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Anyone have instructions for DIY open front Paludarium

OK, so my dad got heart disease last fall and had to have a couple surgeries so I sold all my plants cos I was spending all my time down at the hospital or his house. Now that crisis is over and he's doing ok I remodeled my place and I have plenty of room for... new plants!

My idea for now is just to have one terrarium in the European natural style with a water portion on the bottom (maybe with some killifish) and bog/jungle plants in the land/air portion with a sliding open front glass. But I haven't been able to find any terrariums in shops that are the size I want, Eco-Terra makes an 18" x 18" x 24" euro style paludarium but I want one at least twice that size. Does anyone know of a site that shows constructing one (not decorating but the actual containment unit) or where you can have one custom built inside the USA cos shipping one here from the Netherlands would be more $ than the tank itself! I already googled til my eyes got googly last night but any pointers would be appreciated!
 
Hey Peter, yup thats what I'm interested in! Glass Cages site said their sliding front ones weren't for water but yours is holding water in one of the images. What kind of shipping did you incur or are you in an area where they appear at shows and stuff? The closest they come to MN is IL.

I formulated one idea such as lining a melamine terrarium (waterproof) with a heavy pond liner to hold water at the bottom (would be hidden with the black silicone/cocodust as you did on your background of course) then I could build it in almost any shape and just use the glass panels from home depot (a 24 x 36" sheet for only $15) to make the sliding doors. Any idea how reliable pond liners actually are?

One site I found showed a guy making a background and pool of fiberglass with some sort of waterproof/hardening resin but he doesn't show what the products are. :(

One thing I jsut thought of was to make a background/pond with that great stuff foam (like you used) would a "bowl" shape made with great stuff hold water or does it eventually "sweat" through? It would be way easier than messing with fiberglass & the horrifying resins that comes with.
 
I was lucky in that they were doing a truck delivery to Ontario which is 10 miles from where i live. They will not ship glass terrariums.
Yes, the bottom part does hold water and shows no leaks.

I don't think that the foam is water tight. If you search vivariums, you will probably find people who have built their own.
Good luck!
Peter.
 
Pardon my ignorance on this subject, but how are these type of things lit? I take it my 4 foot shop lights aren't going to cut it.
 
I would go with PC's or T5's if it's tall. I don't care for normal output fluorescents, to be honest, but that's just me.
 
i use a 4 tube t5's, 2 foot, plus 2 26 watt cfl's. Seems adequate for most of my plants in there. The pings are doing fine.

Peter.
 
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