VRAtenza's Paludarium (Newbie attempt)

[vratenza]

Just want to share my 80% completed paludarium, still have some more planting to do at the top as well as waiting for my 70W MH to be ready. Now making do with a 23W tornado bulb. The construction process can be seen by clicking on my link in my signature.

The theme is a rocky mini waterfall in the middle of a tropical lowland jungle. Will update as I complete the planting and as the plants grow in.....

[dkk08]

great work bro vratenza! if you can post a step by step from start to finish of your paludarium will be even better

[vratenza]

The step by step construction process can be found here....
http://vratenza-paludarium.blogspot.com/
Don't want to duplicate effort (ie. lazy)

[David Moses Heng]

nice!! How about considering putting in some crabs and myabe a background making workshop?
i will be your first student

[vratenza]

thanks!
Crabs? you mean freshwater ones? what temperature do they survive in? will they mess up my plants?

[David Moses Heng]

thanks!
Crabs? you mean freshwater ones? what temperature do they survive in? will they mess up my plants?

Yes. they are more land crabs than fresh water crabs. these few weeks i am seeing a lot of mini crabs in our lfs selling at rock bottom prices. I myself bought 30 pieces for $150. 20 vampires and 10 more unknown species. my lfs called them "halloween" though. These guys from what i observe they don't mess up the plants but they do burrow into the substrate.

if you are keen i am willing to off load some of my vampires to you.

[vratenza]

Yes. they are more land crabs than fresh water crabs. these few weeks i am seeing a lot of mini crabs in our lfs selling at rock bottom prices. I myself bought 30 pieces for $150. 20 vampires and 10 more unknown species. my lfs called them "halloween" though. These guys from what i observe they don't mess up the plants but they do burrow into the substrate.

if you are keen i am willing to off load some of my vampires to you.

I looked up "vampire crabs" and the do seem like pretty colorful and interesting creatures! It'll be nice addition to my tank
I'll PM you regarding the crabs

[vratenza]

Managed to set up my MH light over the weekend...



shifted some of the plants around. I realised that the orchid on the branch is having too much water from the constant drip of the distribution hose. some of the anubias are converting to emmersed forms. Added some ferns and creepers.
The sundew gemmae are sprouting

[dkk08]

looking good bro! is the Daz fan any good??

[vratenza]

looking good bro! is the Daz fan any good??

Thanks...it still need to be denser and grown in....but I am pretty happy with the hardscape and hardware so far

Dazs fan hang on the left side...well good and bad....

Good:
- very slim profile and by virtue of it's design, very inconspicuous.
- also because of the design of the dan, I can fit it nicely on the tank even with the wire mesh top on
- airflow generated is just right for the tank..not too strong and easily directed by the end attachment.

Bad:
- high pitched whine (I guess it cannot be avoided for such small fan)..luckily it don't reach my master or living room or else my wife will have something to say

[d0td0t]

very nice setup you have there.

may I asked, where you got the expanding foam from and what brand is it?

some fauna will make it even more awesome

[vratenza]

very nice setup you have there.

may I asked, where you got the expanding foam from and what brand is it?

some fauna will make it even more awesome

The brand is Bostik Expanda Foam, got it from Homely Hardware at No.1 Ubi Crescent. Can't remember how much exactly but in the region of $6-8 per bottle...I used up 1 bottle for my background....so you can gauge the amount u need from there



I am waiting for the tank to stabilize first before adding fauna

[dkk08]

any updates?

[eddy planer]

The brand is Bostik Expanda Foam, got it from Homely Hardware at No.1 Ubi Crescent. Can't remember how much exactly but in the region of $6-8 per bottle...I used up 1 bottle for my background....so you can gauge the amount u need from there



I am waiting for the tank to stabilize first before adding fauna

Yes, I used that same foam brand for my palu!!! folks! But vratenza, how come this can cost you SGD6-8 and I bought 1 can for SGD13.50!

[eddy planer]

The step by step construction process can be found here....
http://vratenza-paludarium.blogspot.com/
Don't want to duplicate effort (ie. lazy)

Hi bro vratenza!

That's an absolutely amazing DIY palu!!!

I'm so glad that i got more bro added into a high-tech team of palu fashion craze!

[eddy planer]

Thanks...it still need to be denser and grown in....but I am pretty happy with the hardscape and hardware so far

Dazs fan hang on the left side...well good and bad....

Good:
- very slim profile and by virtue of it's design, very inconspicuous.
- also because of the design of the dan, I can fit it nicely on the tank even with the wire mesh top on
- airflow generated is just right for the tank..not too strong and easily directed by the end attachment.

Bad:
- high pitched whine (I guess it cannot be avoided for such small fan)..luckily it don't reach my master or living room or else my wife will have something to say

Hi vratenza,

you need to be really be very very careful with your MH when you shine on your tank. Try not to allow MH come too close to your upper glass top of your tank..guess what, too much heat generate from MH will crack the top glass for sure!! unless if your tank is made of tempered glass

For mine, even my 2 glass panels (18x36) with 8 mm thick cracked as my 2 units of 4x 54w HO T5 lighting generated enough heat to crack 8mm thick glass panel! And this is my 2nd set glass panels replaced.

[dkk08]

Yes, I used that same foam brand for my palu!!! folks! But vratenza, how come this can cost you SGD6-8 and I bought 1 can for SGD13.50!

i guess its the location of where he got the foam spray from? industrial area?

[eddy planer]

Cannot be! I got mine from Bukit Batok Industrial area, too!

[dkk08]

Cannot be! I got mine from Bukit Batok Industrial area, too!

haha erm maybe Ubi Industrial area is the distributor? Just maybe... I'm now looking for epoxy resin and epoxy coating... you know where they can be found?

[David Moses Heng]

haha erm maybe Ubi Industrial area is the distributor? Just maybe... I'm now looking for epoxy resin and epoxy coating... you know where they can be found?

let me know when you found them.. i am looking for them also.