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Divaskid's Dewy Paludarium Build & Picture Updates

I thought I'd share my weekend project with everyone. I decided to build a paludarium and see if I can come up with something close to my inspiration.
This first post is just going to be the build process I went through and then hopefully (since I'm starting all the dews from seed) I will have picture updates 3-6 months down the road.

Just as a disclaimer, I've never really built one of these before and I'm just going off of information I've read online. If you know of any hints or tips that might be helpful, please let me know! ;)

Ok, here we go.....

Supplies:
-Fish tank (I used a 30 gallon tank)
-Lights for fish tank (For right now I'm using two Philips 'Natural Light' bulbs, but I have a feeling a may need to change things around. I got my lighting info from this sticky.)
-Fish tank gravel
-Sphagnum Moss
-Peat
-Big Rocks
-Sticks
-Mini water pump
-Timer
-Humidity and temp gauges
-Water

The first thing I did was to make sure everything was washed and sanitized since I was reusing an old fish tank.

Next you'll probably want to map out on a piece of paper how you would like your tank to look. I usually skip this step because to me its always a fun process to move the rocks, stick and gravel around until they look nice. Plus I already have the idea in my head, so I save a piece of paper. But for some this is a neccesary step, otherwise you'll end up with a mess of a tank thats not asthetically pleasing.

After you've decided on a design You'll want to set up the tank in its perminant location. This for me actually took longer than the design process since there isn't much room in the house. Just remember though, once you start building your paludarium, it'll be a pain to move it! Not to mention heavy.....so plan wisely.
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After I've set up the tank I get some plastic tubs and fill them with my peat to soak in water. I tend to try and make more than I need, because its much easier for me to have extra peat lying around instead of not having enough and having to wait around for the peat to get moistened up. I also do this for the dry sphagnum as well.
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Now its time for the fun part, the actual build!
The first layer that I put down in the tank is the fish tank gravel. I move it around to create a low area for the mini pond (left) and higher areas for the land. I also (due to not having enough gravel) created a more boggy area in the front right hand corner. I decided I would put some utrics there. I know they can become invasive, but we'll just have to deal with that when the time comes ;)
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Next layer is the sphagnum layer. I put this layer down over the gravel to help keep the next layer (peat) from penetrating into the gravel and causing a mess. I put down just enough so that I don't see the gravel anymore. I also only do this on the land and bog area, not the pond.
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Note: I also put in my water fall rock (left back corner) and another rock (back right corner). I was lucky because this rock already had a naturally occuring hole in the top back so all I needed to do was sticking the pump behind the rock and put the tubing into the rock. Viola! Waterfall rock.

Close up of the layer process
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Now that the sphagnum layer is down I fill up the water to my desired level. I do the water before the peat because I don't want to splash the water around when I'm filling up and get peat sloshed around everywhere.
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So once I fill up the water, I then put down a thick layer of peat. I built up some areas more than others just to get a more natural look. I also built up the back higher than the front. That way when you're sitting down looking at it you can see from the front all the way to the back without having to get up and look from above.
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Note: I also added a stick just for fun. I may hang some Spanish moss from it, we'll see.

Now that everything is set up, I planted a small clump of utricularia as well as sprinkled some seeds around. Hopefully these will be sprouting soon!
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And because I'm impatient I decided to throw in a couple of capensis :D
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We'll, thats all I have for now. We'll see how this setup works and I'll post any changes or updates :) Enjoy!
 
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Cool this will be an exciting project! Your "inspiration" is gorgeous and I bet with a bit of time and patience this will turn into a cool piece too. The more I see threads on this type of set-up the more I want to try my hand at it so I will be watching to see how it turns out. :-D
 
I'm def a fan of these set up! your inspiration is sick! yours is looking great! thank you for sharing & can't wait to see the progress :)
 
That looks awesome! Are you planning on putting any in fish or amphibians? I bet it will look amazing after it has grown out.
 
Thanks guys! :)

Fish n Plants: I would love to have some fish in there, but I now live in a "no fish" zone. I think I'll eventually sway him my way though and maybe I'll be able to sneak a few fish in there. But for now, there is still strong opposition to creatures in the house.

I actually have a vivarium in the works too. I'd love to have a White's tree frog! I've always wanted one.

Some day.....
 
Snew?
 
White's are the cutest frog-monsters ever!:-))
 
Looks nice!! Keep us updated
 
I Like :) I've wanted to do something similar for a while. Maybe sometime
 
  • #10
This is looking great. I want to see it when it grows :)
 
  • #11
Not too much to update on, but the gemmae has sprouted. Yay! Still no signs of the drosera seeds that I put in there though. :glare:

Overall view of the tank
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Close of the the gemmae
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  • #12
I noticed my plants were showing signs of light deficiency. I tried to find another ballast so that I can add some more light to the tank. Apparently 24" ballasts for T12s are impossible to find here. So this is my solution until I can find one at a garage sale.

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Tada! Car shade thingy. Hopefully this'll make a difference. It does already look brighter inside....
 
  • #14
I know :( I'm just in denial lol
I can't find the right T8s though either, otherwise I'd get the T8 ballast and just go that route. Its a little bit annoying, they sell the right bulb but no ballast for it, but when I choose a ballast they do have, they dont have the right bulb. Thus the garage sale route.
I noticed a ton of LEDs now too, but I don't know enough about them for growing plants.
 
  • #15
A little update: Things weren't going so well due to not having enough light. I finally broke down and bought two T8s a week or so ago. I can already see the difference they're making.

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Some U. gibba in the pond area. This plant dwendled down to strings with no traps due to the lack of light. But as you can see its starting to get back to its former glory!
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There was some major elongation in the pygmy sundews and no traps what so ever, however now you can see that they're finally starting to have trapping tentacles...
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For camparison, here is the same sundew planted at the same time, but grown outside instead... Amazing what a little light can do :)
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  • #17
Very cool what is covering the hill on the left side?
 
  • #18
Awesome! Landscape displays are always awesome, there was this one at the ICPS show...It was amazing
 
  • #19
Very cool what is covering the hill on the left side?

Its actually my latest pest in there. I guess the rock was covered in fern spores and once I got the waterfall working on it, it sprung into life with ferns. They're little ones right now. I keep pulling them as they get bigger so they don't block out all the light. Here's a close up of the ferns and a baby ping too.....

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And since I'm at it, I'll post some other closer shots as well.
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U. gibba taking over the pond area :D
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And a surprise for me, a little nepenthes sprout :)
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  • #20
Cool project!

Thanks for sharing your experience.
 
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