eddy planer

Hi kaptan

Your design of this DIY background and platform really impressive me a lot . I really don't like this but I love it very much.

Can I ask you.. care to silicon the rainbar with cork bark or some coconuts husk to camouflage the ugly greenie pipeline to look more natural, agree? :Wink:

----------


## kapitan

> Hi kaptan
> 
> Your design of this DIY background and platform really impressive me a lot . I really don't like this but I love it very much.
> 
> Can I ask you.. care to silicon the rainbar with cork bark or some coconuts husk to camouflage the ugly greenie pipeline to look more natural, agree?


thanks for the kind words.

I am actually thinking of tearing this apart and set up a 2 feet tank, left side land and right side water......

due above reason, I am not improving the tank..... 

now watching out to buy a used 2 feet tank for the new project...  :Wink:

----------


## eddy planer

Try Exo-terra tank with height of 2ft and the front opening door. There are people selling them, do you want it for vivarium set up? if you like I work with you if you like? :Wink:

----------


## yappyz

its quite amazing that its DIY yet it doesnt look like DIY with all the rock and and stones nicely placed. (Y)

----------


## eddy planer

Hi yappyz

interested to set up like this?

----------


## yappyz

Hello  :Smile: , 

Neh. Might consider for future. But for now I have to stick to my current tank. I had just introduced this new tank to my family and it will be the first time my house have pets. My parents havnt fully accept it yet. So I had no choice but to hold on to this first. 

Besides I am still a noob, still learning. Y leh? U help people set up tanks?

----------


## eddy planer

yappyz. 

Glad that you got aquarium, don't worry too much about parents, let them know you love nature and this really help you to relief stress in your hard day work. So your parents will say "bo bian" then you can slowly go for the next adventure with us.

----------


## yappyz

Sure do  :Smile:  now just let then no choice have to accept. Now problem is my water not stable. Can't bring in any heavy fish yet. Hope it can settle before all my fishes dies. Haha.

----------


## eddy planer

hi yappyz.

care to take some picture of your build and show off here, hor? So we can able to help you go through and improve your build if you like?

----------


## kapitan

> Try Exo-terra tank with height of 2ft and the front opening door. There are people selling them, do you want it for vivarium set up? if you like I work with you if you like?


was busy travelling and was not able to reply.....

I have thought of a exo-terra tank, but decided against it, maybe in the future...

I have just confirmed buying a used 2 footer and will start on the new project as sketched....

----------


## eddy planer

This is going to look amazing setup with waterfall. 

Try to give more space on the front ground rather than the "land part" go right to the front glass panel. The reason is you will see the ugly side of land part going to be exposed through the front glass panel. How are you going to filter the water part or create the waterfall? Background?

Let me know your thoughts

----------


## kapitan

the land part will be dry am thinking of putting in a panel and seal it off..... now that you said, maybe I would now go look for a container, and have the soil in container and put it into the tank and cover the spaces with aqua soil and plants in water..... waterfall will either be return from canistor or a separate water pump......

----------


## kapitan

can I ask, what animal can I keep in the set up, other then frog, snakes and geckos?

update, I got the tank, I got the container, tomorrow will go get the background and egg crates, need top prop up the container also need to get aqua soil and also potting soil and get planting....  :Smile:

----------


## eddy planer

Try mudskippers, they are jolly interesting fauna! to have this, place more bogwood locate on wet area.

----------


## kapitan

This tank is now decommisioned.... new tank set up.... http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...udarium-set-up.....

----------

